The early bird gets the worm, or so the saying goes, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders may have just brought some bad mojo down upon them ahead of a critical matchup.
On Friday, the team decided to get a jumpstart on playoff ticket sales, sharing a Ticketmaster link so fans could get their seats in Mosaic Stadium for a November 28 West Semi-Final.
The only problem? Saskatchewan has not yet clinched a home playoff date, meaning the sales could all be for naught if the worst case scenario plays out.
https://twitter.com/sskroughriders/status/1459300184136073221?s=20
It’s hardly unprecedented for teams to sell tickets to a game they’ve yet to clinch — one could argue it’s wise given short timelines — but none of the other CFL teams in playoff contention have done so. Winnipeg has tickets on sale for the West Final, though they went on sale days after the team clinched the top spot in the West Division.
The Riders do have a chance to clinch the second seed in the West and lock in their Mosaic soiree this weekend, but only if they beat the Edmonton Elks Saturday night or the Calgary Stampeders lose to the B.C. Lions on Friday. If neither of those scenarios happen, the home playoff game will be up for grabs in the final week season.
The odds favour Saskatchewan’s tweet being more prophecy than ‘cold take exposed,’ but nothing can be taken for granted. The Stampeders have already lost to the Lions once this season and the Elks kept the first half of their back-to-back with Saskatchewan tighter than was comfortable.
Should the worst case scenario play out, the Riders could be forced to defend second in Week 16 against a Hamilton Tiger-Cats team that might be vying for a first round playoff bye, while Calgary faces the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ second stringers. With Calgary holding the season series, two losses by the Riders and two wins from the Stamps would see their playoff matchup at McMahon, not Mosaic.
Rider fans will no doubt be reimbursed should the cards fall in the Stampeders favour, but the superstitious among them won’t like the team jumping the gun one bit.
