The Astros will keep Lance McCullers Jr. as their Game 3 starter. But they had not previously confirmed a starter for Game 4, which opened up an interesting choice for them: Go with Cristian Javier, who has yet to pitch in this series, or use the unexpected day off to bring back Game 1 starter Justin Verlander? They chose to go with the former: One, because Javier is a genuinely solid option, and two, because Verlander could use the extra day.
“It would probably be to his benefit,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said of getting that extra day off for Verlander.
Rain postponed Game 3 of the World Series to Tuesday, shuffling pitching plans for both teams.
David J. Phillip/AP Photo
The situation was a little more complicated for the Phillies. The ideal third starter on this team is Ranger Suárez. But since he was used in relief in Game 1, they’d originally decided to push his start back a day to Game 4, meaning they would need to use a bullpen game led by Noah Syndergaard for Game 3. An unexpected day off changed the calculus there. Suárez can now go Tuesday for Game 3, and ace Aaron Nola can go on regular rest for Game 4, which should be a huge boon to them. But there’s a twist: That format might have you expecting that Game 2 starter Zack Wheeler would come out for Game 5. That won’t be happening, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. Wheeler struggled in his last outing, getting hit early due to flagging velocity, and they’ve decided to give him an extra day off. Wheeler will instead start a potential Game 6.
“He’s fine,” Thomson said. “It’s just—it’s late in the season, velocity’s dropped a little bit, he’s fatigued. I just feel like he needs more time.”
This means Game 5 will be started either by Syndergaard (if he’s not used in relief before then) or Kyle Gibson. That’s not quite an ideal situation for the Phillies—but if they’re this committed to that plan this early, well, that tells you plenty about how they currently see Wheeler.
Some other tidbits from around the Series:
• The Astros did get a chance to take batting practice and do some fielding exercises before the rain set in Monday. That was important, Baker said: Houston did not play in Citizens Bank Park this year (or last year or the year before) and does not have many players familiar with the ballpark.
“I’m glad that we took some batting practice and played some balls off the walls,” Baker said after the postponement was announced. “I think their real home-field advantage is, like I saw J.T. Realmuto hit the inside-the-park home run [in the NLDS]. It hit the wall and bounced off. And I think just their real home-field advantage, because they have a lot of angles, a lot of caroms out there, that only three or four of our players have ever been in this stadium. So I’m glad we got a chance to work out before it rained today.”
Just how long has it been since the Astros were here? Five years and change: July 26, 2017. The only Astros still on the roster who were in the lineup that day are Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel. The Phillies won, 9-0, off six shutout innings from none other than Aaron Nola.
Baker will stick with McCullers as the Astros’ starter in Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park.
Eric Gay/AP
• No one in this series has shown a more impressive ability to work the count than Phillies rookie shortstop Bryson Stott. He pinch-hit to lead off the eighth inning of Game 2 and started by falling behind 0-2—which he then worked into a 12-pitch walk. He fouled off six pitches (five in a row) to stay alive.
“You just kind of go into battle mode,” Stott says of his approach. “Hopefully, he makes a mistake and if he doesn’t, just try to spoil the pitches he is making.”
The 12-pitch walk Saturday followed a 10-pitch walk Friday, which was critical to that fourth-inning comeback for the Phillies, and a few similarly impressive plate appearances earlier in the postseason, including a nine-pitch one that resulted in a double in Game 3 of the NLDS. So far, the Phillies have generally limited Stott to facing right-handed pitching. When facing a lefty starter, Philadelphia usually plays right-handed Edmundo Sosa at shortstop instead. Any talk of changing that?
“This kid, he’s put up quality at-bats for a while now, not just against right-handers, but left-handers as well,” Thomson said of Stott Sunday. “So that’s something that we’ll discuss as we get closer. That will be Game 6 [that we next face a left-hander], so we got a little bit of time to think about it. But he’s been really good.”
Finally: Is 12 pitches the most the shortstop has ever seen in a plate appearance? In a real game, yes, he says—but Stott believes he did see 16 pitches once in spring training.
• One last difficulty of an unexpected night off? It’s tough to find somewhere to get dinner, Baker said. “I heard it’s hard getting reservations, everything’s full,” the Astros skipper said. “So you’re hoping that the guys can get reservations, get in and eat, be with their families and be ready to play tomorrow.”
The former Giants star reprised his famous character during the “Monday Night Football” matchup.
NFL fans tuning into Browns-Bengalswere in for quite a fright on Monday Night Football as Eli Manning reprised his memorable “Chad Powers” persona during the special Halloween edition of the Manningcast.
The 41-year-old Manning went viral last month after going undercover as Powers, a home-schooled freshman, at a Penn State football walk-on tryout. On MNF, the Giants legend opened the show again dawning the familiar blonde wig and fake nose, except the look resembled something more of a Michael Myers mask than the cleverly-crafted, Hollywood-level makeup job from his first appearance.
Eli explained to Peyton that he wore the mask earlier in the day to go trick-or-treating with his family, and kept it on after rushing to get ready for the start of the show. Of course, the innocent backstory, along with the proof on Manning’s Twitter, probably won’t erase the terrifying visual from anyone’s mind any time soon.
As for Peyton, who looked surprised in all the wrong ways by his brother’s costume, the Hall of Famer chose to wear a tight-fitting referee jersey as a callback to his Week 1 comments about NFL official Clete Blakeman. Manning explained that Blakeman mailed him an autographed jersey as a gag after he joked about the size of Blakeman’s jersey during the Broncos-Seahawks game.
While some viewers may have hoped Eli would commit to the act like he did for the Nittany Lions, the cameo was, unfortunately, short-lived as Manning removed the mask before the end of the first quarter.
If MNF is any indication, though, there’s a pretty solid chance that we haven’t seen the last of the dynamic up-and-coming quarterback.
The Star Wars show comes to Disney Plus each week until late November, so let’s run through the release dates and times for its four remaining episodes.
Two more executives are reportedly on their way out from Apple. According to Bloomberg, vice president of online retail Anna Matthiasson is leaving the company, and Chief Information Officer Mary Demby is retiring.
The two women held important roles at Apple; Matthiasson was in charge of Apple’s online store, and Demby managed the tech that ran that store, as well as Apple’s services and manufacturing. Bloomberg reports that Karen Rasmussen will now be in charge of online retail, but says it’s unclear who will be replacing Demby. Apple didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment on the executives leaving.
Demby and Matthiasson are just the latest in a string of higher-ups leaving the company in recent weeks. Evans…
The Fall Classic will operate on a slightly altered timeline due to inclement weather in Philadelphia.
Inclement weather in Philadelphia resulted in the postponement of Game 3 of the 2022 World Series between the Phillies and the Astros on Monday evening. As a result, the remainder of the Fall Classic will now operate on a slightly altered schedule.
Major League Baseball announced Monday that Game 3 has been rescheduled for Tuesday with an 8:03 p.m. ET first pitch. The rest of the World Series schedule will be pushed back a day with Games 4 and 5 in Philadelphia on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The teams will then have a travel day on Friday before a potential Game 6 and Game 7 in Houston on Saturday and Sunday.
Here’s a look at the updated schedule for the 2022 Fall Classic. All games are scheduled to start at 8:03 p.m. ET and air on Fox.
Game 3: Tuesday, Nov. 1 in Philadelphia
Game 4: Wednesday, Nov. 2 in Philadelphia
Game 5: Thursday, Nov. 3 in Philadelphia
Travel Day: Friday, Nov. 4 (if necessary)
Game 6: Saturday, Nov. 5 in Houston (if necessary)
Game 7: Sunday, Nov. 6 in Houston (if necessary)
The series is currently 1–1 after the Phillies won Game 1 before the Astros answered with a Game 2 victory.
Holiday party season is upon us and designers have already started dropping cool pieces that are primed for your event-packed calendar coming up in the months ahead. Whether you’re in the market for jaw-dropping holiday shoes, conversation-starting bags, or pretty dresses to wear for upcoming holiday parties, there are so many great finds to have on your radar. So, which items are going to be in demand for the party circuit this season? I’m placing some bets.
Ahead, I’m sharing my personal favorites—from luxe finds including a stunning velvet-trimmed Nensi Dojaka minidress to the Totême sculpted strapless top that our editor in chief has in her closet to cool, affordable finds from H&M and Mango that are destined to sell out quickly. Keep scrolling for the best holiday shopping finds to add to your cart.
All the sparkles.
Nensi Dojaka is the designer to have in a holiday party wardrobe.
This neckline, though.
To pair with a pretty top.
Showstoppers.
The most gorgeous top.
Just add sparkly heels.
Well, this is fun.
You can’t go wrong with a classic slip dress.
I can’t get over these rhinestone boots.
For a pop of color.
Make a statement.
I love the sparkle details on the slit hem.
To wear long past holiday season.
Chic.
The most beautiful earrings.
To pair with a miniskirt or some tailored trousers.
Finish in shiny satin.
Gorgeous.
Add some lace.
These look much more expensive than their price tag.
This piece is selling out fast.
I’m gravitating toward pieces with cool flower details.
Bring on the sequins.
Velvet is key for a holiday party look.
Just beyond.
Tap into goth glam.
The maxi trend will continue long into the holiday season.
When I was in high school, I bought some “love” oil to use in a spell. (I considered myself a baby witch at the time.) With its pungent aroma of jasmine, rose, petals, and herbs swimming around in the bottle, this tiny vial of oil was one of my very first magickal tools. That was over 20 years ago, and I still have the bottle on my altar. There’s only a little bit of the oil left, so I’ll open it once in a while just to take a whiff. While it’s not of any practical use to me now, the way that it’s able to transport me back to the time I was 15 almost makes the oil a spell for time travel itself. That, or it just shows how powerful scent is.
“Smell is our most ancient sense,” says Marissa Zappas, perfumer and creator of her eponymous fragrance brand. “Perfume—oils, resins, incenses, flower essences, etc.—have been used since the beginning of time for a variety of reasons: to seduce, comfort, even kill. I think there’s something about the way scent penetrates our unconscious that makes it divine.”
Cosmetics have long been associated with the occult. In the Middle Ages, the cosmetics-hating Church believed that wearing lipstick meant you were in cahoots with the devil. (Affluent women were exempt from this, of course.) Even the word glamour is derived from a Scottish term for “magic spell.” These days, beauty brands have been known to give their lipsticks and eyeshadows witchy monikers, while some infuse crystals into their products for a boost of positive energy. But perfume has its own magical history.
“Perfume in the days of the ancients was always tied to protection from evil as well as seduction and witchcraft,” says Bri Luna of The Hoodwitch. “Utilizing flowers, wild herbs, resins, and preparing them into the finest perfumes and fragrance oils was a way for women to camouflage their body odor, thus making them ‘witches’ and ‘deceivers.’” The concept of aromatherapy, which is tied to self-care and stress relief, has its roots in mysticism. Ancient Egyptians used fragrance in spells and ceremonies, and in The Scent of Ancient Magic, author Britta K. Ager writes how Greco-Roman magicians “used scent extensively as part of their rituals.”
In various modern magickal practices, fragranced oils are used to dress candles for spellwork, and Florida Water, a light floral and citrus cologne by Murray & Lanman that has been around since 1808, is famously known in magickal circles as a go-to for cleansing and protection.
“Perfume as a concept and idea is alchemical; distilling the scent of nature into something that can be worn,” explains Gabriela Herstik, witch and author of Sacred Sex, Inner Witch, Bewitching the Elements, and Embody Your Magick. “It is subtle, unseen, but completely evocative, working on the senses, transporting one through the invisible. This is the same as magick.” Herstik says that certain scents and fragrances can invoke specific energies or feelings that can in turn transform the one wearing said perfume or the one interacting with it.
“Through perfume, you can reorient how others perceive you, veiling yourself in a light of your own choosing. This is glamour and a very powerful part of magick,” says Herstick. She goes on to explain how witches work with “correspondences,” which link certain colors, scents, crystals, and herbs to specific archetypal energies like that of planets or gods. “In this way, wearing a certain perfume can help you attract certain energies based on its correspondences,” she explains.
As Herstik says, many scents have specific spiritual and magickal connotations, such as rose and myrrh for love, mint for abundance and money and luck, patchouli for grounding, lavender for healing, honey for sweetness and abundance, coffee for energy, smoke for passion or to remain veiled, citrus for creativity and warmth, jasmine for sensuality and intuition. (You might already notice familiar associations between some of those scents and their effects.) “There’s a lot, and you can use traditional herbal or plant correspondences to work out your own perfume associations,” she says.
Keep scrolling for witchy fragrances to try, as recommended by some of our favorite witches.
“I work a lot with roses and rose medicine in my magick and spellwork, but as far as glamour and perfume, I love something smoky and sultry and have been wearing Black Opium by YSL for years,” says Herstik. “It makes me feel like a dark goddess.”
“This is a powerful, dark, and deeply seductive scent that embodies the sensuality of a Sex Witch—certainly not for the faint, fresh, flowery folks,” explains Luna. “Nothing is dainty about this fragrance. It packs a powerful, heady essence that will make heads turn and command authority in a room like a dominatrix on her off day. This scent is leather and red lips, black velvet, and emeralds.”
Luna says this is one of her everyday go-to scents because it’s light enough to wear in any season, but it drifts and clings onto the skin “like a beautiful cloud of incense,” and the palo santo is not cheap or synthetic. “The inspiration behind this scent is honoring the spirits of the ancestors who have come before us, a celebration of life (Dia de Los Muertos),” she says. “It’s fresh and magical with clary sage but has such a nice body of iris root and some grounded earthiness. Understated, beautiful, and lingers like a ghost once you’ve removed your presence from a room.”
Tarot reader and witch Sarah Potter yearns for a perfume that captures the essence of a love spell, not just the aftermath of a love spell but the actual act of crafting a spell. “Love begins and ends for me with roses, the flower of romance, sweetness, lust, and desire,” she says. “I’m always on the quest for a rose-based scent that is alluring, mysterious, and seductive. Rose can veer towards granny and that’s lovely, but not the vibe I’m going for!” Her current fave is Regime des Fleurs Little Flower, a collaboration with Chloë Sevigny. “Rose is complemented by black tea and palo santo incense, two elements that enhance my personal rituals,” she says.
With a name like that, this fragrance gets right to the point. But you can see it in its notes: thorny rose, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, grounding patchouli, and frankincense. Also, every bottle contains a supercharged Herkimer diamond crystal energized by the brand’s healer.
A collaboration with the poet M. Elizabeth Scott, this fragrance from Zappas’s line has been described as “witchy” by perfume fans. It has notes of night-blooming jasmine, peppercorn, and juniper as well as wormwood, sandalwood, patchouli, and musk. “I won’t work unless I feel inspired and I certainly won’t sell a perfume if the energy contained in it is off, so there’s something in each of them,” says Zappas. “I like my customers to gravitate naturally towards whichever one(s) speaks to them, without me outlining anything explicitly. After all, perfume is nonverbal communication.”
When Melinda Lee Holm, the tarot reader, witch, and creator of MLH Beauty, was creating her first fragrance, she chose to include frankincense. “It has been used to open spiritual connection for thousands of years and is still commonly used today in magick and ritual and even in Catholic mass,” she explains. “Palo Santo is a type of wood native to South America that is traditionally burned for spiritual cleansing and elevation. Like sage, it has gotten so popular that it is less and less available to the indigenous cultures it comes from, so I like to have it in the fragrance where we only use a tiny bit. Ginger, I added for activation of the fire element. This is a more modern take on a magickal ingredient and one I personally use a lot in ritual.”
“I love to make scents in honor of people who have passed, so in this way, a lot of it feels like necromancy,” says Zappas. “This is what I did in the Redamance Collection.” With notes of rose, cassis, oakmoss, and sandalwood, La Divina is inspired by a certain Roman courtesan. She fondly remembers her first perfume—an homage to Madame de Pompadour, who had a yearly perfume budget of 500 livres (the equivalent of 63,500 American dollars today). “I like to think she is blessing my business!” says Zappas.
Another of Potter’s favorites is this perfume, which smells like smoky, crushed rose deepened by burnt wood and cardamom. “It makes me think of the smoldering embers of a dozen roses set on fire which feels like an element of a truly powerful love spell,” she says.
Gabriela Rosales, a fashion stylist and witch, has been using this warm floral fragrance almost daily for the past three years because she feels that it embodies her personal flavor of witchiness. “Thierry Mugler was an iconic designer and was a proponent for the unconventional and embraced individuality and uniqueness which is also at the foundation of witchcraft,” explains Rosales. “I’ve always thought that Mugler as a brand has a very Saturnian flavor to it, but through the Aquarius lens of traditional astrology.”. Rosales’ astrological chart and placements have a lot of Saturnian energy in it, which is a big reason why she’s so drawn to the fragrance. “Normally, I don’t think Saturnian energy is what people think of when they think of perfume; probably more along the lines of Venus,” she says. “But if Saturnian energy is about anything it’s about legacy and perfume is all about signature scents which are legacies in themselves.”
The designers’ latest fragrance is magic in a bottle, and not just because it’s literally shaped like a crystal ball with an amethyst on the cap. It’s a warm, heavenly floral with jasmine and bourbon vanilla.
Veronica Varlow, a witch, burlesque dancer, and author of Bohemian Magick, adores this perfume oil, which has sweet scents of jasmine and black tea that mingle over a base of patchouli. “The vibe is sex witch,” explains Varlow. “Scent evokes memories stronger than any other sense we have and this scent reminds me of the wild mysteries of my first crush. She was a goth girl who adorned herself with exotic oils and smoked clove cigarettes.” Varlow says that when she performs her black feather fan dance during burlesque performances, she’ll rub the oil across my palms and pull each feather from her fans through my palms. “As I move the fans through the air as I dance and slowly take off my clothes behind the fans, the decadent and sensual scent of Salem moves through the audience,” she says.
With a name inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, this perfume is not only witchy, but it’s totally goth. It contains patchouli, peony, blond woods, and pink lotus.
This fragrance is perfect to wear during the next full moon, with its notes of bitter orange, neroli blossom, clary sage, verbena, and tonka bean.
