"There aren't many changes inside Wrigley Field this year, including the Cubs' clubhouse, where Kerry Wood got his old locker back.

"It didn't cost me anything — yet," he said.

Wood's return to the mound figures to be an emotional moment at Wrigley, though he said it did not feel strange at all to be back at his old stomping grounds.

As for the prognosticators downplaying the Cubs' chances, Wood said: "The sun is going to come up and we're going to get dressed and go play a baseball game. All the experts are always wrong. Their early picks are never right. We focus on what we have to do, do what makes us good, and we'll be all right.""