Cubs can break "Curse of the Billy Goat" with World Series win

The Chicago Cubs are in the World Series for the first time since 1945. For perspective, consider that Jackie Robinson didn't break baseball's color barrier until 1947.

The Cubs haven't won the World Series since consecutive titles in 1907 and 1908. For perspective, consider that the World Series was created in 1903.

In 2004, baseball's most famous curse - the Curse of the Bambino - ended when the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, their first title since 1918.

Now, as the World Series opens Tuesday in Cleveland, baseball's second-most famous curse could end if the Cubs win their first World Series since Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House.

It's called the "Curse of the Billy Goat," and it goes back to the 1945 World Series when the Cubs lost after winning two of the first three games against Detroit.

"If the Cubs win the World Series, it'll be nice to end all the mystique about the goat and all the losing," Cubs Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins told me.

The history: Billy Sianis, who owned the Billy Goat Tavern, was turned away at the gate before Game 4 at Wrigley because he wanted to bring his smelly goat into the ballpark and promote his bar.

The goat wasn't allowed in. Sianis left. The Cubs lost. Folklore says that's how the curse started.

After the Tigers won the series, Sianis sent Cubs ownership a note that read, "Who stinks now?"

Since 1945, the Cubs lost in the playoffs in 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2015.

The Cubs' 2003 season ended with two losses in Games 6 and 7 of the National League Championship Series to the Florida Marlins in Wrigley Field. Nationals manager Dusty Baker was the Cubs' manager that season.

In 2008, the Cubs led the NL with 97 wins and were swept by the Dodgers in the Division Series.

Here are other things to know about the Cubs, the team from the Windy City's North Side:

* In 1908, a year where Henry Ford produced the first Model T, President Theodore Roosevelt declined to run for a third term, allowing William Howard Taft to become president. In 1910 at D.C.'s Griffith Stadium, Taft started the tradition of presidents throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day.

* The architect of the Cubs' roster is Theo Epstein, who helped the Red Sox break their curse by winning the World Series title in 2004. As a college student, Epstein wanted to be a sports reporter, but decided against that when he was an intern in the Orioles' public relations department from 1992-94. "I saw that the life of a sportswriter is pretty lonely," Epstein told the Chicago Tribune.

* If Cleveland wants advice on how to beat the Cubs, they should call the Mets and Rockies, the only teams to have winning records against the Cubs this season. The Cubs were 2-5 against the Mets and 2-4 versus the Rockies. On the flip side, the Cubs were 15-4 against Cincinnati, 14-4 against Pittsburgh.

* The Cubs' biggest deficit in the NL Central was one game. They won the division by 19 games and their high mark was 45 games over .500, on the season's final day.

* The Cubs had the best run differential in the majors - plus 252. The Red Sox were second at 184 and the Nationals third 151.

* Throw out Dexter Fowler's age (30) and Ben Zobrist's (34) and the Cubs lineup in Game 6 of the NLCS averaged 24 years.

* Two impressive rookies: Infielder Javier Baez is hitting .342 in the postseason. In spring training, the Cubs were looking for a position for him and thought about the outfield. Catcher Willson Contreras is hitting .400 in the postseason. Last October, he was watching the Cubs in the postseason while playing in the Arizona Fall League.

* The Cubs' weirdest stat: They were 22-23 in one-run games. But they had seven walk-off wins, 15 shutouts and 42 wins where they scored five or more runs.

* Cubs starters Kyle Hendricks (2.13) and Jon Lester (2.44) had the two best ERAs in the NL and all four Cubs starters, including John Lackey and Jake Arrieta, ranked in the NL top seven for WHIP. Hendicks had the lowest (0.98), Arrieta (1.08) the highest.

* The Cubs won 57 games at Wrigley Field, the most home wins for them during their 101 seasons in the ballpark.

* Kris Bryant is the fourth Cubs player in history to finish with 120 runs, 35 doubles, 39 home runs and 100 RBIs. The others are Rogers Hornsby (1929), Hack Wilson (1930) and Derrek Lee (2003).

* The worst team in Cubs history, according to political commentator George Will's book, "A Nice Little Place on the North Side," might have been 1948, when the team went 64-90 and finished last. The inept team inspired a Norman Rockwell cover on the Saturday Evening Post showing the Cubs dugout embarrassment. Also that season, Cubs ownership took out a newspaper ad, apologizing for the team and saying the rebuilding was "flop."

* Cubs manager Joe Maddon has an unusual way. He cut his starters' innings during the regular season by 35-40 innings each to keep them fresh for October. He's saved pitchers by letting them play in the outfield for a batter or two. And to keep the grind of season from becoming boring, he's brought penguins, pythons and mariachi bands into the clubhouse. One of Maddon's favorite words is "groovy."