Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff, teams paying their players not to do in-game, on-field interviews, the phrase “potential World Series preview,” a team purchasing and privatizing a valuable public baseball website, a player who can’t hit anything except grand slams, a player who homers in every game he plays but is usually...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about this season’s giant cluster of wild card contenders, the potential for an inactive trade deadline, the role the White Sox will play, whether the compression of the standings is good or bad for baseball, and expanded-playoffs incentives. Then (33:46) they talk to NPR producer Alana Schreiber , creator and executive producer of the NPR/MLB podcast Road...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bryce Harper pandering to Londoners, Kiké Hernández booting a ball during an in-game interview, banning player scouting cards to lower BABIP, the effect on home runs of widening the foul lines, Yusei Kikuchi , Tyler Soderstrom , and a foul-territory hypothetical, crediting managers for sacrificial ejections, Aaron Judge ’s scalding hot streak, Luis G...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ’s recent resurgence, then answer listener emails about what a dynastic team could do to avoid being widely hated, a mid-plate-appearance batting change, widening the foul lines to increase offense, whether reducing pitcher injuries would be worth bringing back pitcher hitting, the popularity of a perfect ump, the fairness of un...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the showdowns between Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani , Skenes’s strengths and weaknesses as a pitcher and an entertainer, the least and most exciting types of strikes, and more. They then discuss the improbable longevity of Aroldis Chapman’ s triple-digit pitch speeds, whether the risk of losing the most games ever should stop the White Sox from...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss MLB’s clearing of Shohei Ohtani and banning of five other players for betting on baseball (including Tucupita Marcano’ s permaban), touching on MLB’s culpability (or lack thereof), gambling ads, the future, and more. Then (39:32) they banter about the latest instance of Tommy Pham going aggro, which demotion is more surprising, Spencer Torkels...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley bring on FanGraphs associate editor Matt Martell to discuss the scenes at Citi Field that kicked off the Mets’ Jorge López saga, the resulting DFA and fallout, and what this silly/sad sequence of events suggests about the potential for player intent to be lost in translation, how off-the-field issues can manifest on the field, and the line between LOLMets and mor...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Simeon Woods Richardson’ s podcast-approved use of written notes, whether David Fry or Jurickson Profar has the most delightfully surprising stats, Kevin Pillar’ s post-White Sox hot streak, MLB’s offensive outage in May, Blake Snell and other slow-starting late-starting starters, Matt Waldron’ s knuckleball usage and Jeremiah Estra...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the career and competitive implications of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s latest season-ending injury, the retirement of infamous ump Angel Hernandez, the aesthetics of umps issuing warnings, the Brewers’ success sans Craig Counsell and David Stearns, a new unwritten rule against any(?) bunting, White Sox players vs. White Sox skipper Pedro Grifol, Tim And...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about which slow-starting 2023 pennant winner (Diamondbacks or Rangers) is more likely to get back on track to return to October, explain (9:37) the saga of Dick Windbigler, the rare pitcher who actually hurt himself by pausing mid-delivery (featuring an appearance by Dick’s widow, Melba Windbigler), then (30:04) answer listener emails about the requiremen...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the end of the Orioles’ sweep-less streak, Oneil Cruz ’s mismatch between top-tier tools and pedestrian production, the Phillies’ strength of schedule, Steven Okert and the etiquette of tipping one’s bullpen-cart driver, Kyle Hendricks and the decline of the 2016 Cubs’ core, and some Shohei Ohtani real-estate news. Then (47:14...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the hype surrounding Paul Skenes starts and how Skenes has leveled up since he was drafted, whether Kyle Tucker could finally shed his “most underrated player” label, Gunnar Henderson vs. Bobby Witt Jr. (and the Orioles’ infield/outfield future), the resurgent Royals, Jo Adell’ s (maybe?) breakout, Joey Gallo’ s ever-stranger...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Rays running out of mound visits and various visit-related hypotheticals, then (21:00) answer listener emails about “due up” vs. “on deck,” strikes vs. pitches in the strike zone, whether focusing on wins instead of runs makes WAR less intuitive, Quinn Priester and FIP-based pitcher WAR, Ronald Acuña Jr. ’s ping-ponging st...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a fake Ronel Blanco tweet about a fake Ronel Blanco quote, Meryl Streep’s sports apps, how four expected-to-contend teams’ injury-depleted rotations are faring so far, Josh Hader’ s multi-inning outings, fêting Erick Fedde , Elly De La Cruz’ s pursuit of 100 stolen bases, an Austin Hedges bruise, a possible benefit of catchers crouc...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the “effectively wild” debut of Paul Skenes and the Pirates’ bases-loaded walkathon, an in-development TV series about Ippei Mizuhara, the demotion of Craig Kimbrel and possible trade dangling of Mason Miller , the continued success of Davis Schneider , the impact of replay review on the increase in catcher’s interference calls, and...

Ben Lindbergh talks to Rays pitcher Zack Littell (4:33) about his expectation-surpassing conversion from relieving to starting and his affinity for cruise ships. Then (23:33) Ben brings on author and film critic Noah Gittell to discuss his new book about baseball movies and American culture, Baseball: The Movie , followed by six Stat Blasts with frequent Stat Blast correspondent Ryan Nelson (1:16:...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Pirates calling up top pitching prospect Paul Skenes , Mookie Betts’ s shortstop defense, Willson Contreras , the causes of increasingly common catcher’s interference calls, and catcher technique in an ABS world, rampant reliever shuffling, Chase Anderson as a Phiten necklace “endling,” two ways in which amateur prospects are po...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Riley Greene ’s latest pants-related wardrobe malfunction, the Padres-Marlins Luis Arraez trade, the continued scuffling of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , a C.B. Bucknor bit, and more. Then (52:30) they’re joined by Neil deMause , author of Field of Schemes , and J.C. Bradbury , author, stadium-funding researcher, and professor of economics, finance,...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a recent uptick in base stealing and why Mike Trout ’s loyalty to the Angels is criticized more than it’s celebrated. Then (16:39) they’re joined by Patreon supporter Alex Levy to discuss Alex’s background as a podcast listener, baseball fan, and mail carrier and answer emails (43:49) about a Mario approach to chemistry in baseball,...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s unexpected experience at the bee-delayed Diamondbacks game, Shota Imanaga’ s hot start, Reed Garrett and the phenomenon of pop-up relievers, Steven Kwan appreciation, how Mike Trout’ s and Bryce Harper ’s careers will be remembered, José Abreu being optioned to the minors, and a declined penalty in baseball, plus follow-ups ab...

After a podcast preface by Ben Lindbergh about Mike Trout ’s knee injury (sigh), Ben and Meg Rowley banter (4:19) about a weekend White Sox sweep, the overdue news that Nike is supposedly fixing the much-maligned MLB uniforms, follow-ups about rule rollbacks, ballplayer dirt ingestion, the “group Maddux,” and promotion/relegation, and the Twins’ summer sausage. Then (50:37)...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether they believe the projections that peg the White Sox as merely a run-of-the-mill terrible team, this season’s sophomore slumps (so far), and more on ballplayer dirt consumption and replay review protocol, then (30:09) answer listener emails about promotion and relegation in professional baseball, the definition of “getaway day,” th...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how much dirt MLB players ingest in a season, the second-most-encouraging stat about Mike Trout’ s season, Shohei Ohtani , Earl Webb , and the single-season doubles record, Cody Bellinger and whether the Cubs should pad the walls at Wrigley Field, whether replay review should privilege the call on the field, Matt Waldron’ s knuckleball, the dis...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Rockies (and their charter pilots) running afoul of the FAA, Jackson Holliday’ s slow start, whether the Astros or Twins has hurt their division-title chances more, two embarrassing umpire incidents, offense being down relative to last season, the concept of a “combined Maddux,” Shohei Ohtani ’s WAR as a DH, the Blue Jays’...

Amid a wave of pitcher injuries, Ben Lindbergh talks to Dr. Rich Nye (4:20), a former major leaguer whose career-ending injury became a career- beginning injury when he decided to become an exotic-animal veterinarian (among other occupations). Then (1:07:09) Ben talks to prolific TV creators/writers/producers Tom Fontana and Julie Martin about what might have been for Baseball Wives , a long-lost...