Baseball players and teams certainly have their superstitions. The latest Cubs’ one includes a Taylor Swift candle.
The Chicago Cubs’ comeback win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday was described as “amazing,” and put the team in some very unique company.
Catcher Christian Bethancourt drove in seven runs, including a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth, as the Cubs rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-10 to sweep a three-game series.
The numbers behind the comeback were perhaps just as impressive as the run-scoring barrage itself.
“Amazing comeback for the Cubs,” a social media post from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers said. “Down 10-3 they win 14-10 after scoring 11 runs in innings 7-9.”
The stat also said The Pirates had won their last 144 games when leading by 7 or more runs — but that was broken Wednesday.
The day before, the Cubs had won their second of three games against The Pirates. In an interview with Taylor McGregor of Marquee Sports, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said the “nice little run” may be due to none other than the ceremonial lighting of a Taylor Swift candle.
“I think we have to start with Taylor Swift,’ McGregor asked Counsell in the dugout. “There’s a lot of Swifties in Cubs’ nation, and there might be some luck coming from those Swifties that have impacted the Cubs. Can you descirbe the impact of Taylor Swift as of late?
Counsell chuckles before he answers.
“I was gifted a Taylor Swift candle, and we’ve been lighting that before games in my office,” Counsell said, noting that Clubhouse Manager Danny Mueller also takes part in the illumination ceremony. “And we’ve found a nice little run here, so we’re going to credit Taylor Swift.”
A nice little run it is.
The Cubs, now 5-1 on their road trip, will prepare for a series against the Washington Nationals to wrap things up. That series will get underway on Friday.
According to the most recent MLB standings, the Cubs, with 68 wins, are currently in second in the NL Central behind Counsell’s former team, the Milwaukee Brewers.