CHICAGO - Lou Piniella got the hard, cold facts nearly a year ago when he was introduced as the Cubs’ manager. Told it was going on 99 years between World Series winners, Piniella seemed surprised.

“Has it been that long here?” he asked.

Piniella made sure he gave Cubs’ fans hope, dispensing the same optimism they’ve been hearing from a long list of managers during a drought that extends to 1908.

“Urgency is important,” he said. “We’re going to win here.”

So far, he’s delivered. And that’s why the mere mention of his name brings out a long chorus of “Louuuuuuu” from the long-suffering followers, several thousand of whom showed up for a rainy downtown rally Monday.

The NL Central champion Cubs open the playoffs Wednesday at Arizona. There were times this season when it appeared Piniella’s promise might not be met and the postseason was as far away as ever.

During a season that started slowly with the Cubs dropped to 22-31 in June and 8½ games out of first later that month, Piniella acknowledged that the task was even tougher than he anticipated. Producing a “Cubbie Swagger” took time and even more mixing and matching of personnel from a man who’s spent most of his life in the game.

Seventeen years ago, Piniella he led the Cincinnati Reds to a four-game sweep over the favored Oakland Athletics to win the World Series. His Seattle teams won as many as 116 games during the regular season, but never got to the World Series. After an unsuccessful run with his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays and some time in the TV booth, his task is getting the Cubs back to the Series for the first time since 1945.

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That’s the year, legend has it, that the Cubs were cursed after a tavern owner and his goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during the World Series.

Supposed curses are one thing. Collapses much more real.

Chicago appeared on the verge of another one last week when the Cubs lost three straight to the lowly Florida Marlins, Piniella kept the team loose as possible, even inviting comedian Bill Murray, a longtime Cubs’ fan, to hang out around the batting cage before one game.

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It didn’t produce a win in Miami, but the Cubs regrouped and clinched last Friday in Cincinnati. The slogan as champagne flowed was: There is work yet to be done.

“We’ve waited a long time,” Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams said.

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After a 96-loss, last-place finish in 2006 that led to the departures of chief executive officer Andy MacPhail and manager Dusty Baker, the Cubs committed $300 million during the offseason for salaries. That came after club president John McDonough promised the goal was to win the World Series.

The Cubs won the major leagues’ weakest division. But last year, the St. Louis Cardinals finished first at just 83-79, then got on a roll at the right time and beat Detroit in the World Series.

“You got to get in, and then anything can happen,” Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa said.

Chicago found that out so painfully four years ago, in Baker’s first season, when they blew a three-games-to-one lead against the Marlins in the NL championship series.

The Cubs were ahead 3-0 in the eighth inning of Game 6 — five outs from the World Series — when the Marlins put together an eight-run inning. Florida beat Kerry Wood — now a middle and setup reliever — in Game 7 and went on to win the World Series.

In addition to Wood, the Cubs have several key players with postseason experience: Cliff Floyd, Aramis Ramirez, Jacque Jones, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, Jason Kendall, DeRosa, Bob Howry, Scott Eyre and most especially Derrek Lee, who helped the Marlins beat the Cubs four years ago.

Maybe, just maybe, this finally will be the season Cubs’ fans refer to when they say: “Wait ’til next year.” They’re facing a first-round opponent that beat them four times in six meeting this season. That doesn’t seem to matter now.

“The real pressure is getting to the playoffs. And they’ve been through that,” Piniella said last weekend. “I’ve talked to the team a little bit, but I think the experience they’ve gone through is much more beneficial than anything I could say.”