A14| Wednesday, October 2, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
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 LoW Hi LoWToday Tomorrow Today TomorrowCity Hi LoW Hi LoWAnchorage 51 40 s 51 43 c
Atlanta 96 75 s 98 74 pc
Austin 96 72 pc 96 72 pc
Baltimore 96 70 s 78 61 pc
Boise 62 39 s 65 39 s
Boston 78 48 r 59 53 c
Burlington 61 37 c 57 41 c
Charlotte 96 67 s 99 70 s
Chicago 67 59 r 66 47 pc
Cleveland 83 61 pc 77 53 t
Dallas 95 76 s 93 72 t
Denver 70 37 s 70 41 s
Detroit 74 54 r 67 49 r
Honolulu 87 75 sh 86 76 sh
Houston 92 74 s 91 73 s
Indianapolis 91 66 pc 81 52 t
Kansas City 76 50 r 62 48 c
Las Vegas 80 58 s 88 62 s
Little Rock 94 69 s 92 65 pc
Los Angeles 82 60 s 86 58 s
Miami 88 79 pc 88 78 pc
Milwaukee 62 54 r 65 46 c
Minneapolis 56 44 r 54 39 pc
Nashville 98 67 s 97 63 s
New Orleans 94 76 s 94 76 s
New York City 90 57 pc 62 56 r
Oklahoma City 89 62 s 72 58 shOmaha 61 43 r 60 45 s
Orlando 90 70 s 91 71 s
Philadelphia 93 63 s 67 59 r
Phoenix 90 67 s 94 71 s
Pittsburgh 86 66 pc 81 52 t
Portland, Maine 69 38 sh 57 46 pc
Portland, Ore. 65 50 c 60 49 r
Sacramento 78 47 s 78 47 s
St. Louis 93 70 c 74 53 c
Salt Lake City 59 39 s 70 47 s
San Francisco 71 52 s 70 53 s
SantaFe 7640pc 7250pc
Seattle 63 50 c 59 48 r
Sioux Falls 51 41 r 51 37 s
Wash., D.C. 97 71 s 84 66 pcAmsterdam 56 48 t 59 47 sh
Athens 82 68 s 81 71 pc
Baghdad 107 75 s 106 72 s
Bangkok 93 79 t 93 79 t
Beijing 87 61 pc 86 57 pc
Berlin 54 43 r 54 42 sh
Brussels 56 43 pc 57 47 pc
Buenos Aires 60 41 pc 60 49 pc
Dubai 103 85 s 100 87 s
Dublin 53 41 pc 58 51 r
Edinburgh 55 37 pc 53 45 pcFrankfurt 59 42 pc 58 43 pc
Geneva 63 42 sh 60 42 pc
Havana 88 70 t 87 72 t
Hong Kong 91 80 pc 91 79 s
Istanbul 80 65 s 80 66 s
Jakarta 93 77 pc 93 76 pc
Jerusalem 80 62 s 79 58 s
Johannesburg 68 46 pc 73 53 s
London 58 40 pc 58 53 pc
Madrid 76 48 pc 81 51 pc
Manila 89 76 t 90 77 sh
Melbourne 77 61 pc 81 53 s
Mexico City 74 57 t 72 55 t
Milan 74 53 t 69 49 s
Moscow 57 52 c 66 53 pc
Mumbai 89 78 pc 89 78 t
Paris 62 40 pc 58 51 pc
Rio de Janeiro 82 66 pc 84 70 s
Riyadh 106 83 s 108 84 s
Rome 74 59 t 76 51 t
San Juan 91 78 pc 89 79 pc
Seoul 75 69 r 76 62 r
Shanghai 83 70 sh 85 69 s
Singapore 88 76 pc 88 79 sh
Sydney 76 57 s 82 62 s
Taipei City 93 75 c 91 74 s
Tokyo 8172pc 8174pc
Toronto 61 46 r 57 44 r
Vancouver 58 49 r 57 48 sh
Warsaw 63 44 r 53 42 pc
Zurich 62 39 t 57 38 pcToday TomorrowU.S. Forecasts
International
City Hi LoW Hi LoWs...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;
t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice
Today TomorrowWarmColdStationaryShowersRainT-stormsSnowFlurriesIce<
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10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
70s
80s
90s
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Salt Lake CityTampaNashville
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CityDallas
El PasoBillingsPortlandMiamiSan FranciscoSacramentoOrlandoAtlantaNew OrleansHoustonSan Diego PhoenixLos Angeles
Las
VegasSeattleBoiseDenverMpls./St. PaulSt. LouisChicago
Washington D.C.BostonCharlestonMilwaukee HartfordWichitaIndianapolisClevelandBuffaloAustinHelena
BismarckAlbuquerqueOmahaOklahoma CitySan AntonioDes MoinesSioux FallsJacksonBirminghamCheyenne PhiladelphiaRenoSanta FeColorado
SpringsPierreRichmond
RaleighTucsonAlbanyTopekaColumbiaAugustaFt. WorthEugeneSpringfieldMobileTorontoOttawaMontrealWinnipegVancouver CalgaryEdmonton70s80s
50s40s30s90s90s90s90s80s80s80s80s70s70s70s70s60s
60s60s50s50s50s50s50s50s40s40s 40s40s 40s30s30s
30s90sCLOSE THE BARN DOOR!|
By David Alfred Bywaters
Across
1 Besides
5 Program
distributor
10 Nursery denizen
14 Heavy hammer
15 English county
16 Australian
avifauna
17 The bovine took
off!
19 Enumerate
20 Animal refuge of
note
21 Fit
22 It comes from
the heart
23 Inventive account24 Ida. neighbor
25 The pig broke
loose!
27 Jason’s lover
29 Neither yes nor
no
31 Earthy prefix
32 Espionage org.
34 Montmartre Mrs.
35 Many profs
36 The pullet
escaped!
39 ___ Alto
41 Almond’s kin
42 Long, long time
43 Latin lover’s
declaration44 “The Planets”
composer
46 Bit of a hit
50 The hound is
missing!
52 Copying
54 In the past
55 Not a scam
56 Its planes have
the Star of
David on their
tails
57 Holy sister
58 Geisha sashes
59 The drake
decamped!
62 Possible RSVP
replyTheWSJDailyCrossword |Edited by Mike Shenk
1234 56789 10111213
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 66 67Previous Puzzle’s Solutions
Solve this puzzle online and discuss it at WSJ.com/Puzzles.SPACE DASH UGGS
AILEY ALTA PARE
GEESE VIOLAT ION
SLAYER NONOS
HORNETSNEST EVE
AV I ATE HEADED
LEN MARAUD
ORGAN I CCOMPOUND
R I DGED ROE
HELPME SUBDUE
AXE BASSETHOUND
SHEL L ANNUAL
HARPERLEE UTTER
ELAN DORM LOWLY
SETS ANDY SNAKE63 Bankruptcy filer
of December
2001
64 Additionally
65 Frat supply
66 The Germans
capitalize them
67 First lady before
Mamie
Down
1 Mummify
2 Metcalf of “Lady
Bird”
3 Pouted
4 Architect’s
addition
5 Dated label
recommendation
6 Kibbutz greeting
7 Conceal
8 Before, in poetry
9 Spectrum’s end
10 Into the hold,
say
11 “Don’t you
agree?”
12 Moved
energetically
13 Nuevo México
y Carolina del
Norte
18 Luau locale22 Long time
25 “Abide With Me,”
e.g.
26 Past paunchy
28 Exact repetition
30 Congregants’
answers
33 Pursue, as a
police tip
35 Slight
36 Blocking up
37 Cabbage variety
38 “Well, isn’t that
fancy!”
39 Gate keeper
40 Living blobs
44 Popular
45 Yap
47 Get under one’s
skin
48 “Seems to me...”
49 Realty units
51 General ideas
53 Park sections
56 Almond’s kin
59 Bear’s lair
60 Get-rid-of-your-
cards game
61 Science class
featureBYJAREDDIAMONDBaseball’s Lowest-Paid Team Is a Powerhouse
Despite limited financial resources, the Tampa Bay Rays won 96 games and earned a spot in the postseason
Reigning American League Cy Young winner Blake Snell, left, made $1 million
this season. Only two Rays players have 2019 salaries of $5 million or more.FROM TOP: DIRK SHADD/TAMPA BAY TIMES/ZUMA PRESS; KEVIN SOUSA/REUTERSM
oney still doesn’t
ensure success in
baseball. The Boston
Red Sox and Chicago
Cubs, the organiza-
tions with the biggest payrolls in
their respective leagues, both
missed the 2019 playoffs despite
combining to allocate about $
million on players. The Oakland
Athletics, the model for winning
with limited financial resources,
will participate in October for the
10th time this century.
But no team proves this sport’s
unpredictable nature better than
Oakland’s opponent in the Ameri-
can League wild card game on
Wednesday night: the Tampa Bay
Rays—a team more “Moneyball”
than the Moneyball A’s themselves.
The Rays opened the year with a
budget of about $60 million, the
lowest in the major leagues. They
still managed to finish with 96
wins and earn a spot in the post-
season for the first time since
2013, with a matchup in the divi-
sion series against the Houston As-
tros on the line.
Other teams have put together
brilliant seasons with even lower
payrolls. The A’s, for instance,
spent less than $60 million to
build the roster that claimed the
AL West crown in 2012. Back then,
however, the average payroll regis-
tered at about $100 million. Now,
that figure has risen to nearly $
million, meaning the Rays landed
at more than 55% below average.
That almost never happens. In
fact, only one team since 2000 has
made the playoffs with a payroll
that far below league average—and
once again, it was the Rays, whose
2011 payroll clocked in at 56% be-
low average.
“Baseball is a game where noth-
ing is guaranteed, nothing is cer-
tain,” Rays senior vice president of
baseball operations Chaim Bloom
said in an interview last weekend.
“Having enormous resources is no
doubt a huge advantage, but it
doesn’t guarantee anything.”
In an industry that boasts an-
nual revenues in excess of $10 bil-
lion, the Rays stand alone as per-
haps its strangest outlier.
They play half their schedule in
St. Petersburg, Fla., the smallest
city that hosts a MLB team. Their
home, Tropicana Field, seats just
25,000 fans in the league’s only
fixed-roof ballpark. They have
ranked either last or second-to-last
in attendance in each of the last
nine seasons. Earlier this year,
MLB granted them permission to
explore the possibility of staging a
bizarre scheme to split their time
between the Tampa Bay area and
Montreal.
In spite of everything, the Rays
keep finding ways to compete,
posting a record above .500 eight
times since 2008 even though they
play in a division with the Red Soxand New York Yankees. They have
accomplished this by emerging as
arguably baseball’s most progres-
sive and innovative team, popular-
izing now-ubiquitous tactics like
the defensive shift and the
“opener”—the practice of starting
a game with a relief pitcher.
That, coupled with their shrewd
scouting and player development,
have turned the Rays into an un-
likely powerhouse. Their leader in
home runs and RBIs, outfielder
Austin Meadows, earned $557,in salary this season. Reigning Cy
Young winner Blake Snell made $
million, while Tyler Glasnow, an-
other top pitcher, made $566,700.
Only two Rays players have 2019
salaries of $5 million or more:
pitcher Charlie Morton ($15 mil-
lion) and outfielder Kevin Kier-
maier ($8 million). By contrast, the
Red Sox have 12, including four
with compensation of $20 million
or more.
“We know our revenue is a chal-
lenge and an obstacle to overcome,but you have to embrace the chal-
lenge, form your own identity and
stay true to who you are,” Bloom
said. “We know there are chal-
lenges we face financially, but we
don’t let ourselves be limited by
them. We use them to inspire us,
to spur us to work harder and be
more creative.”
Bloom points to a series of cru-
cial trades—some of them contro-
versial at the time—that el-
evated the Rays to this
point. Chief among
them: the decision
to deal popular
right-hander Chris
Archer to the Pi-
rates at the 2018
deadline. The re-
turn? Meadows
and Glasnow, two
key contributors to
the 2019 squad. That
same day, they acquired
slugger Tommy Pham from
the St. Louis Cardinals.
The finishing touch to this in-
carnation of the Rays came this
past offseason in a rare example of
Tampa Bay opening its checkbook.
The Rays committed $30 million
over two years to pitcher Charlie
Morton, an integral member of the
rotation that carried the Astros to
a title in 2017. Morton excelled in
his first year with the Rays, post-
ing a 3.05 ERA in 33 starts, earning
the nod to start in the do-or-die
contest in Oakland on Wednesday.All told, Tampa Bay pitched to a
3.65 ERA this season, best in the
AL and trailing only the Los Ange-
les Dodgers.
For a team that rarely awards
multiyear contracts to high-priced
free agents, Morton represented a
massive expenditure. Morton justi-
fied the Rays’ confidence in him.
“It’s hard to think this could be
possible with someone who gets
the rave reviews that Char-
lie does, but he even ex-
ceeded our expecta-
tions,” Bloom said.
As baseball’s top
payrolls continue
to grow, the gap
between the rich
and poor in base-
ball will only keep
widening. Last sea-
son, the A’s made the
playoffs with a $
million opening-day pay-
roll, or just over 51% lower
than league average.
That doesn’t bother the Rays,
who probably won’t see a substan-
tial jump in payroll until they se-
cure a new stadium, whether in St.
Pete, across the bay in Tampa or
somewhere else entirely. Until
then, their minuscule budgets will
only lead to the rest of the league
underestimating them as they pur-
sue their first trip to the World Se-
ries since 2008. And if 2019 has
shown anything, it’s this: Underes-
timate the Rays at your peril.$
million
The Rays’ estimated
opening-day payroll, the
lowest in baseball and
about 55% lower than
league average.SPORTS