This Easter Monday morning, Pope Francis passed away at Casa Santa Marta, his home near St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He was 88 years old.
Pope Francis leaves behind a complex legacy, known as one of the most “progressive” leaders of the historically “conservative” Catholic Church. His public disagreements with President Donald Trump, statements in support of gay unions (though not fully marriages), and environmental causes lead him to be viewed in positive light by some people outside of the Catholic faith while some within it thought his statements weren’t aligned with the traditions of the faith.
But without a question, Pope Francis was a great man who pushed himself to the fullest to serve the purpose of his life: Bringing the word of God to the masses at any cost to himself.
The Pope had been sick for quite some time but never allowed that to detract from his public ministry. Despite failing health, he celebrated Easter and made his final appearance just yesterday, the culmination of his final months where he continued to work himself to the bone, against doctors orders.
Tributes have poured in from religious, political, and cultural figures around the globe. Vice-president JD Vance turned out to be one of the final people to have met the Pope, exchanging Easter greetings yesterday, just hours before Francis’ death.
Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health.
Happy Easter! pic.twitter.com/SIhU9gYQl2
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) April 20, 2025
Quick personal fun fact: The priest to Pope Francis’ left is Father Chris Washington, who was the chaplain at my high school. He celebrated masses with us before football games my freshman year before being reassigned as the personal aide and translator for Pope Francis. He’s a great guy and still wishes me happy birthday on Facebook sometimes… Just had to say that.
Well, any time bad news breaks, people, especially baseball fans, think of one name and one name only…
Nick Castellanos.
The right fielder for my Philadelphia Phillies is now synonymous for hitting homeruns during or right after something bad happens, the most iconic of those incidents giving us the line “as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos” from Thom Brennaman, who was in the middle of apologizing for using a slur that got picked up on a hot mic before the game when Nick sent a ball over the fence:
Thom Brennaman apologized on-air and handed the broadcast off pic.twitter.com/fMXMmQz7Kd
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) August 20, 2020
Castellanos also homered during an homage to fallen veterans and while the broadcast booth was honoring former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who had recently suffered a stroke, but upon further review, it turned out he also had a habit of sending one out when some serious bad news broke around the globe… The Philadelphia Inquirer tracked down 12 such verified examples, including the day Osama bin Laden was killed, when Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins died, after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, when Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race (same day Thom Brennaman returned to broadcasting, and when a major bridge collapsed in Philadelphia…
So yeah, I think you can see where this is going.
Sports bettors of all walks of life are flooding the internet showing their play for today, when Nick Castellanos and the Phillies will be taking on the New York Mets at 7:10 at Citi Field…
Rip Pope Francis https://t.co/sCG8XeJ9Bc pic.twitter.com/u2heGEtig3
— Phillies Baseball Talk (@FightinsTalk) April 21, 2025
https://t.co/ow83HDorgX pic.twitter.com/ExwrRL76WA
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) April 21, 2025
Nick Castellanos’ odds to hit a home run have shifted from +750 before the news about the pope to +560 after 💀 pic.twitter.com/Kpti4JNaz2
— Dead President Picks (@DeadPresPicks) April 21, 2025
cook Mr Castellanos https://t.co/srZh9q421K pic.twitter.com/O4GjGNwSTz
— Claytrain (@ClaytrainTV) April 21, 2025
DraftKings then posted the top-three most bet players to hit a homerun so far today (they knew what they were doing) and lo-and-behold, Nicky C was on top…
Here are the three most-bet players to hit a home run for today's MLB slate 👇
1️⃣ Nick Castellanos (+475)
2️⃣ Aaron Judge (+200)
3️⃣ Alex Bregman (+500) pic.twitter.com/kWdkExbyJC— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) April 21, 2025
It seems DK and other sportsbooks may have locked his home run prop at this point though due to the astounding volume being put on it… I have to say I do feel pretty bad for Castellanos at this point because if he does hit a homerun today this is going to get even wilder and if he doesn’t that people are going to be super mad because A LOT of money is going to be lost…
They locked Castellanos to hit a homer HAHAHHA 🤣🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/HIszrPPuXM pic.twitter.com/LY60lgy7EW
— Kyle ☁️ (@KSongzx23) April 21, 2025
Right now I can still get action on BetMGM for +475, so not all books have blocked the bet yet, but you can guarantee that I’ll be watching tonight to see what happens…
Rest in peace, Pope Francis.
This post contains links from our Affiliate Partners program. If you use these links to make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
