If you are of the opinion that baseball is game of superstitions, which is something I tend to lean towards.  The Tampa Bay Rays, or to be more exact, their fans are screwing up big time.

From Sarah Talalay:

The Vienna Beef company honored the Chicago Cubs' pitching rotation with special edition hot dogs: the Dempster Dog (Ryan Dempster); Marquis Dog (Jason Marquis); Wood-ie Dog (Kerry Wood); Marmol Dog (Carlos Marmol) and Lilly Dog (Ted Lilly). The Cubs made an unceremonious exit in the first round of the MLB playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Rays, meanwhile, have won their first and only playoff series so far and will face the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. Gallagher’s Steak House in Tampa has devised a number of dishes to honor the Rays: Popeye [Don Zimmer] Porterhouse; Calos Pena Crab Cakes; Jason Bartlett Beef Steak Tomato & Colossal Onion Salad; Akinori Iwamura Seared Ahi Tuna; Manager Joe Maddon-Mignon; Scott Kazmir New York Sirloin; and B.J. Upton Center Cup Pork Chops.

Doing anything that resembles something the Cubs would do is a recipe for disaster when it comes to the playoffs.  Let's face it, they haven't won a World Series title in 100 years.  

Of course, the naming of meats may not be a death knoll in of itself.  But when you couple it with the fact that first time teams in the playoffs rarely win it all.

The Mets (1969) and Marlins (1997) were the only two teams to not only reach the championship series but win the World Series during their first trip to the postseason.

And the World Series, in the so-called modern era, has been played since 1904.

Far be it from me to tell the Rays how to do things, but tempting fate seems like a really bad idea.

The truth be known, I am cheering for the Rays to win it all and this is the first time I can remember I've wanted an AL team to win it all.  However, it appears to me they are trying to make it a little harder on themselves.  Karma is completely unforgiving and is not something to be messed with. 

To recap: Don't do what the Cubs do!