Cubs' Lester prematurely hints at Lackey's retirement

While John Lackey was considering calling the 2017 season his last in spring training, the 38-year-old right-hander didn't want a retirement tour. Of course, teammate Jon Lester may have tipped his teammate's hand following Wednesday's game.

"(Lackey is) one of the best teammates, one of the best people, I've ever got to play with," Lester told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times after a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals - the club Lackey was with before reuniting with Lester.

"Tonight was probably his last regular-season start," Lester proclaimed. "Here's to one hell of a career!"

After 29 starts heading into Wednesday, Lackey was running a 4.67 ERA and 5.40 FIP. Both would've been career lows, but following his six-inning, one-run effort, which helped the Cubs clinch their second consecutive division title, Lackey's ERA dipped to 4.56 - a mark better than both his 2003 and 2004 seasons.

When asked to clarify Lester's comments, Lackey said, "I'll talk to the boys on the bus, man."

Lester and Lackey first became teammates with the 2009 Boston Red Sox before both getting traded in separate deals in the middle of the 2014 season - 10 months after winning the World Series.

The pair wound up together on the Cubs after Theo Epstein - the same executive who made them teammates in Boston - signed Lackey to a two-year contract worth $32 million prior to the 2016 season.

"If he does end up pitching somewhere, then he owes me some beers," Lester added, seeming to undercut the premature retirement announcement he made for Lackey.

"I'm sure he could, but I just wanted to do that just to kind of repay everything that he's done for me. If that is it - I think it is; I don't know; he hasn't said - I wanted to be a part of it."