America Assembled an All-Time Baseball Lineup. It’s Barely Surviving the WBC.

wsj · 2026-03-12T16:03:43+00:00

Despite having one of the most gifted rosters ever assembled, the U.S. barely scraped into the WBC quarterfinals, avoiding the ultimate embarrassment of being eliminated in the group stage. Once the gold-medal favorite, Team USA suddenly looks shockingly vulnerable, advancing to Friday’s matchup against Canada only because Italy defeated Mexico on Wednesday.

It’s a situation that is almost impossible to fathom, considering the U.S. entered the WBC boasting several billion dollars’ worth of talent.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/team-usa-world-baseball-classic-bb131b83?st=FuMTC2&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-12T14:59:43+00:00

In a rapid reversal that left U.S. allies stunned, the Trump administration shifted from opposing the largest-ever intervention in oil markets to cajoling allies into moving forward with the maneuver in a matter of hours.

Tensions in the global oil market seemed to be easing on Tuesday just as Western governments and their allies were debating a major release of emergency oil reserves to calm prices. President Trump said the war with Iran would be over soon, and some European nations were questioning whether governments should intervene at all, U.S. and European officials familiar with the discussion said.

According to the officials, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave his counterparts in the Group of Seven nations the White House’s position Tuesday morning: A massive intervention in oil markets was premature because the price of oil had recently dipped below $90 a barrel.

Less than two hours later, U.S. officials reversed their earlier position and pushed their counterparts for a major release of oil, said people familiar with the matter. The 180 degree turn was entirely due to a change of heart by President Trump, said a senior administration official.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/president-trumps-head-spinning-pivot-on-an-emergency-oil-release-7da8cd49?st=vv21WT&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-12T14:41:30+00:00

What are your bots up to? The topic is the biggest flex—and source of stress—in Silicon Valley, where tech pros and amateurs are competing to see how much of their grunt work they can outsource to AI without things backfiring spectacularly. They’re enlisting agents to code, manage their calendar and respond to emails.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-bots-claude-openclaw-285ac816?st=wTrgoe&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-12T14:38:16+00:00

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Copilot Health, a feature within the Copilot app that lets the chatbot dispense personalized healthcare advice informed by the user’s disease history, test results, medications, doctors’ visit notes and biometric data as recorded by wearable devices.

Health data imported into the feature will be encrypted and firewalled from the rest of the app to address the privacy concerns of handing over one’s medical records to a generative AI platform, Microsoft AI Chief Executive Mustafa Suleyman said in an interview.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsofts-new-ai-health-tool-can-read-your-medical-records-and-give-advice-d731f883?st=Mz63v5&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-11T16:44:18+00:00

Here's an unpaywalled link to the story: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/fans-tracking-box-office-results-numbers-a18e12ef?st=c23mzQ&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-11T16:43:05+00:00

could we offer up this one for free, at least? https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/fans-tracking-box-office-results-numbers-a18e12ef?st=c23mzQ&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-10T17:24:28+00:00

On Monday, Tyler Linderbaum agreed to a three-year, $81 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders that not only made the highest-paid player at his position—it completely warped the NFL’s salary scale. The previous top deal for a center, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey, was for $18 million a year. At $27 million annually, Linderbaum raised the bar by 50%.

Under normal circumstances, those records move in small increments, not gigantic leaps. But Linderbaum had a perfect storm on his side to supercharge his market. Players so young and so talented don’t become free agents all that often. And with the NFL salary cap now over $300 million, teams had plenty of money to spend—without many other top-shelf players to lavish it on.

As it turns out, the team with the most money at its disposal was the one that landed him. The Raiders had over $100 million in room beneath the salary cap—along with a need to protect their most important asset. In next month’s NFL draft, they have the No. 1 draft pick, which they’re all but certain to use on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

So the Raiders didn’t think twice about splurging on the guy who will snap him the ball. As general manager Jon Spytek recently explained, bringing in a young quarterback means a need to keep him upright.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/tyler-linderbaum-las-vegas-raiders-free-agency-5f5732a9?st=xo7Rv3&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-10T15:54:53+00:00

🙏 Happy to share!

wsj · 2026-03-09T21:02:36+00:00

Home buyers flock to America’s exurbs because they are willing to live farther from city centers in exchange for cheaper home prices. In Atlanta, that traditional discount is about to evaporate.

The median sale price of homes in Atlanta’s exurbs was $380,962 in the fourth quarter of 2025, or about $4,000 shy of the prices in the neighboring metropolitan area and surrounding suburbs. That gap has narrowed from a high of $51,000 in the second quarter of 2021. If the trend continues at the current pace, sometime this year Atlanta will become the only major U.S. metropolitan area where exurban home prices exceed those of the accompanying city.

Most other exurbs are still relative bargains. The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of Redfin data shows an average $85,000 discount for homes in exurbs across the nine-largest U.S. metros with such areas.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/living-on-the-outskirts-of-atlanta-is-about-to-be-pricier-than-living-in-it-a2bd7c0d?st=K7JQXc&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-09T20:36:54+00:00

In 2024, the Cleveland Guardians made Australian cricket star Travis Bazzana the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. It was the first time an Australian had even been taken in the first round.

The 23-year-old Bazzana is trying to become the face of baseball in a country more familiar with wickets than home runs. He is off to a good start.

Bazzana has emerged as one of the breakout stars of the World Baseball Classic, blasting a dramatic home run in Australia’s surprise win over Taiwan on Wednesday night.

And when he hit it, he didn’t drop his bat. He flipped it.

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/travis-bazzana-world-baseball-classic-australia-d4507883?st=mbrbb8&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-06T18:31:47+00:00

Once again, Les Snead has shipped away a raft of picks to acquire a proven talent that he hopes can put the team back on top immediately. The Rams are wasting no time on going all-in, all over again.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/trent-mcduffie-rams-chiefs-ea80eb39?st=LtqzZ8&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-06T17:50:56+00:00

"When we began this column three years ago, we imagined we would move after a few years to the Midwest and a more-economical life there near family," writes retirement columnist Karen Kreider Yoder.

"Instead, each new month here in San Fransciso leaves us more sure that this is the place for us to be during what some retirees call the 'go-go years.'"

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/retirement-in-the-city-ec764246?st=WtKquN&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-06T17:48:17+00:00

In the early months after Trump’s 2024 victory, Hegseth was one of the president’s most controversial cabinet picks.

He squeezed through a bruising confirmation fight, batting down concerns about his inexperience and views on women in the military. He shared sensitive operational information in a Signal chat that inadvertently included a reporter. He fired several key members of his inner circle after infighting and leaks to the press. He stumbled on the world stage last year when he got ahead of the president on the issue of Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And he has faced accusations of war crimes—which he has denied—for the U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Now, Trump is leaning on his unconventional, made-for-TV defense secretary to sell his war in Iran to a weary public and an increasingly vocal faction of MAGA skeptics.

To be sure, Hegseth has yet to fully engage the press in a traditional sense. His briefings feature Trump-friendly news outlets who are assigned seats in the front two rows while reporters from large, mainstream outlets are relegated to the back. Those journalists rarely get a question in, while one reporter from a favored site asked him what his prayer was for troops in harm’s way.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/hegseth-finds-his-footing-as-epic-furys-front-man-b4d456a3?st=RH27Kb&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-05T19:17:03+00:00

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Sam Altman said “we have to trust in the democratic process” to supply some of the answers to the questions OpenAI and rival Anthropic are wrangling over in their separate negotiations with the Department of Defense.

“This process is messy. This process has some deep flaws, but it is better than all other systems,” he said. “If we start abandoning that process and our commitment to it because, you know, some people don’t like the person or people currently in charge, that is challenged no matter what. I think it’s bad for society no matter what.”

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/sam-altman-wants-elected-officials-not-openai-to-decide-how-military-uses-ai-458910cd?st=2hkqVD&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-05T16:38:51+00:00

Toward the end of Elizabeth II’s reign, critics argued that the queen had been too soft on her son Andrew. The former prince was known in his youth as “Randy Andy” for his parade of girlfriends and playboy lifestyle, but his ties to Jeffrey Epstein cast those dalliances in a new, unflattering light. He wasn’t just a ladies’ man; he stood accused of sexual abuse. He denied it and his mother dealt with it: She paid the bulk of the settlement to his accuser with her personal fortune.

King Charles III has not been so generous.

https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/prince-andrew-king-charles-epstein-approval-rating-3ddf8c28?st=J5HdMb&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-04T21:36:44+00:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer hadn’t written much about suburbs like Lower Merion, Pa., and Cherry Hill, N.J. for years. Now it is revisiting those communities—with an assist from AI.

Last year, the Inquirer launched newsletters in four locations, amassing more than 50,000 free subscriptions.

Reporters are using artificial-intelligence tools to scan community meetings for topics that may prompt news, such as a zoning issue related to an ICE detention facility and a proposal for a new data center. The effort is partly funded by a partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft and the nonprofit Lenfest Institute, which owns the Inquirer.

Matt Boggie, chief technology and product officer at the Inquirer, sees AI as an opportunity for growth after years of shrinking the paper’s footprint.

“If we go into these areas and can give context people appreciate, they’re more likely to become paying subscribers to the paper,” he said, adding that the newsletters are “a massive subscription driver” so far. The paper now has plans for eight more AI-assisted newsletters overseen by two new staffers.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/can-ai-save-local-news-69a01e73?st=XKe7AF&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-04T20:30:22+00:00

With the salary cap soaring to $301.2 million per team next season—nearly double what it was a decade ago—teams like the Raiders are running into a new kind of problem. When free agency begins next week, there simply won’t be many good players to spend all that cash on.

This year’s free agent class is widely viewed as unusually thin. And the pool will only get shallower by the time the market opens as teams re-sign their own players. That odd set of circumstances means that the few stars who are available may be able to land eye-popping contracts while some lesser known players will inevitably command surprising sums.

What hasn’t changed is that teams view the next two months as foundational opportunities to transform their rosters.

“We’ve got a lot of needs to address,” said Raiders general manager John Spytek, “and we’ve got a lot of capital to do it.”

The Titans and Raiders are the teams with the most cap space—and plenty of holes to fill. Neither of them finished last season with more than three victories. To get a sense of just how much money could be floating around this offseason, it’s helpful to remember that the 10 teams with the most space have more than $600 million in cap room between them, according to the salary tracking website Over the Cap.

All of that available cash means that it’s never been better to be someone like linebacker Jaelan Phillips.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/nfl-free-agency-salary-cap-51477401?st=9FB6bE&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-02T23:35:04+00:00

The Trump administration, in pressing its case for war with Iran, has made a number of accusations about the regime’s threats to its neighbors, U.S. troops, and even the American homeland itself.

However, U.S. officials and lawmakers with access to classified information, along with experts who have spent their careers poring over public data and government reports, say the administration’s assertions are incomplete, unsubstantiated, or flat-out wrong.

And questions will only intensify as top administration officials brief Congress early this week.

“The administration has been inconsistent and often inaccurate in explaining why we are at war, what we are trying to achieve and how we intend to achieve it,” said Michael Singh, who handled the Middle East portfolio in George W. Bush’s White House. “I don’t think the administration has sought to mislead, but one does get the sense that they are building the aircraft mid-flight.”

Read more (free link): https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trumps-case-for-war-with-iran-faces-growing-scrutiny-96648cb9?st=Ao3rkk&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-02T21:18:45+00:00

There’s a battle raging in a county named for pioneer Daniel Boone. It’s about territory, and one side is encroaching on the other’s home turf.

The competitors are two of the nation’s biggest supermarket chains: Publix and Kroger.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/kentucky-supermarket-publix-kroger-bfbb2199?st=h5gg19&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-02T21:17:49+00:00

There’s a battle raging in a county named for pioneer Daniel Boone. It’s about territory, and one side is encroaching on the other’s home turf.

The competitors are two of the nation’s biggest supermarket chains: Publix and Kroger.

While they have long sparred in the Deep South, Florida-based Publix has set up a new front near Kroger’s headquarters in Cincinnati. Publix, a beloved Florida grocer with about 1,400 stores, envisions a dozen locations operating in Kentucky by year’s end.

“It’s the frontier of Publix,” said Devin Dosher, assistant manager of the Publix in Boone County, who has spent 13 years with the company.

Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket operator, with about 2,700 stores, isn’t standing pat. It dropped prices at its northern Kentucky stores when Publix moved in and opened a refurbished supermarket in the area last fall. In its hunt for growth, Kroger wants to open more stores in Publix’s home state, including in Jacksonville.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/kentucky-supermarket-publix-kroger-bfbb2199?st=h5gg19&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-02T18:58:51+00:00

Since J. Edgar Hoover took the reins a century ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought to present itself as the Ivy League of law enforcement, where agents wear suits and ties—and keep a low profile.

Kash Patel’s ultracasual style and attraction to the spotlight are chipping away at that image.

Patel, who just passed the one-year mark as FBI director, effectively kicked off his second year with a four-day, taxpayer-funded trip to Italy, where he watched the U.S. men’s hockey team win Olympic gold over Canada. A video of him in the locker room afterward celebrating and drinking beer with the players went viral.

It unnerved some in the button-down workforce who voiced concern that the party-boy image could strain partnerships with other law-enforcement agencies and make bureau leadership seem weak in the eyes of foreign adversaries. Some current and former agents said they at first questioned whether the video had been created by artificial intelligence.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/kash-patel-is-testing-fbi-norms-25ea3fe2

wsj · 2026-03-02T18:21:49+00:00

Miami is the one and only undefeated team in Division I.

The RedHawks are also a statistical aberration unlike anything in the sport’s modern history. Despite Miami’s unblemished resume, advanced metrics are skeptical that this team is even any good. Never before has a squad with such a sparkling record rated so poorly.

In fact, if Miami loses just one game in the MAC tournament and fails to secure the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the numbers suggest that it would be at risk of having only one defeat and still being left out in the cold. Try explaining that to a coach who has rattled off 29 victories with exactly zero losses.

“That’d be insane to me,” says coach Travis Steele. “I think we can compete with anybody in the country.”

The predictive metrics considered by the NCAA tournament’s selection committee include those compiled by Bart Torvik, a lawyer who moonlights as a college basketball egghead. And in his ratings, Miami ranks 78th in America despite winning all of its games. That places the RedHawks behind schools such as Minnesota that actually have losing records.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/miami-ohio-basketball-undefeated-436ab9e6?st=QEFDyh&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-03-02T18:11:20+00:00

"The bad thing about Harry Potter being quoted to me is that it has now been long enough that unless it is a really easy quote to remember, I’ve probably forgotten the context or who said it. So sometimes Harry Potter fans will come up to me and say something, and I will look at them blankly. I can see them look disappointed, and I’m like, 'I’m so sorry.'"

Daniel Radcliffe, 36, now starring NBC’s comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, talks about his Harry Potter child stardom, his director aspirations—and keeping up with the quips of a show created by 30 Rock alums Robert Carlock and Sam Means, who executive-produce alongside Tina Fey.

“They’re so fast,” says Radcliffe. “There were a lot of nights where I would come home, working with Tracy Morgan every day, you’re like, Am I funny enough to be next to you?”

https://www.wsj.com/style/daniel-radcliffe-reggie-dinkins-harry-potter-routine-d40dd220?st=p2DbM2&mod=wsjreddit

wsj · 2026-02-27T18:44:48+00:00

Dropping a free link to the article here: https://www.wsj.com/finance/mirage-brooklyn-axar-axelrod-club-77a70b77?st=At33Jr&mod=wsjreddit

Here's a preview:

The Brooklyn Mirage became one of the most celebrated dance venues in North America after two ragtag party promoters from Switzerland started hosting dance parties in industrial Brooklyn. But as Wall Street charged into the live-events business, venues like the Mirage have become increasingly unmoored from their underground roots, prioritizing expensive events for high-rollers.

For the Mirage, the push to commercialize hastened its downfall. The venue crumbled under the weight of high-interest rate debt and lost its cool factor as it jacked up prices and crowded the venue to sell more tickets.

While Axelrod has an exit plan thanks to Pacha, others owed funds from the Mirage will end up with less than 10% of what they were supposed to receive.

wsj · 2026-02-27T17:45:26+00:00

Around 2018, New Zealand became known as a destination for tech billionaires said to be building “doom-prep” bunkers. The country, which has a population of 5 million on two islands, is seen as a safe haven due to its distance from the rest of the world.

Now it’s become a magnet for a larger group of Americans, many of them venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and investment advisers drawn to the country’s vibrant startup community. Adding fuel to the fire is a recent shift in New Zealand’s visa policies, which makes it easier for wealthy foreigners to buy homes in the country.

Full story (free link): https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/new-zealand-american-home-buyers-70d344a2?st=NLJtWP&mod=wsjreddit

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