The Wall Street Journal - 21.10.2019

A16| Monday, October 21, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

In many respects, the New York

Yankees just completed an extraor-

dinary decade. Over the past 10 reg-

ular seasons, they won 921 games,

more than any other team in base-

ball. They made the playoffs seven

times—no other team played into

October more often.

The 2010s were a success by ev-

ery measure—that is, except for the

only one their fans actually care

about: winning the World Series.

New York’s season-ending defeat

to the Houston Astros in the Ameri-

can League Championship Series on

Saturday means that for the first

time since the 1910s, they have gone

a full calendar decade without ap-

pearing in the World Series.

They spent more than $2 billion

on player salaries, more than any

other team in the majors over that

span. They employed at least eight

current, likely or possible future

Hall of Famers. And yet, along the

way, the Yankees settled into a

strange, new normal. They have be-

come the sort of franchise their

fans used to mock: great in every

way but the one that counts.

It is tempting to compare them

to the 1990s Atlanta Braves, a team

best remembered for underachiev-

ing in the postseason. But even

those Braves—the would-be Team

of the ‘90s before the Yankees

staked their own claim to that ti-

tle—appeared in five World Series

and won one.

What the Yankees did in the

2010s is without precedent in mod-

ern baseball history: In no previous

calendar decade since 1900 has the

winningest team of the decade by

regular-season record failed to win

at least one pennant, according to

Stats LLC.

Their latest October exit was

particularly crushing. After José Al-

tuve sent Houston to the World Se-

ries with a walk-off, two-run home

run in the bottom of the ninth in-

ning of Game 6 on Saturday, the

mood in the Yankees’ clubhouse

was funereal.

Many players sat in silence, some

in tears. Manager Aaron Boone

went from player to player, hugging

them and whispering words of en-

couragement in their ears. Slugger

Aaron Judge called the season a

failure.

“Just like that, with one swing of

the bat, it’s all over,” outfielder

Brett Gardner said. “It’ll take a

while to get over. Some of us may

never get over it.”

The cruel irony of the Yankees’

lost decade is that no other fran-

chise has been so openly dismissive

of merely reaching the World Se-

ries. The Yankees—perhaps their

fans have mentioned this—have

won 27 championships, more than

any other North American profes-

sional sports franchise.

As they approached the end of

the decade, the Yankees were well-

positioned to begin a new champi-

onship era in the Bronx. Their fail-

ure to do so can be traced partly to

their unwillingness to pay the cost

of acquiring one of the dominant

starting pitchers they coveted.

Most notable among them were

the two aces that helped beat them

in the ALCS, Justin Verlander and

Gerrit Cole, who instead were

traded to the Astros in 2017 and

2018, respectively. In addition to

keeping a tight grip on minor-

league prospects, the Yankees ha-

ven’t awarded a $100 million-plus

contract to a free agent since 2014.

“It’s not like we weren’t out

there spending, trying to improve,”

Steinbrenner said. “It just wasn’t in

the one mega-player some people

wanted.”

As the Yankees look to retool

their roster for 2020, they figure to

do so from a position of strength.

Their best young players, most no-

tably Judge and Gleyber Torres, are

still under their control, as are their

top starting pitchers and relievers.

It’s not hard to imagine them back

in the postseason again a year from

now. But it’s what they do when

they get there that defines them.

Right now, that’s the problem.

“You’ve got to win in October,”

Gardner said. “Obviously we’ve got

a long time to think about that be-

fore another October rolls around.”

BYBRIANCOSTA ANDJAREDDIAMOND

Yankees: $2 Billion Spent, No Titles

A postseason loss to the Astros caps a decade without a pennant for the 27-time world champs

Adam Gase did something last

year that he’s strangely proud of.

He injured Sam Darnold.

“It was the best thing that hap-

pened to him,” Gase says.

It’s particularly odd that Gase

feels this way because he’s the

coach of the New York Jets. Dar-

nold, 22, is his quarterback and

the singular reason there’s legiti-

mate hope surrounding this fran-

chise as the team prepares to play

the undefeated New England Patri-

ots on Monday night. When Dar-

nold returned from sitting out

with mononucleosis last week, the

Jets transformed from being the

most listless team in the NFL into

one that upset the Dallas Cowboys.

A year ago, Gase wasn’t Dar-

nold’s coach. He was in charge of

the Miami Dolphins and beat the

Jets both times last season and

forced Darnold into throwing six

interceptions. He was sacked seven

times, and four of those came in a

rough second meeting when Dar-

nold injured his foot. This, Gase

says, was perfect.

“He had a chance to take a step

back,” Gase said.

Darnold, at the time, was strug-

gling miserably. The injury pro-

vided Darnold with a short off-sea-

son midway through his first

season, and the result was dra-

matic. He returned making better

reads and moved better.

Although bad luck struck again

when Darnold was diagnosed with

mononucleosis after a Week 1 loss

to Buffalo, his absence again made

his value abundantly clear. The of-

fense scored a grand total of one

touchdown in the three games he

missed. The Jets slumped to 0-4,

and their season seemed lost.

Except when Darnold made his

return against Dallas last week—

his teammates observed something

that looked familiar. He had gotten

even better while sitting out.

“Sometimes when you [take] a

step back, you see things from a

different angle,” wide receiver

Robby Anderson said. “He was

able to digest the game a little bit

while he was gone.”

JOSHUA SARNER/ICON SMI/ZUMA PRESS
Sam Darnold is back for the Jets.

BYANDREWBEATON

There Is

Finally

Hope for

The Jets

Yankees pitcher Aroldis Chapman, right, walks off the field after giving up a game-winning home run to the Astros’ José Altuve in Game 6 of the ALCS.

MATT SLOCUM/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Part of their identity is treating

anything less with the sort of sol-

emn mea culpas befitting a huge

corporate scandal. When they lost

the 1981 World Series in six games

to the Los Angeles Dodgers, late

owner George Steinbrenner fa-

mously issued a statement that be-

gan: “I want to sincerely apologize

to the people of New York.”

In an interview with The Wall

Street Journal earlier this year,

Yankees principal owner Hal Stein-

brenner said, “That’s our expecta-

tion: to be in the [World] Series ev-

ery year. That’s the standard we

hold ourselves to, because we un-

derstand our fans do. But there’s

then the logical side, which is: The

landscape has changed. The sport

has changed. There are a lot of re-

ally good teams out there.”

The Yankees haven’t had a losing

season since 1992. They managed to

rebuild without tearing their roster

down. Judge headlined a group of

young stars that propelled the Yan-

kees to the ALCS in 2017.

Over the past 10 regular

seasons, they won 921

games, but never

reached a World Series.

Weather

Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Hi LoW Hi LoW City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow

City Hi LoW Hi LoW

Anchorage 45 34 r 44 38 pc

Atlanta 78 63 pc 70 47 pc

Austin 80 47 pc 81 47 s

Baltimore 69 55 pc 68 47 r

Boise 57 40 pc 61 38 c

Boston 6252pc 5956r

Burlington 61 44 s 61 47 r

Charlotte 74 63 c 74 43 r

Chicago 64 45 r 52 38 c

Cleveland 72 54 r 64 44 pc

Dallas 75 48 s 76 51 s

Denver 5331pc 6441pc

Detroit 65 50 r 56 42 c

Honolulu 88 77 pc 88 76 c

Houston 80 55 t 78 51 s

Indianapolis 68 45 r 57 40 pc

Kansas City 58 40 s 60 42 s

Las Vegas 79 58 pc 82 60 s

Little Rock 74 46 r 67 41 s

Los Angeles 91 67 s 94 65 s

Miami 91 78 pc 90 78 pc

Milwaukee 62 44 r 51 37 c

Minneapolis 55 40 r 46 32 pc

Nashville 77 49 t 66 40 s

New Orleans 83 64 t 76 57 pc

New York City 64 55 s 63 55 r

Oklahoma City 70 39 s 71 46 s

Omaha 53 41 pc 59 41 s

Orlando 89 74 sh 90 71 t

Philadelphia 67 55 s 67 49 r

Phoenix 87 60 s 91 61 s

Pittsburgh 71 56 pc 62 41 r

Portland, Maine 61 42 s 57 50 sh

Portland, Ore. 60 57 r 65 43 c

Sacramento 87 50 s 86 57 s

St. Louis 66 47 r 62 43 s

Salt Lake City 56 41 pc 63 42 pc

San Francisco 75 56 s 77 56 s

Santa Fe 60 28 s 63 30 s

Seattle 57 54 r 60 46 c

Sioux Falls 52 35 r 52 36 s

Wash., D.C. 70 58 pc 67 49 r

Amsterdam 59 49 r 59 46 pc

Athens 81 65 s 77 64 s

Baghdad 91 68 pc 90 69 s

Bangkok 93 79 pc 94 79 s

Beijing 68 41 s 69 46 s

Berlin 68 51 c 62 47 pc

Brussels 58 47 c 58 48 pc

Buenos Aires 66 54 pc 70 54 s

Dubai 94 78 s 95 80 s

Dublin 52 38 pc 52 46 s

Edinburgh 50 41 pc 52 46 pc

Frankfurt 62 46 c 62 49 pc

Geneva 59 52 r 64 50 c

Havana 92 72 pc 91 73 pc

Hong Kong 83 74 s 83 75 s

Istanbul 72 62 s 72 61 pc

Jakarta 96 76 s 96 76 s

Jerusalem 75 62 pc 75 62 pc

Johannesburg 91 58 s 82 54 t

London 57 44 pc 58 45 s

Madrid 60 43 s 58 48 sh

Manila 92 78 pc 92 78 sh

Melbourne 66 51 s 73 52 pc

Mexico City 75 58 pc 71 55 t

Milan 69 61 r 72 56 c

Moscow 62 45 sh 52 47 c

Mumbai 89 77 t 86 78 t

Paris 59 45 pc 58 51 pc

Rio de Janeiro 78 69 sh 79 72 c

Riyadh 96 71 s 96 72 s

Rome 77 57 pc 78 57 s

San Juan 88 78 sh 86 78 sh

Seoul 74 52 pc 74 54 s

Shanghai 74 61 pc 74 65 pc

Singapore 88 79 t 85 79 c

Sydney 73 56 s 74 59 s

Taipei City 81 67 c 81 71 pc

Tokyo 71 60 c 66 63 r

Toronto 59 51 c 60 41 r

Vancouver 51 50 r 56 41 c

Warsaw 7050pc 6948pc

Zurich 61 50 t 63 47 c

Today Tomorrow

U.S. Forecasts

International

City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

s...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;

t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice

Today Tomorrow

Warm

Cold

Stationary

Showers

Rain

T-storms

Snow

Flurries

Ice

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New York

Salt Lake City

Tampa

Nashville

Memphis

Detroit

Kansas

City

El Paso Dallas

Billings

Portland

Miami

San Francisco

Sacramento

Orlando

Atlanta

New Orleans

Houston

San Diego Phoenix

Los Angeles

Las

Vegas

Seattle

Boise

Denver

Mpls./St. Paul

St. Louis

Chicago

Washington D.C.

Boston

Charleston

Milwaukee Hartford

Wichita

Indianapolis

Cleveland

Buffalo

Austin

Helena

Bismarck

Albuquerque

Omaha

Oklahoma City

San Antonio

Des Moines

Sioux Falls

Jackson

Birmingham

Cheyenne Philadelphia

Reno

Santa Fe

Colorado

Springs

Pierre

Richmond

Raleigh

Tucson

Albany

Topeka

Columbia

Augusta

Ft. Worth

Eugene

Springfield

Mobile

Toronto

Ottawa Montreal

Winnipeg

Vancouver Calgary

Edmonton

70s

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WINGSPANS| By Mike Shenk

Across

1 Capital on the

Nile

6 Burro

9 Meteor’s source

14 Cinema statuette

15 Clamor

16 Major metal-

producing

corporation

17 Bara who starred

in silents

18 Genetic stuff

19 U-shaped

instruments

20 Needle

22 Like a good

waiter?

24 Got older

25 Receptacle for

recyclables

26 Lunar feature

29 Thor, Hulk, Black

Widow and

others

34 Pear-shaped

instruments

35 Hot under the

collar

36 Stephen of “The

Crying Game”

37 Some nest egg

investments

38 Eccentric

oldsters

39 President who

was later chief

justice

40 Remote

41 Jam ingredients?

42 Protuberant

navel

43 Cunning swindle

45 Silver bars

46 Toward the stern

47 Antlered animal

48 One of two that

meet at a cold

front

52 Early Fords

56 Biscuit bit

57 Noted news agcy.

59 Take home from

the pet shelter

60 Having a

conventional key

and harmony

61 Flyer with

membranous

wings

62 Martini’s partner

in the vermouth

business

63 Protractor

measure

TheWSJDailyCrossword |Edited by Mike Shenk

12345 678 910111213

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

34 35 36

37 38 39

40 41 42

43 44 45

46 47

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59

60 61 62

63 64 65

s

Solve this puzzle online and discuss it at WSJ.com/Puzzles.

64 Coll. or acad.

65 Keypad key

Down

1 Barracks beds

2 Pale gray

3 Baker, at times

4 Shines

5 Grove harvest

6 Said further

7 Greed or gluttony

8 Piece of cake

9 Crispy cracker

10 Manipulating

11 Land unit

12 Last name of

filmmakers Joel

and Ethan

13 Right on most

maps

21 Lang. of Leipzig

23 Assists in

wrongdoing

26 Takeoff spot for

a hang glider

27 From the country

28 Big name in

arcade games

29 E.M. Forster’s

“___ With a

View”

30 Dyeing tubs

31 Muse of love

poetry

32 Overhaul, as

equipment

33 Fills fully

35 Smidgen

38 Bunches of

believers

39 Pulled gently

41 Good-natured

42 How risky

things might be

done

44 Weasel, wolf or

walrus

45 “How was ___

know?”

47 Forge worker

48 ___ part (join the

cast)

49 Pressing need?

50 Ladder part

51 Long sandwiches

53 In need of

directions

54 Church recess

55 Recipe

instruction

58 Ocean off Calif.

Previous Puzzle’s Solution

The contest answer is KING ARTHUR AND SIR

LANCELOT. Starting at the K of KNIGHT and

making 23 moves like a chess knight through the

grid, ending on the T of KNIGHT, you can spell the

contest answer.

SPF TARA G I TANO

KAL ALES ORATOR

IMO GOTH FELONS

READSTO DUNE

ULTRA OPENENDED

NASAL LARD TOTO

AWE R EM S A U L

PAL AWOKE N I L

EGOS TEL EMU

SHAH T I ER NAMER

TANITHLEE GABLE

NOEL CHISELS

WI SDOM Z ION REO

ONS I TE APSE ORR

KN I GHT GETS NYT

SPORTS