Ella Black was the first woman to write about baseball for a national publication—if her name was Ella Black, and if she was a woman. On Ella Black: Lost and Found, a three-part scripted series from Effectively Wild, Ben Lindbergh explores what we know about the enigmatic trailblazer and tries to solve some of the […]

Ella Black was the first woman to write about baseball for a national publication—if her name was Ella Black, and if she was a woman. On Ella Black: Lost and Found, a three-part scripted series from Effectively Wild, Ben Lindbergh explores what we know about the enigmatic trailblazer and tries to solve some of the […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the acceptable circumstances (if any) for a bobblehead of a team owner, the Grand Junction Jackalopes belatedly embracing their destiny as the “Chubs,” and more, then (29:35) review and discuss the Netflix documentary The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox, followed by a tease for an upcoming […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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, […]

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, […]