WRIGLEYVILLE — With Halloween on the horizon and the Cubs deep into the playoffs, superstitions are sure to run rampant in Chicago this month.
But even we got chills when we realized that one lucky little goat first appeared on Instagram the same week as the Cubs' Opening Day.
Littleton the Goat has 2,700 Instagram followers and has been a media darling since his adoption last year. His star has risen alongside a stellar season from the Cubs, who will return to Wrigley Field on Tuesday for Game 3 of the NLCS.
College students at his resident University of Illinois fraternity house say he's the Stanley Yelnats of Major League Baseball, and he's here to break the Curse of the Billy Goat at long last.
Plus, he's really, really cute.
Totes adorb.
For the bandwagon fans and transplants: The Curse of the Billy Goat has plagued the Cubs since 1945. Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis, enraged that he was asked to get his pet goat Murphy out of Wrigley Field, declared, "Them Cubs ain't gonna win no more."
The Cubs lost the 1945 World Series and haven't won one since 1908.
Some have tried to reverse the curse with stunts in the past, bringing goats both dead and alive to Wrigley Field. It just hasn't worked.
BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.
Evan Marinis, Littleton's proud papa, has ties to Billy Sianis. Marinis' grandfather was pals with Sianis, and it was his Greek accent that gave the Billy Goat Tavern its slogan.
"My grandfather actually helped make their slogan famous. The reason it's with an accent, 'Cheezborger, Cheezborger' is because of my grandpa, because he couldn't speak good English," Marinis told The Daily Illini.
BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.
It's also The Year of the Goat.
Let's go, Cubs!
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