Jon Lester is Officially a Problem for Cubs' Playoff Pursuit After Nightmare Start Tuesday

The Chicago Cubs held a slim 2.5-game lead on first place in the NL Central entering Tuesday night. With the oncoming stiff competition from the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and even the Cincinnati Reds, the Cubs need everyone to play at the top of their game.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, they didn't get that from ace pitcher Jon Lester, who maintained his recent ill-advised slide on Tuesday.

Starting a low-pressure contest against the Oakland Athletics, Lester surrendered a whopping 10 earned runs on 10 hits (two home runs) in just four innings of work.

This is far from the performance that the Cubs need from their ace, especially with the postseason just a little less than two months away.

When looking at Lester's recent performances, he hasn't recorded a win since July 13 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He followed that up with two no-decisions, one of which involved four earned runs on 12 hits against the San Diego Padres.

And in his start last Thursday, Lester gave up five earned runs on nine hits in a rivalry loss to the Cardinals.

The Chicago Cubs need to keep winning, considering the window is wide open for rival teams to snatch the divisional lead. Jon Lester has not played up to par as of late, and the Cubs absolutely need him to step his game up, because they're going to need him if they want to make another trip to the World Series.