Is There Actually a Taylor Swift Baseball Curse?

2 minute read

Things have been going well for Taylor Swift lately, what with her 1989 world tour selling big, the cadre of wildly famous celebrities joining her on stage and the litany of hit albums under her belt. In fact, maybe things have been going too well for Taylor Swift lately.

A new ESPN report suggests that while Swift may have been lucky this year, she hasn’t shared that good fortune with the places she’s traveled on tour: The baseball teams in the towns Swift visited over the summer have had some suspiciously terrible games.

Here’s the breakdown: Pre-Swift concert, the Houston Astros were 55-45 and held the first wild-card spot. But since Swift blew into town in September, Houston has turned in a lackluster 7-11 record, including losing seven of the eight games that followed her appearance. As ESPN—which calls the situation a “curse”—points out, “When was the last time the Astros missed the postseason after being at least 10 games over .500 at the halfway point of the season? In 1989. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.”

And that’s not all. Just two nights after Swift’s Washington, D.C., performance in July, the lights went out at Nationals Park and play was suspended. At the time, the team was leading the NL East, and now—well, let’s just say, they’re not.

Lastly, of course, there’s the Padres, who have gone 11-17 since Swift stopped by Petco Park in August. So heed our fair warning, friend: Should you be a baseball player in a town Swift’s about to visit, start running. And don’t let Swift catch up to you.

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