Jake I just looked up MJO most interesting (look farther down on the page for those who do not know/understand there are four items that may help.)
It looks like there is a connection, what have you noticed in the past years/decades? What has the "pulse" rainfall been like in the past 6 years when there have not been any US falling hurricanes?
The last article says "How exactly the anomaly propagate from the dateline to Africa is not well understood. The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology recently updated says "The MJO can be characterized as an eastward moving "pulse" of cloud and rainfall near the equator that typically recurs every 30 to 60 days." http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/mjo/