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CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs had hoped to use the past four days to maintain or pad their lead in the National League Central Blaine Boyer Jersey , but the weather certainly didn’t cooperate.Heading into a pivotal three-game series against the second-place Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs will attempt to again create some distance. The series opens a day after Chicago’s scheduled series finale against the Washington Nationals was washed out by rain, which was a constant throughout the weekend.The Cubs will attempt to bounce back after being swept in a Saturday doubleheader that was forced after Friday’s scheduled game was rained out as well.Article continues below ...“The bright side is just getting through (the weekend),” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters Sunday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We’ve done really well through this stretch. I’ve been really pleased with it and it’s not easy to do what we’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks and how well we’ve actually played.”Despite losing their past two games, the Cubs are 4-4 in their last eight games, which had allowed the Cubs to maintain their cushion over the Brewers. But the margin has been trimmed to two games after Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants on Sunday with a 6-3 victory.The Brewers will enter Monday’s series opener having won eight of their past 10 games and captured two of three from the Cubs last week. Now, with the Cubs within reach, the Brewers head to Chicago with the front-runners in their sights.“Something we’ve been talking about (is) ‘Don’t think about the wild card — think about the division,” said Brewers pitcher Jhoulys Chacin, who will take the mound Tuesday. “We have the chance this week. It feels really important now.”Jon Lester will take the mound as the Cubs attempt to get back on a winning track after the wet weekend in Washington.Lester (15-5 Trevor Cahill Jersey , 3.53 ERA) has won three of his past four starts but hasn’t pitched since Sept. 2. Lester threw six scoreless innings in his last outing against the Philadelphia Phillies when he scattered six hits and struck out seven.Lester was scheduled to pitch Friday, but when the game was rained out, it allowed the Cubs ace to open the series against Milwaukee on Monday rather than pitch Wednesday’s series finale.Lester is 4-2 with a 2.40 ERA in seven career starts against the Brewers.Milwaukee will counter with Wade Miley (3-2, 2.12) as the Brewers attempt to continue to close the gap. Miley has won just won of his six previous starts but shut down the Cubs last week when he allowed just one earned run in six innings while allowing just three hits and striking out five. Miley is 5-2 with a 4.13 ERA in eight career starts against the Cubs.Miley has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his 12 starts with the Brewers and, like the rest of his teammates, believe that catching the Cubs and capturing the division title is well within reach.“Why wouldn’t it be? Heck, yeah,” Miley said after his last start, according to the Brewers’ official website. “I don’t think you quit thinking about it until you can’t think about it no more. I think that’s the way to go about it.” PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Just a few hours after Jacob deGrom threw his first practice pitch of spring training, the NL Cy Young Award winner let everyone know the score.He hasn’t received a long-term contract offer from the New York Mets and isn’t sure he will before opening day.“I honestly have no clue. There hasn’t really been many talks Melky Cabrera Jersey ,” deGrom said Thursday. “But that can change in one phone call. I just don’t really know.”The 30-year-old deGrom is set to make $17 million this season and is under club control through 2020. If he doesn’t get a new deal this spring, however, he didn’t rule out limiting his 2019 workload to protect his personal future.It’s an idea that was floated by his agent, Jeff Berry of CAA, in a recent memo to major leaguers during a second consecutive slow free-agent market. If teams are so hesitant to sign accomplished veterans because they come with wear and tear, maybe players should take measures themselves to assure they stay fresh.“I think that’s going to be a discussion that’s going to have to be had with my agents,” deGrom said, wearing a blue and orange Mets cap following the club’s first scheduled workout for pitchers and catchers. “I’m going to have to sit down with them and really see what they think is best for me moving forward.“You play this game ’cause you love it and then, you know, you have an opportunity to look out for your family and your future. So I think, just http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , you have to see what’s right for you to do.”Adding to it all is the bizarre fact that new Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen was deGrom’s agent with CAA before switching sides at the bargaining table last fall.Van Wagenen insisted he’s not worried about deGrom taking a seat to save his arm.“I don’t anticipate any concerns,” Van Wagenen said. “We want to protect Jacob deGrom as much as Jacob deGrom and as much as his agents want to protect him because he matters to us not just during the regular season but his impact is even more important for us in October. So, as far as managing workloads with or without an extension, we’re going to make sure that the player’s health is considered.”The developing saga has already commanded much of the attention as the new-look Mets open camp with an improved roster and playoff aspirations. Teammates have spoken out in support of the humble deGrom getting financially rewarded for his consistent excellence on the mound, and the sides set an opening-day deadline for striking a deal so talks don’t create a distraction during the season.New York opens up March 28 in Washington, and manager Mickey Callaway drew laughs from reporters when — unprovoked — he made a point to announce deGrom (quite obviously) would get the ball.If no contract agreement is reached by then, discussions could always resume next offseason. As of now, at least“There’s been plenty of conversations but no offers exchanged,” Van Wagenen said. “I have no doubt that the two sides will know each other’s positions, if nothing else, by the end of camp Ian Kinsler Jersey , and hopefully we’ll be on the same page.”It was Van Wagenen — on the pitcher’s behalf — who suggested last July the organization should consider trading deGrom if it wasn’t planning to commit to him long-term.“That was just I think him trying to get something moving,” deGrom said with a sheepish smile. “We had heard the possibility of us talking and it’s never gotten anywhere. So, I think it was just trying to get the ball rolling and seeing what was happening and seeing if I was in this team’s future plans and not just right now.”A two-time All-Star and the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year, deGrom reiterated how much he loves playing in New York and wants to stay. He’s made it clear he’s interested in signing a multiyear contract now rather than testing free agency.Of course, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and his father, owner Fred Wilpon, would be the ones approving any lucrative deal.So what are the Mets waiting for?“Jacob is 100 percent a part of our future now and hopefully for years to come,” Van Wagenen said. “Offers and contract negotiations can be complicated processes. It needs to have analysis done on the club side, it needs to have analysis done on the player’s side. We are still going through our considerations on the club side and once we have those done, we’ll obviously communicate some of that information to the player and his agent.”Last month, deGrom and the Mets agreed to a $17 million Albert Pujols Jersey , one-year contract to avoid arbitration — a raise of $9.6 million over his 2018 salary.“I think first and foremost we wanted to get the arbitration, one-year number resolved,” Van Wagenen said. “You never want to create contention between players and the team they play for, so that was a real priority for us.“That goodwill hopefully now is shifting over to the next phase of our process,” he added. “Everybody knows that Jacob deGrom is great. Everybody knows that Jacob deGrom deserves to be handsomely rewarded for his performance.”After leading the majors with a 1.70 ERA in 217 innings last year, deGrom was a runaway winner in NL Cy Young Award balloting. He went just 10-9 with 269 strikeouts in 32 starts, receiving little support from a fourth-place team that finished 77-85.“I think that Jacob’s season last year, we’re probably never going to see anything like it again in our lifetime,” Callaway said.