Thanks to last night’s fumbled attempt to get the Cubs/Nationals game in underneath the weather, Jon Lester was forced to get things started on the mound without ever finishing. The effect, of course, is that he wasn’t able to pitch a game last night and he’s unavailable today. Jaime Garcia is starting in his place against Max Scherzer …. sweet (Joe Maddon is reportedly hoping to get 2 innings out of him).
But instead of waiting for a full trip through the rotation to get him back into the swing of things, he’ll apparently go first for the Cubs against the Brewers on Monday. Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks will then follow (with an extra day of rest each, which is nice).
Lester, Quintana, Hendricks vs. Brewers
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) September 8, 2018
You hate for the rotation to be messed with at this point in the season (let alone in a stretch of 23 games in 23 days like the Cubs are currently in), but at least the Cubs will get to send Lester against the Brewers in a big series, while giving some extra rest to Hendricks and Quintana – or maybe that’s a bad thing, considering each has seemed to find a bit of a groove lately. You decide.