Curses!

Today is Friday the 13th, which naturally brings out the superstitious person in all of us. Baseball is a pretty darn superstitious sport in and of itself, so I thought I would revisit a couple of the 'curses' that supposedly led to the Blue Jays not winning the World Series this year (and maybe one that helped them?).

First and foremost, I don't really believe in curses *knocks on wood*. Other than the power that they can have over the people who DO believe in them, there's no evidence to prove these things are real. The only supernatural reason the Jays didn't get to the World Series is the Royals' devil magic. Helped out by a little lying bearded brat, and a crappy 9th-inning strike zone.

Huh, I really thought I'd be over that by now. Moving on...

First and foremost, there's the Taylor Swift curse. You know, the one that says every team whose stadium she gave a concert in started doing badly after she left town. Like the Nats, the Padres, and the Astros (although the Padres were at .481 and in fourth place in their division before she played in San Diego, so they shouldn't even count), some Jays fans got worried that her playing at the Dome would cost them.

I already addressed this:

The Jays are immune from the Taylor Swift curse because we have a banner from 1989 hanging in the Dome. It protects us.

— Em #ThankYouAA (@JaysGirlEmily) October 3, 2015

But it should be noted that in 1989 the Jays lost in the ALCS, to the team that went on to win the World Series (just like every team we've ever lost to in the ALCS) so who knows?

The Jays might have 'lucked' out here, because her concerts in Toronto came in October, pretty much at the very end of the regular season, when they'd already clinched. They won the game in Tampa that occurred simultaneously with her concert on October 2nd, then lost the late-afternoon game prior to her concert the next day, then were thoroughly embarrassed by the Rays the day after that.

And then came the playoffs. One theory is that she doesn't curse the team so much as she curses the stadium, so here's how that played out: The Jays were 3-3 in home games in the postseason, and 2-3 in away games. So much for that.

The jury's still out, but just to be safe, Taylor, the next time you're in Toronto - please play at the ACC.

The next and last curse is the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse. This one is far more well-established and documented (heck, it even has its own Wikipedia page) and is one of those stories where there are just SO many coincidences that even skeptics are scratching their heads. But it can't be that powerful, or else all athletes would refuse to appear on the cover, right? Right?!

Still, when this cover was released, for the October 17th issue, I was more giddy-excited than apprehensive. I mean look at all their smiling faces! They look like the cast of a sitcom! (A sitcom I would totally watch, by the way). Gibby's even got that 'They're zany, but what can I do about it' shrug down pat.

At the beginning of the ALDS, they lost two games and everyone was ready to 'blame the curse!' But then they turned it around, won three in a row and took the ALDS crown. That seems pretty un-curse-like to me. Obviously, they lost in the next round to the aforementioned Royals, but it's not like they got swept. Aside from losing, there's not much to be said for this curse.

And then I did some thinking about the individuals on the cover, and I realized the curse may have affected each of them individually, in more minor ways. And I got some MAJOR goosebumps. Let's break it down:

David Price: This guy seems to have his own personal curse, in that he's never won a postseason game he's started. Three times this year that happened, despite a strong beginning in ALCS Game 2. He pitched well most of the time, but never got enough run support. He also gave up three times as many runs as RA Dickey did in ALDS Game 4, in fewer innings. (That's more of a compliment to Dickey than it is an indictment of Price). Also, in that very Wikipedia article, I found that this (sorry for the tiny text):

Russell Martin: He had a minor slump at the plate in the postseason, and didn't hit a single home run (surprising, considering just about every other Jays player did). But the most obvious symbol of his curse was 'the throw that launched a thousand beer cans' in ALDS game 5, a.k.a. his return toss to Aaron Sanchez that somehow managed to find Shin-Soo Choo's bat and roll away, allowing Roughned Odor to score and causing mass hysteria at the Dome. It was the flukiest of all flukes, something nobody on either team or the umpiring staff had ever seen before.
Here he is discussing that very moment:

Troy Tulowitzki: Tulo also had an issue with the umpires and with Odor (maybe Odor himself is a curse, hmmm...) because he was the one who laid down the tag in the 14th inning of Game 2 that was reviewed, and somehow still ruled safe. If the out was called properly, it would have ended the inning - but instead, Odor and another run scored, leading to the Jays losing that game. 

Tulo also was involved in a debacle with Sam Dyson in the 5th game of that very series (keep your hands to yourself, Dyson!) and got bizarrely ejected for no apparent reason from ALCS in game 3. 

Now you might think Jose Bautista was immune from the curse, being that he probably had the best postseason out of anyone - hitting 4 homers, including the one that brought the house down and sealed the ALDS. But he, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion - the remaining fellows on the cover - all were removed from games with minor injuries, 3 of the 4 Jays players this happened to (Brett Cecil being the 4th). In game 1 of the ALDS, Bautista felt a tightness in his hamstring that prevented him from taking the field in the ninth inning. 

Donaldson was the final out in the last game of the ALCS, down by 1 and unable to drive in the man on 3rd. As mentioned earlier, he was also pulled from ALDS game 1 for fear of a possible concussion after he slid into 2nd base and smacked his head off Roughned Odor's knee (damnit Odor!) 

Ouch.

Encarnacion suffered another sprained finger during the first game of the ALCS that caused his swing to become painful, prompting him leaving the game early. 

The only Jays player missing from this cover that possibly had an even worse postseason was Ryan Goins, who went 0-for-18 in his first 5 games. And then there was that time that he didn't catch a pop-up in RF in Kansas City... Stupid ghosts. 

I should note that, aside from that bloop, he was spectacular defensively all postseason long, and totally redeemed himself at the plate afterwards (including with a home run!). Good for you, Go-Go! 

There may have also been some awesome sort of magic working in the Jays' favour - such as this tweet from the governor of Texas that seemed to have jinxed not one, but both of the teams mentioned. The Jays won the 4th game of the series that very night in Texas, and then all the errors in Inning 7 of Game 5... well, you know the rest. 

Still, the SI curse is kind of spooky, and in terms of MLB it didn't even stop with the Blue Jays this year. They featured Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy prior to the World Series, after he'd hit a crazy number of home runs in consecutive games - and then he made a bunch of errors and didn't hit a single homer in the WS. 

But the photo shoot for the Jays' cover did gift us with this gem, so it can't be all bad, right?