[ CW ] In an alternate universe , everything is identical to our world except for one little thing- getting a third foul ball in baseball is treated the same as the third strike . Write a story that takes place in this world , but has nothing to do with baseball .

Chipper Jones was the first person to ruin my life. It's happened several times since then, but Chipper was the first. 
 
 I like to gamble. A lot. People who do n't know me very well might say that I have a gambling problem, but those people are stupid. I do n't have a gambling problem. I only bet when I know I'm going to win. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I'm right, because I can see the future of this world. I do n't know why; I do n't know how; but it's true. Always has been. I have picked every president since Jimmy Carter; I have called every # 1 album for the last fifteen years; I've never missed at any kind of sports bet, because I know what's supposed to happen. 
 
 Chipper, though. Geez. How do you not even put the ball in play? Seventh game of the World Series, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, one out, down by a run. Even a fly ball drives in the tying run. Then the motherfucker struck out, fouling out past the catcher. He was supposed to tie it up right there. And then, Andruw Jones flied out to end the game. He was supposed to win it by doubling off the wall. 
 
 Chipper was n't supposed to strike out. Jon Lester was supposed to hang a curve ball there. Somehow, someone used his knowledge or power or whatever to twist this world, and Lester threw a fastball instead. Chip was right on it, but fouled it straight back, and it cost me everything I had earned in my life. I started back at zero because I chose to bet on the game that ultimately came down to that pitch. 
 
 That was the first time I ever dropped five figures on a single game. It would turn out not to be the last. Again, some people might say I do n't learn from my mistakes. Those people are stupid. 
 
 Every time something happens, it happens all ways. That's one of the basic precepts of the'multiverse'. When you roll a six-sided die, the universe splits into six versions of itself, one for each possibility. You're stuck in the world that expects outcome X, though. In my case, my psi power was usually enough to call tell me which universe I would end up in. 
 
 Somehow, though, someone had changed the outcome. Someone -- another gambler, probably -- had apparently figured out how to tweak things in other versions of the universe, or move other people into his version of the universe. 
 
 In order to fix things, to keep this universe RIGHT, I would need to kill him. 
 
 Unfortunately, I had no idea of who this person was. Is. Will be. Whatever. 
 
 ( more to come. It's bedtime )
