Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about this season’s giant cluster of wild card contenders, the potential for an inactive trade deadline, the role the White Sox will play, whether the compression of the standings is good or bad for baseball, and expanded-playoffs incentives. Then (33:46) they talk to NPR producer Alana Schreiber, creator and executive producer of the NPR/MLB podcast Road to Rickwood, about the history of the park that’s hosting its first MLB game this month, plus a postscript (1:17:48) about a postseason mid-PA pitching change.

Audio interstitial: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to MLBTR on the Biggio trade

Link to Ben on preseason projections

Link to Sheehan on parity

Link to FG playoff odds

Link to MLB standings

Link to Road to Rickwood

Link to Road to Rickwood site

Link to MLB on RtR

Link to NPR on RtR

Link to HoF on Rickwood

Link to Rickwood wiki

Link to MLB at Rickwood wiki

Link to MLB’s Rickwood page

Link to Bull Durham anecdote

Link to Shelton on EW

Link to EW Episode 1887

Link to 1991 ALCS game

Link to ALCS game log

Link to 1991 article page 1

Link to 1991 article page 2

Link to Ben on mid-PA changes

Link to ballpark meetup forms

Link to meetup organizer form

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