The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers needed 18 innings to decide the outcome of Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night, and that is not a surprise considering who performed the national anthem before the game.
Country music artist Brad Paisley performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the first pitch was thrown in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. That marked the fifth time that Paisley sang the national anthem at the World Series, and there has been a unique trend with those games.
Four of the five World Series games at which Paisley has performed went into extra innings. Two of those games — Game 3 on Monday night and Game 3 in 2018 — were the longest World Series games in history at 18 innings each.
It is official now: There have only been two 18+ inning games in World Series history, and Brad Paisley sang the National Anthem at both of them. https://t.co/5vvBdDdDPh
— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) October 28, 2025
Some are calling Paisley a World Series jinx, but that depends on your perspective. If you like playoff games that last nearly 7 hours, Paisley is the person you want to see singing the national anthem before the first pitch.
The Dodgers won the game 6-5 on a walk-off home run from Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 18th inning. Many fans wanted the game to go longer so they could witness something even more rare, but Freeman put an end to the madness.
The next time you see Paisley singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a World Series game, prepare yourself for a long evening of baseball.
