Brad Paisley is taking center stage at the World Series once again.
The country music star has the honors of singing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the World Series ahead of Game 1 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. Apparently the MLB doesn’t care about potential biases of their National Anthem singers, considering Paisley is a die-hard Dodgers fan – and this will mark his fourth time singing our nation’s song at the World Series.
Dodgers superfan and country music star Brad Paisley will perform the National Anthem before Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow, October 25th pic.twitter.com/5dvgPCNFmC
— MLB (@MLB) October 24, 2024
That must be cool though to step out onto the historic Dodger Stadium field as a fan of the team and officially kick things off at the Fall Classic. And you might see different outlets refer to Paisley as a “lifelong fan,” but that’s not exactly the case.
The “Mud on the Tires” singer is actually from West Virginia, and grew up a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Paisley also grew up in a household where his father was a fan of the Cleveland Guardians (formerly known as the Cleveland Indians).
So how did Brad Paisley become a Dodgers super fan?
As the country star explained himself in an interview on MLB Network’s High Heat, he really only started to follow the Los Angeles Dodgers when he started going to their games in the early 2000’s. Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley frequented the ball park when they owned a home in the Los Angeles area from 2004 to 2013.
Paisley mentioned that it was important for him to be able to take his kids to a ballpark, and at the time, Dodgers Stadium was the closest option. So Paisley and his family went to a lot of L.A. games, and naturally became fans of the team. So more or less the same way that everyone else in Hollywood became a Dodgers fan? Kidding Brad, I know you’re a die-hard.
Actually, Paisley has become a little bit more than just a fan in recent years. According to reports, when Paisley was presenter at the 2023 MLB Draft, he welcomed some team personnel to his Tennessee farm afterwards and apparently managed to act as a mediator to help the Dodgers land Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow.
That’s (believed to be) a true story.
So I guess Brad Paisley has a couple of different titles: Country Music Star, National Anthem Performer, and the Dodgers Impromptu, Part-Time Manager of Baseball Operations. I wonder if he’ll be trying to make some proactive offseason moves on behalf of the Dodgers while he’s there performing the national anthem at the World Series tonight?
