Chicago Cubs ready for more Opening Day moments under Joe Maddon

Another Opening Day is upon us – and, thus, the return of Chicago Cubs baseball. Since 2015, the first games of the season have produced plenty of memories.

Opening Day is something every baseball fan looks forward to all winter, no matter what your team did the previous year. There is just something special about the beginning to a new season– optimism is in the air, every team starts 0-0 and every team feels like they have a chance to do something special that year. As Chicago Cubs fans, we know all about this.

The 2015 opener was something really special. It marked Joe Maddon‘s first game as the manager of the Cubs, the feeling around the club was one most of us hadn’t felt in a long time. During the offseason, Chicago had signed the big left-hander Jon Lester. This showed the Cubs and their fans that the organization was serious about starting to win now.

If expectation weren’t already high enough, in January of 2015, Anthony Rizzo, made some comments that really excited some Cubs fans, saying, “We will win the NL Central.” This statement exuded the confidence he had in the team and what they were capable of. On Opening Day 2015, the Cubs took on the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

This marked Lester’s first start as a Cub and his first start at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his best stuff that day only going 4 1/3 innings and giving up three earned runs. The Cardinals won the game 3-0, but expectations were still high as we all settled in for a 162-game marathon.