Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the cruelty of the gift Ben gave his Effectively Wild Secret Santa recipient, which MLB team has the most pressure on it to finish the offseason strong (15:23), Chris Sale’s extension, and the Mets signing Harrison Bader. Then (36:36) they answer listener emails about which mascots would be the tastiest to eat, the NPB spectator experience, whether Shohei Ohtani could get hurt in a way that would prevent him from hitting but not from pitching, eliminating guaranteed playoff berths for division winners, and removing fielders as a penalty for pulling starting pitchers.

Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to gift Ben received

Link to gift Ben gave

Link to N616RH story

Link to Imanaga rumors

Link to Snell rumor

Link to Atkins comments

Link to Baumann on the Cubs

Link to Red Sox offseason story

Link to BaseRuns standings

Link to Eric André meme

Link to Sale extension details

Link to Bader signing details

Link to FanGraphs editor listing

Link to MLB mascots page

Link to mascots wiki

Link to Pop-Tarts Bowl meme

Link to Seinfeld clip

Link to NPB fan cheering

Link to Sam on Gsellman

Link to EW Episode 2093

Link to Sheehan on the AL Central

Link to Ben on pitcher roster limits

Link to listener emails database

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