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The Dodgers capped off their season by winning the World Series with a win over the Yankees on Wednesday night, and MLB teams might want to go out of their way to add someone named Will Smith to their roster based on the strange streak the team extended with the victory.
I assume most people associate “Will Smith” with the rapper-turn-actor-turned-slapper who is easily the most famous person on the planet with that name, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 36,000 people in the United States who share the same moniker.
That includes a number of professional athletes named Will Smith, like the former defensive end who ended up enshrined in the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame and the former Boston College center who recently kicked off his rookie season in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks.
There are also currently two guys named Will Smith playing in the MLB; one most recently served as the closer for the Kansas City Royals, while the second was the Dodgers catcher who was behind the plate when Walker Buehler struck out Alex Verdugo to cap off the comeback that led to Los Angeles winning the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
As MLB.com notes, that means an MLB team with a Will Smith on the roster has now won a World Series five years in a row.
The aforementioned catcher kicked off the streak when the Dodgers secured a title in 2020, and the reliever pitched for the Braves, Astros, and Rangers when those teams respectively won it all in 2021, 2022, and 2023 (making him the first person in any of North America’s “Big Four” sports leagues to win a championship with three different teams three years in a row).
At this point, if I’m an MLB team, I’m signing a random dude named Will Smith to serve as a bullpen catcher on the off chance the universe is trying to send a message.