Red Sox fan wins lottery with players’ jersey numbers

Another win for Boston

Massachusetts State Lottery

An 84-year-old Massachusetts man used his Red Sox fandom to get rich quick. 

Jim Aylward Jr., of Templeton, Mass., won the $100,000 jackpot in the Massachusetts State Lottery’s “Mass Cash” game by playing the numbers of five Red Sox players. 

The game requires players to pick five numbers between 1 and 35, and Aylward went with 11-16-19-22-25. Those numbers correspond to Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rick Porcello and Steve Pearce.

If I was a Red Sox fan playing players’ jersey numbers for good luck, I definitely would have gone with 24 (David Price) and 28 (J.D. Martinez). But that wouldn’t have won the drawing, so it goes to show what I know. 

Sometimes the rules can be tough to understand

The Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders played an absolutely outrageous match in the MLS playoffs Thursday night—so outrageous, in fact, that the players didn’t know what was happening. 

If you don’t know, many soccer competitions employ the “away goals” rule in elimination games. It’s pretty simple, really. In a two-game series, if the teams score the same number of goals, the team who scored more goals on the road is the winner. MLS uses this rule, but it does not apply to goals scored in extra time (or overtime for you non-soccer fans). 

Portland’s players thought their extra-time goal in Seattle last night had won them the match. Incorrect. The match had to be decided by penalty kicks, which Portland won. 

Bill Belichick continues to be an evil genius

How do you get your players to stop stealing their gear? Make it as ugly as possible.

Just how ugly could they be?

Oh god.

The best of SI

Alex Prewitt caught up with Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player, who is finally being inducted into the Hall of Fame. … Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver debate who Zion Williamson’s best NBA comparison is. … Andy Benoit breaks down the key factors in each NFL game this weekend.

Around the sports world

Thanks to Deadspin’s Dom Cosentino for making me aware of this 1989 rant by Vikings coach Jerry Burns. … You need to put on your 3D glasses to look at these hockey jerseys. … Cam Newton wore cleats honoring the victims of the mass shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue. … The Kings and Wild made a strong statement about gun violence after the mass shooting in Southern California. 

Give this photographer a Pulitzer Prize

J. Pat Carter/Getty Images

The Chiefs have even found a way to beat math

Now this is some stellar parenting

Japan’s beer-dispensing technology remains unrivaled

Congrats to D-Wade and Gabrielle Union

This is certainly an interesting storytelling device

A new documentary about Alex Rodriguez and Biogenesis features child actors lip-syncing quotes from the subjects involved.

Not sports

A town in Oregon elected an 18-year-old as mayor. … Prince Charles’s Aston Martin runs entirely on surplus white wine. … Now we know when the revival of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will premiere.

WHY ARE YOU STANDING SO CLOSE?

This enormous wolf from r/gifs

Don’t do this

This guy would be a megastar if he was on American TV

A good song

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