Baseball players are known for playing pranks on each other. Several were undoubtedly rubber, plastic, or even robotic snakes.

But a snake slithering across the top step of the dugout when your team is down six runs in the fifth inning of a National League Championship Series game? Wrong place, wrong time.

So it dawned on Dodgers pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr., catcher Will Smith and relief coach Danny Lehmann that the snake in the Dodgers dugout Monday was real and best avoided. Honeywell and Smith returned to the dugout after forfeiting the New York Mets in Game 5. Lehmann greeted them from the dugout.

They looked down and gave way to the snake. A Dodgers clubhouse guard rushed over and deftly wrapped the snake-shaped intruder in a towel.

Could it have been an omen? An AI overview states that the sight of a snake while lying on the ground can be viewed as a positive omen that symbolizes transformation, rebirth and renewal.

In fact, Max Muncy hit a home run in the bottom of the fifth to put the Dodgers on the field, and a two-run single by Tommy Edman in the sixth cut the deficit to 6-3.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers’ rally ended there and the Mets finished the game with a 7-3 win, clinching the best-of-seven series with one win each.

All that remained were pithy comments, starting with this call from FOX play-by-play commentator Joe Davis: “We had ‘Snakes on a Plane,’ ‘Snakes on a Train,’ and the latest Hollywood hit, ‘Snake in.’ .’the shelter.’”

On

More than one pointed to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ claim after Game 2 of the NLDS that San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado threw a ball his way, saying, “That was very annoying.” If If it was directed at me, I would be very – it’s pretty disrespectful.”

After the Dodgers won the Series, Roberts admitted that his comments to Machado may have been a bit playful in an attempt to motivate his players. Of course, a social media comment said Roberts said of the snake: “I was told (Mets shortstop Francisco) Lindor did that between innings, that really got our guys going.”

All joking aside, Honeywell was unfazed and pitched two more scoreless innings. Finally, he had seen a much larger and more threatening reptile in a shelter.

In 2015, when he was still a minor league player for the Tampa Bay Rays, Honeywell walked into the dugout and saw his teammates staring at an alligator.

“There was an 8- or 9-foot alligator in the shelter under the bench,” Honeywell told The Times. “It had rained a lot. They just got him out of there. It crawled back into the water.”

Facing another scaly creature on Monday, Honeywell hoped the snake would be a good omen for the Dodgers.

“I was hoping it would be a rally snake and we pushed a few runs straight after that, but…”