And this year's home opener included new additions- from a renovated Wrigley Field to the new owners. The Ricketts family, who bought the team in October, greeted fans and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch.
It's been 102 years since the Cubs have won the World Series- and Cubs fans are ready to bring that title home.
"We should have been at work, but it's opening day for the Cubs. We had to be here," said George Pacheco, Cub fan.
"All I wish is an opening day victory, a good time for all, and this is a Cubs nation, not anybody else's nation," said Joel Prottengeier, Cub fan.
"Today's unbelievable. It's beyond expectations. It's beyond words. It's just unreal," said Tom Ricketts, Cubs owner. "All we now is a World Series. We've got the new bathrooms!"
The new bathrooms and revamped exterior are part of the Ricketts $10 million investment. But, in the end, it is all about the game- and the fans. p> "My father and I come to opening day every year. Ten years in a row we have been to opening day," said Tom Hill, Cub fan.
"This is the year. This is it," said Dave Payne, Cub fan. "Forty four years I've been saying that."
Hope does spring eternal with Cubs fans and why not, after all, it is the beginning of a new season. And, as the Cubs' motto goes, "it is a way of life."
