Cubs' 'family' ready for another run at it

ANAHEIM, Calif. - There's nothing else quite like it on the calendar: Opening Day.

It seems to have the same effect on everybody on a baseball team, from the team owner all the way down.

Maybe it's the pregame fireworks, the flyover or the huge American flag being unfurled in the outfield. Or maybe it's just the sense of renewal.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon was not playing Monday night when his team opened the 2016 season against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but even he admitted to butterflies in the stomach.

"Of course," said Maddon, entering his second season with the Cubs. "I'm always nervous the day of the first game. I felt a little bit different when I woke up this morning. It speaks to what I was talking about in spring training: There's nothing more different than a spring-training game and a regular-season game. Nothing could be more different. So you woke up today with a little bit of a buzz about you.

"It's good. It gets that adrenaline pumping where it needs to be. I hope I'm never not nervous. That's two negatives, but you know what I'm saying on Opening Day. I hope that I'm always nervous on Opening Day."

Team president Theo Epstein, the architect of last year's 97-win team, also sees something special in this one day.

"Opening Day, to me, is the symbolic start of something you know is going to challenge you," he said. "The season challenges you, most of all the players, but also the front office and the fans.

"I said this in spring training and I'll say it again: It's great to have a group of players that we really trust. We trust their talent.

"More importantly, we trust their character, who they are. We think they're mature enough at a relatively young age to handle the things that are going to come up and go wrong during the season. We trust the organization. There are a lot of great people here. Everyone's in it for the right reasons."

Ricketts always has expressed optimism, even in the lean years. It's even more so now.

"The expectations should be high," he said. "It's a good team, but a lot of other teams got better. We've got a really tough division. We've got to play the games to see how it shakes out."

In the clubhouse before the game, players expressed gratitude that spring training was finally over. Perhaps the most poignant comment came from Kris Bryant, who noted that it was his first major-league Opening Day but the last for veteran backup catcher David Ross.

Ross said he indeed was thinking about his big-league journey and that a lot of things would cross his mind when he stood on the baseline for pregame introductions.

"I don't want to start crying (on) TV," he said. "I'll be out there taking it in. I'm going to try to take it all in. It's on my mind, just to get the season started. When you try to reflect, to take the moments in, it can get overwhelming sometimes. I'm just trying to get back to the routine of being a baseball player."