Ben Lindbergh, Jeff Sullivan, and SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee banter about Trevor Bauer, sticky substances, and spin rate, Ken Giles’s self-harming home-run reaction, the best baseball clips to rewatch, the unwritten rules of not avoiding hit by pitches, and party-hard Matt Harvey. Then they discuss Grant’s story about the record-setting 1988 Orioles, who went 0-21 to start the season, and they bring on ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian to tell stories about covering that team’s historic losing streak as a beat writer for The Baltimore Sun. (Keep listening after the outro for bonus end-of-episode banter.)

Audio intro: Ringo Starr, "Hopeless"

Link to Grant’s 1988 Orioles story

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Steven Brault’s non-strikeout streak, the failing Wilmer Font and Kazuhisa Makita, the excellent Ozzie Albies, scouting Pablo Sandoval’s pitching, a silly Salvador Perez-Tim Anderson dust-up, the AL Central’s weakness so far, the streaking Diamondbacks, Adrian Gonzalez getting booed in San Diego, and a dead man rounding the bases, then talk to Baseball Prospectus’s Rob Mains about why ticket prices won’t go down, why player salaries have little to do with the cost of attending games, when free admission might make sense, and how baseball in 2018 does and doesn’t resemble baseball in 1968.

Audio intro 1: Mother McRee’s Uptown Jug Band Champions, "Boo Breaks"

Link to Jeff’s Shohei Ohtani post

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan follow up on previous talk of triples, popups, and foul balls, then discuss Ronald Acuña’s big second game, the intriguing Oakland A’s, the new and maybe-improved Joey Gallo, the transformations of Didi Gregorius and Andrelton Simmons, the post-injury return of Jonny Venters, Clayton Kershaw vs. Trevor Richards and the biggest baseball upsets, Jarrod Dyson’s bases-loaded bunt, the Diamondbacks’ season-starting series winning streak, the Yankees’ ongoing dominance of the Twins, and more.

Audio intro: The Decemberists, "Make You Better"

Link to thread with research about triples and homers

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Ronald Acuña’s debut and the Braves’ pivot to position players, the history of Peter Bourjos losing his job, Eric Lauer’s less heralded/distinguished debut, Kazuhisa Makita, the Angels maxing out their mound visits, and the state of Shohei Ohtani hype, follow up on outfield bobbling and baserunner blocking, and then answer listener emails about teams forfeiting, when homers caught up to triples for good, the Aroldis Chapman-Gleyber Torres trade, the value of long plate appearances, adding an extra plate umpire, a consistently inconsistent umpire, bad pitchers with good K:BB ratios, a visiting-team hypothetical, and the deceptive Rockies offense, plus Stat Blasts on two-strike hitting, foul outs, and performance vs. relievers.

Audio intro: Joe Walsh, "Welcome to the Club"

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In an unwitting tribute to Brandon Belt’s 21-pitch plate appearance, Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about approximately 21 topics, including the Mariners’ awkward, self-imposed Ichiro situation, Dee Gordon’s outfield conversion, Franchy Cordero, the ineptitude of the Reds, Mike Trout leveling up (again), Sean Manaea’s no-hitter and the increasing frequency of near no-hitters, two more unwritten rules flareups, Josh Hader’s multi-inning dominance, a bad fun fact, the regression of last year’s breakout first basemen, Aaron Judge’s continued hot hitting, and more.

Audio intro: The Eagles, "Twenty-One"

Link to video of Brandon Belt’s 21-pitch PA

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the strange standings, turnover in the Reds’ dugout, the hot starts by the Red Sox and Mookie Betts, the side effects of pitchers’ increasing avoidance of the strike zone, and the struggles of the Mets’ self-described starting pitcher Matt Harvey. Then they talk to former FanGraphs writer Corinne Landrey, now a quantitative analyst for the Philadelphia Phillies, about transitioning from writing to working for a front office, how joining a team affects fandom, how the Phillies’ front office has evolved, the gap between public and private knowledge, working with Gabe Kapler, shifting from rebuilding to contending, and more.

Audio intro: Modest Mouse, "Sunspots in the House of the Late Scapegoat"

Link to Jeff’s article about the Red Sox offense

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Shohei Ohtani’s blister, the Braves signing Jose Bautista as a third baseman, and Oakland’s well-attended free-admission game, then talk to two authors of new books about what happens in baseball players’ brains: Zach Schonbrun, author of The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience is Redefining Athletic Genius (11:58), and former MLB pitcher (and current Giants mental skills coach) Bob Tewksbury, author of Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Player Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseball (41:04).

Audio intro: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun"

Link to The Performance Cortex excerpt

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Ben Lindbergh, Jeff Sullivan, and Baseball Prospectus writer Russell Carleton discuss Russell’s new book, The Shift, banter about bad weather, Bartolo Colon, baseball’s unexpectedly competitive division races, Mike Trout topping one WAR leaderboard, Ronald Acuña’s (possibly) impending call-up, MLB’s low attendance so far, and a new Carter Capps imitator, then answer listener emails about Kris Bryant and the Cubs’ batting order, cold weather and the early season home-run rate, a pitcher with worse pickoff skills than Jon Lester, a 28-man roster, the Yankees’ power trio homering in the same games, a perfect pitcher with some strange demands, a hitter who knows pitch locations, and three Shohei Ohtani usage scenarios, plus a Stat Blast about the unlikely career of Odell Jones.

Audio intro: Pixies, "Stormy Weather"

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a recent spat of basebrawls, Clint Hurdle vs. Javier Baez and bat flips, Shohei Ohtani’s latest heroics, what bullpens do during brawls, and a fun-fact-free player, then bring on MLB Advanced Media’s Mike Petriello (23:19) to discuss what’s new with (and next for) Statcast, the system’s growing pains and commitment to accuracy, writing for a league-owned entity, MLBAM’s philosophy about rolling out enhancements, the most exciting (and most overrated) Statcast players, why Statcast stats get released, the data imbalance between teams and outside analysts, how Statcast has changed the writing process, a Statcast quiz, and more.

Audio intro: Clem Snide, "Don’t Be Afraid of Your Anger"

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Shohei Ohtani’s platoon splits and pitchers’ league-wide avoidance of the strike zone this season, then answer listener emails about the power and prestige of managers compared to coaches, when to trust in-season results over projections, choosing between Ohtani and Mike Trout, whether Albert Pujols or Adrian Beltre will end up with the higher career WAR, the staying power of the phrase “Andrew Miller-type role,” the Marlins’ current shortstops vs. a 43-year-old Derek Jeter, a hypothetical involving consecutive walk-off wins, the Mario Mendoza of wRC+, Ohtani’s ceiling and odds of winning awards, the value of being a big leaguer, and an MLB equivalent of Scott Foster, the NHL’s accountant emergency goalie, plus a Stat Blast about reliever use, game length/pace, and the most homers without a walk-off shot.

Audio intro: Common (Feat. John Legend and Kanye West), "They Say"

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