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Opening Day 2018 is underway, and Chicago Cubs fans have a lot to be excited about! 

The 2017 Cubs had a helluva season. They won the NL Central Division for the second straight year, made the playoffs for the third straight year, and won their way to the NLCS for the third straight year.

Those 2015-2017 teams were the first Cubs teams to have back-to-back-to-back .500-or-better seasons since 2007-2009, and the 2017 Cubs were the first defending World Series champions to win their division since the 2009 Phillies. (Not to mention, they took 14 of 19 regular season games from the Cardinals, knocking them out of the playoff picture along the way.)

The core of those Cubs squads are back again for 2018. Almora, Baez, Bryant, Contreras, Heyward, LaStella, Rizzo, Russell, Schwarber, and Zobrist will all be donning Cubs pinstripes again. Ian Happ also returns, looking to build upon an impressive 2017 rookie season (24 HR, 68 RBI, .253/.328/.514 in 413 PA).

As for the pitchers, Hendricks, Lester, and Quintana return to a rotation that will be without Jake Arrieta for the first time since 2014. The free agent signings of Tyler Chatwood and Yu Darvish look to offset that loss, and then some. All five starters have had a good Spring Training, fanning 64 batters in 55 innings and compiling a 2.29 ERA as of this writing.

There will be some new faces in the North Siders’ bullpen this season, as the offseason acquisitions of Steve Cishek and Brandon Morrow look to add their dance moves to those of the established reliever corps (Duensing, Edwards, Montgomery, Strop, and Wilson).

Go Cubs go!