Your Los Angeles Dodgers are going back to the World Series, and they only are because of what we the fans do -all the crazy, kooky things we do to make it happen.
Well, maybe the team has a little bit to do with it. But they obviously can’t do it without the fans and their interventions of sorts.
Because that’s the thing, right? No one wants to be responsible for their team losing. From not washing an item of clothing, or eating certain things before the game, to not watching part or all of the game, Dodger
fans have it all worked out. I’ve asked around on social media, and here is what fans are doing to keep the Dodgers moving towards another World Series win.
Leaving the room
“What I’ve been doing this postseason is watching when we’re batting and going into another room when we’re pitching. It’s not like I really want to do that all the time, but it’s been working so I’m scared to change” replied Debbie. SoCalLibrarian then responded – “I’m similar except I only go into the other room when the Dodgers bullpen is pitching”.
Jim said that when a Dodgers pitcher has two strikes and needs a punch out, he will “pump my fist rapidly and make a sound almost like a breathy ‘two’ or a steam train going fast. Yes it works most of the time”.
Dennis writes, “one time I was yelling at the TV when Dave went to the bullpen (I can’t remember who he went to, take your pick I suppose) and all of a sudden, the bottom half of the TV went dark and fuzzy, like my TV was developing cataracts. Now during pitching changes, I go to the garage and chill with the cat.”
Chris has two ways to deal, but now with a caveat – “I (eventually) accepted the superstitions were more to deal with my anxiety than to help the team. Still got a couple big ones –
1) “Got too hyped to watch a game in 2017 (WS Game 2?) that I watched the whole pregame, but it ended badly. I actively avoid turning on the tv until after first pitch still and
2) “When things get stressful I mute the TV and go walk outside until the inning is over (listening on the radio). I would pre-emptively leave before the 7th started during the peak Kershaw years. I was outside for like 95% of 2021 NLDS Game 5 vs the Giants.”
Clothing
Shobebe Auntie stated that the Dodgers sweater that they wore the last time they lost is still sitting crumpled up on the floor of their closet.
From Steph – “Sometime in September I noticed my 2024 World Series cap started getting sweat stains from me wearing it pretty much every day and I wanted to try to wash it for the first time. But I’m convinced if I do we will collapse so I will not be washing it until the playoffs are over”
wannabe dale cooper replied “Superstitions are fluid and what works one year isn’t guaranteed to work the next. This year I’ve found that I need to wear exactly one piece of Dodgers merch on gameday and none in between. It can be my jersey, cap, or other 24 WS shirt, but it can only be one. Otherwise you get NLDS Game 3.”
Hanna has quite the ritual down – “Same outfit until there’s a loss or until the next series, same snacks. I’ll layer my favourite pitchers’ jerseys in case they pitch out of the pen, if one is starting, their jersey goes top layer.”
And of course, whatever works
Hanna has more in addition to the clothing layering. “I buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s for the postseason in case of emergency and don’t eat it until after our final game, whenever that is. If my AL team is still in contention, it’s bad luck to like their social posts or engage in their content until they’re out. This season, with the addition of our Etsy Witch, I also light a candle and have a specific manifestation to say three times before the game”.
MG says that they play better when my wife is distracted from the game. She has never seen Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in real time, it’s always been on replay. Also, he is on a personal five game losing streak when he’s at the stadium, and since he was at the only game they’ve lost in the playoffs so far, he’s staying away in order to help the club.
Dodgerboy says that lately, he’s been turning the game off in the 8th inning and then watching the remainder on MLB Gameday animated game graphics.
CoffeeDad says in critical situations, “I will follow on the MLB app rather than watch live TV. I can’t.”
sunsout said “I have a classic, Dodgers shooting ball logo coffee mug that I can only use in celebration on the morning after a win. If I use it in anticipation of an upcoming game, they’ll lose. I haven’t tested this in years to see if the jinx still holds because I am very superstitious about this.”
Amanda has one of my favorites – “Once the postseason starts, I don’t change anything. I have broken up with men the day after the season ends. I waited until the last strike of the 2020 World Series before I installed the new tv I bought weeks prior. Normal stuff.”
Holding on to a man that needs to go for longer than one should is hardcore and a true sacrifice.
Jason replied, “I don’t say what I believe will happen out loud. I can’t put it out into the universe because the opposite will happen lol. For example, I knew they would sweep the Brewers but didn’t even say it out loud to myself because you know, obviously, me saying it loud controls what actually happens.”
I feel that one. I refuse to look at or thing about the pitcher’s pitch count because inevitably then they have to throw 20 more pitches even though they have two outs or something like that.
“I feel like if I say what mine are, they’ll stop working” – Anonymous
Maybe you don’t believe any of that hooey. or maybe you used to and a certain season killed you, like it did Todd-
“Tbh, I stopped being superstitious about watching baseball after my soul left my body during the 2020 playoff run. What does superstition matter if you’re already dead inside?”
But the craziest thing I’ve heard this week is from my friend Marc, who is notoriously negative all of the time. He’s so negative and toxic to himself that he rewatches brutal losses of years past to prepare himself before games. But this is a text I got from him before Friday’s Game 4 –
“Ok so if we lose tonight I will never share any positive or optimistic again. But this time bc this has been a season long thing.
“All season like at least once a month when I’m at the games I’ve had this premonition. Not the NLDS. Not the WS. But specifically in the NLCS Ohtani would hit a walk-off HR in a game he pitched in a pennant clinching game.
“All the stars are aligned…willing this into existence.”
Dear reader, Marc was in attendance to see that incredible performance by Shohei in person.
Maybe all of Marc’s masochistic tendencies and rituals led him to being able to have that premonition. Maybe none of anything we do has any sway. Maybe we are all dead inside and just find different ways to deal with it. But one thing’s for sure, none of us can stop because as Jason said, what if we are the key? That the perfect combination that we know nothing about has to be hit? I don’t want that hanging over my head.
Whatever you’re doing, or not doing, or believing or not believing, keep it up. Just four more wins!
Go Dodgers!
