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there wasn’t much hope anything would be different.
    Not that the outcomes of Cactus Leagues games are indicative of regular-season success, but the Cubs were an embarrassment. They lost 11 straight at one point, finished 7–20, and endured a nasty brawl between 23-year-old outfielder Mel Hall and veteran pitcher Dick Ruthven.
    In other words, it seemed to be the same old Cubs. But this wasn’t your grandfather’s team, and it certainly wasn’t former owner P.K. Wrigley’s. Under the Tribune Co., which bought the team from the Wrigley family in 1981, the franchise actually had a baseball plan in place that was being led by executive vice president and general manager Dallas Green.
    The first two years at the helm had been spent shedding dead weight and searching for what Green called “gamers,” players who didn’t need to be told to run out ground balls or put the team before their own stats.
    During the off-season, Green acquired starting pitcher Scott Sanderson from Montreal in a three-team deal, a solid trade that would pay dividends. But his biggest move was firing Lee Elia and bringing in as skipper Jim Frey, who had led the Kansas City Royals to the 1980 World Series.
    Still, the talent on the field from the previous season wasn’t that much different as Opening Day approached. That changed on March 26 when Green dealt aging reliever Bill Campbell and minor league outfielder Mike Diaz to Philadelphia for outfielders Gary Matthews, Bobby Dernier, and pitcher Porfi Altamirano.
    It was a brilliant trade, with the Cubs getting two key starters for spare parts. Matthews immediately took over left field and became the veteran leader they needed while the speedy Dernier, who the Phillies were going to send to the minors, claimed the center-field job.
    Not only did the deal remake the outfield, it also led to two in-season trades that dramatically altered the Cubs’ season. When Matthews and Dernier arrived, Hall remained a utility outfielder and promising rookie outfielder Joe Carter stayed in the minors. It also forced disgruntled Cubs veteran Bill Buckner to the bench.
    Less than three months later, none of them were in the Cubs organization.
    The first two games of the season—both victories—were started by Dick Ruthven and Chuck Rainey, bottom-of-the-rotation pitchers at this point in their careers. Aside from Sanderson, the only dependable starter they had was fun-loving left-hander Steve Trout. The Cubs needed pitching to contend.
    On May 25, Buckner was traded to Boston for Dennis Eckersley, a fiery 29-year-old who won 20 games in 1978 but had endured some rough years and during the first few months of the season was just 4–4 with a 5.01 earned-run average.
    Less than three weeks later, on June 13, Hall and Carter along with minor leaguers Darryl Banks and Don Schulze were traded to Cleveland for backup catcher Ron Hassey, reliever George Frazier, and a red-headed giant by the name of Rick Sutcliffe.
    Sutcliffe was an All-Star with the Indians in 1983 and had been the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1979, but he was in the midst of a down season caused in part by a painful root canal. He was 4–5 with a 5.15 ERA in 15 starts for Cleveland.
    When the Cubs traded for Sutcliffe, they were 34 –25 and 1½ games up on the New York Mets in the NL East race. Sutcliffe’s first start didn’t come until June 19 when they were stuck in a four-game losing streak and had fallen out of first.
    As he would do all season—seven of his victories came after losses—Sutcliffe rejuvenated the Cubs. He allowed one earned run and struck out nine over eight innings in a 4–3 win over Pittsburgh to right the ship.
    Four days later, Sandberg hit a pair of homers off Bruce Sutter in a 12–11 win over St. Louis— the mythical “Sandberg Game”—and the city was overcome by Cubs mania.
    Sandberg deservedly won praise for his offense, but he didn’t lead the Cubs in homers or RBIs. The offense was