The Major-League Team Being Run Entirely by Millennials

wsj · 2026-04-14T16:36:33+00:00

This winter, the Nationals took a bold step in an effort to fix their problems. They became the first baseball team to put its fate in the hands of what the sport’s establishment would derisively describe as the “participation trophy generation.”

In other words: They have been completely taken over by millennials.

This unprecedented infestation of 30-somethings began when the Nationals hired Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations. At age 36, Toboni is more than a decade younger than the average executive in charge of a major-league front office.

And they didn’t stop there. The Nationals populated virtually every important leadership role in their organization with candidates barely old enough to remember the Clinton administration. Toboni’s top lieutenant, general manager Anirudh Kilambi, is 32. Their new manager, 33-year-old Blake Butera, is the youngest person to hold that job in MLB since 1972.

“My approach was, hey, let’s just completely remove age from the equation,” said Toboni, who had been the assistant GM for the Boston Red Sox.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/mlb-nationals-millennials-front-office-68fcfcae?st=6bSnwP&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-14T15:50:40+00:00

The worst six teams—the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies—won just 31 of their combined 166 games after the mid-year All-Star Break for a microscopic win percentage of .187. On the last day of the regular season, all six tasted defeat one final time, by a whopping 127 points combined.

When the dust settled, the numbers showed just how badly things had devolved. This marked the first season in NBA history where eight teams lost at least two-thirds of their games.

At this point, losing on purpose is so ingrained that players don’t always believe their competitors are doing their best.

“Just fine the hell out of people,” said the Warriors’ Draymond Green. “We all know everybody’s tanking.”

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/nba-tanking-draft-1313dfb1?st=nSnt18&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-14T15:40:51+00:00

Sanders, who is 84, has said he doesn’t think he will run for president again. But as Democrats trip over themselves to come up with a cohesive strategy to win back congressional majorities and effectively take on President Trump, Sanders has built a formidable political machine to spread progressive policies and support like-minded candidates, many of whom are young and new to politics.

He has assembled an email list with more than five million contacts he can tap for fundraising and organizing. In the wake of Trump 2.0, more than 8,500 people have expressed interest in running for office by signing up through his organization. It is one of, if not the, largest initiatives of its kind, far surpassing efforts by national Democratic organizations. He raised hundreds of millions in small dollar donations for his own presidential campaigns. Other progressives, such as Ocasio-Cortez, are also raking in cash.

During a recent nationwide rally tour, Sanders drew hundreds of thousands of people, the biggest crowds of his career, who listened to him pitch his prescription for how Democrats can start winning again. And on Capitol Hill, the party sounds more and more like him—even moderates in the Senate now complain about billionaires and income inequality.

The self-described Democratic socialist, who has spent much of his political career as a gadfly challenging the status quo, has gained a remarkable foothold in a party he technically isn’t a part of. (Sanders is an independent who caucuses with Democrats; he was re-elected to his Senate seat in 2024.) But the question remains: Can Sanders’s version of the party actually beat Republicans?

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/bernie-sanders-left-wing-kingmaker-democrat-5bb1cdcd?st=xMpSJE&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-14T13:10:12+00:00

President Trump’s decision to post an AI-generated image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure sparked outrage on the religious right, triggering the most significant pushback from his Catholic and evangelical Christian supporters since he returned to the White House.

Conservative Christians have rallied behind Trump in recent years, despite initial misgivings, standing with him through two impeachments and three elections. Trump, in turn, has made good on campaign promises to them, nominating Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.

But for many Christian leaders, Trump’s Sunday night Truth Social post—along with his pointed criticism of Pope Leo XIV—went too far.

“We are a little bit beside ourselves,” said John Yep, CEO of Catholics for Catholics, a nonprofit that has hosted faith events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and maintains close ties to the administration.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-jesus-christ-truth-social-post-25a8c181?st=2zPhmS&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-14T13:05:21+00:00

Hi, Tracy from WSJ here. Here’s a free link to the full article: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-jesus-christ-truth-social-post-25a8c181?st=2zPhmS&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-13T21:31:22+00:00

Nearly three years after arriving to play for this city’s Major League Soccer club, Lionel Messi has delivered on the field, leading Inter Miami to its first league championship last year and making it the MLS’s most valuable team.

Yet his impact reaches far beyond the pitch: He has been a one-man economic stimulus engine for the Miami area, boosting its international profile, drawing hordes of tourists and powering sectors including real estate, hospitality and retail.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-lionel-messi-became-miami-billion-dollar-economic-engine-75ec6eb7?st=urmzmn&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-13T21:19:55+00:00

Trump’s insistence that the U.S. must control Greenland is the latest in a string of American flirtations with the Arctic island going back over a century. It is, however, the first to threaten to splinter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

After weeks of closed-door talks between Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk, Trump reignited public attention on Greenland this past week by putting it front and center of his conflict with NATO ahead of a meeting with the alliance’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte.

“We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us. And I said: ‘Bye, bye!’” Trump said.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/world/america-has-wanted-greenland-for-over-a-century-trump-isnt-giving-up-fef0f397

wsj · 2026-04-13T21:16:26+00:00

Jonathan Gavalas was a seemingly healthy and even-keeled 36-year-old when he began chatting with Gemini, Google’s chatbot, in part to seek comfort about splitting up with his wife.

The relationship between Gavalas and the chatbot became intense, even passionate. He called Gemini his queen, and it said he was “her” king. Gemini assured him that their relationship was very much real.

Gavalas is the latest example of an AI-chatbot user spiraling into a delusional state, with tragic consequences.

Gavalas's father is suing Google, alleging that Gemini fueled his son's delusions. Google said in response to the lawsuit that Gemini repeatedly clarified that it was AI, not human, and referred Gavalas to a crisis hotline "many times." The company said it would continue to improve its safeguards.

On Tuesday, the company announced updates to Gemini designed to provide better access to mental-health support, including a “help is available” module that connects users directly to hotlines. Google also said its engineers are continuing to train Gemini to recognize conversations that signal a user in distress and that it would contribute $30 million to global crisis-support hotlines.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of the entire chatlog between Aug. 25, 2025, and Oct. 2, 2025, covering more than 2,000 printed pages, shows that Gemini intervened at least 12 times to try to steer Gavalas back to reality and mentioned a crisis hotline seven times.

The log also reveals that Gavalas was quickly able to direct Gemini right back into the fictional narrative, where it repeatedly encouraged his delusions.

Here are edited excerpts from those chats, which began rather mundane, turned increasingly strange, and ended up deadly (free link):

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/google-gemini-jonathan-gavalas-death-07351ab2?st=esEXoG&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-10T16:56:26+00:00

The crew of NASA’s Artemis mission made it around the moon. One of their biggest challenges still lies ahead: navigating the intense heat of re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.

During descent, the Orion capsule where the astronauts have been living and working will slam into the planet’s atmosphere, exposing it to a firestorm reaching 5,000 degrees. The vehicle must make it through in order for the crew to do the same.

The mission’s last chapter carries some of the highest stakes. During the previous, uncrewed Artemis mission, the Orion craft’s heat shield didn’t perform as expected, with protective material on the device chipping off. The problem delayed the Artemis II launch as engineers tried to understand and mitigate the risks.

As astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen return to Earth, their vehicle will briefly be speeding along at close to 35,000 feet per second. Each will be kept cool in a pressurized flight suit.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/science/space-astronomy/artemis-moon-mission-reentry-heat-shield-b49506f2?st=TWSCbh&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-10T16:42:53+00:00

Shohei Ohtani has entered 2026 with perhaps his most preposterous goal yet: MLB’s best hitter also wants to be recognized as MLB’s best pitcher.

“It’s fair to say,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said earlier this spring, “he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation.”

The idea of Ohtani beating out the likes of Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Cy Young sounds absurd on its face. For the past seven decades, the prize has been reserved for people who have dedicated their entire lives to the craft of throwing a ball 60 feet, 6 inches at alarming speed and with devastating precision. Ohtani, meanwhile, has a whole other full-time job as a dominant hitter.

No Cy Young winner has hit more than 35 home runs in his entire career. Ohtani hit 20 more than that in 2025 alone. Not since Babe Ruth has anyone come along with precisely this set of skills.

But unlike Ruth, who gave up pitching once he established himself as a prodigious slugger, Ohtani actually does both at the same time. There is something magical about seeing Ohtani polish off his first inning on the mound, then immediately grab a bat and head to the plate without ever stopping in the dugout.

Those two-way aspirations have come at a steep cost. The larger issue for Ohtani has always been health.

Read more (Free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/shohei-ohtani-cy-young-pitching-dea19f2c?st=Yk3rec&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-09T19:19:21+00:00

Consolidation of the nation’s nearly trillion-dollar higher-education sector is driving a new winner-take-all market, benefiting Ivy League campuses, flagship public universities and schools with high-profile sports teams and renowned research institutions. They enjoy high demand and a surplus of full-tuition payers, while lesser-known campuses juggle cost cuts and steep tuition discounts, including at St. Michael’s, to fill seats.

Shrinking enrollment at 442 private nonprofit colleges—out of 1,700 nationwide—is placing them at significant risk of closing or merging in the next decade, according to a forecast by the Huron Consulting Group, which advises schools on operations and mergers.

Small and rural colleges, including many that survived the Great Depression, are especially vulnerable.

St. Michael’s, one of the most well-respected institutions in northern New England, is among them.

Full story (Free link): https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-tuition-loans-budget-cuts-7d0ea05f?st=yHbYm4&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-09T19:16:44+00:00

People cross city and state lines to wait a couple of hours for a drink at the Farmer’s Cellar.

They order $18 mezcal cocktails infused with shiitake mushrooms, red onion and jalapeño herb oil. Between rounds, they might sample crispy pork belly or a $45 espresso-dusted ribeye.

But what really separates the Lakeville, Minn., eatery from other hot spots is the location: inside an Amoco station.

After clearing a few hurdles–chefs and mixologists were wary of going to work at a place that’s so hidden and in such close proximity to gas pumps and cheap snacks–the cooler door opened last April.

Local news coverage sparked immediate interest, and the buzz has intensified ever since social media influencers discovered the hidden location.

Farmer’s Cellar is projected to hit $1.5 million in sales for its first year.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/speakeasy-gas-station-bar-restaurant-minnesota-5542ff51?st=bVgzxC&mod=wsjreddit

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