In 2019 I wrote here about my belief that the baseball stadium in Miami is cursed. The financial scam that contributed to its construction doomed the stadium from the start. Opening Day in 2012 - when Tropicana dancers accompanied players onto the field for their introductions, and then-owner Jeffrey Loria appeared in a golf cart with an ailing Mohammad Ali - didn't help the art-filled ballpark in Little Havana. Within weeks, the manager, Ozzie Guillen, was quoted in a magazine speaking highly of Fidel Castro.
The team's most promising and charismatic player, pitcher Jose Fernandez, was killed in a boating accident at the end of the 2016 season. Other top players were lost in trades, even - especially - after Derek Jeter became co-owner. Jeter messed not only with the roster but with the art, moving Homer, Red Grooms' whimsical centerfield sculpture, outside the stadium, despite a letter of protest from the artist. (Granted, Jeter had already traded the team's biggest home run hitters.)
The curse extends to former Marlins. In 2019, Christian Yelich returned with his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers. Standing in the batter's box, he fouled a ball off his leg that fractured his kneecap, ending his season and his MVP chances.
Last night, the curse went even wider. The players of Puerto Rico, celebrating their advance in the World Baseball Classic, mobbed their pitcher, Edwin Diaz, who went down with a knee injury and had to be carried off the field.
There is only one solution for getting rid of the curse: Open the damn roof and let it out.
