LOS ANGELES -- The night before Game 1 of the NLCS, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said that the two options to start Game 1 of the NLCS were John Lackey and Jose Quintana. Once Quintana was pegged, it appeared the favorite to get the ball for Game 2 would be Lackey. Instead, Maddon announced on Saturday that Jon Lester would be the Cubs' Game 2 starter. 

Lester threw 55 pitches in 3 1/3 impressive relief innings in Game 4 of the NLDS, so he'll be on three days' rest for Sunday.

It wasn't a huge workload on Wednesday, but it was intense and stress-heavy work. 

That relief outing was on short rest and he was effective. He also came back on short rest to relieve in Game 7 of the World Series last season and threw the ball well (the runs allowed were not due to his pitching). He has only started two games in his career on short rest, and those came in 2008 and 2011, respectively, so we don't really have much to go on here. 

With the Lester decision, we can safely assume that Kyle Hendricks gets Game 3, Game 5 goes likely goes to Quintana before Lester and Hendricks are set up for Games 6 and 7, respectively, if it comes to that. For Game 4, Jake Arrieta seems the pick. Lackey is possible there, but if the Cubs wanted him in the rotation, he likely would have started Game 1 or 2.