The Yankees channeled the magic of Emoji Night to pull off an epic ninth-inning comeback

Having dropped the first two games of their four-game set against the Rangers and looking to climb back into the AL East race, the Yankees entered Wednesday's game against Texas really needing a win. They couldn't afford to leave it up to chance -- they needed an edge. They needed an x-factor. They needed ... a whole bunch of emojis.
And, as it turned out, they were in luck: Because Wednesday night just happened to be Emoji Night at Yankee Stadium. Much like the Angels before them, the Bombers endeavored to put smiling yellow faces on just about every surface imaginable. There were emojis on hats, which were given away to the first 18,000 fans:

There were emojis on the center-field scoreboard, lest you might miss them:

And there were emoji-branded bottles of Pepsi, given to every fan as they exited the ballpark. Didi Gregorius even got his very own emoji, which is the surest possible sign that you've made it:

An emoji is worth 1000 words! #sayitwithpepsi pic.twitter.com/zVrcwPQ8KY

— Sir Didi Gregorius (@DidiG18) June 29, 2016

And while we can't say for certain that the Yankees shortstop was stirred to greatness by the artwork made in his honor, we can say that -- after Brian McCann's three-run homer tied things at 7 and capped an incredible ninth-inning rally -- Gregorius came to the plate two batters later and did this: 

Do personalized emojis lead to walk-off heroics? The science says yes.