The turnaround by the Chicago Cubs' offense this season has been so unusual, so remarkable, that for a time, even the executives who shaped the team weren't wholly sure whether the explosive run production was real or a temporary aberration. But on July 26, Jed Hoyer, the Cubs' head of baseball operations and general manager Carter Hawkins, watched the team from seats on the first-base side at Guaranteed Rate Field and saw a comeback that swayed them.
With the front office sitting on the fence about its direction before the trade deadline, the Cubs trailed the White Sox 7-2 at the outset of the fifth inning.