Ben Lindbergh brings on Michael Baumann, who immediately makes Ben regret it by subjecting him to a lyrical ode to Effectively Wild inspired by the Taylor Swift song “Wood.” Then they play “College Baseball Player or Make and Model of Car?” before recapping the three decisive Game 3s of the wild card round (with an emphasis on the absurdity of the Guardians’ immediate elimination after their historic AL Central comeback, a bad call on Xander Bogaerts, the heroics of Cam Schlittler and Ryan McMahon, and converting from Red Sox fandom to Yankees fandom) and ranking the four division series matchups. Then (1:15:44) Ben talks to Tigers TV broadcaster Jason Benetti about calling the team’s 2024 comeback and 2025 collapse, how to process their reprieve from elimination after a historic blown lead, players to pay attention to in the ALDS, and naturally, John Brebbia.

Audio interstitial: Philip Bergman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to “Wood” lyrics

Link to reliever familiarity effect

Link to call on Bogaerts

Link to Padres postgame video

Link to Padres frustration

Link to ump scoreboard

Link to Schlittler fun facts

Link to Schlittler pitches piece

Link to Jeter catch

Link to McMahon catch

Link to Schlittler’s mom’s account 1

Link to Schlittler’s mom’s account 2

Link to article about Schlittler’s family

Link to Ben on first-year pitchers

Link to Ben on the Brewers and Jays

Link to 2024 Benetti appearance

Link to Brebbia EW episode

Link to Benetti’s podcast

Link to Cal award

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