What's up with the Guardians? Is it luck, coincidence or good karma?

We live in a wondrous age. Unlike our ancestors, we have been able to understand the world around us because of the development of science and technology.

We're no longer hostages to the darkness, fear of the unexplained, and superstition. We've learned that the earth is round and it revolves around the sun, not the other way around.

The James Webb Space Telescope is showing us sights we couldn't have imagined even 10 years ago. Thanks to DNA mapping, we know there's no one else on the earth like us, that we're fearfully and wonderfully made.

We know there's no such thing as luck ― except when it comes to sports. The Sports Illustrated Curse, the Madden NFL Cover Curse, and the Rally Possum are all too real.

I could possess the IQ of Albert Einstein and I still would believe that in 2004, the Boston Red Sox did indeed finally break the Curse of the Bambino, which involved Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $125,000 and a $300,000 loan.

More Charita Goshay:Who's on first?

Ironically, the fat-wallet Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2009, when they replaced the House that Ruth Built. The new stadium closely resembles the original, but the Babe isn't fooled ― not one bit.

On Oct. 14, 2003, everyone on the planet knew the Chicago Cubs were doomed when a fan, Steve Bartman, interfered with outfielder Moises Alou catching a foul ball that would have won them the National League Championship Series and sent them to the World Series.

Bartman had to go into witness protection as the Cubs choked like a dog eating peanut butter, blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Florida Marlins.

But the Cubs broke the Curse of the Billy Goat and a 108-year-old drought during the seventh game of the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland, when a 17-minute rain delay stunted Cleveland's momentum in the bottom of the ninth.

Had it not rained, Cleveland very likely would have would have sealed the deal. But if you're from Northeast Ohio, your cart-wheeling stomach already told you how it was going to turn out, didn't it?

The Cubs, by the way, graciously awarded Bartman a World Series ring.

That's how you court good luck.

In 2021, after years of hemming and hawing about it, Cleveland changed its team name to the Guardians in response to longtime complaints that the Chief Wahoo mascot denigrated Native Americans.

More Charita Goshay:Cleveland, it's time for a change

Is it a coincidence that the first year of the change, the youngest team in Major League Baseball, has rolled into the playoffs after a six-year absence?

The happy-warrior Guardians are so young, they don't even know they're supposed to be scared. Several of the players are barely old enough to drink the champagne they sprayed around in the locker room after reaching the playoffs.

But some fans boycotted this season, yelling wokeism because the Indians were allegedly named after Louis Sockalexis, a Native American player.

Chief Wahoo probably wasn't created with malicious intent, but not everything translates well with time.

If honoring Sockalexis was the goal, perhaps they should have called themselves the Sockalexi, or better yet, the "Socks," much in the way that "Cleveland Browns" honors Paul Brown.

Others blame Cleveland's longtime woes on The Curse of Rocky Colavito, the wildly popular outfielder and nine-time All-Star who was traded to the Detroit Tigers two days before Opening Day in 1960, and whose legend includes hitting four consecutive home runs in a game against the Baltimore Orioles in 1959.

Why would anyone make such a bone-headed trade?

Money, honey. Plus, it's said that Cleveland General Manager Frank Lane also resented Colavito's popularity, which can be leverage in negotiations.

In sportswriter Terry Pluto's book, "The Curse of Rocky Colavito: A Loving Look at the Thirty-Year Slump," he details how after that seismic trade, Cleveland suffered a 34-season stretch (1960 to 1993) in which they never finished within cheap-seats distance of first place.

Cleveland still hasn't won a World Series since in 1948, when gasoline was 26 cents a gallon and Harry S. Truman was president.

The last team to change its name was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who made the playoffs for the first time ever when they shortened their name to the "Rays" in 2008.

Their fans actually begged for the change.

That the Rays were swept out of the playoffs this year by the Guardians maybe suggests that karma rewards good decisions that benefit others.

People are describing the American League Division Series with the Yankees as "David vs. Goliath," but the icons which stand sentry at Hope Memorial Bridge are much larger than than a Philistine who couldn't even handle a teenage shepherd boy.

Perhaps the impossibly young Guardians can deliver to Cleveland what the Indians could not.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Did Guardians name change bring good karma? Or was it coincidence?