FiveThirtyEight’s top stories this week

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Popular This Week] Sunday, December 10, 2017 [1. How Much Should We Fear Giancarlo Stanton In Pinstripes?]( After several weeks of involved trade discussions that would send prized Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton to either the San Francisco Giants or St. Louis Cardinals, the baseball world was thrown a curveball Friday when it was reported that Stanton rejected both deals -- and that the New York Yankees had swooped into the bidding. According to multiple reports, and assuming Stanton approves the deal , the Yankees had done on Saturday what the Giants and Cards couldn’t: They reeled in the game’s top power hitter. [Read more]( [2. Doug Jones Is Just A Normal Polling Error Away From A Win In Alabama]( Things seem to be going Roy Moore’s way. President Trump endorsed him. The Republican National Committee is back to supporting him. And Moore, who has been accused of sexual contact with women when they were underaged, has led by an average of 3 percentage points in polls taken within 21 days of the Dec. 12 special Senate election in Alabama. The betting markets give Moore about an 80 percent chance of victory -- roughly the same chance they gave Hillary Clinton just before the 2016 presidential election. [Read more]( [3. LeBron Is Still Getting Better]( LeBron James might remain the best player in the NBA. He might remain the most valuable. He might even remain a player around whom a team can build a perennial Finals contender. But the question right now is, “Can LeBron remain this good for the rest of the season?” Because this LeBron is very close to as good as we've ever seen, in ways we've never seen before. [Read more]( [4. Lots of Alabama Voters Care About Roy Moore’s Scandalous Past]( Roy Moore, who has been accused by two women of initiating unwanted sexual contact with them when they were underaged, is back in the lead in the most recent polls of Alabama’s Senate race. Although it’s still anyone’s election -- turnout is hard to model in special elections and Moore’s lead is narrow -- he has to be considered at least a modest favorite. [Read more]( [5. Why Democrats Are Finally Pushing Franken To Resign]( Three weeks ago, after Leeann Tweeden accused Minnesota Sen. Al Franken of groping her and kissing her without her consent, we argued that Democrats ought to have pushed for Franken to resign. Doing so would have allowed them to claim the moral high ground at a time when allegations of sexual misconduct had implicated both Democratic and Republican politicians -- including President Trump and Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama. It would also have come at a relatively small political price, since Franken’s replacement would be named by a Democratic governor and Democrats would be favored to keep the seat in a special election in 2018. [Read more]( [6. Was Trump’s Endorsement Of Roy Moore A Mistake?]( Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. [Read more]( [7. How The GOP Became A ‘Pro-Israel’ Party]( A host of Israeli leaders and pro-Israel voters had long been advocating for the decision that President Trump announced on Wednesday, which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and began the process of relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. The fact that the controversial decision was carried out by a Republican president is indicative of the dramatic change in the GOP’s position on Israel since Israel was founded. [Read more]( [8. The Christian Right Has A New Strategy On Gay Marriage]( The next broadside in the culture wars arrives on the Supreme Court’s doorstep Tuesday in the unlikely form of a Colorado bakery owner named Jack Phillips. Phillips is a devout Christian who closes his shop on Sundays and refuses to take business that he says violates his religious beliefs -- including making cakes celebrating Halloween, atheism and “any form of marriage other than between a husband and a wife.” In doing so, he is defying his state’s anti-discrimination law, and the Supreme Court will now hear oral arguments on whether he has the right to do so. [Read more]( [9. The Easiest Way To Dismiss Good Science? Demand ‘Sound Science’]( Science is being turned against itself. For decades, its twin ideals of transparency and rigor have been weaponized by those who disagree with results produced … [Read more]( [10. The Jobs Report Is Overhyped. Here’s Why That’s A Problem.]( It was shaping up to be another hot summer. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Will Taxes Be A Pyrrhic Victory For The GOP?]( Lastly, The Riddler Edited by Oliver Roeder Take aim in this problem of pinpoint perfection: In competitive darts, a common game is called [501](. Facing a [standard dartboard](, a player starts with 501 points and subtracts the score of each throw. He or she must finish with exactly zero points. (Also, per the rules, the final dart must land in either the bullseye or the outer, doubled segments.) Finishing a game in the minimum number of throws is a rare feat, akin to a perfect 300 game in bowling. What is the minimum number of throws? How many different ways are there to do it? [Solve it!]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ESPN]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 147 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10023.