Jed Hoyer has been lambasted, berated, and chastised by Chicago Cubs fans over the past half-decade, but boy oh boy, did he get some validation in the team's Wild Card series win over the San Diego Padres.
Sure, it had to be nice to see the team finally eclipse 85 wins for the first time since he took over for Theo Epstein, and it sure didn't hurt that they finally made the postseason after a five-year drought. Winning the franchise's first playoff games since 2017 was also surely a sigh of relief moment.
But, truth be told, the real vindication Hoyer received wasn't in the winning itself, but rather how the team won.