The Houston Astros lost Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to the Texas Rangers on Monday, and baseball fans online believe Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has something to do with it.
X users noticed a correlation: Every time Cruz attended a postseason home game to support the Astros, the team lost.
“Astros are now 0-5 in home playoff games attended by ted cruz this postseason,” one X user wrote in a repost of a photo of TV presenter Ben Ferguson and Cruz at the Monday game at Minute Maid Park.
After four consecutive losses at home, Astros fans begged Cruz to skip the Monday game in hopes that the Astros could clinch the championship pennant.
“TED CRUZ STAY AWAY FROM THE ASTROS GAME,” one fan wrote on X before Game 7.
But other fans had picked up on the connection early on, willing Cruz to skip future games after a Game 1 loss at home on Oct. 15.
“Stay home tomorrow,” one X user replied after Game 1 to Cruz’s photo of himself and daughter Catherine in the stands of Minute Maid.
“AND THE CRUZ CURSE CONTINUES” another wrote.
The Astros had 90 wins during the 2023 regular season but a 39-42 home record, their worst since 2016, when they last failed to make the playoffs.
In 2019, the team was accused of cheating through sign-stealing in the 2017 season, setting up a camera at Minute Maid Park to observe the signs opposing catchers would flash their pitchers. The Astros had a 48-33 home record during the 2017 regular season and went on to win the World Series.
While Astros hitters attributed the performance dip at home to a new batter’s eye at the home ballpark, fanatics on X prefer to simply blame Cruz.
“I swear, at this point, Ted Cruz’s biggest haters aren’t Democrats or Progs or even his colleagues (who said they’d find anyone who [redacted] [sic] him not guilty),” one X user wrote. “It is the hardcore Astros Fans who know about the curse he brings to their games.”
One fan proposed that the franchise take left-leaning political stances to ward off Cruz from attending home games.
“The Astros need to act more woke if only to get Ted Cruz to boycott them. Full inclusive flag uniforms on Pride Night. Start every game with a land acknowledgment. Lay on the field facedown during the anthem #Ready2Reign,” they wrote.
After coverage of the Cruz curse emerged, the senator insisted that the Astros’ consistent winning record should also be attributed to his home game attendance.
“For 7 years, Catherine & I have attended nearly EVERY Astros home playoff game,” he wrote on X on Monday. “If they’re going to blame me for our recent home losses, pls also credit us for TWO World Series Championships & SEVEN consecutive ALCS’s—we were there cheering Stros on!”
Cruz is not the only public figure embroiled in a sports team curse. British rock star Mick Jagger has had similar misfortune with his teams of choice at the World Cup.
In 2018, Jagger was in attendance for England’s 2-1 loss against Croatia. After Jagger tweeted support for England for the 2014 World cup in Brazil, the team lost twice. In 2010, Jagger accompanied President Bill Clinton to watch the U.S. team take on Ghana in the World Cup—only to witness the U.S. lose.