Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley tease their first playoff livestream and banter about a listener suggestion for how to refer to a postseason that spans multiple months, Jason Benetti’s relationship with Liberty Biberty (including a real-time text exchange), the true alcohol intoxication levels of Munetaka Murakami and other players in clubhouse clinching celebrations (BAC Blast?), and whether MLB should schedule overlapping playoff games, then (35:21) recap the end of the wild card round, opine on the futures of the eliminated teams, lament the latest recurrence of the annual anti-analytics October backlash, preview the various Division Series (1:13:07), discuss the World Series matchups they most want to see, and much more.

Audio intro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Audio intro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Audio intro: Sean .P, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the heroics of Astros outfielder Lucas Spence and the potential for pennant races and postseasons to anoint unlikely heroes, then discuss whether the playoff format puts too much priority on divisions and should incorporate reseeding prior to and/or following the wild card round. They also follow up (28:42) on a few topics from the preceding episode (the Marlins putting starting pitchers in the pen, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s apology, Randy Johnson’s home-defense baseballs), Stat Blast (40:34) about teams improving their winning percentage in several consecutive seasons, hitters who were the worst hitter for one team and the best hitter for a different team in the same season, and franchises that have seen the most visiting teams clinch on their field, before examining (58:19) new baseball and softball TV series. Finally (1:10:51), they talk to Sam Nichols (aka “sportydolphin”) about his MLB/WPBL stats site, the challenges in bringing sabermetrics to a fledgling league and a small-sample season, the WPBL’s most valuable player, league tactics, the WPBL community, and more.

Audio intro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Audio intro: Ted O., “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Audio intro: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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With Meg Rowley on vacation, Ben Lindbergh goes long with a few guests and segments. First, Kiri Oler of FanGraphs and Bradley Woodrum of Baseball Prospectus join to banter about how Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jacob Misiorowski illustrate the differences in modern pitcher and hitter usage and value, Sandy Alcantara as the last innings eater, two more baseball movies, Ernie Clement’s post-All-Star-Game decline, and Jefry Yan’s more muted strikeout celebrations. Then (43:34) they break down the inaugural season of the WPBL: what went right, what went wrong, the Kelsie Whitmore-Denae Benites battle, the high-offense environment, their other favorite storylines, the future of the league, and more. After that (1:33:33), Ben brings on the manager of the Pioneer League’s RedPocket Mobiles, former major leaguer Dmitri Young, along with Mobiles co-GM and Pioneer League director of operations Al Maulding, to explain how the Mobiles suffered the longest losing streak in pro baseball history, life on a traveling team, indy-ball oddities, and more. Finally (2:36:23), Ben Stat Blasts about the most times reaching base before a first career hit, players who hit their first homers off position-player pitchers, and lineups composed of players with short surnames.

Audio intro: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme 2”

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Audio intro: Philip Bergman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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Audio intro: Garrett Krohn, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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With Meg Rowley on vacation, Ben Lindbergh continues his quest to (temporarily) resurrect a few dearly departed baseball podcasts. Next Up: The Ringer MLB Show, featuring Ben, Michael Baumann of FanGraphs, and Bobby Wagner of Patreon and Tipping Pitches. Ben, Baumann, and Bobby banter about their old show and the absence of one member of the Ringer MLB crew, how MLB commemorated 9/11, who’s to blame for banged-up Shohei Ohtani, whether they’re buying Anthony Volpe’s power spike, and what the widespread mockery of Vivek Ramaswamy’s baseball swing says about politicans’ eagerness to invoke baseball, the danger of appearing inauthentic by faking ball knowledge, and the difficulty (relative to other sports) of not looking doofy doing baseball activities without past playing experience. Then (54:49) Ben plays “Did This Famous Figure Play College Baseball?” and they draft (1:02:38) the top 24 MLB players who are in their age-24 seasons or younger.

Audio intro: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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