The Canadian Pitcher

We're going to see the return of a familiar name to the mound this Sunday. It's a name everyone on this site is exceedingly familiar with. I am writing this post to humbly urge everyone not to use that name!

In the world of theater, Shakespeare's play MacBeth is known by the euphemism "The Scottish play". A widespread superstition in the business is that the play is cursed. The mythical origins of this curse are varied. One legend says that in the original production, prop daggers were swapped for real daggers and an actor was killed. Others say the curse originated with the Three Witches, characters in the play. This story claims that the spells the characters cast were real spells taken from a witch's coven, and that coven, angered by the theft, put a curse on the play.

Of course, others have more prosaic explanations, pointing out that the play contains a large amount of fight scenes, providing more opportunity for mishap than your average play. Still, the theory persists that the play is cursed, to the point that even saying the name of the play can bring about bad luck on a set, even if the play being put on is something different entirely. Even when it is this very play that is being produced, the cast will call it "the Scottish play", and refer to the main characters as "Mr. and Mrs. M."

It occurs to me that we too have someone prone to seemingly bizarre mishap every time he steps onto his stage. He'll be starting against Texas this Sunday. I probably can't convince the announcers or Texas' PA crew or anyone else not to say the name of the Canadian pitcher, but I think all of Athletics Nation should make an effort to try to do so.

Can we agree that he is the Canadian pitcher, and try our best to break this curse?