Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bryce Harper’ s hot streak, the players at the top of the WAR leaderboard, the exploits of Byron Buxton and Nelson Cruz , the suddenly unbeatable Oakland A’s, Ben’s new favorite stat to track ( Nick Madrigal ’s K%+), pitcher hitting performance reaching a new nadir, and more. Then they debut a new recurring segment (and song), “Meet a Major Leaguer,” by introducing Marlins reliever Zach Pop and Rockies reliever Jordan Sheffield . They close by discussing...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the brief lifespan of the soccer Super League, the gift of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry and Blake Snell vs. Joe Musgrove , position-player-pitching overload and the pitching performance of Willians Astudillo , whether the slow-starting Yankees are really doomed, the retirement of Jay Bruce , the end of Tim Locastro’ s stolen-base success streak (and the unlikely basestealing prowess of an ancient Albert Pujols ), player switcheroos in the minor leagues, wh...
Apr 21, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why they haven’t been talking about Bryce Harper , follow up on previous points about the automatic-runner rule, optional home run trots, and player switcheroos, discuss the latest report about the Mets’ front-office culture and team president Sandy Alderson, and answer listener emails about two automatic-runner-rule variants, first base socializing (and Jackie Robinson the first baseman), catcher’s mitts the size of the strike zone, changing replay revi...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 17 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the unanticipated charms of podcast faves Willians Astudillo and Shohei Ohtani , Trevor Bauer ’s (and the league’s) spin rates increasing despite MLB’s threatened foreign substance crackdown, the confounding behavior of the new, supposedly deadened baseball, and the news that the mound will be moved back and the “double hook” DH will be tested in the Atlantic League, follow up on the extra-innings automatic-runner rule and the difference between pitch fr...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 43 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Musgrove ‘s no-hitter and the significance of Musgrove snapping the Padres’ no-no-no streak, Tim Locastro breaking Tim Raines ’s record for the most consecutive successful steal attempts to start a career, Ronald Acuña Jr. beating out a routine grounder and MLB’s “FieldVision” depiction of the play, the controversial call on (and replay review of) an Alec Bohm slide that ended the Philly-Atlanta Sunday Night Baseball game, Masters winner Hideki Matsu...
Apr 13, 2021•2 hr 14 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the seemingly building backlash to the extra-innings automatic-runner rule and Dusty Baker’s comments about anti-Astros heckling, then (19:51) bring on high performance coach Gary McCoy to discuss his epiphany about preventing player injuries, the importance of deceleration, how he helped a team in Taiwan have an injury-free season, the problems with innings limits and pitch limits, how MLB teams should be handling players in a season following a light w...
Apr 09, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer RJ McDaniel banter about a controversial walk-off hit by pitch call involving the Mets’ Michael Conforto , the early success of exciting Tigers Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo , and unexpected fauna on the field, then conduct the second annual Effectively Wild Team Fun Draft, in which they draft all 30 teams in order of how fun they are to follow in 2021. Audio intro : Dean Martin, " Just for Fun " Audio outro : The Donnas, " Friday Fun " Link to Conforto ...
Apr 09, 2021•1 hr 39 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley convene an emergency podcast to discuss Shohei Ohtani’ s exhilarating, terrifying, and historic Sunday Night Baseball performance against the White Sox (which veered from triumph to near-tragedy), touching on Ohtani’s titanic home run and resounding bat crack, the aesthetics of his stuff, his Statcast superstardom, his narrow escape from injury after a controversial move (or non-move) by Joe Maddon, and more, plus ruminations on Ty Buttrey ’s farewell. Audio intro : ...
Apr 05, 2021•58 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about immersing themselves in Opening Day action, Opening Day highlights and oddities, early-season optimism, the divisive automatic-runner rule, the Francisco Lindor extension and why it matters so much for the Mets, the perception of players’ positive COVID tests today compared to last season, what they’re most looking forward to this season, and much more. Audio intro : Hippo Campus, " Baseball " Audio outro : Paul Weller, " Brand New Start " Link to Sam on...
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the completion of the season preview series and the Marlins renaming Marlins Park “loanDepot park,” do a draft of current corporate-sponsored MLB ballpark names from least to most objectionable, and then preview the 2021 Dodgers (24:20) with Pedro Moura of the The Athletic and the 2021 Orioles (1:09:03) with Joe Trezza of MLB.com. 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM M...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 58 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg getting vaccinated, the social dynamics of looser restrictions for vaccinated MLB players, an update on the infamous Tom & Jerry baseball scene, another baseball term named after a player, Willians Astudillo making the Twins, a few other players not making their respective teams, politicians’ performative fandom, Randy Dobnak and the future of contract extensions, and FanGraphs’ spring membership drive, then preview the 2021 Yankees (41:14) with ...
Mar 30, 2021•1 hr 57 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how the absence of the injured Eloy Jiménez will affect the White Sox, follow up on their discussions from the preceding episode about distracting on-field animals and baseball terms named after teams or players, then preview the 2021 Padres (19:37) with Dennis Lin of the The Athletic and the 2021 Rockies (1:03:17) with Nick Groke of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI...
Mar 27, 2021•1 hr 52 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Isiah Kiner-Falefa being mad at Meg (sort of), a billboard in Boston about Mookie Betts , MLB’s renewed attempts to crack down on foreign-substance use, and what an NHL referee oopsie says about umpire makeup calls and automated strike zones, then answer listener emails about whether the season preview podcast series influences their appraisals of teams, how baseball would be different if it weren’t different at all, the definition of a “Chicago,” exploi...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the latest spring exploits of Shohei Ohtani , the Royals extending Salvador Perez , rooting against injuries in spring training, and a mysterious former major leaguer known only as “Lewis,” then preview the 2021 Mets (37:09) with Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News and the 2021 Marlins (1:14:26) with Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA ...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 52 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley preview the 2021 Astros with Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle and the 2021 Rangers (54:07) with Levi Weaver of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM MIL LAD PHI PIT SDP WSN STL SFG Audio intro : The Felice Brothers, " T for Texas " Audio interstitial : Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, " Dirty Little Texas Story " Audio outro : 2nd Grade, " Bye-Bye Texas " Lin...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley attempt to make sense of unsightly spring training uniforms, then preview the 2021 Braves (08:42) with Grant McAuley of From The Diamond and the 2021 Mariners (45:27) with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM MIL LAD PHI PIT SDP WSN STL SFG Audio intro : Ken Stringfellow, " Uniforms " Audio interstitial : Anti-Flag, " 20 Years of Hell " Audio outr...
Mar 19, 2021
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about weirdness and whimsy in spring training, the Giants and Cleveland playing an unnecessary bottom of the ninth (without umpires), the 22-pitch plate appearance between Jordan Hicks and Luis Guillorme , Jacob deGrom ’s ever-escalating velocity, and two recent research pieces, then preview the 2021 Twins (23:33) with Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic and the 2021 Tigers (59:27) with Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group. 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 42 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley pass the halfway point of their 30-team season preview series by previewing the 2021 White Sox with James Fegan of The Athletic and the 2021 Diamondbacks (46:45) with Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic , plus a brief postscript on the career and retirement of Nick Markakis . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM MIL LAD PHI PIT SDP WSN STL SFG Audio intro : Parquet Courts, " Black...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 28 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the new baseball format embraced by the Savannah Bananas, the experimental rules MLB is imposing at various levels of the minor leagues in 2021, and whether they would want to live in a ballpark (like a man who claims to have lived for three years in Veterans Stadium), then answer listener emails about whether this season’s spring training stats are more or less meaningless than usual, the ideal photo to represent baseball on the sport’s Wikipedia page, ...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about MLB.TV repetition, Yadier Molina throwing out Jose Siri , teams opting to end innings early, the effect of Jarred Kelenic ’s injury on the Mariners service-time controversy, the Astros signing Jake Odorizzi , and teams being more brazen about lowering their competitive balance tax assessments, then preview the 2021 Blue Jays (21:50) with Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic and the 2021 Giants (1:06:14) with Grant Brisbee of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Prev...
Mar 10, 2021•1 hr 40 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani ’s first home run and pitching appearance of spring training, follow up on their previous discussion about the abominable baseball scene in Tom & Jerry , and recap the results of a Baseball America study about the number of big leaguers (and good big leaguers) in the average farm system, then preview the 2021 Red Sox (31:32) with Alex Speier of The Boston Globe and the 2021 Reds (1:13:42) with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic . 2021 E...
Mar 06, 2021•1 hr 58 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Justin Dunn ’s offseason overhaul and the value of spring training clichés, the Brewers signing Jackie Bradley Jr. , why Jake Odorizzi is still a free agent, where he’ll end up, and why he’ll decide the EW free agent contracts competition, and an abominable baseball scene from the new movie Tom & Jerry . Then (41:25) they bring on Sam Rosenthal and Joel Clarke of video game studio The Game Band , the creators of the viral online simulation league Bla...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about spring training games starting, Jeff Mathis batting cleanup in a spring training game (and once improbably batting fifth in a regular-season game), the latest reports about suspended Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway, the postponement of the start of the Triple-A season, the outlook for attendance in Texas, and Zack Greinke ’s quest to join the exclusive 10-10 club for pitchers, then preview the 2021 Angels (26:23) with Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic ...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 44 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jarred Kelenic ’s beef with the Mariners about alleged service-time manipulation, then preview the 2021 Nationals (25:37) with Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post and the 2021 Cubs (59:43) with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM MIL LAD PHI PIT SDP WSN STL SFG Audio intro : Ty Segall, " Manipulator " Audio interstitial 1 : Gary Lou...
Feb 27, 2021•1 hr 44 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley preview the 2021 Athletics with Alex Coffey of The Athletic and the 2021 Phillies (30:13) with Matt Gelb of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CIN COL NYM MIL LAD PHI PIT SDP WSN STL SFG Audio intro : The Divine Comedy, " Come Home Billy Bird " Audio interstitial : George Harrison, " Stuck Inside a Cloud " Audio outro : The Apples in Stereo, " Play Tough " Link to Alex on Bean...
Feb 24, 2021
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Fernando Tatis Jr. coining a term for his contract, a Bill James tweet about analytics, and Shin-Soo Choo leaving MLB to make his belated KBO debut, share Stat Blasts about all-over-30 lineups and players who’ve dominated one position in their franchise’s history, and then (32:39) bring on FanGraphs author RJ McDaniel to talk about the recently unearthed comments by Mariners president and CEO Kevin Mather that led to Mather’s resignation, how Mather’s co...
Feb 24, 2021•1 hr 19 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about discordant college baseball uniform fonts, a piece by Blake Snell in The Players’ Tribune , and whether there’s a competitive advantage in making the bullpen less visible to the pitcher on the mound, then preview the 2021 Cardinals (15:13) with Will Leitch of MLB.com (and elsewhere) and the 2021 Cleveland baseball team (58:59) with Zack Meisel of The Athletic , plus a postscript about the underrated (and re-signed) Brett Gardner . 2021 EW Season Preview ...
Feb 20, 2021•1 hr 42 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Baltimore Orioles trending on Twitter because of their 0.0 percent FanGraphs playoff odds, what that figure really signifies, and how teams tend to respond to pessimistic projections, then break down why the record-breaking 14-year extension signed by superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. is a windfall for him, great news for fans of the Padres, and a boon to baseball. After that (35:10), they celebrate Prospect Week at FanGraphs by bringing on lead...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 38 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the beginning of the ninth annual Effectively Wild team-by-team season preview series, discuss a trio of players ( Justin Turner , James Paxton , and Jake Arrieta ) who re-signed with their most recent or former teams, and preview the 2021 Rays (16:01) with Adam Berry of MLB.com and the 2021 Brewers (57:25) with Will Sammon of The Athletic . 2021 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI MIA CI...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 36 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the de-naming and possible renaming of the minor leagues, the Andrew Benintendi trade and the state of the Royals, and what they would add to SABR’s list of the 50 most noteworthy moments in the evolution of baseball analytics over the past 50 years, then (30:00) bring back NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Systems Engineer (and baseball fan) Shannon Towey to discuss adopting the Dodgers, the Mets’ offseason, the physics of baseball, the upcoming landing of...
Feb 13, 2021•1 hr 9 min
