FiveThirtyEight’s top stories this week

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Popular This Week] Sunday, October 24, 2021 [1. The Red Sox Seemed Unstoppable. Then The Astros Turned The Tables.]( [Championship Series – Houston Astros v Boston Red Sox – Game Five]( Just a couple of days ago, the Houston Astros were in big trouble. Luis García and José Urquidy — the starting pitchers for Games 2 and 3 of the ALCS — got roughed up in consecutive outings, as the Boston Red Sox crushed three grand slams and narrowly missed a championship-series record, with 21 runs scored over a two-game span. Going into Game 4, our forecast model gave the Astros just a 34 percent chance of advancing to their third World Series in the past five seasons. [Read more]( [2. A Majority Of Republican Voters Actively Want Trump To Run For President Again]( [A photo illustration of a Trump 2024 flag against a gridded background]( Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. [Read more]( [3. The ACC’s Best Playoff Hope Is Pittsburgh. Yes, Really.]( [Virginia Tech v Pittsburgh]( The Atlantic Coast Conference started the 2021 college football season with reason for title-contending hope. Three ACC teams ranked in the top 15 of the preseason AP poll: No. 14 Miami and the electric D’Eriq King looked like they were finally “back”; No. 10 North Carolina seemed ready for a trip to the promised land, guided by likely first-round draft pick and Heisman candidate Sam Howell; and No. 3 Clemson … well, Clemson was going to be Clemson. But all three teams lost their season openers, and none was especially inspiring in defeat. [Read more]( [4. The Raiders Had More Black Players Than Any NFL Team. Then Jon Gruden Took Over The Roster.]( [Chicago Bears v Las Vegas Raiders]( Years before Jon Gruden resigned in disgrace as the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach over a series of racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails, Chip Kelly faced scrutiny over his record on race during his tenure as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. [Read more]( [5. Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics]( [U.S. President Joe Biden]( Over his first nine months in office, President Biden has lost support among Americans of all stripes — men and women, Black voters and white voters, Zoomers and Baby Boomers. Even Democrats writ large are more disenchanted. But two groups with whom Biden has lost support stand out: independents and Hispanics. Independents have soured on Biden to the extent that his approval ratings among this group approach the strongly negative ratings they gave then-President Donald Trump at the same point in his presidency, while increased disapproval of Biden among Hispanics could signal they are moving further away from Democrats after they shifted somewhat toward Trump and the GOP last November. [Read more]( [6. How Democrats’ Failure To Pass A Voting Rights Bill Fits A Pattern Of Failing Voters Of Color]( [Demonstrators in Washington, DC hold up signs that read "Black Voters Matter"]( Before President Biden entered the White House, he had an impressive list of to-dos on his agenda, including but not limited to: passing federal voting rights legislation, restructuring policing following the murder of George Floyd and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. [Read more]( [7. Many Of The NHL’s Best Teams Are Still Getting To Know Their Goalies]( [Chicago Blackhawks v Colorado Avalanche]( One of the big themes of the NHL in 2021-22 has been change between the pipes. There was no shortage of goalies — some quite accomplished — on the move over the offseason: Among teams near the top of our final 2020-21 Elo rankings, the Colorado Avalanche (who lost Philipp Grubauer), Vegas Golden Knights (Marc-André Fleury), Carolina Hurricanes (Alex Nedeljkovic) and Florida Panthers (Chris Driedger) all said goodbye to their most productive goaltenders by goals above replacement from a year ago. [Read more]( [8. Anthony Edwards Found His Rhythm Late Last Season. Can He Help Minnesota Find The Playoffs?]( [Minnesota Timberwolves v Toronto Raptors]( In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, kicking off a decade and a half during which the team ranked last in the league in win percentage. Seven years later, the team shipped off another All-Star-turned-champion in Kevin Love. And within two years of obtaining Jimmy Butler, who helped the team end a 13-season playoff drought in 2017-18, Butler abruptly exited, marking the beginning of another regression. [Read more]( [9. The Supreme Court’s Conservative Revolution Is Already Happening]( [The U.S. Supreme Court]( Everyone keeps waiting for the Supreme Court’s big right turn — especially this year. The justices have now begun their first full term with a 6-3 conservative majority, and the docket is full of culture-war issues, such as abortion, gun rights and religious liberty. [Read more]( [10. How Enrique Hernández Went From Utility Infielder To The Hottest Hitter In The Playoffs]( [Enrique Hernandez #5 of the Boston Red Sox]( Not long ago, Boston Red Sox center fielder Enrique (Kiké) Hernández was a defensive nomad. After being acquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a six-player deal in December 2014, he spent six seasons in Dodger blue, and he played at no fewer than six different positions in any one of those years. Hernández garnered the coveted title of “super utility infielder” thanks to his defensive versatility and a hit tool that allowed him to stay in the starting lineup night after night. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Adam Schiff Is Worried About American Democracy]( Lastly, The Riddler By [Zach Wissner-Gross]( [riddler_4x3_default]( Duke Leto Atreides knows for a fact that there are not one, but two traitors within his royal household. The suspects are Lady Jessica, Dr. Wellington Yueh, Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho. Leto’s advisor, Thufir Hawat, will assist him in questioning the four suspects. Anyone who is a traitor will tell a lie, while anyone who is not a traitor will tell the truth. Upon interrogation, Jessica says that she is not the traitor, while Wellington similarly says that he is not the traitor. Gurney says that Jessica or Wellington is a traitor. Finally, Duncan says that Jessica or Gurney is a traitor. (Thufir, being the logician that he is, notes that when someone says thing A is true or thing B is true, both A and B can technically be true.) After playing back the interrogations in his mind, Thufir is ready to report the name of one of the traitors to the duke. Whose name does he report? [Solve it!]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.