Whatever harbinger is the opposite of the canary in the coalmine, that’s what Jon Lester was for the Chicago Cubs. More than any player before or since, his decision signaled to the rest of the baseball world that the organization still sitting in the ashes of the decrepit building Theo Epstein had burned to the ground was for real. Six years later, the dimming flame of his career may signal the passing of the torch to a new era of Cubs baseball.
Two years after he signed, along with the man ostensibly brought in to help lure him as a personal caddie, Lester helped lead the Cubs to the World Series.