No billy goat or ‘Bambino’ but Washingtonians wonder if baseball team is jinxed – Baltimore Sun

In the early hours of Friday the 13th in the 13th season of the Nationals in Washington, you could hardly blame even the team’s most sensible fans for wondering if something had gone cosmically awry with a club that has mastered the art of merely getting close.

Unlike some other cities, Washington has no cute anecdotes about baseball jinxes – no “Curse of the Bambino,” no billy goats said to be causing its baseball team to chronically underachieve when it matters most.

Fans at Washington’s 9-8 season-ending divisional round playoff loss to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night did say there is a man who habitually sacrifices rubber chickens during losing streaks. “He cuts their heads off. He seems like a nice guy though,” said Nationals fan Keith Zukowski of Falls Church, Va.

But a jinx?