Jon

Lester

Lester showed well down the stretch with the Cardinals last season, but he just turned 38 years old and feels ready to move on from the demands of what was an illustrious 16-year big league career. “It’s kind of run its course,” the lefty said to ESPN. “It’s getting harder for me physically ... 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 finishes as a five-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion with a lifetime 3.66 ERA, exactly 200 wins, and 2,488 strikeouts. He posted a career 2.51 ERA in the playoffs, the lowest mark of any pitcher to log 150-plus postseason innings.

The 37-year-old southpaw -- perhaps making his final regular season start -- punched out four and walked four in the ballgame. He held the Cubs off the board through the first four innings, but the wheels fell off as he surrendered a grand slam to Trayce Thompson in the fifth. He finishes the season with a 4.71 ERA and 1.51 WHIP over 141 1/3 innings in 28 starts between the Nationals and Cardinals.

Lester has been working through an undisclosed ailment that apparently popped up during his last outing Saturday at Wrigley Field, but it’s not something that will require him to miss a turn in the Cardinals’ rotation. The veteran left-hander boasts a 2.66 ERA over his last 40 2/3 innings (seven starts) for St. Louis dating back to August 25.

Lester essentially confirmed that he wasn’t totally right physically during Saturday’s start against the Cubs, but he and the Cardinals haven’t divulged any specifics about what he’s dealing with. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Sunday that the team is “optimistic” about Lester’s status, but they are holding off on announcing a starter for Thursday versus the Brewers until they see how the lefty recovers. “It’s just going to be a couple of days to re-evaluate and see,” manager Mike Shildt said. If Lester can’t go Thursday, Jack Flaherty would likely make an abbreviated start instead.

The veteran southpaw fanned six during the contest in what turned out to be the 15th consecutive win for the Cardinals, a franchise record. Lester collected 12 swings and misses during the game and a 25 percent CSW. The 37-year-old has been fantastic since being traded to St.Louis and carries a 2.66 ERA over his last seven outings with 1.16 WHIP. Lester is likely to see another start this season but currently stands at 7-6 with a 4.62 ERA and 1.50 WHIP over 136 1/3 frames with 87 strikeouts.

Avisail Garcia and Luis Urias dinged the veteran left-hander with a couple solo home runs in the second inning. Those were two of just three hits he permitted on the night, though, and he didn’t issue any walks while struck out a pair. Lester needed only 77 pitches to navigate through his six frames, but Matt Carpenter pinch-hit for him to lead off the seventh and wound up scoring after a double. The southpaw is the 119th pitcher in baseball history to reach the 200-win plateau. Lester boasts a 2.27 ERA over his last six starts and will try to keep rolling this weekend at Wrigley Field against his former team.

Lester was previously lined up to start Tuesday, but he’ll go for career win No. 200 on Monday instead. Jake Woodford will now pitch on Tuesday.

Lester matched his season high with seven strikeouts tonight. Coming into the game, he had fanned just 21 batters in 44 innings for the Cardinals. He still seems like a poor bet going forward, but he’s been solid for St. Louis thus far and the team is 5-4 in his starts.

Lester turned in a nice, economical performance, requiring just 92 pitches to make it through seven innings of work. Unfortunately, he also walked four while coughing up solo home runs to Eugenio Suarez and Joey Votto in the second and fourth innings, respectively. Lester struck out just two in the outing. Still, he kept the damage to a relative minimum and gave plenty of length before finally ceding to the bullpen after seven frames. The veteran southpaw will bring a 4.75 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and 72/48 K/BB ratio (82 1/3 innings) into a road date with the Mets when he next takes to the mound. Lester has allowed two or fewer runs in five of his last six starts. He has pitched into the seventh inning in two of his last three turns through the rotation.

Lester had good day on the mound against the Brewers on Sunday with just one run allowed over 5 1/3. The one run came on a solo homer by Pablo Reyes in the second inning. A single, double, and intentional walk loaded the bases in the fourth inning before one of Lester’s nine groundouts got him out of the jam. He gave up a one-out base hit in the sixth before his day was done at 81 pitches. It was the third consecutive start in which Lester allowed just one run. The 37-year-old left-hander will take a 4.89 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and 70 strikeouts over 112 1/3 innings into his next start against the Reds in St. Louis on Friday.