Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

By Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, Meg Rowley

What's Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast about?

Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer), Jeff Sullivan (FanGraphs), and an array of guests talk about baseball with an analytical bent, covering a mix of timely topics from the serious to the absurd a few times per week.

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Effectively Wild Episode 15...

08.04.2020

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’s arm injury and his short- and long-term prospects as a two-way player, Mike Soroka and the ongoing pitcher-injury epidemic, the latest positive tests and player opt outs, Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander’s ...

Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast episodes:

08.04.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1573: Make Some Noise Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’s arm injury and his short- and long-term prospects as a two-way player, Mike Soroka and the ongoing pitcher-injury epidemic, the latest positive tests and player opt outs, Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander’s ...
08.01.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1572: Baseball on Borrowed Time Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the coronavirus spreading to the NL Central, the difficulties MLB faces compared to other sports leagues, the dramatic changes that the pandemic has imposed on the sport, why robot umps aren’t part of the ...
07.31.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1571: Does the Automatic-Runner Rule Rule? Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about family members not attending big league debuts and how teams and broadcasts could make better use of empty ballparks, audible profanity on the field, the rapid change in public opinion of the extra-innings ...
07.28.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1570: The Season So Far Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller discuss several takeaways from the first weekend of the MLB regular season, starting with the COVID-19 outbreak among the Miami Marlins, the apparent inadequacy of MLB’s health and safety protocols, and the season’s tenuous state, ...
07.25.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1569: Take Me Out With the Cardboard Crowd Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Sam Miller banter about Sam’s cricket home invasion, then discuss Opening Day, the experience of spectating games without fans, the merits and drawbacks of MLB’s last-second expanded playoff format, Mookie Betts’ surprise contract extension and ...
07.22.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1568: What We’re Most Excited to See This Season Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about whether official scorers will be more or less accurate when they’re working from home. Then they conduct the second of two drafts that have been presented on back-to-back ...
07.22.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1567: What We’ll Miss Most This Season Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about Ben’s latest bad dream about baseball writing and the Toronto (or Pittsburgh?) Blue Jays’ last-minute relocation. Then they conduct the first of two drafts that will be presented ...
07.18.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1566: Season Preview Series: Dodgers and Orioles Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez’s broken wrist, Meg’s all-time most disappointing Mariners, the Rays’ five-man infield, listener responses to two emails from the previous episode, and news about Freddie Freeman and Yasiel Puig, then ...
07.16.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1565: Three Arms, You’re Out Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2020 season predictions, picking (and pricing) blueberries, and a cardboard cutout of Meg at T-Mobile Park, then open up the pre-pandemic mailbag and answer old but evergreen listener emails about the best type ...
07.15.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1564: Season Preview Series: Astros and Mariners Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about James Paxton’s unappetizing approach to chili, Atlanta signing Yasiel Puig, weirdness and whimsy in Summer Camp intrasquad games, the history of the catcher (and umpire) mask camera, odd-sounding fake crowd noise, players planning ...
07.11.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1563: The Masked Swinger Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s editing activities, MLB’s COVID-19 intake testing results, Buster Posey and Michael Kopech opting out of the season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. switching positions, and the Blue Jays’ quarantine conditions. Then (19:08) they bring ...
07.10.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1562: Season Preview Series: Yankees and Tigers Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley provide a brief update on the health of co-host Sam Miller (who’s on hiatus), then preview the 2020 New York Yankees with The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler, and the 2020 Detroit Tigers (46:57) with the Detroit ...
07.08.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1561: Season Preview Series: Rays and Marlins Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about baseball dreams and a holiday weekend in MLB marred by testing delays, canceled practices, concerned players, and other impediments to a safe and smooth season, then pick up where they left off four ...
07.03.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1560: Unearthing Negro Leagues History Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the difficulties of disclosing or obscuring the identities of players who hit the injured list after contracting COVID-19, dissect a few new analogies from Scott Boras’s brain, and discuss resuming their season preview ...
07.02.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1559: Forgotten Greats Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s effusive streaming recommendation, the Korean baseball drama Stove League. Then (8:51) they start the second episode of their week-long celebration of the Negro Leagues by bringing on Jeremy Beer, author of the ...
07.01.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1558: You Have to Tip Your Cap Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the backlash to MLB’s use of the sponsored term “summer camp,” four players’ decisions to opt out of the season, a heartfelt, thought-provoking post by Ian Desmond, and the official cancellation of the ...
06.27.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1557: No Appearing in the Press Box Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to a beat writer and a broadcaster—The Athletic’s White Sox reporter James Fegan and Diamondbacks and MLB Network Radio host Mike Ferrin—about how they plan to tackle the unique challenges of covering the 2020 ...
06.27.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1556: Zero to Sixty Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about statistical leaders and record-setters in a small-sample season, what would make winning a championship in a 60-game season more impressive, the odds of good teams missing the playoffs, bad teams making ...
06.25.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1555: Baseball Ambivalence Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the long-in-the-making announcement about the MLB season starting, touching on the resolution of the dispute between the league and the union, their deeply conflicted feelings about baseball being played during a pandemic, the strangeness ...
06.23.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1554: Baseball Reacts to the Killing of George Floyd Meg Rowley is joined by the New York Daily News’ Bradford William Davis and Baseball Prospectus’ Shakeia Taylor to discuss Major League Baseball’s response to the police killing of George Floyd and the recent Black Lives Matter protests, why the ...
06.20.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1553: The Greed to Disagree Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley review the latest lack of progress toward starting the MLB season, touching on the false hope offered by a meeting between Rob Manfred and Tony Clark, the subsequent breakdown in talks, a poll about where ...
06.17.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1552: Confidence Interval Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Rob Manfred’s rapid flip-flop from expressing 100 percent confidence about an MLB season starting to expressing a lack of confidence in an MLB season starting, his ultimatum to the union, how Manfred has floundered ...
06.15.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1551: The 1998 Home Run Race Revisited Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller interview AJ Shnack, the director of ESPN’s new 30 for 30 documentary about the 1998 home run race, Long Gone Summer, touching on the involvement of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, how AJ structured the ...
06.12.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1550: Make Me Your Worst Offer Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the continued standstill over starting the season, MLB’s series of superficially different, substantively identical, and equally unproductive proposals, public perceptions of the owners’ and players’ positions, the difference between a 50-game season and ...
06.09.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1549: The Burdens of Being Black in Baseball Ben Lindbergh talks to Braves outfield prospect Trey Harris about how he’s processed the murder of George Floyd and learned from the ongoing protests, how race and racism have affected his life and career, the additional barriers black players face, ...
06.05.2020 Effectively Wild Programming Note Ben briefly explains this week’s podcast hiatus. Link to Joon Lee on players’ statements Link to Marc Carig on MLB’s response Link to Bradford William Davis on team and league statements Link to Randy Wilkins on MLB’s statement Link to ...
05.30.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1548: MLB’s Blown Save Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the results of a survey of sports fans about fake crowd noise on telecasts, then discuss a difficult, frustrating week for baseball, touching on ownership overreach and intransigence, widespread releases of minor league ...
05.28.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1547: The Hitless King Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about MLB’s ongoing labor negotiations, the team-to-team differences in minor-league pay and front-office furloughs, and the perils of believing that baseball is purely for profit, follow up on the previous episode’s discussions of Carney ...
05.26.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1546: Best of the Best Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about viral particles, Mike Trout’s self-identified best at-bat, Carney Lansford’s possible link to Sir Francis Drake, sports card “breakers,” a perplexing story involving Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, Wilbert Robinson’s five birthdays, why a ...
05.23.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1545: Boogie Mornings Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a mystifying comment on the back of track star and Oakland A’s designated runner Herb Washington’s 1975 Topps card, the phenomenon of wildly inaccurate appraisals of player value, and the utility of pinch-running ...
05.21.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1544: The Baseball Butterfly Effect Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the reliability of betting on baseball using the Grays Sports Almanac from Back to the Future Part II, then answer listener emails about a baseball broadcaster reality show, awarding bonuses for success in ...
05.19.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1543: The Best Baseball Spectator Experiences Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about MLB’s proposed in-game distancing measures and what degree of difference from the norm would prevent the game from still looking like baseball, then draft and discuss their favorite highly specific ways ...
05.16.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1542: The Players’ PR Handicap Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the announcement of a second Astros sign-stealing documentary and what they would want out of a sign-stealing docuseries, the ongoing negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA about starting the season, the public perception ...
05.14.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1541: Taken Out of Context Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the difficulty of interpreting the context of old articles about baseball and a man obsessed with smashing certain plate glass windows, then answer listener emails about what qualifies as hitting a ball out ...
05.12.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1540: Don’t Leave it All on the Field Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about an anecdote in David Halberstam’s book The Teammates about prescient Cardinals pitcher Harry Brecheen, the uproar when players were first prevented from leaving their gloves on the field, and the 20th anniversary of ...
05.09.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1539: It’s Not the Destination, it’s the Journeyman Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about an aggressive umpiring demotion in the KBO, FanGraphs adding KBO stats, and the pleasures of falling asleep with baseball on in the background. Then (16:30) they talk to former lefty pitcher Andy Van ...
05.08.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1538: KBOpening Day Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about KBO season excitement and answer listener emails about MLB precedents for Warwick Saupold’s KBO complete game, whether MLB fandom would work if teams didn’t play games in their “home” cities, the ethics of ...
05.05.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1537: Our Hall of Fame Fives Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about fear of criticism, Eddie Murphy vs. Eddie Murray, and dreams, then take turns building the best imaginary Hall of Fame exhibits they can by picking five baseball items from their lifetimes ...
05.01.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1536: Three Days at the Ballpark Facing the prospect of a season without fans in the stands, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley console themselves and fight baseball withdrawal by revisiting classic accounts of going to games. The authors of three revered books based on single games—Arnold ...
04.30.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1535: Leave Me Out, Coach Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and senior writer for The Athletic Andy McCullough banter about the people they would be (or have been) most nervous about interviewing and two new noteworthy articles, then discuss Andy’s and Rustin Dodd’s highly controversial ranking ...
04.28.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1534: The Stay-at-Home Run Derby Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Johnny Vander Meer’s ear boils and the surprisingly ancient origins of the phrase, “A walk is as good as a hit,” then answer listener emails about why some players prove to be flashes ...
04.25.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1533: It’s Baseball O’Clock Somewhere Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about beverage consumption, foreign baseball leagues’ potential for popularity in the U.S., and the life and death of legendary flamethrower Steve Dalkowski, who passed away this week. Then they talk to Rob Liu of ...
04.23.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1532: Dirty Watkins Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller discuss the results of MLB’s investigation into Boston Red Sox sign stealing, touching on Boston’s lighter penalties and seemingly lesser offenses compared to the Astros’, whether Boston’s front office and coaches deserved to be absolved, ...
04.21.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1531: His Double-Airness Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Effectively Wild community’s least-disliked MLB teams and two unjust Cy Young/MVP snubs, then discuss what Michael Jordan’s brief baseball career taught us about Jordan and about baseball. Audio intro: Willie Nelson, "Why ...
04.20.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1530: That’s Why They Play the Games With MLB in limbo, Ben Lindbergh investigates virtual baseball, talking to the designers of three new baseball video games—Ramone Russell of Sony San Diego, makers of MLB The Show 20, Markus Heinsohn of Out of the Park Developments, makers of ...
04.18.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1529: Presenting Future Value Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley speak to FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel about their new book, Future Value: The Battle for Baseball’s Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar, touching on topics including the best kinds ...
04.16.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1528: The Talented Mr. Henry Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the strange story of a man named Bill Henry who impersonated former major league reliever Bill Henry for decades, then answer listener emails about seasons with an ERA+ or OPS+ of 420, teams ...
04.14.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1527: The Only Rule Revisited Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about how runs, hits, and errors became baseball’s standard scoreboard stats and the piecemeal way in which baseball evolves, then reminisce about and reevaluate the 2015 experiment that led to their 2016 book about ...
04.11.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1526: The Season of Uncertainty Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about new options for supporting FanGraphs and a potential plan to play the 2020 season with a radically realigned league structure, then talk to FanGraphs writer and ZiPS projection system proprietor Dan Szymborski about ...
04.09.2020 Effectively Wild Episode 1525: Hey All You Cool Sacks and Chickens Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about a possible banter shortage, a mysterious sack of flour from 1971, the kinds of baseball stories being published in the absence of baseball, the greatness (and eye-popping pitcher usage) of the 2001 World ...

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