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No matter which Greater Boston team they support, many local sports fans are living through an exciting and expectant moment.
The Red Sox, who won their first Wild Card series matchup against the Yankees last night 3-1, have made it fun to be a fan again. Under a new head coach, The Patriots are showing signs of life. The Celtics are recalibrating as their star forward heals. The Bruins are taking steps to bounce back. And the Revolution, New England’s pro soccer team, has, well, few places to go but up.
Here’s an update on each team, with help from my Globe colleagues who cover them.
Maybe it’s the walk-up songs or the thrill of a classic rivalry. Maybe it’s skill at reading opposing pitchers or the healing power of chanting “Yankees suck!” Either way, last night’s come-from-behind win underscored this season’s theme: turnabout.
The Sox started off the season lackluster, losing more than they won and catching flak for trading away Rafael Devers. But as my colleague Tim Healey chronicled this week, they caught fire in July, jumpstarting a 10-game winning streak that earned a third-place finish in the AL East and reaching the postseason for the first time in four years. The Globe’s Julian Benbow has crunched the numbers behind that streak, including the team’s hardest hitter (rookie Roman Anthony) and hardest hit (outfielder Jarren Duran).
The Sox-Yanks playoff series continues tonight.
New England’s first season with coach Mike Vrabel at the helm was always going to be seen as a test of his leadership. Though far from over, the early results look promising.
As my colleague Chad Finn wrote after the Patriots thumped the Panthers 42-13 on Sunday, the team’s first few games have showcased dynamics that suggest it “might just have something satisfying happening.” They include new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ creativity and wide receiver Stefon Diggs’ knack for finding an opening.
The Pats will face the undefeated Buffalo Bills Sunday.
Jayson Tatum’s season-ending ruptured Achilles’ tendon during the playoffs was a dispiriting punctuation mark to a disappointing run for the former champions. And since then, Boston has lost standbys like Jrue Holiday and Al Horford.
Yet as the Globe’s Gary Washburn notes, the coming season offers opportunities for others. They include Jaylen Brown, who may have to step up in Tatum’s absence; Anfernee Simons and other newcomers; and new owner Bill Chisholm, who aims “to win championships and raise banners.”
Tatum is still recovering, but he’s been working out and won’t rule out returning this season. The preseason starts next Wednesday.
After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, the team hopes to reestablish itself this season with leading players like Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak, my colleague Conor Ryan writes. Joining them are returning franchise pillar Zdeno Chara, winger Tanner Jeannot, and Hampus Lindholm, who’s back after breaking his kneecap.
Boston has won half its preseason games so far; the regular season starts next Wednesday.
OK, excited and hopeful might not be the words to describe Greater Boston’s Major League Soccer fans after the Revolution fired coach Caleb Porter last month and missed the postseason for a second straight year. Some fans want sporting director Curt Onalfo fired, too.
But defeat can bring renewal. As my colleague Frank Dell’Apa notes, Porter improved things, proven coaches who could replace him are on the market, and a couple good strikers could solidify the club’s serviceable roster. “I’m very optimistic,” Onalfo recently said. “When it turns, it turns.”
More sports news: Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx criticized WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, accusing her of failing to resolve officiating and player compensation issues.
🧩 2 Down: Nag | 🌤️ 61° Sunny, cool, breezy
Medley to Marathon: A new program aims to make it easier for amateur runners who live in Boston to enter the Boston Marathon.
Trump vs. Harvard: Trump said he’d reached a deal in which the university would spend about $500 million on trade schools, a claim his administration seemed to quickly walk back. Meanwhile, Harvard called the administration’s latest effort to block its federal funding “unjust and unlawful.”
Brave new world: In a case involving a “nonwhite” Snapchat bitmoji, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled that police must prove they’re not racially profiling when they make arrests based on information from social media.
Reversed: A former UMass Memorial Health worker fired in 2021 for refusing to take a COVID vaccine won her appeal, letting her revive her religious discrimination lawsuit against the hospital.
Rebuked: A Ronald Reagan-appointed federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration had violated pro-Palestinian international students’ free speech rights, accusing it of a “full-throated assault on the First Amendment.” Read more from the ruling, which the judge introduced with a scanned image of an anonymous pro-Trump threat he received in the mail.
Yanked: The White House withdrew Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, E.J. Antoni, whose deleted tweets featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, homophobia, and conspiracy theories. (CNN)
Drug prices: Pfizer struck a deal with Trump to sell prescription drugs to Medicaid for less and to offer discounts through a direct-to-consumer website the administration plans to launch called TrumpRx. (AP)
Immigration: A Mexican immigrant injured in a sniper attack on a Dallas ICE facility died after going off life support. (Texas Tribune) In New York City, a shove from a federal agent outside an immigration court hospitalized a photojournalist. (Gothamist)
School’s out: A 1,500-student district in Claremont, N.H., was struggling to meet payroll, had a massive deficit, and closed an elementary school. Some fear that other districts in the state could face similar financial crises.
No laughing matter? David Cross and Marc Maron criticized fellow comedians — including Canton native Bill Burr — for attending a comedy festival in Riyadh over Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights abuses and the limits it placed on what attendees could say.
🍽️ Star wars: Michelin will list Boston restaurants for the first time this year. The guide isn’t out until November, but in the meantime you can salivate over restaurant critic Devra First’s list of places that deserve to be on it.
🐻‍❄️ Bear necessities: A photographer’s drone footage captured a group of polar bears that have taken up residence in an abandoned Russian research station. (AP) And meet Chunk, the winner of this year’s “Fat Bear Week” competition. (Alaska Public Media)
❤️ Love Letters: She loves her partner, who’s still in touch with an ex. Should she stay or should she go?
🏺 Rewriting history: Researchers digitally reconstructed the crushed skull of a squat-necked, big-brained man who may have lived 1 million years ago, challenging scientists’ understanding of human evolution. (WashPost 🎁)
😋 Eat up: Sally’s Apizza, an 87-year-old New Haven landmark that sells sooty, charred Neapolitan pies, just opened a new location in Dorchester.
🎓 Babson: This small business college in Wellesley is the Wall Street Journal’s No. 2 school in America for the second year in a row, topping Yale and MIT. (WSJ 🎁)
🤢 Gull gut gunk: It turns out that the indigestible masses seabirds spit up can tell us a lot about our impact on the environment. (Smithsonian)
Thanks for reading Starting Point.
This newsletter was edited by Heather Ciras.
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