JUST LIKE THEY SAID
Cubs wooed Lester by painting the scene he finds himself in now
ST. LOUIS— Whether it’s a year early or right on time, Jon Lester’s $155 million moment arrives just after 5:45 p.m. Friday.
The big left-hander is a major reason the Cubs are in the playoffs this season, even as he seemed to slide deeper into the growing shadow of Jake Arrieta as the second half of the season wore on.
But all the heavy lifting in the regular season aside, this was the ultimate vision. This was the kind of moment that the biggest freeagent deal in team president Theo Epstein’s career was supposed to buy: a Game 1 start in a place like this, in a series that could turn the postseason on its head.
Lester, a two-time World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox, calls it ‘‘just another game,’’ but then, that’s also what he called the last postseason game he pitched for the Red Sox— a Game 5World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in this same stadium two years ago.
‘‘Listen, I signed here to win,’’ Lester said in the champagne-spray aftermath of Wednesday’s wild-card victory in Pittsburgh, bristling at the suggestion that the success of Joe Maddon’s Cubs should be considered a shock or ‘‘gravy’’ because it’s supposedly coming a year before most expected it. ‘‘I wouldn’t have signed here if Theo didn’t make me believe we were going to win.’’
Lester got through a rough April battling ‘‘dead-arm’’ soreness, then managed his way around infield throwing “yips” much of the season. He put up 205 innings of impressive work (3.34 ERA, 207 strikeouts) to help get the Cubs to this point.
And now comes the moment the Cubs tried to get Lester to imagine through an exhaustive sales pitch that included video of what a Cubs World Series winner might look like.
‘‘I know he’s going to be ready,’’ said Maddon, who would have Lester again for a possible winner-take-all Game 5 start in the same place Wednesday. ‘‘He loves this kind of stuff. He’s pitched really well against this group. He’s pitched well against them in the past. So I have all the confidence in the world in Jon going into that game [Friday], and if we need him at the end, we have him at the end, also.’’
The Cubs’ success in this series might depend on it. Other-worldly ace Arrieta, used on the wild-card shutout in Pittsburgh, will be available only for a Game 3 start in this best-of-five series.
With tougher matchups for the Cubs in Games 2 and 4, they might need to win both Lester starts to beat the Cardinals, something Lester did in that 2013 World Series, allowing one run over 15„ innings in those two starts (0.59 ERA).
And that goes back to why he was signed. That he faces his close friend and former teammate on the 2013 Red Sox championship team, John Lackey, figures only to heighten the intensity Friday.
Lester is reluctant to elevate the importance of any game as he pre- pares for Friday’s start. But even he understands the symbolic importance as the series opens.
‘‘I wanted to come here to win. I wanted to come here and be part of this, and hopefully bring a World Series championship here,’’ he said. ‘‘But I can’t look at it being that defining game.’’
That’s part of how he has built a 6-4 record and 2.57 ERA in 14 career postseason games (12 starts).
Besides, there might be another defining moment next week. Or later this month.
‘‘I’m looking forward to it,’’ he said. ‘‘I know how the regular season went with these guys. It’s going to be a grind. They’re a good team — the best team in baseball. And we’ve got to go into their place and win a short series.
‘‘Winning in the regular season and winning in the postseason is two totally different things. We’re prepared. We’ll be prepared.’’