During a rigorous 162-game season, baseball teams need to entertain themselves. However, this Cleveland Indians joke didn’t have a funny ending.
Indians catcher Yan Gomes is stuck in the middle of an atrocious season, holding a batting average of just .162. That is easily the worst rate on the first-placed Indians roster, so Gomes’ teammates decided to hold a locker room ceremony to the ‘Baseball Gods’ in an attempt to end his slump.
In a series of Instagram videos uploaded by Tribe second baseman Jason Kipnis, Gomes is seen dressed in a long white robe while holding a bunch of flowers and a baseball bat. In what was a fairly impressive set-up by his Indians teammates, Gomes’ ceremony was decorated with a fake altar and a whole chicken, in a thorough plea to the ‘Baseball Gods’ to end his form slump.
The ceremony began with a group of Indians cheering for a kneed Gomes at the altar.
Cleveland first baseman Mike Napoli would continue proceedings with a ‘blessing’ in an attempt to end Gomes’ slump.
Finally, Gomes ended the ceremony by sacrificing a chicken and hopefully, sacrificing his poor play thus far this season in the process.
“We brought a chicken from Target. We brought a little blade and we had him chop it in half,” Kipnis told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian about the ceremony.
“We sacrificed a chicken to the baseball gods and Jobu [a voodoo doll who served as a good-luck charm in the 1989 film ‘Major League’, which was based around the Indians]. We gave them gifts and peace offerings. Hopefully, they’ll accept them and turn the tide on our catcher.”
Unfortunately, the ceremony may have cursed Gomes more than it cured him.
After Gomes finally ended his hatless streak, which caused an uproar of celebration in the Indians dugout, his luck ran out again.
While Gomes was running to first on a ground-out, he fell to the ground while trying to avoid the tag. With a heap of momentum behind him, Gomes hit the ground hard, injuring his right shoulder. Gomes was catered off the field with his arm in a sling and will now miss 6-8 weeks with a separated shoulder.
Cleveland has had a heap go its way this season, as the club sits atop of the American League Central division with a 54-37 record. Gomes hasn’t been able to grab a hold of that luck, though, and even a ceremony couldn’t fix things.
