Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about sports equivalents to baseball’s bat crack, Colson Montgomery’s torpedo bat, reserving judgement on the MVP race, Francisco Alvarez’s minor league reset (and subsequent injury), a Kyle Tucker slump/injury update, the hot hitting of Giancarlo Stanton and Jakob Marsee, the Twins’ new knuckleballer, Pierson Ohl, and the ramifications of MLB’s impending deal with ESPN (and other broadcast partners), followed by (1:19:16) listener emails about a baserunner catching a pickoff throw, an ill-timed umpire sneeze, and the post-realignment future of MLB awards, plus (1:36:36) follow-ups.

Audio outro: Ian H., “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to O’Neil clip

Link to bat-crack article 1

Link to bat-crack article 2

Link to bat-crack article 3

Link to bat-crack article 4

Link to bat-crack article 5

Link to tennis strings wiki

Link to catgut wiki

Link to WaPo on Changeover

Link to Changeover

Link to Nathan on Hang Up

Link to James on Montgomery

Link to previous Alvarez banter

Link to Alvarez leaderboard

Link to Tucker injury article

Link to Stanton leaderboard

Link to Marsee leaderboard

Link to Baumann on Marsee

Link to article on Ohl

Link to Yahoo broadcast report

Link to The Athletic broadcast report

Link to WSJ broadcast report

Link to The Athletic on ESPN’s plan

Link to MLBTR summary

Link to Hang Up on ESPN/NFL

Link to Cooper’s post

Link to enshittification wiki

Link to listener emails database

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