There may be more behind the magic of the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers' historic postseason run than what's happening on the field.
Behind every home run, double play and strikeout, the superstitions of the fans in the stands may be helping to fuel the team's nail-biter wins.
Dale Grudnowski — the resident cook of his tailgate group — may don a Brewers chef's hat while manning the grill at his pre-game cookout, but he wears his biggest superstition on his feet.
"These socks I have on now, I wore them for Game 1 and Game 2," he said.
Have they been washed?
Grudnowski smiled and nodded his head up and down, but he eventually relented to the truth. "No..." he winced with a smile.
Melissa Richter has been a Brewers fan since the early 1980s, and she's held on to a memento for almost as long as it took for the Brewers to return to the Fall Classic.
"Paul Molitor is my favorite player of all time. In 1987, when he was on his hitting streak, my grandma bought me a T-shirt. Ever since then, that T-shirt has stayed with me," she said, unzipping her puffer vest to reveal the remarkably well-kept tee underneath. "And now, I had to bring it to the World Series."
The jerseys of former Brewers employees Garrett Ulickev and Rachel Kraetz (both have competed on field as Racing Sausages) aren't in as pristine shape. But they wouldn't have it any other way.
Kraetz has donned her Bob Uecker jersey for every game since Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ulickev's Jackson Chourio jersey has remained unwashed since the start of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
"It does get aired out sometimes," Ulickev said, when he occasionally rips off the jersey and swings it overhead during games spent in the 400 level.
If the Brewers win the World Series, he may never wash his jersey.
"It might be framed up in a case then," he said.
Sam Taffel's lucky jersey isn't a Brewers one at all.
"Every time I wear this Milwaukee Milkmen jersey, they win," Taffel said before pointing out the numerous stains dotting the bottom of the jersey.
And if he somehow doesn't catch the beginning of a Brewers game on a radio or television broadcast, superstition keeps him from tuning in for any other portion of the game.
"If I come in late, they always start losing," he said. He'd rather miss following along than risk a potential loss.
Dave Barriere may be just a tad bit superstitious. He's been wearing the same Jackson Chourio jersey the entire series. And of course it hasn't been washed.
But he takes things a touch further.
"Usually when the most intense parts start, I knock three times on whatever's around me," Barriere said. He follows that by kissing the ball-in-glove Brewers jersey on his well-worn hat three times.
That's a ritual he continues every few minutes through the game, until he feels confident in a win.
It's been working for Barriere so far.
"I'm not stopping now," he said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers fans' lucky superstitions just may be fueling the postseason