By Jordan Long
Major League Baseball is still in a lockout. Even so, one pitcher has decided to call it a career, Jon Lester. Lester leaves the MLB game after 16 seasons and 3 World Series rings.
Lester started his career with the Boston Red Sox in 2006. His record was 7-2 with an ERA of 4.76. Lester showed the ability to strikeout batters with 60, a taste of what he would do at the MLB level. Lester stayed in Boston until July 31st, 2014. He was traded to Oakland.
During his time in Boston, Lester’s record was 110-63 with an ERA of 3.64. His top year in Boston occurred in 2010 when Lester had an impressive record of 19-9 with an ERA of 3.25. Lester ended with 225 strikeouts, earning him his first trip to the All-Star game. Even though he had an outstanding year, Lester was 4th in the CY Young voting. Felix Hernandez won it that season when he went 13-12 with an ERA of 2.27.
Lester helped the Red Sox earn a playoff berth 4 times. Boston ended up winning the World Series in 2007 and 2013. In the playoff run in 2007, Lester appeared in 3 games with a 1-0 record. His ERA was 1.93. He only pitched 9.1 innings. In 2013, Lester’s postseason record was 4-1 with an ERA of 1.56.
Lester only started 11 games for the Athletics in the 2014 season. He posted a 6-4 record for them with an ERA of 2.35. Once their playoff run ended in the American League Wild Card Game, Oakland decided not to sign Lester, making him a free agent.
Lester decided to agree to a 6 year, $155 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were trying to build not only a playoff team but one that could end their World Series drought. It was going to take a few years but they felt Lester was a veteran pitcher to help them. Lester won 10 or more games for the Chicago Cubs from 2015 to 2019. Lester’s best year in a Cubs’ uniform was in 2016 when he won 19 games and lost 5 with an ERA of 2.44. Again, he fell short of winning the CY Young. Max Scherzer took the honor with a record of 20-7 with an ERA of 2.96.
Lester helped Chicago earn a playoff spot in 2015 to 2018. In 2015, they were swept by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.
2016 is a year Cubs fans will never forget. They ended their 108-year World Series drought. In that postseason, Lester appeared in 6 games with a record of 3-1 with an ERA of 2.02. Of course, the Cubs beat Cleveland in game 7 of the World Series.
Following the COVID shortened 2020 season, Lester was a free agent. He wanted to stay in Chicago. The Cubs tried to agree to a contract with him but they couldn’t find common ground so Lester opted to sign with Washington. It didn’t last. Washington dealt him to St. Louis on July 30th, 2021. St. Louis lost in the Wild Card game to the L.A. Dodgers this past season.
Lester took his time to think about what he wanted to do next. With the lockout in place, Lester chose to walk away from the game of baseball. According to ESPN, Lester said, “It’s kind of run its course. It’s getting harder for me physically. The little things that come up throughout the year turned into bigger things that hinder your performance. I’d like to think I’m a halfway decent self-evaluator. I don’t want someone else telling me I can’t do this anymore. I want to be able to hand my jersey over and say, ‘Thank you, it’s been fun.’ That’s probably the biggest deciding factor.”
Lester leaves the game with a record of 200-117, an ERA of 3.66, and 2,488 strikeouts. He also won 3 World Series titles and was voted into the All-Star game 5 times. He played the game the right way. The only thing left is for him to be enshrined in Cooper’s Town. Lester’s resume shows he was one of the top pitchers in MLB history. When Lester’s name is on the ballot in 5 years, hopefully, the writers will vote for him to be enshrined.
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