On July 30 in Cincinnati, the Cubs lost to the Reds 6-3. That dropped their record to 51-58. They were in last place in the NL Central, 11 games behind the Brewers, and stood seven games behind the Padres, who held the last wild-card spot on that date.
Since then, the Cubs are 23-12. Friends, that is the best record in Major League Baseball over that span — half a game better than the Padres, Dodgers and Diamondbacks at 23-13.
The winning hasn’t helped them make up much, if any, ground. They’ve picked up 2½ games on the Brewers in the division and two games in the wild-card race.