Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’ s big bonus, Edmundo Sosa ’s beginner’s home run robbery, how much of a difference depth makes, and the relative levels of alarm about the shoulder injuries of Reynaldo López , Victor Robles , and Blake Snell . Then (49:14) they talk to MLB.com’s Michael Clair about what it was like to attend the amateur baseball event of the year: the Division III showdown between Yeshiva and Lehman, who entered their Wednesday doubleheader on the...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 37 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about umpires’ surprising preference for full ABS, Rob Manfred’s take on torpedo bats, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’ s $500 million extension, players’ frugal behaviors, precedents for Dennis Santana ’s short pants, the Giants’ new City Connect jerseys, and (1:14:31) the Dodgers’ White House trip. Audio intro : Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “ Effectively Wild Theme (Pedantic) ” Audio outro : Grant Brisbee, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to Manfred interview L...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 47 min
In a grab-bag episode, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the low league BABIP early in the season, the most interesting standings developments so far (with emphases on the Dodgers, Padres, Braves, and AL Central), Atlanta re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-acquiring Jesse Chavez , early attendance issues for the A’s, (team-friendly?) extensions for Jackson Merrill , Kristian Campbell , and Ketel Marte , Dennis Santana ’s sartorial innovation, the end of Comerica Park’s dirt strip, players being tol...
Apr 05, 2025•1 hr 34 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about several oddities of the early season, including pitcher Ryne Nelson’ s single and a drone encounter with an A’s bat boy, then discuss Jurickson Profar’ s PED suspension, Garrett Crochet’ s extension, and Jonathan Lucroy ‘s reaction to Roki Sasaki’ s apparent post-start tears, before bantering about whether full ABS would encourage even harder throwing, Lance Lynn ’s retirement, a wild college throw, and more, plus a postscript. Audio intro : Jonathan Cry...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley have an in-depth discussion on all aspects of the sport’s topic du jour: torpedo/bowling-pin/juggling-pin(?) bats. They also banter (59:58) about the abysmal beginning of Rafael Devers’ s season, Aaron Judge ’s interviews, MLB’s attempt to make up for its MLB.TV outage, the vibes at Blue Jays games, Willson Contreras eating bat tape, Jack Leiter taking a ball to the beans, the invasion of Chases, and Sutter Health Park, plus (1:37:22) several follow-ups. Audio intro ...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 46 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley react to assorted frustrations and delights of Opening Day, then (42:07) conduct the fifth annual Team Fun Draft, in which they draft all 30 teams in order of how fun they expect them to be to follow in 2025. Audio intro : Jonathan Crymes 2, “ Effectively Wild Theme 2 ” Audio outro : El Warren, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to story on mlb.tv outage Link to Guardians offer Link to FG staff predictions post Link to FG staff bold predictions Link to Meg’s PPR summary...
Mar 29, 2025•2 hr 11 min
Ben Lindbergh and FanGraphs writer Dan Szymborski banter about how much spring training stats matter, which players improved their projections the most this spring, whether prospects really have a harder time making the transition to MLB from Triple-A today, their spring training award winners, the five-ish biggest questions/storylines for each of them this MLB season, and a smattering of “bold predictions” from EW listeners. Then (1:23:29) Ben brings back the “Baseball Jobs” series by interview...
Mar 27, 2025•2 hr 11 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mookie Betts’ s unwanted weight loss, new Statcast data on batter positioning, and whether hitters should generally move back in the box, then recap Cal Raleigh ’s extension and a smattering of other buzzer-beating transactions before discussing (35:46) some of their favorite moves of the offseason. Then (1:10:31) they talk to FanGraphs writer Davy Andrews about his origin story as a writer, his greatest hits so far, and the “We Tried Tracker,” his effor...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 57 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s positional power rankings progress and discuss why MLB is “evaluating” its Diversity Pipeline Program, then for the first time in a while answer listener emails (15:35) about how baseball would be different if swinging hard caused more serious injuries, a high-elevation league/division, inter-game penalties for frivolous end-of-game challenges, whether the challenge system will make umpires tone down their punchout calls, whether player-initiated c...
Mar 22, 2025
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs authors Michael Baumann and Ben Clemens play “College Baseball Player or Musician Who’s Performing at Sea.Hear.Now 2025” (4:53), and then explain the third annual preseason predictions game (11:53) and make 10 bold predictions apiece (18:57) about baseball in 2025, to be voted on by listeners . Audio intro : The Gagnés, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio outro : Jonathan Crymes, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to vote Link to music festival Link to Ben on f...
Mar 21, 2025•2 hr 2 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the opening series of the regular season in Japan, then (10:55) discuss the removal (and eventual restoration) of a page about Jackie Robinson on the Department of Defense website, before (39:53) bantering further about breakouts, how player heights dropped (or didn’t!) after players were measured more accurately this spring, Joey Gallo ’s attempted conversion to pitching, and an abandoned Marlins player-development idea. Then (1:27:38) they talk to Pira...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 46 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about completing the season preview series, then preview the 2025 New York Yankees (7:48) with Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News , and the 2025 Chicago White Sox (1:04:41) with Sox Machine’s James Fegan . 2025 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 : Xavier LeBlanc, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio interstitial : Liz Panella, “ Eff...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 57 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jacob deGrom dialing down the velo, the Cardinals signing their first free agent of the offseason, David Robertson still being available, the underrated career of Yasmani Grandal , the latest New Era cap confusion, follow-ups on several recent topics, and the newly jacked Mr. Met. Then (57:22) they talk to R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports and Thomas Nestico of TJStats about their podcast-approved approaches to picking breakout candidates, their methodologies ...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 43 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a surprising amount of Mo Vaughn content, a rash of spring injuries (including Gerrit Cole ‘s Tommy John surgery and other Yankees ailments), the latest A’s and Rays woes, and more. Then they preview the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers (26:11) with The Athletic ’s Fabian Ardaya , and the 2025 Colorado Rockies (1:34:00) with The Rockies Insider’s Patrick Lyons . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL C...
Mar 12, 2025•2 hr 29 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a baseball flub in medical procedural The Pitt , Lawrence Butler’ s extension, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ’s lofty contract target, how the ball moves differently in the Cactus League, and the value of variety in pitch selection, followed by Stat Blasts (49:20) about the WAR values of letters in player names, the best one-and-done pitcher/batter seasons in each franchise’s history, and the longest-tenured groups of players on pennant winners. Then (1:08:20) t...
Mar 08, 2025•1 hr 58 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a fresh wave of “breakout candidate” crimes, Jerry Dipoto’s latest Meg-maddening comments, the rise of the “kick change,” how ball/strike calls differ from other boundary calls, Barry Bonds ’s comments about Shohei Ohtani , and more. Then they preview the 2025 Atlanta Braves (50:56) with 92.9 The Game’s Grant McAuley , and the 2025 Miami Marlins (1:35:27) with Fish on First’s Kevin Barral . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET...
Mar 07, 2025•2 hr 19 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether the challenge system will inevitably pave the way for full ABS, the degrees of difficulty for two-way Travis Hunter vs. two-way Shohei Ohtani , and (very briefly) reinstating Pete Rose . Then they preview the 2025 Philadelphia Phillies (36:58) with The Athletic ’s Matt Gelb , and the 2025 Cleveland Guardians (1:19:49) with The Athletic’ s Zack Meisel . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL...
Mar 06, 2025•2 hr 6 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the balletic strikeout celebrations of Rockies reliever Jefry Yan , Terry Francona’s selective opposition to ABS this spring, how frequently potential game-ending strikeouts will get challenged, and baseball in Season 2 of Poker Face . Then they preview the 2025 Arizona Diamondbacks (36:00) with The Arizona Republic’ s Nick Piecoro , and the 2025 Washington Nationals (1:24:35) with The Washington Post ’s Andrew Golden . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL B...
Mar 01, 2025•2 hr 3 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about some members of last year’s Yankees and Dodgers still sniping about the World Series, Max Scherzer’ s objection to the challenge system, how ABS has broadly been received so far, and assorted tactical considerations concerning when to challenge. Then they preview the 2025 New York Mets (29:08) with The Athletic’ s Tim Britton , and the 2025 Los Angeles Angels (1:20:24) with The Athletic ’s Sam Blum . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE H...
Feb 28, 2025•2 hr 14 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether certain injuries can improve players, old-but-good guys not getting gigs, the offensive disparity between the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, and Bryce Harper’ s Phanatic tattoo. Then they preview the 2025 Boston Red Sox (31:16) with The Boston Globe ’s Alex Speier , and the 2025 Sacramento Athletics (1:25:13) with Jason Burke of Inside the A’s. 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC...
Feb 26, 2025•2 hr 6 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the end of the Yankees’ beard ban, the potential end of MLB’s business relationship with ESPN, and whether the World Baseball Classic should imitate the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Then they preview the 2025 Texas Rangers (50:07) with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry , and the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates (1:27:23) with Pittsburgh Baseball Now’s John Perrotto , plus a postscript (2:03:57) about Ben’s growing affection for Tigers righty John Brebbia . 2025 EW Season Pre...
Feb 22, 2025•2 hr 16 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the start of spring training games, the charms of Tigers reliever John Brebbia , whether MLB’s uniform pants were always semi-transparent, and Shohei Ohtani ’s parallel parking skills. Then they preview the 2025 Seattle Mariners (27:37) with Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times , and the 2025 Cincinnati Reds (1:12:53) with The Athletic’ s C. Trent Rosecrans . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL ...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 59 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a player who signed an extension ( Geraldo Perdomo ), a player who didn’t sign an extension ( Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ), a player who’s switching positions ( Mike Trout ), and a player who’s not switching positions, at least for now ( Rafael Devers ), plus an update on Meg’s updated beliefs about Shohei Ohtani ’s dog. Then (48:42) they talk to Eric Longenhagen about FanGraphs’ top 100 (well, 102) prospects list and much more. Audio intro : Daniel Leckie, “...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 48 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s new sound-dampening windows, listener defenses of MLB’s altered two-way-player rule, and the latest intolerable “breakout” pick, followed by Stat Blasts (15:49) about the teams with the most winless, non-lossless pitchers and the all-time past-their-prime/time-travel teams. Then they preview the 2025 Houston Astros (32:41) with The Athletic ’s Chandler Rome , and the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals (1:25:07) with The Athletic’ s Katie Woo . 2025 EW Season...
Feb 15, 2025
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Red Sox signing Alex Bregman , the Padres signing Nick Pivetta , and Anthony Rendon’ s latest long-term injury. Then they preview the 2025 Chicago Cubs (29:35) with The Athletic ’s Sahadev Sharma , and the 2025 San Francisco Giants (1:14:41) with The Athletic’ s Grant Brisbee . 2025 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 : Jimmy...
Feb 14, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rob Manfred’s Super Bowl cameo, the return of not-terrible uniforms, a new finding in the “familiarity vs. fatigue” debate about the times through the order effect, two more Dodgers signings, and an intriguingly timed alteration to the criteria for two-way-player classification. Then they preview the 2025 Minnesota Twins (46:06) with The Athletic ’s Aaron Gleeman , and the 2025 Detroit Tigers (1:29:21) with The Athletic’ s Cody Stavenhagen . 2025 EW Seas...
Feb 12, 2025
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Dodgers’ overstuffed 2025 bobblehead lineup, Ippei Mizuhara’s sentencing, and the Angels’ tireless pursuit of players who were good several seasons ago. Then they preview the 2025 Baltimore Orioles (35:55) with the Baltimore Banner’ s Danielle Allentuck , and the 2025 Kansas City Royals (1:08:21) with the Kansas City Star ’s Jaylon Thompson . 2025 EW Season Preview Series AL BAL CHW ATH BOS CLE HOU NYY DET LAA TBR KCR SEA TOR MIN TEX NL ATL CHC ARI M...
Feb 08, 2025•1 hr 45 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mets re-signing Pete Alonso , the Twins signing Harrison Bader , and the compressed standings in the newly released FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus playoff odds. Then they preview the 2025 Tampa Bay Rays (31:35) with MLB.com’s Adam Berry , and the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers (1:09:55) with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ’s Curt Hogg . 2025 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 ...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 51 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley introduce the 13th annual Effectively Wild season preview series, then banter about the Tigers signing Jack Flaherty to a smaller-than-expected deal, a long-awaited explanation for the gambling-related firing of umpire Pat Hoberg, and the death and legacy of former commissioner Fay Vincent. Then they preview the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays (43:30) with the Toronto Sun ’s Rob Longley , and the 2025 San Diego Padres (1:20:30) with MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell . 2025 EW Season Pre...
Feb 05, 2025•2 hr 6 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Max Scherzer and Jorge Polanco signings, Scherzer vs. Justin Verlander , and the changes in pitcher usage over the course of those pitchers’ careers. Then (20:17) they discuss stricter restrictions on the size of fielders’ gloves, and the merits of a tax in Meg’s county to help pay for the Diamondbacks’ ballpark renovations. Finally (55:54), they answer listener emails about designated “jersey guys,” rotating, pre-assigned pennant winners, and factor...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 43 min
