Will the Blue Jays Fall Victim to the T. Swift Curse?

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Oct 2, 2015

With the Blue Jays having recently clinched their first American League East title in 22 years, fans across the country are keeping their fingers crossed that the MLB's only Canadian team makes it all the way to the World Series this month. Being a superstitious lot, though, some fans are freaking out over the fact that Taylor Swift is set to play Toronto's Rogers Centre this weekend. If that seems a little nuts to you, let it be known that other teams whose stadiums hosted the pop star's "1989" tour this year were apparently met with the dreaded "T. Swift Curse."

Paranoia over the pop star's appearances at Rogers tonight (October 2) and tomorrow kicked into gear following some number-crunching from ESPN's Sports Center, who tweeted out the statistics regarding a few team records after Swift swept through their stadiums. If you take a gander at the graphic, you'll note that the Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros all ended up with sub-.500 performances.
Back in the summer, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer took aim at Swift for apparently having maxed-out the power grid at Nationals Park. The team's return to the field a few days after Swift's back-to-back concerts was met with a series of power outages. He then went pun-crazy, insinuating that the blackout left "Bad Blood" between the singer and the team.
 
The Padres also lost 18 of 29 games following Swift's performance at Petco Park on August 29, but the team wasn't doing so hot this season anyway.

More damning was Swift's bumped-up appearance in Houston. With the Astros' summer record leading some to speculate on a playoff position, a Swift concert was moved from its original October 13 booking at Minute Maid Park to September 9. The team has since lost 7 out of 11 games following the pop star's appearance. They are currently dogging it out for a wildcard position.

This is all to say that nothing is guaranteed in the game of baseball, including the likelihood of the T. Swift Curse. Many consider the playoffs to be an, ahem, whole new ball game. The Jays' first playoff game at Rogers will be next Thursday (October 8).

In related news, National League team the Chicago Cubs are also dealing with their own wildcard battle, a position partially blamed on AC/DC chewing up Wrigley Field last month with their stage setup.

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