Jon Lester and John Lackey have been through a lot in their seven years as teammates with both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.
And as the 38-year-old Lackey’s career winds down, his good friend Lester wanted to make sure to toast him after the Cubs clinched the National League Central division Wednesday.
Lackey tossed six innings of one-run ball against the St. Louis Cardinals in the clincher, and while the team was celebrating in the locker room, Lester gave an emotional toast to his friend, and he might have spilled the beans on Lackey’s retirement plans.
The video comes with a NSFW warning for explicit language.
Lackey and Lester have won the World Series with both the Red Sox (2013) and the Cubs (2016), and the left-hander has the utmost respect for his good friend.
“It’s not a rallying cry,” Lester said of the toast, via The Chicago Sun-Times. “But I know he wants to win just as much as everybody else here. That’s something you can’t teach. You can’t teach competitiveness. You can’t teach balls. You can’t teach that fire.”
Lester, however, backtracked on Lackey’s potential retirement.
“If he does end up pitching somewhere, then he owes me some beers,” he said. “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 this is the last ride for Lackey, he will end his career having started the clinching game of the 2002 and 2013 World Series, as well as having been a key contributor to the Cubs’ first title in 108 years.
Cooperstown could be next for Lackey.
Thumbnail photo via Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports Images
