JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1176

Tokyo woke to a crackling buzz as the Los Angeles Dodgers tapped Shohei Ohtani to start Game 7, and by the time Yoshinobu Yamamoto secured the final out, the city was jubilant. The Dodgers repeated as champions, edging the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in 11 innings, rallying from 3-0 and 4-2 behind Miguel Rojas’s tying ninth-inning homer and Will Smith’s winner in the 11th. Ohtani had two hits and pitched; Yamamoto’s gutsy turns in Games 6 and 7 earned Series MVP. Fans packed a Tokyo restaurant, danced in Ohtani jerseys, and celebrated across Ohtani’s hometown of Oshu.

Living aboard the blue and white Zusje V, 25-year-old designer Lente Cuenen turned her boat-bound life into Spilled!, a $6, eco-minded game about vacuuming oil from waterways. By posting her story online, she cut through the noise on Steam; since March the indie has sold nearly 100,000 copies, netting her well beyond $425,000 even after the platform’s cut. She powers her floating home with solar and lithium batteries, works on a stickered MacBook, and says 10 cents from every copy will go to a cetacean conservation fund, insisting freedom matters more to her than money.

After two bruising losses and a devastating injury to rookie back Cam Skattebo, the 2-6 Giants return home to face the 49ers, whose defense is missing Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Despite miscues and disputed calls in recent defeats, New York showed flashes and earns the pick at +2.5. The article also lists Week picks across the league, with Best Bets on the Colts, Broncos and Chiefs and a Lock of the Week on the Colts; last week’s card finished 6-7 overall and 1-2 on Best Bets.

Installer No. 104 rounds up a big week in tech and pop culture: updates like Channels 7.0 and Tor 15, new games The Outer Worlds 2, Battlefield Redsec and Fortnite Sidekicks, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite and the Board tabletop screen, plus Joanna Stern’s humanoid robot video. Editor David Pierce shares rewatchable favorites and reader picks, while The Verge’s Stevie Bonifield shows their homescreen and current obsessions. Community recommendations span puzzles, search tools, films and Linux. The sign-off tips NBC’s standout basketball production, with behind-the-scenes looks at the gear driving the broadcast.

In Washington, D.C., Maurice White, 75, and Renee DeVigne, 68, have spent decades caring for elders—12 in all, including White’s mother, Evelyn, who turned 104 in October and recently returned home after a stroke and rehab. Their story sits inside a national squeeze: longer lives, fewer children, and a caregiver workforce already in short supply. Costs are steep—median annual home aide more than $68,000, assisted living above $64,000—and Medicaid waitlists top 700,000. Advocates warn the system is at a tipping point. For White and DeVigne, one thing endures: care rooted in connection.

Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing to build a ballroom has entangled media companies whose owners donated to the project while their newsrooms report on it. Comcast and Amazon are among donors; MSNBC hosts denounced such checks, and NBC noted Comcast’s role on air, with no evidence of corporate meddling. The Washington Post endorsed the ballroom, then quietly added a disclosure about Amazon founder and Post owner Jeff Bezos after criticism. Google’s $22 million gift surfaced in court. The Times stayed neutral. Critics warn reputations are at risk.

Saturday Night Live skewered Donald Trump over White House renovations and an awkward Halloween moment. Colin Jost highlighted an interaction where Trump placed candy on a costumed child’s head and joked about Trump and the first lady greeting trick-or-treaters to Thriller. Michael Che said critics call Trump’s demolition of the 123-year-old East Wing and a bathroom remodel 'tone deaf,' adding a jab about a slippery floor. Jost also mocked Trump’s Asia trip, noting a gold crown and beef patties in South Korea and his '12 out of 10' rating of a meeting with Xi Jinping.

Zohran Mamdani’s surge to front-runner has energized New York City’s mayoral race, but voters remain split on whether the 34-year-old assemblyman is ready to run a $112 billion city government. Supporters tout free buses, a rent freeze, and his pledge to hire seasoned hands, backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Skeptics cite his thin résumé and polling showing 47 percent doubt his experience, even as he leads rivals including Andrew Cuomo. The stakes include soaring living costs, a potential budget shortfall, and President Trump’s threats to push immigration agents and national guardsman into cities and withhold federal funds if Mamdani enacts policies he opposes.

China’s Xi Jinping and South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung shared a rare public joke about spying after Xi gifted two Xiaomi phones in Gyeongju, quipping that Lee could check for a backdoor. A Seoul historian said the exchange nodded to surveillance concerns even as both leaders seek closer economic ties amid the Washington Beijing rivalry. Xiaomi earlier won removal from a US blacklist in court. At home, Lee faces conservative backlash over China ties. A security scholar said phones are uncommon diplomatic gifts for security reasons and doubted Lee would use them.

Democrats Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia are centering their governor bids on opposing President Trump, reviving the strategy that vaulted them to Congress in 2018. Sherrill, who blasted the halted Hudson River rail tunnel and labels GOP rival Jack Ciattarelli the Trump of Trenton, and Spanberger, who decries cuts, tariffs and immigration crackdowns, cast their races as referendums. With Trump-backed Republicans, sagging views of Democrats, and polls showing majority disapproval of the president, party leaders tout these contests as a comeback test even as some warn the anti-Trump playbook may be wearing thin.