Copyright Salt Lake City Deseret News
If you’re at a sporting event and Brad Paisley is performing the national anthem, you might want to brace yourself for a long night. Earlier this week, Paisley performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the start of Game 3 of the World Series matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. That game — which the Dodgers won 6-5 — lasted 18 innings, and finished up nearly seven hours after Paisley’s performance, per The Associated Press. An 18-inning World Series game is rare — it’s only happened one other time. But apparently for Paisley, lightning strikes twice. Seven years ago, when a Game 3 matchup between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox extended to 18 innings, the three-time Grammy winner and Dodgers fan was also on hand to sing the national anthem. He’s been attached to other lengthy World Series games, too. His two other performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the World Series also went long; an 11-inning game in 2017, and a 10-inning game last year in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press. “I should be ‘Mr. More Baseball,’” the singer told The Associated Press. “There’s the new nickname.” What Brad Paisley said about his tie to the 2 longest World Series games On Monday night, when the Dodgers vs. Blue Jays matchup was in the 16th inning, Paisley had a bit of deja vu: “I was going, ‘There’s no way this is happening again,’” he told The Associated Press. “And here we go,” he continued. “And it was really neat. I sat there in the seat when it ended ... just staring, like, ‘OK, what does this even mean?’” His wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, also noted the significance of the moment, which came a day ahead of the singer’s 53rd birthday. “Is it your fault it went 18 innings again?” she commented on his Instagram video post from the performance. “Nice of the @dodgers to win for your birthday!” Before his history-making performance this week, the “She’s Everything” singer said in an interview for an MLB program that it would be “statistically impossible” for a repeat 18-inning game, Variety reported. “I was like, I just want to get the words right,” Paisley said of that performance seven years ago. “I had no idea that there would be major cosmic ramifications.” Now, Paisley is offering up his unique skillset to other sports.
