🔮 Sabrina’s spell | Morning Newsletter

Hi, Philly. Expect sunny skies and a high near 75 on this Saturday.

It’s been a long week for the Phillies faithful. Today, I’m highlighting how some superstitious fans are looking to a pop singer from Bucks County to cope with the fallout of Red October.

Plus, get details on more presidential nominee visits to the Philadelphia suburbs, a string of Philly-based software deals, and what’s next for a popular Center City sports bar and drag-show venue that has been sold.

— Paola Pérez (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Every Saturday, I’ll share a Philly story here that’s stuck in my mind. This week, is anyone surprised I can’t stop trying to explain the dramatic end to the playoffs?

The exhilarating happiness I felt after Nick Castellanos’ Game 2 walk-off was like lightning in a bottle. I’m with my colleague Stephanie Farr: I’m sad for Philly most of all. But who is to blame? Is it the Garage Fishtown mural’s fault? Did the Mets win because we said goodbye to Dollar Dog Nights and they kept theirs? Did we forget our lucky underwear? Some people have a different hunch: the so-called Sabrina Carpenter curse.

It’s mostly banter, but I’m all in on this rationale. I can’t blame fans for catching a pattern in the matrix, or for latching onto something fun in this moment of despair. This is how we cope with the grief of losing. We tried everything to win: Start virtual prayer circles. Say Bryce Harper’s name five times every hour. Use a Phillie Phanatic plush toy for a ritual. Bless the bats with “holy water.” Listen to the postseason playlist like it’s our job. Beg a random Jesus cosplayer to “do something.”

So when Sabrina put on a bedazzled jersey at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night, the stakes exploded. Phillies fans were hungry for some good juju after the team dropped Game 3, and she served that outfit with a side of “Espresso.” She’s always been a fan, but this was different. To the disillusioned looking for a sign of hope, Sabrina repping this team at her hometown show was not a curse. She was a good luck charm. If she could “finish the job” and help us send the Mets home, this moment could go in our history books. (Put it right next to her playful confirmation that she lowkey “got the mayor indicted.”)

If you look at history, as Shawn DePaz did, we put pressure on this Quakertown-raised star to be our fortune teller — for better or for worse. She wore a Maple Leafs jersey at her Toronto show, and they dropped their season opener. And she repped England at a summer show, and they lost the Euro finals. People want Sabrina to wear the regalia of any arch nemesis at this point.

This Sabrina may not be a teenage witch, but maybe she can muster up enough magic to help us take down another big Philly sports rival. (We’re coming for you, Cowboys.) Her crystal ball did get one thing right: it was a Short n’ Sweet Red October, emphasis on the sweet. Baseball fans will wonder what could have been, and think about what happened Wednesday night for a long time, but it was a good run. Cursed or not, at least we can find comfort in believing it was always out of our hands — and spring training will be here before we know it.

All eyes are on the battleground state of Pennsylvania as Election Day nears.

Candidates down the ballot are courting — and counting on — undecided voters including college students, Latinos, rural folks, and the working class on Nov. 5. Some voters already made their minds up while others say they will skip the voting booth altogether. The rest of the Keystone State’s pivotal electorate may seem torn, but Tony Wood suggests in a column that they know exactly what they’re doing.

“We tell the rest of the country that we’re still thinking it over, but what we have decided is that we love all this attention,” Tony Wood writes. Read on for Wood’s take on what he calls Pennsylvania’s genius strategy.

Which musical duo came to Philly together every Thursday for five weeks in 1972?

A) Ike and Tina Turner

B) Daryl Hall and John Oates

C) John Lennon and Yoko Ono

D) Sonny and Cher

Think you know? Check your answer.

Hint: A defunct prison and popular Philadelphia haunted attraction

SEPARATE NINETY INTERSTATE

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to Kate Chiodini who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Indigenous Peoples Day. The holiday will be celebrated Monday in Philadelphia to honor the history and contributions of Native communities. (Some city services will be affected.)

In the classroom, kindergarteners get to watch caterpillars grow into monarch butterflies. Outside of the classroom, the kids take wing and parade through downtown Haddonfield, mimicking the monarch butterfly’s epic migration to Mexico.

The celebration on Monday marked a 30-year tradition of releasing the adult butterflies into the school’s garden and the youngsters “migrating” down the street dressed as monarchs. See more from the scene through staff photographer Tom Gralish’s camera.

Once again, the sky brought us all together. The northern lights took colored our world, and people shared their stunning snaps, whether they were within city limits or flying in a plane in the sky.

In another corner of the web, one person is hoping English-Albanian songstress Dua Lipa takes him on a “nightseeing” date, and another is celebrating three years of sobriety with one of the most wholesome comment sections you’ll see today.

👋🏽 That’s it for now. Take care, and I’ll see you again tomorrow with the latest news.

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