Brad Paisley on singing the anthem before the only two 18-inning games in World Series history: ‘I had no idea there would be major cosmic ramifications’
Someone who likes epic baseball games also likes Brad Paisley.
“I would like to be called Mr. More Baseball,” says the country star Varietythe day after singing the National Anthem in a record-tying World Series game in the 18th inning. “If you want more baseball, I’m your man.”
It’s not that it was an isolated event. The previous time a World Series game reached the 18th inning, back in 2018, Paisley was also singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In fact, the four times he sang the anthem before a Series game, he did so in extra innings, although not always as radically as in these two cases.
Some wags have wondered if this is “the curse of Brad Paisley,” but most baseball fans are more likely to qualify it as something like “the blessing of Brad Paisley.” Rather than being bored by the long showdown, many agreed with sports commentators who called Monday’s game one of the most exciting in sports history, although (perhaps especially although) it was almost seven hours.
With many people crediting him as the charm that made that possible again, he would like to prepare for more similar, possibly crowd-pleasing opportunities to usher in a two-for-the-price-of-one game.
“I’m also available for football,” says Paisley. “I would like that to also reach more sectors.”
Paisley did an interview for an MLB show before his performance and was asked, presumably jokingly, if he could foresee something similar to what happened in 2018 happening. He dismissed it.
“It’s statistically impossible. I don’t understand it,” the country star says. “I thought, I just want to say the right words. I had no idea there would be major cosmic ramifications.”
As another coincidence, his birthday is on Tuesday. “Here’s the fun fact: On the East Coast, they won this on my birthday. They almost won this on my birthday on the West Coast. If they win tonight, I’ll get two wins on my birthday. Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s all I want. I can’t think of anything stranger, first of all, than the Dodgers winning two on their big day without a doubleheader.
He won’t really take any credit for Monday’s apparent fluke. “I definitely don’t think it had anything to do with me,” says the Dodgers megafan. “I started wondering where we were going in the ninth. I thought, ‘Please God, let’s win this now.’ And then I thought, ‘Okay, please God, let’s win this now in the 10th.’ And then last year, the win was in the 11th with Freddy Freeman, and that was a grand slam, and I thought, ‘That would be cool.’ Let’s do that. Yeah, that would be a fun statistic: do it twice!” No. And then it was like, oh no… But it was one of the best-played baseball games of all time. I mean, the defense both teams showed, the way they kept the score tied, and then the shooting… I don’t even know what we just saw. It truly was one of the most grueling sporting events you’ll ever see. Anyone who is undecided about what it is to be a baseball fan…”
“Last night when that was happening, I had the exact same feeling when I was waiting for that in 2018. Just every inning, one pitcher absolutely outplayed the other, and then some close calls and then, I mean, none of us could believe what we were seeing, and I thought, who’s going to finish this? And then all of a sudden, here comes Freddy, who’s also poetic. He did it two years in a row. It’s crazy.”
Paisley is a friend of the Dodgers, literally, and is the closest to the legendary pitcher who came into the game with just one out, at a time when the bases were loaded, with a serious threat of seeing the Blue Jays finish off the home team and change the momentum of the series.
“My favorite moment was with my dear friend Clayton Kershaw, who is my favorite player of all time, and not just because we are friends. I think he is the exemplary baseball player of our generation,” Paisley says. “And for him to walk in there… I couldn’t believe the situation he was asked to perform in last night. Never in history, going into an extra inning, and then going into an extra inning with the bases loaded and not giving up. To me, that’s the beautiful thing about this game. They cut to Ellen, his wife, in the stands, and she cries when she hears that.” Paisley had chatted with him before the game. “He said it last night. ‘He said, ‘Four more games tops, and then it’s over.’ And it’s like, wow! And then watching this play out, it’s like Brad Pitt said in ‘Moneyball’: ‘How can you not be romantic about baseball?'”
Some thought it was a risky move by manager Dave Roberts that could have made fans feel sorry for the semi-retired Kershaw if things hadn’t gone his way. “That’s the most important thing about Dave,” Paisley says. “He really must have felt like that was the best opportunity at the time. He needed that, and he needed it from someone who wasn’t going to give in. Clayton is the fiercest competitor you’ll ever meet. In Dave’s case, they’re very aware of the fact that his legacy has to be one of his entire incredible, massive career being this huge accomplishment. And you don’t want that footnote at the end (if winning races are driven under Kershaw’s watch). I was really praying at the time, but it worked out and I think in some ways that was meant to be. be.”
Paisley talks about the slow evolution of his relationship with the Dodgers before becoming known as one of Chavez Ravine’s most trusted musical faces.
“It goes back to when Kim (actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley) and I got married in 2003 and started living there part-time in Santa Monica. We bought our first house, which was in the Palisades, which is one of my houses that burned down (this year). I didn’t own it anymore, but it’s a tragedy; it was a beautiful old place, built in 1922, and the first house we bought together. Like everything else in that area, it is But at that time, my “My kids started getting to the age where they needed to go to baseball games. I mean, that’s a rite of passage and I started to fall in love with the Dodgers as a team and I met guys like Clayton and Justin Turner, and I became good friends with Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman and these people, organized organization and I love the sport.”
Brad Paisley, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes pose for a photo before game three of the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Monday, October 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
MLB Photos via Getty Images
He didn’t grow up obsessed with the game. “I kind of grew up watching baseball. In the years when the Pirates were good when I was a kid, my dad, for some reason, was a Cleveland Indians fan, instead of the Pirates, probably because of his dad. But we just didn’t go to a lot of games or anything like that and I just wasn’t involved.”
When he was asked to perform his first performance of the National Anthem for the Dodgers in 2000, he planted a seed. “That first anthem was interesting. It was a noon, a hot game like the one in Los Angeles, and you sing and they give you the shirt and the tickets and you eat a hot dog and call it an achievement.” But eventually it became personal, not just a concert, with Paisley.
“I think one of the most memorable ones I did was what they called Opening Day 2.0: the opening day when fans were allowed back in 2021, after that whole year where we just had our cardboard cutouts in the stands. I sang that day and that was very emotional; I mean, it felt like the world was right when people were allowed to see this game again in person. I loved it. And it was hard to get over it; it felt cathartic.”
Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Ellen Kershaw and Clayton Kershaw attend Clayton Kershaw’s 7th Annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose at Dodger Stadium on August 8, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
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Now, “I think if you want more baseball, call me. I’d like to think it’s a blessing, since my team won, I guess it would be a curse if every time I sang it was long.” and The team he supported lost. But I love being a part” of the story, he says. “Because look, I’m never going to bat or be anywhere near the actual sport itself, and then seeing these articles today” on sports sites and in other news, “it’s so funny to read mentions that say, ‘Did you know he did this and this and this?’ It’s really mind-blowing to even be mentioned in the course of some baseball statistic, for a guy who loves the sport…
“It’s my only historical contribution to humanity,” he decides happily.
Next up for Paisley is a soon-to-be released Christmas album, “Snow Globe Town,” and it’s hard to think of Christmas cheer at night when the summer kids are still basking in the Los Angeles sun. But he’s ready for the transition, with or without a spectacular holiday collection he’ll soon promote. “That’s why you turn on Hallmark in November. Well, I do. It’s like, ‘Let’s leave this channel on for the next two months.'”
Paisley will stick around for Tuesday’s Game 4, naturally. From the stands. “Whatever happens tonight is not my fault,” he says.
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