The Baseball Rabbi Podcast

The Mets have been on fire, and Pesach and Scott want to understand why. Apparently, there are some not-so-secret secrets if you look closely that might explain what's actually going on. (Hint: it's all about a new guy on the field.) Plus: beautiful Coors Field, the effect of parking lots on baseball history, and who's having the worse season: 2019 Justin Verlander or 1913 Walter Johnson?

Bryce Harper's 2019 WAR shows that he's not very good. But Pesach, Scott, and special guest Moshe Schorr share the surprising WPA reality that when it comes to what actually matters in baseball, Harper is in the same league as Yellich, Bellinger, and Trout. They also analyze the Steroid Era, and discuss whether and why it truly mattered. And is John Means, who has a strange combination of encouraging and discouraging stats, due for regression, or is he becoming one of baseball's better pitchers?

Which players had the greatest consecutive ten year stretches, using bWAR as a gauge? Join Pesach and Scott for a discussion about the results of this experiment, the greatness of Willie Mays and Walter Johnson, the relative merits of A-Rod and Pujols, Trout's place on the list, the missing catchers, and much more. Plus: notes on buyers and sellers at the trade deadline, particularly the Giants, Cardinals, Cubs, and Yankees.

The Hall of Fame inducted its new members on Sunday, and the Baseball Rabbi is here to tell you amazing stats you never knew about each one of them. (Except Harold Baines. You already know everything you need to know about him.) Indeed, Pesach and Scott offer new ways of looking at Halladay, Mariano, Edgar, Mussina, and Lee that demonstrate why they made it in. Also: Josh Hader's amazing and weird pitching, and why Christian Yelich might be even better than you thought.

What are the greatest teams ever to play Major League Baseball? Pesach says that run differential - both per game and per season - provides part of the answer, but also explains why this alone is likely insufficient. He and Scott also look into whether it's easier to be bad than to be good, and how the answer affects the way we analyze prewar teams. And Scott rants about how the NBA has undermined the concept of rooting for a team, even though he still loves the Celtics. (It's allowed because he somewhat tenuously connects it to baseball.) Listen in, it's a fun episode.

Pesach hasn't watched an All Star Game since 1983, and he's proud of it. Why does he dislike it so? (Scott is like everyone else: the game is fine, whatever, nice break, who cares.) Once they get past that discussion, they deal with the historically unusual disparity in the American League, the crazy parity in the NL Central, and more storylines to watch in the second half of the season. Will the Angels sneak into the Wild Card? How good is Pete Alonso? And will Starlin Castro reach 3000 hits while amassing a negative career WAR?

It's always nice to see a team with a chance to do something truly historic; and when two teams are racing toward the same goal, the excitement is doubled. Unfortunately for people in Baltimore and Detroit, the race is for the all-time worst run differential. (And you better believe that it matters.) Join Pesach and Scott as they discuss why this stat is important, where the Orioles and Tigers stand historically, and the bizarre reality that this most obvious of metrics is actually pretty hard to find. And you'll learn about some pretty rotten teams along the way!

"Being a Montreal Expos fan is a frustration like no other." With the news of the (very unlikely) possibility of baseball returning to Montreal for half a season annually, Pesach finds some old wounds suddenly reopened, and he shares years of baseball trauma with the Baseball Rabbi audience. Scott also opines why teams relocating is almost inevitably illegitimate (in an obvious attempt to sweet-talk the hordes of St. Louis Browns fans). And Mike Trout reaches 5000 PAs... so what players at 5000 PAs were most similar to him?

It's been asked regarding Victor Hugo whether a creative genius can also be relatively unintelligent; the baseball equivalent might be whether a member of the 400 home run club can also be a mediocre player. The answer, evidently, is yes (Hi there, Adam Dunn!); but was this always true? Does the same analysis apply to players with 500 HRs? Pesach and Scott also analyze rookies Mike Soroka, Brandon Lowe, and Bryan Reynolds, all of whom are playing great - but maybe, just maybe, not quite as great as their obvious stats suggest. Plus: Hyun-Jin Ryu and how we all saw this coming.

The Washington Nationals are on pace to do something pretty unusual: lead the league in starting pitcher WAR while losing most of their games. But they don't hold a candle to the '91 Indians, who pulled the trick while losing 105 games. (Read that again. 105 losses while leading MLB in starting pitcher WAR.) How does that even happen? Plus: Why Scherzer is the most frustrated pitcher in baseball, the incredible Yankees bullpen, and flipping the script regarding the 1950 Red Sox.