Boston

The deeper he wades into the conversation, the deeper Al Michaels is transported back in time, 35 years doing nothing to dull the memory of that warm Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, where the Angels and Boston Red Sox staged one of the most thrilling and head-spinning 75 minutes of October baseball ever.

“To this day, man, I can still feel everything,” Michaels, now 76, said in a recent phone interview. “That freaking game … I mean, the drama from the top of the ninth inning through the bottom of the 11th was just insane.”

One strike away from delivering the Angels to their first World Series, closer Donnie Moore gave up a crowd-silencing, two-run homer to Dave Henderson in Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series, a dagger that capped a stunning, four-run ninth inning and gave the Red Sox a one-run lead.

Dave Henderson watches the flight of his ninth-inning homer that put Boston ahead of the Angels, 6-5 in Anaheim, Oct. 12, 1986.

(Jim Gerberich / Associated Press)

The Angels rallied to tie it in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases loaded with one out, needing only a sacrifice fly or well-placed grounder to restore the full-throated roar to an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 64,223. Two of their top hitters, Doug DeCinces and Bobby Grich, failed to bring home the winning run.

Boston left fielder Jim Rice made a game-saving catch of a Gary Pettis drive at the wall to end the 10th inning, and Henderson’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 11th gave the Red Sox a 7-6 comeback victory.

The shellshocked Angels barely put up a fight in Games 6 and 7 losses in Fenway Park. Three-and-a-half decades later, however, it’s Game 5 that still eats at the left-hander who got the final out in the top of the 11th inning but had been bypassed for another southpaw for a key at-bat in the ninth.

“You can’t get any closer,” former Angels pitcher Chuck Finley said. “You almost feel like you can touch it. When you have something in your hands, it’s almost like you were pick-pocketed.”

Tuesday, Oct. 12, marks the 35th anniversary of the most devastating loss in Angels history, 3 hours and 54 minutes of twists and turns that played out like a Shakespearean tragedy.

This is a look back at Game 5 through the eyes of a 23-year-old rookie reliever on that team and a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster who ranks the game just behind the “Miracle on Ice,” the U.S. hockey team’s upset of the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, on his list of greatest sporting events he’s called.

PROLOGUE

The 1986 Angels, managed by 60-year-old Gene Mauch, were an eclectic mix of crusty veterans, eager youngsters and a sprinkling of players in their prime.

The lineup included designated hitter Reggie Jackson (40), catcher Bob Boone (38), second baseman Grich (37), third baseman DeCinces (35), outfielders George Hendrick (36) and Brian Downing (35) and infielder Rick Burleson (35).

The kids were first baseman Wally Joyner (24) and shortstop Dick Schofield (23).

Don Sutton (41) was the dean of a rotation that included 25-year-old right-handers Mike Witt and Kirk McCaskill. Terry Forster (34) was the elder in the bullpen. Finley was called up from Class-A Quad Cities in late May and saw a blend of personalities and temperaments that was borderline toxic.

Chuck Finley of the Angels pitches during a game circa 1988 in Anaheim, California.

(Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

“It was almost like a Desperate Housewives for Men the whole year,” said Finley, who lives in Newport Beach and does charity work for the team. “That clubhouse was a mess. Guys were just fighting all the time. There was so much pressure on Gene just to keep that team together.”

Finley recalled the team bus ride in which Moore, angered after being told Mauch had called a workout for an off day, hurled a piece of fruit at the skipper, only to have it splatter on the windshield of the bus. Players could be prickly with the media. And each other.

“It was a mixed bag of nuts,” Finley said. “It was like going to a bar and they give you that bowl. Some are a little sweet, some are a little sour, some are a little salty, but you just keep putting your hands in there and eating it, you know?”

The clubhouse tension, however, did not affect their performance. The Angels went 23-25 in April and May but caught fire in June, going 69-45 over the final four months to finish at 92-70. They sealed the division title with a 21-5 run from Aug. 24 through Sept. 22.

Joyner (.290, 22 homers, 100 RBIs), DeCinces (.256, 26, 96) and Downing (.267, 20, 95) paced the offense. Witt (18-10, 2.84 ERA, 208 strikeouts), McCaskill (17-10, 3.36, 202) and Sutton (15-11, 3.74) led the rotation.

Angels relief pitcher Donnie Moore.

(Charles Bernhardt / Allsport)

Moore fought through shoulder and rib-cage injuries to go 4-5 with a 2.97 ERA and 21 saves in 49 games, and Doug Corbett (4-2, 3.66 ERA in 46 games), Forster (4-1, 3.15 in 41 games) and left-hander Gary Lucas (4-1, 3.15 in 27 games) were reliable in relief.

“Man, once that national anthem was played, it was just true professionalism,” said Finley, who went 3-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 25 games after his summer call-up. “Those guys knew how to win.”

PENNANT FEVER

The Angels closed the season at Texas and flew to Boston to start the ALCS. Two sloppy, half-well-pitched games yielded two lopsided scores. Witt threw a complete game in an 8-1 Game 1 victory, and Red Sox left-hander Bruce Hurst threw one in Boston’s 9-2 Game 2 win.

The series shifted to Anaheim, where the Angels scored three seventh-inning runs in a 5-3 Game 3 victory and rallied in Game 4 for three ninth-inning runs off Roger Clemens, with DeCinces (homer) and Pettis (RBI double) providing the big blows, in a 4-3, 11-inning win.

The Angels were up 3-1 in the series.

A sense of anticipation filled Anaheim Stadium the next day when the teams met at high noon under sunny, 80-degree skies. The Angels started Witt, their best pitcher. Hurst started for the Red Sox on three days’ rest.

But across the 57 Freeway in a St. Joseph’s Hospital bed sat Joyner, the Angels’ rookie-of-the-year candidate who had a staph infection in his right shin and would watch the game on a 19-inch TV. (That was a fairly big size in those days, kids.)

Grich moved from second base to first, and Burleson started at second. The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead when Rich Gedman, their left-handed-hitting catcher, lined a two-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole in the second inning. Boone’s solo shot to left made it 2-1 in the third.

Grich followed DeCinces’ two-out double in the sixth with a drive to deep center, where Henderson, who had replaced injured starter Tony Armas in the fifth, nearly made a leaping catch on the warning track.

But Henderson’s momentum sent him smashing into the fence, and his left arm hit the top of the wall. The ball squirted out of his glove and over the fence for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Angels lead, which Anaheim increased to 5-2 in the seventh on Rob Wilfong’s pinch-hit RBI double and Downing’s sacrifice fly off reliever Bob Stanley.

Witt, meanwhile, was cruising. He took a six-hitter into the ninth with three of the hits — the second-inning homer, a fifth-inning double and seventh-inning single — coming off the bat of Gedman, who was due up fifth in the inning. With that in mind, Mauch had Lucas warming up alongside Moore as the inning began. Lucas had struck out Gedman twice during the season and again the night before.

An interview platform was constructed in the Angels clubhouse. Clear plastic wrapping was draped over each locker to protect against the anticipated fusillade of champagne. Officers on horseback gathered in the bullpen. California Highway Patrol officers manned the dugouts.

In a 1987 story about the game, former Times staff writer Mike Penner wrote that Jackson walked over to congratulate Mauch, who was on the verge of finally shedding his reputation as the best manager to never win a pennant. But Mauch kept staring ahead from the third-base dugout, watching Witt warm up for the ninth.

“It isn’t over yet,” Mauch said quietly.

“It had merely begun,” Penner wrote.

HEARTBREAK HILL

Bill Buckner opened the ninth with a ground-ball single to center, just beyond the reach of a diving Schofield. Dave Stapleton came on to pinch-run. Rice struck out looking.

Up stepped Don Baylor, the former Angels designated hitter who led the team to its first two playoff appearances in 1979 and 1982. Witt thought he struck out Baylor with a 2-and-2 curve on the inside corner, but umpire Rocky Roe called it a ball.

Witt’s full-count offering was another breaking ball, this one down and away, a pitch Witt later said he “would throw him 100 out of 100 times, and I guarantee you he wouldn’t hit a home run.” Baylor yanked it over the left-field fence for a two-run homer to cut the lead to 5-4.

Dwight Evans popped out to third for the second out. Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann went to the mound and raised his left arm to summon Lucas. The crowd groaned. So did a few Angels players.

“When they took Witt out, it was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Finley said. “He was dominating that game. I know Gedman had decent numbers against him, but I thought Witt was on a roll and he’d figure out a way to get through this.”

Lucas had not hit a batter in four seasons. His first pitch rode up and in and hit Gedman on the right hand.

Out came Lachemann again to summon Moore to face Henderson, who hit .196 with one homer and three RBIs in 36 games for Boston after an August trade from Seattle.

Henderson fouled off a pair of 2-and-2 pitches, a split-fingered pitch and fastball. Moore, whose shoulder was so sore he took a cortisone injection after the game, threw another splitter on the outer half, but this one tumbled instead of breaking sharply toward the dirt.

Henderson reached out and swatted a high fly to left. Four steps out of the box, he leaped high into the air. Finley, from the right-field bullpen, had a perfect view of the ball’s flight. He knew from the sound of the bat, the arc of the ball and the atmospheric conditions, this was not good.

“I watched it come off the bat and went, ‘Oh, sh–,’ because it was a day game and the ball flies,” Finley said. “Then I saw [Henderson] jump and went, ‘Uh-oh.’ We’re one strike away from going to the World Series and boom, that ball goes flying out, and that stadium went silent.”

Michaels called Henderson’s homer “unbelievable” and “astonishing” on the broadcast. Henderson floated around the bases and was greeted by jubilant teammates in the dugout.

Dave Henderson, left, and Rich Gedman of the Red Sox cheer after Henderson’s ninth-inning homer gave Boston a one-run lead in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS against the Angels.

(Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

“Anaheim Stadium was a strike away from turning into Fantasyland,” Michaels said on the air, “and now the Red Sox lead 6-5!”

Moore got Ed Romero to fly to right to end the inning. A stoic Mauch stood in the dugout, arms folded across his chest, a blank look on his face.

“He looked frozen in time,” Michaels said.

PUSH BACK

The Angels clawed back in the bottom of the ninth. Boone singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Ruppert Jones and was bunted to second by Pettis.

Red Sox manager John McNamara summoned left-hander Joe Sambito to face Wilfong, who singled sharply to right. Jones beat a one-hop throw from the strong-armed Evans with a head-first slide to the back of the plate to tie the score 6-6 and re-spark pandemonium in the stadium.

Angels baserunner Rupert Jones slides safely into home plate under the eyes of Boston Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman in the ninth inning.

(Lennox McLendon / Associated Press)

Wilfong should have advanced on the throw home but froze at first. Right-hander Steve Crawford replaced Sambito and gave up a single to right to Schofield, moving Wilfong to third. Had Wilfong taken second on the play at the plate, he likely would have scored on Schofield’s hit.

Downing was intentionally walked to load the bases to set up a force play at home. That brought DeCinces to the plate. Crawford, who was making his first appearance of the series, was so nervous he couldn’t produce any saliva to spit.

“If there was a toilet on the mound,” Crawford said after the game, “I would have used it.”

Instead, the Angels flushed an opportunity down the drain. DeCinces swung at a first-pitch fastball and flied to shallow right, Wilfong holding at third. Grich hit a soft liner that Crawford snagged to end the inning.

“I got no place to sleep tonight,” Mauch quipped after the game. “I bet my house that DeCinces would get that run in from third.”

Moore escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam in the 10th by getting Rice to ground into a double play. Crawford walked Jerry Narron with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, and the switch-hitting Pettis, with Narron running on a full-count pitch, drove a pitch to deep left.

Pettis had hit a similar ball over Rice’s head during the big ninth-inning rally the previous night, so Rice took a few steps back for this Pettis at-bat. That allowed him to make a leaping, two-hand catch near the top of the wall to rob Pettis of a game-winning double.

“He had to look in his glove to make sure he caught it,” Michaels said. “Narron was running with the 3-2 pitch, and he scores easily if Rice doesn’t catch it.”

Michaels recalled the stadium becoming “eerily quiet” as the 11th inning started.

“I remember saying on the air that the crowd is wrung out,” Michaels said. “They had been screaming for 45 minutes and were just wrung out.”

Moore hit Baylor with a pitch to open the 11th. Evans singled to center. Gedman, the unsung hero of the game, popped up a sacrifice-bunt attempt that fell in front of DeCinces for a single to load the bases with no outs.

Henderson’s sacrifice fly to center scored Baylor to give Boston a 7-6 lead. Downing made a leaping catch of Romero’s drive before slamming face-first into the wall for the second out, saving a run, maybe two. Finley replaced Moore and got Wade Boggs to ground out to second to end the inning.

Red Sox closer Calvin Schiraldi struck out Wilfong and Schofield to open the bottom of the 11th, and Downing lofted a fly ball into foul territory near first.

“Popped up … here comes Stapleton,” Michaels said on the broadcast. “Next plane to Boston!”

POSTSCRIPT

The Angels’ team flight to Boston was funereal. “It was mute,” Finley said. “Everybody was staring out the windows going, ‘What happened?’ ”

Angels pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, right, consoles relief pitcher Donnie Moore in the locker room at Fenway Park on Oct. 15, 1986. The Angels lost to the Boston Red Sox in the final game of the ALCS.

(Bob Child / Associated Press)

Run-scoring doubles by Jackson and DeCinces in the first inning of Game 6 provided some hope, which was dashed when Boston scored twice in the bottom of the first and five runs in the third in an eventual 10-4 win.

The Red Sox steamrolled the Angels 8-1 in Game 7 to reach the World Series, where they suffered their own one-strike-away collapse against the New York Mets, when Mookie Wilson’s 10th-inning grounder in Game 6 famously rolled through Buckner’s legs to allow the winning run to score. The Mets won Game 7 two nights later.

The career of Moore, who had a history of alcohol abuse and domestic violence, spiraled in the wake of Game 5. He struggled in two more injury-marred seasons with the Angels and was released by the Royals in 1989.

In July 1989, Moore had an argument with his wife, Tonya, and shot her three times with a .45 pistol in their Anaheim Hills home. While the couple’s 17-year-old daughter drove Tonya to the hospital — she survived — Moore, with two younger sons in the house, put the gun to his head and committed suicide. He was 35.

“He was a great guy, he just had some demons he couldn’t tame,” Finley said of Moore. “It’s sad the way it ended up and the way Donnie’s life ended.”

Orange County Coroner personnel remove the body of former Angels pitcher Donnie Moore from his home in Anaheim on July 18, 1989. Moore shot his wife several times, critically wounding her before turning the gun on himself.

(Alan Greth / Associated Press)

Finley can’t help but wonder if he could have ended Game 5 in the top of the ninth had he been summoned instead of fellow lefty Lucas.

“I think about it all the time,” Finley said. “I don’t know if I would have gotten Gedman out, but I’d like to have had the chance to try. Gary was kind of thumbing it. He was a finesse guy, and I was throwing pretty hard back then. But Gene wanted to go with veterans, so he made what he thought was the book move.”

Finley went on to have a stellar 17-year career, going 200-173 with a 3.85 ERA in 524 games and making five All-Star teams. But he left the Angels to sign with Cleveland in 2000, hoping for a chance to win a championship, two years before the Angels won their only World Series title in 2002.

Finley made seven playoff appearances for the Indians and St. Louis Cardinals in 2001-02 but never reached the World Series.

The closest he would come, it turned out, was with the Angels in 1986.

“I was 23, up from A-ball and one strike away from the World Series — you think it would happen every year,” Finley said. “Then you have a 17-year drought, you’re retired and you don’t have a ring … man, you get that close, it makes you appreciate how hard it is to win one.”

In an unexpected move, Boston traded the All-Star guard to division rivals Philadelphia for Paul George and draft picks.

Jaylen Brown’s time in Boston has come to a surprising end with the Celtics deciding to trade him to one of their most storied rivals.

Brown – the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and the league’s fourth-leading scorer this past season – is getting traded by the Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the deal’s terms said on Wednesday night.

Boston is getting Paul George, along with a slew of draft capital that could become two first-round picks and two second-round picks, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade does not yet have the required league approvals.

ESPN first reported the trade agreement, and the terms were later confirmed by The Boston Globe.

Brown latest NBA star to be traded, joins Antetokounmpo, Leonard

Add this news to the list of blockbuster moves across the NBA so far this off season.

LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent. All-Star-calibre players Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram are also on the move.

Now, this.

“Welcome to Philly, JB!” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro posted on social media. “Sixers get way better and, as a bonus, the Celtics got worse!”

It’s a move that breaks up what has been one of the league’s most successful 1-2 punches in Brown and Jayson Tatum, who helped carry the Celtics to the 2024 NBA title.

Tatum missed most of this past season while recovering from an Achilles tear that happened during the 2025 playoffs, meaning Brown had to carry even more of the load for Boston – and he wound up with career-best averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

It seemed, though, that Brown had felt underappreciated, especially after it became known that Boston had included him in trade talks with Milwaukee when Antetokounmpo was on the market.

“Nobody has won more combined regular-season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago,” Brown posted on social media over the weekend. He’s right: The Celtics have won 523 games with Brown in the lineup, including playoff contests, which is six more than Denver has won with Nikola Jokic over that span.

Brown now gets to be part of a squad in Philadelphia alongside guard Tyrese Maxey and centre Joel Embiid, someone who Brown recently called a flopper on a livestream.

“Joel Embiid is a great player. One of the best bigs in f****** basketball history flops,” Brown said. “He know it. This ain’t breaking news.”

Brown, Maxey (the league’s fifth top scorer this past season) and Embiid (a two-time NBA scoring champion) could become a positively frightening trio in Philadelphia, and the Celtics deciding to play a role in creating such a triumvirate only adds to the intrigue surrounding why they wanted to trade Brown in the first place.

The trade ends a tremendously disappointing two-year stint for George, who was traded with two years left on a four-year, $212m free-agent contract. The 36-year-old never approached his nine-time All-Star form in Philadelphia, and his tenure was marred by a 25-game suspension last season for flunking a drug test.

He averaged just 16.7 points in his two seasons in Philadelphia after topping the 20-point mark in nine straight seasons with Indiana, Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Khadijah Farrakhan, longtime wife of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, died Saturday, the Nation of Islam has announced. She was 90.

“Mother Khadijah” worked alongside her provocative and charismatic husband for decades, helping lead their religious and sociopolitical movement, which espouses Black self-reliance. Its home base was Mosque Maryam on the South Side of Chicago, where the couple lived.

“The Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan with deep sadness yet with profound gratitude to Allah informs you that his beloved wife of 72 years, the first lady of the Nation of Islam, Mother Khadijah has returned to Allah (may Allah be pleased),” a statement by the Shura Executive Council said.

Her death came seven months after devotees had marked Khadijah’s 90th birthday. The statement said funeral services are to be announced.

Mosque Maryam remembered her as “a devoted follower” with “a precious soul, a sweet heart.”

In a post on Facebook, R&B artist ZaRio Son Rise recalled her as “a true queen, a righteous woman, and one of the greatest examples of dignity, faith, loyalty, and grace our generation has ever witnessed.”

Born Betsy Ross, Khadijah Farrakhan married her husband, then named Louis Walcott, in Boston on Sept. 12, 1953. The two had nine children. Their eldest son, Louis Farrakhan Jr., died in 2018, and another son, Joshua Farrakhan, died in 2023.

Khadijah Farrakhan converted to Islam in 1955, the same year that her husband joined the Chicago-based movement after being heavily influenced by Malcolm X, his friend from Boston. The pair changed their names around that time.

Louis Farrakhan, who is now 93, stepped into the organization’s leadership vacuum shortly after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Among his most significant accomplishments was the Million Man March on Washington in 1995.

Two years later, Khadijah Farrakhan spoke before a gathering of America’s Black women in Philadelphia dubbed the Million Woman March.

“A nation can rise no higher than its women,” she told the crowd. “We focus on women, but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family — men, women and children.”

Smyth writes for the Associated Press.

But the love affair here has gone way beyond baseball, this has been a glorious embracing of two cultures. A point underlined by the news Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has declared a sister city application with Glasgow.

Fittingly, she did so in a Scottish pub wearing a Scotland football jersey.

Tens of thousands of football fans swarming to a city for a major tournament is nothing new, but it is the manner of the revelry here that has set it apart.

At the time of writing, there has not been one arrest of a Scotland fan either in Boston or Providence, another nearby stronghold of the Tartan Army.

The ground work for this Boston bash was laid two years ago in Bavaria. At the last European Championships, Marienplatz felt like it held more Scots within it than Motherwell.

Again, Scotland fans were lauded for their behaviour, generosity and patter.

Alas, the football did its best to ruin the party.

That is perhaps one key difference to this shindig, apart from the obvious step up in excitement from a Euros to their first World Cup in 28 years.

What mood the Tartan Army would have been in if the opener against Haiti had turned into a disaster we will never know. Although, I would say it would not have made a dent.

The team on the pitch have done their bit to keep the party in full swing and a point against Morocco on Friday could trigger a tidal wave of celebration flooding back into Boston that night the likes they have never seen.

The best way to describe it is this has been the trip of a lifetime for people who are still in their 20s. There is a genuine appreciation from Scotland fans that they have waited this long to see their team at a World Cup, that it may be another three decades before it happens again.

And, even if it did, nothing could rival the week in Boston they’ve just had, regardless of what Miami holds.

For near enough a week, Scotland had the city to itself. Now it has become a tapestry of nations settling into one of the warmest, most welcoming place on the Charles River they could have hoped to visit.

Who knows, they may be back here if they are one of the best third-placed teams.

What will be the Tartan Army’s Boston legacy as the sporrans are soon to get packed away and the online check-ins start for flights to Miami?

Their generosity? Their good spirit? Their ability to alert some locals to the fact the World Cup is even happening?

Perhaps all of the above. Just not a haggis supper.

Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay was not on the team bus as it arrived at their hotel in Boston after missing Thursday’s training session because of an upset stomach.

The Napoli player, who has been the Scots’ leading man in recent campaigns, was part of the group as they travelled from their base camp in Charlotte.

However, the 29-year-old made his own onward journey with a doctor in what is believed to be a precautionary measure.

Steve Clarke’s side get their first World Cup in 28 years under way when they face Haiti on Saturday evening (Sunday 02:00 BST) at Boston Stadium in Foxborough.

They will also face Morocco and Brazil in the group stage.

McTominay, who has scored 15 goals across 70 caps, found the net in Scotland’s convincing 4-0 win over Bolivia on Saturday.

Scotland fans, who have been flooding to Boston in huge numbers, will be anxious for an update from Clarke who is due to address the media on Friday.

Speaking at Thursday’s media conference, fellow midfielder Kenny McLean said of the situation: “Hopefully that doesn’t spread. Fingers crossed Scott will be fine. I’m sure he will be.

“I don’t need to speak too much on him, everyone knows how big he is.

“It’s a team effort and always will be, but when you have special, special players like that you want them to be available. I’m sure he will be.”

BOSTON — A federal judge on Monday struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, contradicting an earlier federal court ruling upholding the fee hike.

The administration announced the much-higher fee as a way of preventing foreign workers from taking American jobs.

But U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston sided with 20 states and struck down the visa policy, concluding that the executive branch exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

“The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,” Sorokin wrote.

H-1B visas are meant for high-skill jobs that are difficult to find American workers to fill. Deep-pocketed technology companies are the biggest users, with nearly three-quarters of approvals going to workers from India. The states argued that using the H-1B program to fill vacancies for much-needed doctors and teachers was already difficult before the higher fee.

Most H-1B visa applications cost several thousand dollars before the announced increase set off a wave of panic among confused employers, students and workers in the United States and abroad and led to several lawsuits, including in Boston.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also sued, in federal court in Washington, D.C., and has appealed a denial of a summary judgment against the fee hike. That left the higher fee in effect, at least until September, when it is scheduled to expire. Monday’s ruling is also a summary judgment, to the opposite effect. Still another lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco, by religious groups and labor organizations, setting up the possibility of divided rulings in three appellate court circuits.

The states argued that the policy impedes their ability to hire primary and secondary school educators and to staff public colleges and universities, will stymie academic research and will lead to a decline in medical workers.

“The Proclamation makes various overtures to domestic economic policy goals to justify the unprecedented $100,000 fee,” plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. “But the Proclamation gives no indication that the President gave any consideration to how the fee would affect Plaintiff States and their ability to provide their residents access to education, healthcare, and other basic human needs.”

A Department of Homeland Security statement said the agency disagrees with “this blatant judicial activism dismantling President Trump’s historic efforts for immigration reform.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, our immigration system is being reformed to serve American citizens, American workers, and American families and to preserve our national identity — not to rapidly import foreigners who take American jobs, commit crimes, burden our welfare system, and erode our cultural and social fabric.”

Casey writes for the Associated Press.

May 30 (UPI) — A meteor exploded just off the coast of Massachusetts, causing a loud boom, Saturday afternoon.

Locals reported on social media that they heard a loud blast at about 2 p.m. EDT, and meteorologists have said it was likely a meteor.

Officials at the National Weather Service told WBUR that it was up to NASA to confirm that it was a meteor, but it may require finding pieces of debris to confirm it, 1 Degree Outside meteorologist Danielle Noyes told the station.

The U.S. Geological Survey did not detect an earthquake, Noyes added.

Meteorologist Nick Stewart posted on X, showing images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “The flash density product really shows this anomalous ‘flash,’ which is pretty distinctive of a bolide/meteor reentry. East of Boston. This is the likely source of the loud boom/explosion.”

A NOAA data map shows the flash over the bay.

WBZTV in Boston posted on its Instagram account that meteors cause a sonic boom because, “They enter Earth’s atmosphere at anywhere from 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour, and larger space rocks can travel deep enough to create pressure waves.”

The station’s meteorologist Eric Fisher posted about the blast on his Instagram account. “CONFIRMED: Meteor exploding on entry caused that big boom across the Boston area Saturday afternoon!”

Local residents told Boston 25 News what the blast was like.

“Yes, I did, thought it may have been an explosion from the power plant next door. It vibrated my apartment. Though it lasted about 3 to 4 seconds … longer than most explosions. Did not sound like thunder,” one viewer said.

Another said there were two explosions.

“I was outside in Framingham with my dog. Heard and felt two huge blasts. Felt the shockwave. Definitely not thunder. Was from the east/southeast from where I was standing. Scared the crap out of us,” another viewer told the TV station.

Boston were 99-98 behind following two Neemias Queta free throws before Maxey scored eight unanswered points to give his side a 107-98 lead with 15 seconds left.

“We started off well and then in the second quarter we kind of relaxed a little,” said Embiid. “Same thing with the start of the fourth.

“But we stuck together, closed it out.”

He added: “It means a lot. You can’t win alone, you need a team to be able win and everybody doing their job.”

Embiid had returned for the last four games of the series after an emergency appendectomy had ruled him out since 6 April.

“What changed in the series is Joel Embiid came back, and they’re a completely different team,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla.

Boston star Jayson Tatum missed the decider because of a left knee issue, with Jaylen Brown top scoring for them with 33 points.

“Loved the looks that we got, loved the process that we had, but hate the result,” said Mazzulla.

Everything we know about Alex Cora during his rudely interrupted tenure as manager of the Boston Red Sox lines up almost perfectly with everything we knew about him as a Dodgers player more than 20 years ago.

He communicates exceptionally well. He quietly makes a positive contribution. He handles failure admirably. Win or lose, he exhibits class.

Nothing has tested those traits more than what Cora, 50, endured over the last week. The man known throughout baseball as AC was fired by Boston on April 26, turned down an offer to manage the Philadelphia Phillies a day later, then while home in Puerto Rico saw that an ultimatum he made last season to general manager Craig Breslow was reported by the Boston Globe.

Cora somehow found time to pen an expression of gratitude to the Red Sox organization and fans.

“Thank you for treating me with respect and most importantly accept me as AC,” he wrote. “I’m grateful for this experience, it made me better….

“Thank you for the hard work, sleepless nights, professionalism and effort to help me lead this great organization.”

Communication and class until the end, no doubt. Yet the single blemish on his resume is eternally painful to Dodgers fans.

Alex Cora was fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox on April 26.

(Nick Wass/AP)

Cora was the Houston Astros bench coach in 2017 when the Dodgers were victimized by a sign-stealing scheme during the World Series, which the Astros won in seven games.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred released a report in January 2020 that detailed how in 2017 and 2018 the Astros illegally used electronic equipment to steal signs. Cora was central to the scheme, the report saying he “arranged for a video-room technician to install a monitor displaying the center-field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros dugout.”

By 2020, though, Cora was beloved in Boston for piloting the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series championship over the Dodgers in his first season as manager. Nevertheless he was fired a day after the report was released and suspended by MLB for the 2020 season.

Cora was rehired as Boston’s manager after serving his suspension, stating he would apologize for the rest of his life. And on the first day of spring training in 2023, he addressed his role in the scandal, apologizing to three new Red Sox players who were Dodgers in 2017: Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Kiké Hernandez.

Dodgers second baseman Alex Cora during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in May 2004.

(Morry Gash / Associated Press)

The mea culpa was well-received by the trio and underscored Cora’s ability to smooth over even the most awkward situations.

“I’m going to be 100% honest with you — I just felt like I wanted to cry at that moment when he said that,” Jansen told a Boston radio station. “I felt like a weight came off.”

It’s now known that Cora backed his coaches when Breslow wanted to fire several of them last season. The Globe reported that Cora told the general manager that the Red Sox would have to fire him as well.

Breslow backed down then but not last week, firing five coaches along with Cora.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombroski responded swiftly, making Cora an offer even before firing manager Rob Thomson on Tuesday. The well-traveled Dombroski has led four franchises to a World Series — an MLB record — including one alongside Cora with the Red Sox in 2018, and the offer to jump to the Phillies was tempting.

But Cora put family first, telling Dombroski he wanted to take time with his fiancée, Angelica, and twin 8-year-old sons, Xander and Isander. After all, he is still under contract with the Red Sox through 2027, and is owed $14 million.

That’s about what he earned in 14 seasons as an infielder properly labeled as a good-field, no-hit, great clubhouse presence. Cora was the Dodgers’ primary shortstop in 2000 and 2001, then moved to second base through 2004.

The Dodgers’ center fielder from 2002 to the 2004 midseason was Dave Roberts, the current Dodgers manager who remains a close friend of Cora. The 2018 World Series was the first to feature two minority managers — a point of pride for the Puerto Rican-born Cora and Roberts, who is half-black and half-Japanese.

Cora won a World Series as a Red Sox reserve in 2007 and finished with a career batting average of .243 with a paltry 35 home runs in 3,825 plate appearances — the most memorable of which came May 12, 2004.

Cora capped an 18-pitch at-bat that included 14 foul balls with a home run against Chicago Cubs right-hander Matt Clement.

“What a moment! 9:23 on the scoreboard, if you want to write it down for history. What an at-bat!” Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully exclaimed. “That’s one of the finest at-bats I’ve ever seen, and to top it off with a home run, that is really shocking.”

Cora took a curtain call from the Dodger Stadium crowd and Scully said, “Yeah take a bow, Alex! You deserve it and then some!”

What Cora almost undoubtedly has earned now is another shot at managing. His 620-541 record is well above average. His reputation — sign-stealing scandal notwithstanding — is glowing.

The Phillies hired former Dodgers manager Don Mattingly on an interim basis and likely will circle back to Cora after the season. If not, other teams are expected to come calling.

Boston World Cup host committee says fans will be allowed to tailgate for all seven matches at the Gillette Stadium.

In a reversal of an earlier decision, FIFA will allow tailgating at World Cup games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Boston World Cup host committee announced.

The committee said on Monday that the shift conforms with local policies that allow tailgating “like any other event hosted at the stadium as there are no venue restrictions or local public safety restrictions in place that would prohibit it”.

FIFA originally stated that tailgating would ⁠⁠not be allowed at any of the 104 matches, of which the United States is hosting 78, causing an uproar among football fans in the country.

The US is cohosting the 2026 tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

The Gillette Stadium – rebranded as the Boston Stadium during the World Cup to comply with FIFA’s policy prohibiting corporate-sponsored names for tournament venues – will host five group-stage matches, one round-of-32 match and a quarterfinal match at the home of the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots.

Patriots games, New England Revolution ‌‌games and concerts allow tailgating at the stadium.

Space will be severely reduced from what is normally available. There are about 20,000 parking spots available for Patriots games, but only about 5,000 will be available for public use during the World Cup.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has set train prices at $80 for a round trip from Boston to Foxborough for tournament games, four times what it charges for NFL and MLS games. There is also an express bus option that will depart from various Boston-area locations, which will cost $95 for a round trip.

New York City announced on Monday that a fan fest for each of the city’s five boroughs will be ‌‌held in conjunction with World Cup matches at the MetLife Stadium – to be known as New York New Jersey Stadium – in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

What is tailgating in the US?

In the context of US sports, tailgating is a pre-game social event that sees fans of a team park their cars outside the stadium hosting the game. The supporters then gather around these parked cars to socialise by drinking, eating, and often cooking on site while they soak in the match-day atmosphere despite not being inside the venue.

It can often begin several hours before the start of the action inside the stadium. The culture is most common during NFL matches and is especially popular among fans of US football.

Which other US stadiums are hosting the World Cup?

The USA will open their World Cup campaign against Paraguay on June 12 at the SoFi Stadium, to be renamed the Los Angeles Stadium, in Inglewood, California.

The MetLife Stadium will host the final on July 19.

The other World Cup stadiums in the US are:

• Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)
• Dallas (AT&T Stadium)
• Seattle (Lumen Field)
• Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium)
• Miami (Hard Rock Stadium)
• Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
• Houston (NRG Stadium)
• San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium)