Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the opening series of the regular season in Japan, then (10:55) discuss the removal (and eventual restoration) of a page about Jackie Robinson on the Department of Defense website, before (39:53) bantering further about breakouts, how player heights dropped (or didn’t!) after players were measured more accurately this spring, Joey Gallo’s attempted conversion to pitching, and an abandoned Marlins player-development idea. Then (1:27:38) they talk to Pirates pitching phenom Paul Skenes about being a cover model for MLB The Show 25, his stoic exterior, starters as stars, an auction for his debut baseball card, his hobbies, his expanding pitch mix, and max-effort pitching.

Audio outro: Daniel Leckie, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Randy Johnson on EW

Link to Ohtani homer

Link to ratings info

Link to Davy gamer 1

Link to Davy gamer 2

Link to post about Jackie page

Link to article about Jackie page

Link to archived 404 page

Link to restored page

Link to NPR on Rogers page

Link to first statement to Passan

Link to second statement to Passan

Link to segregation ban story

Link to MLB D&I page

Link to old MLB D&I page

Link to post about change

Link to CBB breakouts tweet

Link to height changes sheet

Link to pitcher-measuring info

Link to Gallo tweet

Link to Ben on Gallo in 2014

Link to TTO% leaderboard

Link to Marlins ad

Link to Stock tweet

Link to Herald on Marlins

Link to Athletic on Marlins

Link to The Show gameplay trailer

Link to The Show launch trailer

Link to Livvy’s nonchalant quote

Link to Skenes composure quote

Link to Skenes Opening Day reveal

Link to Skenes dexterity quote

Link to new pitches story

Link to Skenes auction

Link to Skenes on workload

Link to deGrom story

Link to EW gift subscriptions

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