Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the rise and fall of Ildemaro Vargas, the Mets’ and Cubs’ David Peterson swap, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s refusal to wear a cup, the Giants’ response to Pride Night fallout, and the owners’ CBA strategy. Then (56:41) Ben brings back John Brebbia to discuss the Rockies reliever’s return to the majors, how he’s handling the journeyman phase of his career, when to opt out of a contract, Colorado’s player-dev improvements, Triple-A attitudes, how the minors have changed, the greatest major league luxury, dugout pitch-calling, challenging, his entrance song, how he and other players are following the labor talks, and more.

Audio interstitial: The Spaghettis, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Pedantic)”

Link to Lennon song

Link to MLFAD

Link to “Train Daddy” article

Link to “Railroad Daddy” article

Link to Brebbia’s first appearance

Link to Vargas hot streak

Link to Vargas cold streak

Link to Voros’s Law

Link to gambler’s fallacy

Link to Vargas collision

Link to Flowers for Algernon adaptations

Link to Charly

Link to TV movie

Link to Awakenings

Link to “Snakes alive” slogan

Link to Nora Morse wiki

Link to FG post on the Cubs

Link to MLBTR on Peterson

Link to Gary Cohen quote

Link to Mets’ six errors

Link to Chisholm clip

Link to Chisholm story

Link to Mariners testicle injury thread

Link to Haniger story

Link to risk compensation wiki

Link to catcher helmets interview

Link to lollipop story

Link to Davitt interview

Link to Posey clip

Link to SF Chronicle on the Giants

Link to The Athletic on the Giants

Link to KNBR interview story

Link to Devers apology story

Link to Vitello’s The Town reference

Link to Manfred letter

Link to The Athletic on MLB’s proposals

Link to MLBTR on MLB’s proposals

Link to Play Sun Smart initiative

Link to Rockies team attitude story

Link to Senzatela pitch mix

Link to Bull Durham scene

Link to Collins quote

Link to dugout pitch-calling story

Link to dugout pitch-calling story 2

Link to Ben on dugout pitch-calling

Link to Wham! song

Link to story about Brebbia’s song

Link to Zoolander scene

Link to Meyer quote

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