“Juju” is a noun with two definitions, according to Merriam-Webster.

1: a fetish, charm, or amulet of West African peoples

2: the magic attributed to or associated with juju

I do not have a fetish, charm or amulet, but like many sports fans, I have a sneaking feeling that I can influence, by my attentions and actions, at a distance, the outcome involving “my” teams.

The Dodgers in the World Series, for instance.

It is not easy to follow the World Series from the other side of the Atlantic. Those 5:20 games, Los Angeles time? That is 1:20 a.m. in France.

Figure a three-hour game, minimum — that takes us to 4:20 a.m. in France.

A four-hour game — 5:20 a.m.

Not many of us are up or around at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Maybe a full-time job on the graveyard shift, but otherwise …

So, I have been checking in at odd times — if I don’t sleep straight through the whole game. Which has happened, much to my chagrin.

Here is my interaction with the 2017 World Series:

Game 1: I woke early in the morning. It is 1-1, top of the sixth. With me now watching, Justin Turner hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, and I stayed with the game to the end.

Game 2: Slept through it. Great game, by some reckoning. Final: Houston 7-6 in 11 innings.

Game 3: Slept through it. Astros win, 5-3. Hmm.

Game 4: Woke in the top of the ninth. Corey Seager had singled to open the inning. Game was tied 1-1. I saw Turner walk. I saw Clay Bellinger double to left-center, scoring Seager, giving the Dodgers the lead. I saw Yasiel Puig strike out, Logan Forsythe walked intentionally, Justin Barnes with a sacrifice fly to right, making it 3-1, and Joc Pederson with his three-run blast over the fence. 6-1!

Did I go back to sleep? No. Even though it was approaching 5 a.m.  The team needed me! It was me and my laptop, in the dark, watching images from Texas. Affecting them, somehow.

Kenley Jansen came on and got two quick outs, Bregman homered to left, but Jansen completed a 6-2 victory by popping up Jose Altuve.

Only then was I free to try to get sleep hours Nos. 5 and 6. But they came, eventually, because I was content in knowing that my personal attention, while games in this World Series are in progress, means only good things for the Dodgers.

I hope the Big Dodger in the Sky rouses me from dream land in time for (at least) the latter stages of Game 5 on Sunday.

It’s juju, I tell you, and I have it and can effect the results of this World Series — as do the men and women who will be wearing the same shirts, the same shoes and maybe the same underwear, and eating the same dinner as in Game 4 …

They know, as I do, that we make a difference. Somehow. It is juju. Witchcraft. Voodoo. We have come to believe we have these powers, though we know not how … and all we need do is watch the team.

Game 5, here we come.