Baseball is a sport full of unwritten rules. For players, there are a litany of them, including not stealing bases when your team is up by a large margin, not swinging at a first pitch after a pitcher has allowed back-to-back home runs, and not laying down a bunt to break up a pitcher’s no-hit bid.
However, players aren’t the only ones expected to abide by this book of unwritten rules. Announcers aren’t supposed to mention when pitchers are in the middle of a no-hit or perfect game bid, in order to avoid jinxing them.
For that matter, fans prefer announcers don’t mention much of anything, so as to avoid jinxes altogether. Sometimes, though, an announcer’s jinx just might work in a local ball club’s favor, which is just what transpired on Wednesday evening.
The San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Guardians were facing off with Justin Verlander on the mound for the Giants. Verlander was facing off against Daniel Schneemann as he worked his way through the Guardians’ order for the second time in the day and quickly went up 0-2 in the count.
“Again, he’s taking advantage of Schneemann. He must’ve read something in that first at-bat that said, ‘this guy’s aggressive, so I’m gonna go slow and slower,” said Matt Underwood, Cleveland’s play-by-play announcer.
Enter the announcer’s jinx. The third pitch of the count from Justin Verlander was taken to the opposite field for a three-run homer to give the Guards a four-run lead in the top of the fourth inning. Underwood may have to keep the reverse jinxes coming if Cleveland wants to catch the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central standings.
Or maybe the Guardians are better off just not playing with fire.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.