Good News on X: The Rays Tied It, a Starship Came Home and Cake Is Mandatory

It's 89 and sunny in Sarasota today, according to the National Weather Service forecast, which means the only real decision this morning is which piece of good news to read first while the coffee's still hot. I scrolled so you don't have to. Here's what people on X were happy about overnight.

The Rays evened the ALCS

Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 3-1 at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night, and the series is tied 1-1. Freddy Peralta threw six scoreless innings, and the Rays' account summed it up better than any of us could:

Freddy en fuego 🥵 6.0 IP | 4 H | 0 R | 6 K

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) Watch on X

The runs came in the fourth, per ESPN's play-by-play: one scored on a José Ramírez fielding error, then Liam Hicks singled to center and drove in two more. Cleveland got one back in the seventh and that was it. ESPN lists the crowd at 32,125, which is a lot of people choosing a Tuesday night in St. Petersburg over a Tuesday night on the couch. Respect.

Game 3 is Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in Cleveland. The line, from DraftKings via ESPN: Cleveland -1.5 (run line), moneyline CLE -131, O/U 6.5. So the Guardians are the home favorite and the Rays are, once again, the team everybody underestimates on paper. They seem fine with that.

Odds are information, not advice. 21+ only. If gambling stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

A Starship that already flew is back home, standing up

SpaceX says Ship 40 is the first Starship to return to its launch site, and it's now standing vertical in a Megabay at Starbase next to three other Starships. The part I like: because this one actually went up and came back, it's going to give engineers first-of-its-kind data on a flown heat shield, Raptor engines and avionics. That's the difference between reading the owner's manual and opening the hood after a road trip.

The first Starship to return to its launch site, Ship 40's journey took it across air, space, and sea.

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) Watch on X

If you saw yesterday's rocket over the bay, you already know the Cape is in a giving mood this week. Here's what that glowing jellyfish actually was.

Planet Zoo 2 launched and the servers needed a minute

Planet Zoo 2 came out Tuesday on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and this time you can build aquariums, aviaries and Wildlife Reserves. It went so well that the studio posted it had smashed its own record for concurrent players and was spinning up more servers. They were also, in their words, "loving your early screenshots and habitats," which is the most wholesome server-strain announcement I've ever read.

We are completely blown away by just how many of you are playing Planet Zoo 2, smashing our previous record for concurrent players online

— Planet Zoo 2 (@PlanetZooGame) See it on X

A fix-up patch, Update 1.0.4, went out this morning for stability and crashes. Somewhere in Lakewood Ranch a kid is already designing a better manatee exhibit than the one in their head.

It's National Dessert Day

October 14 is National Dessert Day, and the hashtag was trending before most of us were out of bed. Every car dealership in America posted about ice cream. The best entry so far came from a company that, frankly, was born for this:

National Dessert Day feels like a fairly important day for a company named Smore. Our official position: Toast the marshmallow. Melt the chocolate. Do not check school email near the fire. 🔥🍫

— Smore (@SmoreNewsletter) See it on X

I'm not telling you what to eat for lunch. I'm just saying the holiday is today and not tomorrow.

Somebody took a Tuesday off for Siesta Key

The NWS Tampa Bay office says high pressure is holding with sunny skies and warm temps, and Thursday is 90 with a chance of isolated storms. Sam Price got the memo a day early and spent Tuesday on the sand at Siesta.

Get out and touch sand... had to hit the beach on a Tuesday, siesta key baby

— Sam Price (@CryptoLifer33) Watch on X

That's the correct response to any choppy day, whatever is being choppy. Good call, Sam.

Free Sarasota history tours start next week

The City of Sarasota says free docent-led tours of the "Echoes of Sarasota" Cultural Heritage Exhibit start Tuesday, Oct. 20, with monthly tours at City Hall and the Van Wezel through spring 2027. Free, indoors, air-conditioned, and you leave knowing more about this town than the people who moved here last winter. Hard to find a downside.

Road trip idea: an air show at Kennedy Space Center

NASA announced MAX POWER, a new aerospace expo at Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 7-8. Per NASA's event page, it'll have air shows with flyovers including the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, immersive exhibits, transportation and space tech, and astronaut appearances. Tickets are sold through the partner sites linked from that page. It's a drive, but you'd be watching jets over the same Cape that just put on a show for us from 160 miles away.

That's the good news for Wednesday. Get outside before it hits 89, eat something sweet on principle, and keep Thursday at 6 open for baseball.

— Sandy