CHICAGO _ No team in professional sports lugs more baggage than the Cubs.
During 108 years spent in the wilderness, the bleak trinkets they've amassed include a black cat, a billy goat and a Bartman. This season, success has brought outsized expectations, yet another anchor they must shoulder should they complete their march to a long-coveted World Series championship.
But the Cubs established Friday night that they will not be dragged down by that weight, beating the Giants, 1-0, on Javier Baez's eighth-inning solo shot, the deciding moment in a tense opener of this National League Division Series.
"No matter how much pressure you feel, you've got to play the same game," Baez said the day before his homer left Wrigley Field shaking. "Last year, with what happened, we learned from it."
A year ago, the Cubs crashed October, a precocious group who played with wads of house money. The ride ended with a thud in the NLCS against the Mets, a four-game sweep in which they were smothered by superior pitching.
The Cubs hoped to lean on the lessons of that experience against the Giants, three-time world champions fresh off their epic wild-card triumph against the Mets. For one night, those lessons came through.
Before the 2015 season, the Giants pursued Jon Lester in free agency, hoping he would form a stout tandem with Madison Bumgarmer atop the starting rotation. Seduced by the pursuit of history, Lester took less money to join the Cubs.
A year later, the Giants added their second ace in Johnny Cueto, who took the mound in Game 1 against Lester. The two dueled through the night. Lester tossed eight scoreless innings, scattering five hits, continuing his mastery at home.
Cueto blinked, though it did not come until the eighth inning, on his 108th pitch, a 93-mph fastball that caught too much of the plate. It was the only misstep in eight innings. Baez pulled the mistake and realizing it immediately, Cueto whipped his head around in disgust.
The ball wedged in the basket above the fence and soon, the Friendly Confines demanded a curtain call. Baez obliged.
Closer Aroldis Chapman survived a Buster Posey double in the ninth to secure the victory, providing reassurance that perhaps this year, things may really be different.
"A lot of us have placed big expectations on ourselves," said Kris Bryant, one of the brilliant young stars who the Cubs are banking on to reverse their Curse. "So I think we're all ready for it as a team."
Indeed, these Cubs are no lovable losers, but a 103-win juggernaut that outscored opponents by an obscene 252 runs during the regular season. It's why they hoped Friday night's series opener would mark the beginning of their great transformation.
They are the handiwork of a hired gun, Theo Epstein. Half boy wonder, half mad scientist, Epstein was brought to the North Side specifically for his experience ridding another hideous curse with the Red Sox.
Not since 1935 _ two years before Wrigley Field's famed Ivy took root _ had the Cubs won 100 games.
On Friday night, Mike Ditka, Eddie Vedder and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were among the 42,148 who packed into Wrigley Field expecting the start of something big. They were not disappointed.
