In October 2011, the Cubs agreed to a five-year contract with Theo Epstein , naming him the president of baseball operations. Epstein assembled a team, including GM Jed Hoyer , and went through the process of rebuilding Cubs baseball from the bottom up.

The year after Epstein was hired, the Cubs lost 101 games. But the Cubs win total has gone up each season since then, culminating in 2016 with their first 100+ win season since 1935.