5 of the most spooky, surreal and scary World Series moments ever

With Halloween coming and the 2018 Fall Classic getting going, here are the five spookiest or scariest World Series moments ever.

Baseball is subject to a lot of random occurrence, with batted ball luck, tricky hops, wind gusts and occasional brain farts by the players. It’s almost as if something unseen hangs over the game at times, driving the action and dictating results. As the 2018 World Series gets going this week, we’ll surely see some inexplicable moments on the field or via questionable strategy from a manager.

Halloween is also coming to cap October, as we celebrate all things scary, creepy, spooky and sometimes supernatural. Oh, and there’s candy too. It’s a fun holiday, without the obligations or tension that can come with Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we seem to spend more money on it every year.

The World Series this year will feature iconic franchises who have little overlapping history, in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is the most notable current connection, as his stolen base in the 2004 ALCS turned that series around and led to the Red Sox ending their 86-year drought without a World Series win.

As the Fall Classic gets rolling this week, and with Halloween to come next week, here are the five spookiest/scariest/most surreal moments in World Series history.

5. The Black Sox Scandal

The basis for a book and a movie of the same name (Eight Men Out), eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series. The scandal and resulting lifetime ban has kept “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who hit .375 during the series against the Cincinnati Reds, out of the Hall of Fame.

Dubbed the “Black Sox”, as a convenient, quirky label since the eight accused men were tarnished White Sox, next year will be the 100th anniversary of the scandal that sullied the World Series. Imagine the media coverage if such a thing was alleged now, though salaries are at a point where gamblers would have trouble exercising real influence over underpaid players (alleged or otherwise)