From special jerseys to underwear, why are baseball fans so superstitious?

TORONTO – Standing in a crowd of blue and white-clad baseball fans in downtown Toronto Wednesday evening, Maureen Whitehead was kept warm by her George Springer jersey. 

But as the first pitch approached in Game 5 of World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, superstition said it would have to come off. 

“This jersey I can wear before the game and after the game, but I cannot wear during the game,” she said. 

“Every time I wore it (during a game), they lost, so I said, ‘OK, done with that.’ But I love the jersey, so I want to wear it before and after.”

Another superstition for Whitehead includes a fifth-inning change of scenery, and she typically goes upstairs to a spare bedroom in her home. 

Her husband, Terry, is not allowed in that room for the rest of the game. He said his wife will also banish him to another room in the house if he walks in while the Jays are winning. 

That custom was a little bit harder to observe on Wednesday, as the couple took the GO train from Oakville, Ont., to be among thousands of fans in the stands at Rogers Centre for a screening of Game 5.

It’s been a roller-coaster week for the Blue Jays fandom, with the team’s heartbreaking 6-5 loss in an 18-inning game on Monday night, only to come back the next day with a 6-2 win against the defending World Series champions. 

The Jays were victorious for the second night in a row at Dodger Stadium with a 6-1 win Wednesday in a game that saw Trey Yesavage set a record for the most strikeouts as a rookie pitcher. 

They’ll return home for Friday’s Game 6, which could be the culmination of the Fall Classic. 

For many, it feels like there’s a lot on the line as the Jays haven’t been to the World Series since 1993, when they won the second of back-to-back championships. 

With such high stakes, it’s only normal that fans would cling to their superstitions, says University of Toronto psychology professor Steve Joordens. 

Superstitions are common for people in situations where they have little control over an outcome they care deeply about. They offer “the illusion of control” that certain rituals can affect how that situation plays out, Joordens said. 

“All of these fans, they’re anxious. The bigger the fan they are, the more anxiety they feel as they’re going through the game. These rituals are a way of managing that anxiety, managing that stress by inducing some feeling of control,” he said. 

For Joordens, it makes sense that baseball attracts fans who can be famously superstitious, given the number of rituals embedded in the game itself. The batter comes up to home plate, coaches and players communicate via hand signals, and stadiums play the same songs between innings to keep fans engaged. 

“The whole ball game is almost like a ritual that all the fans are involved in. And when they do that together, that creates that sort of team bonding and the feeling of community,” he said. 

“It’s not that different from a religious experience where we’ll have this dance back and forth.”

Joordens added that confirmation bias creates superstitions and keeps people buying into them. 

“Basically, what confirmation bias says is when we do something ritualistic that should have no impact, but it’s followed by something positive, we’re very quick about saying, ‘Ah, see, that worked,'” he said.

Some of the biggest superstitions include wearing — or not wearing — certain articles of clothing, whether that be a jersey, T-shirt or even socks or underwear. 

Joordens said it’s also common for some fans to feel compelled to leave the room in order for their team to score any runs. 

For some fans, a positive omen can be a lot more literal. 

Jana Genge, who attended the game with her family after driving from Guelph, Ont., said she’s seen blue jays in her backyard several days this week and has taken that as a positive sign.

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“I really believe in that,” she said after the game, adding she also wears a lucky shirt.

Although it’s all magical thinking, the commitment to superstition can sometimes have a positive effect on a team, Joordens said.

“From the team’s point of view, when they see all of these fans doing all of these crazy things because of how much they care about how things turn out … that can actually impact what happens,” he said. 

“It’s not really the metaphysical power of prayer, it’s the psychological power of prayer … that is playing out when we do all of these rituals. It is our way of showing the team we’re plugged in, we’re engaged, we care, we’ve got a lot on the line.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.