Here's why two players didn't attend the Chicago Cubs' White House visit

As teams across sports hedge on whether or not they'll visit the White House (a customary stop for championship teams) during a Trump presidency, the Chicago Cubs bypassed the debate altogether, squeezing in a visit during President Obama's last week in office.

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Obama celebrated the Cubs' historic World Series victory on Monday afternoon, while the team showed up with copious amounts of swag for the president including customized Air Jordans, two personalized No. 44 Obama jerseys and a lifetime pass to Wrigley field.

But two popular players -- starting pitchers Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta -- were noticeably absent, sparking questions of whether they skipped for political reasons.

Lester quelled any confusion in a tweet late Monday.

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For those of you so quick to jump to conclusions, we had a death in the family and the funeral was yesterday. Absolutely nothing political.

— Jon Lester (@JLester34) January 17, 2017

Arrieta cited family reasons as well: His mother-in-law is recovering from brain surgery and his son Cooper had a tooth pulled that day, according to ESPN. But, considering the Tweet Arrieta posted a day after Trump's election, skeptics have a reason to be suspicious.

Time for Hollywood to pony up and head for the border #illhelpyoupack #beatit

— Jake Arrieta (@JArrieta34) November 9, 2016

Many saw the tweet as pro-Trump and critical of Clinton-supporting celebrities. But Arrieta defended the tweet last week and said it was misinterpreted.

"I was simply calling out people that said they were going to leave the country if Trump was elected," he said, per ESPN. "It's not a pro-Trump tweet. It's not an anti-Hillary tweet. I don't care who the president is. I want whoever's president to do a good job."

Pitchers Hector Rondon and John Lackey also skipped the White House trip, though their motives remain unknown.

TopicsBarack ObamaDonald Trump

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