The Curse of the Goat refers to a curse placed on October 6, 1945.

On that day, the Chicago Cubs were facing the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field for the fourth game of the World Series. The Cubs were leading 2-1 in the series, and one more victory would bring them close to being champions.

Billy Sianis, the owner of a tavern called Billy’s Goat, arrived at the stadium. He was accompanied by a goat named Murphy, which he considered his good luck charm and which also served to promote his business located near the stadium.

At the gate, Billy was not allowed to enter with the goat. In response to this refusal, Billy demanded to speak with Philip K. Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs at the time. Wrigley said, "Let Billy in, but not the goat," and Billy responded with the question, "Why not the goat?" The harsh reply was, "Because the goat stinks." There is another version where Billy entered the field with the goat, but the crowd demanded that he leave because of Murphy's foul smell.

Billy then shouted, "The Cubs will never win the World Series again until they allow the goat into Wrigley Field." Believe it or not, the Chicago Cubs lost the final to the Detroit Tigers, and Billy sent a letter to Wrigley that read, "And now, who stinks?" From that moment on, the Chicago Cubs never made it back to the World Series.

Thus, the Curse of the Goat was born.

From 1946 to the present, the Chicago Cubs' seasons were marked by failure.

As additional information, several attempts were made to counteract the curse, though without success. For example, in 1973, Sam Sianis, Billy's nephew and new owner of the bar, along with Dave, a journalist from the Chicago Tribune, organized a sort of ritual. They brought a descendant of Murphy, named Socrates, to Wrigley Field in a white limousine. They made him walk down a red carpet with a sign that said, "Everything is forgiven. Let me bring the Cubs the title." But the story repeated itself, and the Cubs failed again.

Following the curse, they lost the finals in:

• 1910
• 1918
• 1929
• 1932 (swept by the Yankees)
• 1935
• 1938 (swept by the Yankees)
• 1945

The ghost of Murphy was still present.

In 2005, they had to endure their neighbor, the Chicago White Sox, winning the World Series.

Finally, on November 2, 2016, the Curse of the Goat was broken when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series against the Cleveland Indians by a narrow margin in a seventh game, breaking a 71-year streak without World Series appearances and a 108-year streak without championships.