Sounds strange, right? What does Pope Francis’ death have to do with the Phillies’ $100 million star? Apparently, everything! On Easter morning, we all woke up to the tragic news of Francis’ passing. And while the world was mourning this news, all eyes naturally turned to this one Phillies star, for all the weird reasons. We are talking about Nick Castellanos. Let’s just say it’s one of the darkest comical coincidences in the baseball world.

Turns out, his accidental legacy has gone from iconic to ironic in no time. In fact, he has now been meme-d about it. Whenever tragedy hits, Nick Castellanos hits harder. And just as Francis’ passing was announced, Castellanos was found to be the most betted player to hit a home run on all the betting sites.

You see, MLB home run odds are back at FanDuel. Interestingly, Castellanos had +630 odds to hit a homer on the day Pope Francis passed away. Strangely, those odds have now dropped to +560, and they’re still dropping. It might occur to you why Castellanos became the hot pick after Francis’ death.

It’s the meme again that answers your question – Whenever tragedy hits, Nick Castellanos hits harder. It has reached a point where every time major news breaks, there are people who literally put in money whenever Castellanos hits a home run.

But when did this whole saga start? Back in 2020, it was a matchup between the Phillies and the Kansas City Royals. The broadcaster was giving a live on-air apology for the homophobic slang he used around that time, and that’s when Castellanos hit a home run. And the broadcaster had to pause and awkwardly address Castellanos’ home run. Such a mistimed instance blew up the internet, and that’s when it all began.

Oh, there’s no end to such mistimed instances. So, we have a breakdown of Castellanos’ poorly timed home runs since the 2020 incident.

Castellanos’ accidental legacy and awkwardly timed home runs

Since 2020, the way Castellanos has been hitting home runs every time there’s a tragedy has become an absurd pattern. And if it sounds too weird, it’s because it IS weird. When he hits during such instances, the broadcasters awkwardly cover the tragic news and report his home runs at the same time.

After 2020, another such mistimed instance took place in 2021. Right when the Royals’ broadcaster was giving a eulogy to a 97-year-old World War II veteran, Castellanos hit another soaring home run into left-center field during mid-eulogy. And just like that, he added another badly timed homer to his accidental legacy.

Year after year, the list was growing. In 2022, a broadcaster was addressing coach Pete Walker’s DUI arrest during a spring training match. Then… If you know, you know. Castellanos hit another single, once again interrupting a tragic moment. That was just one such instance of 2022. There was another that took place later that year. Castellanos hit a homer on Memorial Day when Tom McCarthy, the broadcaster, was paying tribute to the fallen soldiers. Again, he had to pause and report, “Castellanos rips one to deep left field. It is gone!”

Then comes 2023; by now, you know the drill. The broadcaster was sending well-wishes to Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel, who recently had a stroke, and Castellanos hit another home run.

Well, now in 2024, things got a lot stranger. Willie Mays had passed away, and that’s when he delivered another home run. Then, just when Donald Trump was shot in his ear, Castellanos hit another. Each of his home runs came soaring in at the most tragic moments possible.

There were early signs we ignored. Guess what? He delivered his first Minor League home run exactly on the day when Osama Bin Laden was reported dead. Is it a curse? What is it exactly? Things couldn’t get any weirder from here. Or could it?