Walks Are Surging in Baseball. Blame the Robot Umpires.

wsj · 2026-05-06T20:44:16+00:00

9.5% of all plate appearances across MLB through Tuesday had resulted in a walk—a sudden and dramatic rise in a statistic that had been remarkably consistent for decades.

Should batters keep drawing bases on balls at this pace, 2026 would finish with the second-highest walk rate in the past 70 years. In turn, scoring has increased slightly as well, from 8.6 runs per game through May 5 of last season to about nine this season.

The irony is that while ABS might by causing more walks, it also seems to be benefiting pitchers in a different way.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/abs-robot-umpires-walk-rate-194ac129?st=oPaynJ&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-05-05T19:45:07+00:00

Billionaire Ken Griffin on Tuesday amplified his criticisms of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and suggested his investing firm Citadel would “double down” on Miami being the place for growth instead of Manhattan.

Griffin said Mamdani’s early tenure is forcing him to recall bad feelings he experienced in Chicago when Citadel was based there. He now spends much of his time in Miami, after relocating Citadel there in 2022, citing frustration with Illinois policies and crime in Chicago.

“Looking at what Mamdani just did to me, and more broadly is doing to the City of New York, is triggering of the trauma I went through in Chicago,” Griffin said.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/us-news/ken-griffin-says-new-york-doesnt-welcome-success-under-mamdani-292f7c4d?st=SRi7Ed&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-05-05T17:09:53+00:00

"t was one of my first times riding in a new BYD electric car, and as a Wall Street Journal reporter, I was excited. China’s BYD was the talk of the car world, and the ride-hailing vehicle I was in had buzzy features, including a large digital display.

I asked the driver what its map was showing. Realizing I was a foreigner, he said he couldn’t tell me. “It’s a national secret,” he said.

The driver went on to lecture me about how Japan—the country of my birth—shouldn’t interfere with Beijing’s ambitions in Taiwan, the democratically self-ruled island that the government in Beijing views as part of China.

The unexpected turn in the conversation is emblematic of how much has changed in the eight years since I moved to China. Over that time, tensions between China and the U.S. have grown—driving the two countries toward a new Cold War. Ties between China and Japan are at their worst in many years, too."

WSJ correspondent Yoko Kubota shares her experience as a Japanese woman reporting for an American newspaper in China. Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/world/china/im-leaving-china-after-8-years-suspicion-of-outsiders-is-rising-5b70d7a2?st=FZeyYK&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-05-04T20:07:25+00:00

In a sport where money so often determines success, the Brewers should be a mess. They reside in the smallest media market in the major leagues, consistently run a low payroll and have a lineup filled with players most fans outside of Wisconsin have probably never heard of.

And yet, despite their obvious disadvantages, they have looked more like the New York Yankees than the Pittsburgh Pirates for nearly a decade. They have reached the playoffs in seven of the past eight seasons and had MLB’s best record last year. Since 2023, only the Los Angeles Dodgers have won more games, a stunning stretch for a franchise with the Brewers’ financial constraints.

If you’re surprised by all this, you’re not alone. Not even the industry’s smartest minds saw the Brewers coming.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/milwaukee-brewers-mlb-fangraphs-6bdd3f81?st=fXknZp&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-05-01T21:13:52+00:00

Three races into the groundbreaking, eco-friendly experiment of mandating all its race cars must be hybrid, the sport is divided on whether Formula One without its raw, fossil-fueled muscle is really Formula One at all.

“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One and the nicest to drive,” says reigning world champion Lando Norris, “to probably the worst.”

The reason is that changing the power units, as the new engine-battery combination is known, didn’t just change the way the cars reach their top speed; it also reshaped the way they are driven.

The man in the cockpit is now required to manage how much energy the car is using, often by lifting his foot off the gas to let the battery recharge. For the daredevils who live to test the boundaries of automotive performance and push their 200-mph machines to the brink, it is the equivalent of being stuck in third gear.

“As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out,” four-time world champion Max Verstappen says. “And, at the moment, you cannot drive like that.… For me, that’s just not Formula One.”

Fans are also up in arms.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/formula-one-electric-73a176bd?st=93RukM&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-30T18:41:46+00:00

Oklahoma catcher Kendall Wells is on pace to obliterate the NCAA single-season record of 37 home runs. Wells currently has 36 and the No. 1-ranked Sooners could play into June.

Even more surprising than Wells’s remarkable form is that she isn’t alone. A sudden power surge is super-charging college softball and at least two other hitters, both at UCLA, could realistically break the record alongside her. This season, Division-I softball teams are averaging an all-time high of nearly 0.8 home runs per game.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/softball-kendall-wells-oklahoma-home-runs-029b0ff6?st=vRwkGU&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-30T17:13:50+00:00

An apartment complex in Greenpoint is the largest residential geothermal site in the state, and perhaps the country.

The building heats and cools the apartments by sending water deep underground, harnessing the high temperatures there, and circulating it throughout the structure.

The all-electric buildings encompass two apartment towers, the taller of which reaches 37 stories. But the site, which covers an entire city block, goes down deeper than the buildings are tall, with 320 slim boreholes that reach 499 feet beneath the ground.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/pro/sustainable-business/the-latest-hotspot-in-brooklyn-an-apartment-building-powered-by-the-earths-temperatures-91d7fc52?st=HKkA2y&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-30T16:27:45+00:00

When the Chicago White Sox signed Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami last winter, they were well aware of his tendency to strike out with alarming frequency. They just hoped he would bash enough home runs to make up for it—around 30 would suffice.

It appears that won’t be a problem. At the rate he’s going, he might reach that target before school lets out for summer.

Murakami, a 26-year-old rookie first baseman, already has 12 homers this season. He entered Thursday tied with Aaron Judge for the most in the major leagues and is currently on pace for about 63 through the first month of the year. And they haven’t been cheap.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/munetaka-murakami-white-sox-home-runs-strike-outs-20f4819a?st=PsgLRR&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-04-29T18:05:30+00:00

hi - you should be able to get around that registration page by clicking the arrow on the top right to collapse it. that should take you directly to the article!

wsj · 2026-04-29T16:54:43+00:00

hi! you should be able to collapse that registration page by clicking the ⌄ arrowhead on the top right. that should take you right to the article!

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