CHICAGO -- The experience of being a personal catcher is nothing new to Cubs manager David Ross. He served as Jon Lester's catcher in his time with Chicago and still has caught more of the lefty's career innings than any other backstop.

"I know firsthand what that relationship feels like," Ross said on Tuesday. "When you're on the same page with a guy, you've just got a good rapport and a connection that goes beyond just being back there and receiving the baseball."

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The Cubs currently have that situation on two fronts and plan on holding steady with an abbreviated 60-game season looming.

Over the past three years, Willson Contreras has served as Lester's primary catcher, crouching behind the plate for 91 percent (484 out of 534 innings) of the starter's innings in that span. Backup Victor Caratini, meanwhile, found an incredible rhythm as Yu Darvish's catcher last year, and the Cubs do not want to break up that pairing, either.

"We know that Willy and Jon have worked great together over the last few years," Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. "And what Vic did with Darvish that second half of the season last year, too, catching the majority of those games, I think, can't go unnoticed.

"So, yeah, we're going to try to hit the ground running, and part of that is having those matchups between pitchers and catchers locked in before we start."

Last season, Caratini caught the majority of Darvish's outings, including the right-hander's final 14 turns for the Cubs. During that stretch, Darvish was dominant, piling up 124 strikeouts against seven walks with a 2.95 ERA in 88 1/3 innings. In a 60-game slate, about a dozen starts will be the target for most starting pitchers.

Contreras prides himself on playing every game, and he even said in a Zoom conversation on Monday that he hopes to be available for all 60 games. His manager knows the catcher would never turn down an assignment, either.

"Willson's heart is he wants to catch every game," Ross said. "If I told Willson, 'You've got all 60,' he would be all on board with that. I think sometimes in this seat, you have to protect your star players and your guys in general just from the fatigue of playing every day. It's a really hard position."

And that is another reason why the Caratini-Darvish partnership is so important.

By putting Darvish with Caratini and Contreras with Lester, it builds in known starting days for the catchers to plan around. There will be mixing and matching in the games between, days off built in, and Josh Phegley potentially also being available as a third catcher on the 30-man Opening Day roster.

"It's nice to find a routine," Ross said. "When I was a backup and had a personal pitcher that I caught, you can really plan your week around the day you want to play, how you scout the guy you may be facing, when to get your workout in, when to take extra BP, maybe when to back off. There's just some nice components to the off-days as well."

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The addition of the designated hitter in the National League for 2020 also helps the situation.

Some of Chicago's outfielders will rotate into the DH role, but Contreras is one of the elite offensive catchers in the Majors, and Caratini is a switch-hitter that Ross really values as well. There could be days -- when Darvish or Lester start, for example -- that one catcher will slot in as the DH to rest his legs, but keep his bat in the mix.

"I think that's an advantage for us, because that gets us more at-bats," Contreras said. "I think I'll be playing most of the games, and the games that I don't want to be playing, I think I'll be the DH. So I'll be ready to play every single day."

Asked about Caratini catching Darvish, Contreras took the opportunity to praise his backup and expressed that there are bigger things at stake this year for the Cubs than worrying about personal situations.

"Darvish did really well with Victor last year," Contreras said. "That's one thing that I don't mind. I think they did really good, and I think I put myself in that situation when I started catching Lester. So it's the same situation.

"I'm not mad. We are teammates. We want to do really good, and we're here to win. That's the most important thing."