Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about All-Star-roster minimums and maximums, what the Aroldis Chapman trade tells us about the how teams value prospects, Jake Diekman’ s exploits with the Rays, Evan Longoria ’s late-career contributions, and the same-named siblings of Carlos Pérez , Carlos Pérez , Wilmer Flores , Wilmer Flores , Wander Franco , Wander Franco , and Wander Franco . T...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley attempt to create a hierarchy of highlights, then (21:36) mark the midpoint of the regular season by reviewing the most salient storylines of the first half, the teams and players who’ve most underperformed or overperformed their preseason projections, and what they’re most looking forward to in the second half, plus a follow-up (1:12:25) on the evolution o...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Andrew McCutchen’ s latest “furries” tweet, the Pirates playing through a high AQI and the need for a safety standard, Domingo Germán ’s perfect game and the state of the Yankees, Yandy Díaz turning back into Ground Beef, Shohei Ohtani lapping his league and strangely struggling at the plate with two strikes, and the Orioles’...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the three Taylor Ward s, the truth and multiple untruths about Elly De La Cruz’ s twin brother, the dominance of 20-year-old Eury Pérez and the Marlins’ usage dilemma, Luis Arraez ’s plate predictions, MVP odds, and underestimation as a prospect, the Mets’ struggles and Buck Showalter’s morbid mind, the Orioles’ prospect...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley are joined by FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Michael Baumann to banter about the Phillies’ outlier legal name, Dave Martinez and the dying art of the theatrical managerial ejection, the benching of Wander Franco , whether the Diamondbacks’, Reds’, and Orioles’ surprising seasons are attributable to MLB’s new rules, and whether bad b...

Ben Lindbergh addresses an interview upgrade on the preceding episode, chats with FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski about Luis Arraez ’s chances of batting .400, Stat Blasts (22:36) about extremes in team winning and losing streaks, welcomes in David Lewis (28:00) for the final Past Blast, and talks to prolific science fiction (and baseball science fiction) author Rick Wilber (44:48) about bei...

Ben Lindbergh and Russell Carleton of Baseball Prospectus banter about the return of Joey Votto , the suddenly exciting Cincinnati Reds, the NL Central and NL West races, and more, then (25:45) discuss several of the developments chronicled in Russell’s new book, The New Ballgame: The Not-So-Hidden Forces Shaping Modern Baseball , including the impact of the one-inning reliever, the expansio...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’ s latest exploits and career-best WAR pace, the Angels’ playoff hopes, Corbin Carroll’ s physique, and Mickey Moniak ’s fluky-but-fun hot streak, then (20:55) answer listener emails about how big a scandal it would be if Ohtani turned out to be two twins, when managers would choose to take in-game mulligans, and which...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley review the most disappointing teams of 2023, ultimately anointing one team as the most disappointing and trying to identify which of the contenders for the “most disappointing” title is most likely to turn things around by the end of the season. Then (32:21) they discuss A’s fans’ reverse boycott, the seemingly sealed deal for the A’s to m...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani leading MLB in WAR and the number of times his hitting has leapfrogged his pitching or vice versa, the EW audience’s verdict on who won the pod’s recent 26-under-25 draft, the suddenly-quite-competitive A’s-Royals race for the worst record in baseball, a painful ending to a college playoff game and the evolving conversation...

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Patreon supporter Reggie Deal banter about Reggie’s background as a baseball fan and Effectively Wild listener, his email correspondence with MLB and Rob Manfred, accessibility issues he’s encountered while following baseball as a blind person, and A’s fans’ upcoming “reverse boycott” event, then (22:25) answer listener emails abou...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mets, the Padres, and the AL Central, Jacob deGrom’ s UCL, Mike Trout ’s slow (by his standards) start, and a Phillies pitch-clock controversy, then (23:32), in honor of Elly De La Cruz , draft the 26 best MLB players under 25 years old (see link below to vote!), followed by a Past Blast from 2017 (1:13:54), closing banter about the Blue Ja...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s voice, the arrival of Elly De La Cruz , the similarities between the up-and-coming Reds and Pirates, whether we need a “super-error,” Aaron Judge’ s ball- and wall-smashing abilities, the plights of Alek Manoah and Stephen Strasburg , the wonder of Luis Arraez , whether this year’s trade deadline will be dead, follow-ups...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether Shohei Ohtani is throwing too many sweepers to opposite-handed hitters, the MLB debut of flamethrowing Ben Joyce , the extreme walk/strikeout stylings of George Kirby and Spencer Strider , the states of the Central divisions, the offense and defense of Ke’Bryan Hayes , the return of Jon Singleton , whether the pitch clock is responsible for t...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s 500th EW episode, the architectural concept of the “Thomasson,” a forthcoming HBO documentary about Barry Bonds , the rebound of Juan Soto , common misconceptions about WAR, the declines of Noah Syndergaard and Kris Bryant , the NL West, MLB broadcasting Padres games, an MLB-MLBPA ad deal, a rules update, Francisco Álvarez’ s...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Pete Alonso ‘s, um, emergency swing, the activations (6:25) of four players ( Liam Hendriks , Michael Soroka , Paul Blackburn , and Royce Lewis ), the small leads in most divisions (12:03) and the leveling out of the league (A’s aside), José Abreu ‘s first homer “trot” of the season, and an umpire comment caught on a hot mic....

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s prediction concerning the Padres’ and Rangers’ rest-of-season performance with runners in scoring position, then (14:08) answer listener emails about the ultimate Quadruple-A player, leaving runners on base for the opposing team, immaculate-inning edge cases, tanking for Shohei Ohtani , setting up a lifelong Google Alert for a playe...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the major leagues’ sudden influx of 24-year-old right-handed pitchers with the surname “Miller,” the Rays’ surprisingly precarious position in the AL East (7:48), and the Cubs, the Brewers, and the state of the NL Central (12:45), before focusing their bat-resuscitating powers on Trea Turner (17:22), with almost immediate effect. Th...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Yordan Alvarez kissing Martín Maldonado , Will Brennan’ s birdslaughter (12:33), the Guardians’ slow start (23:12), Madison Bumgarner ’s reported reluctance to alter his pitching approach (32:49), Mike Trout passing Ken Griffey Jr. in career Baseball-Reference WAR (45:56), whether the A’s will end up historically bad or rebound to b...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up with additional details about the Cardinals’ cheeseburger phone, banter about the hot hitting of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Aaron Judge , answer listener emails (31:13) about home run rituals and the unwritten rules, a prophylactic procedure to prevent Tommy John surgery, whether a runner could be safe because of his beard, the percentage of players who could...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the sesame-seer Cardinals using a cheeseburger phone to predict home buns (er, runs) by hitters who are dialed in, the varying fortunes of three offseason big spenders (the Mets, Padres, and Rangers) and the stakes of their success, Kumar Rocker’ s Tommy John surgery, Dustin May’ s flexor strain, the proliferation of ranked prospects, Jackson H...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’ s near-cycle and newly hot hitting on days when he’s pitched, the Cardinals reinstating Willson Contreras at catcher (and Zac Gallen ’s comments on the Cardinals Way), the Sean Murphy / William Contreras / Esteury Ruiz trade revisited, post-peak Christian Yelich and the breakout of Brent Rooker , the dominant Rays’ po...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Akil Baddoo taking a baseball to the beans, broadcasters describing groin shots, and players deciding whether to wear cups. Then they compare a resurgent Joey Gallo and a slumping Andrew Benintendi (20:25), recall reliever Zack Littell ’s affinity for cruise ships (33:22), forecast MLB’s international future (37:22), consider the Dodgers’...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s recovery from COVID and the belated release of the CBA, predict how well White Sox cast-off Jake Diekman will pitch for the Rays, discuss injuries to Luis Garcia , Max Fried , Tyler Mahle , and more pitchers and investigate forearm/flexor strains as potential precursors to Tommy John surgery, react to Jack Flaherty’ s comments about his d...

Ben Lindbergh talks to Will Leitch about the Cardinals’ horrendous start, their baffling decision to bar big free-agent addition Willson Contreras from catching, how Yadier Molina ’s legacy looms over the franchise, how Oli Marmol and John Mozeliak have handled the team’s struggles, how the rest of the season might go, and more, along with the Effectively Wild connection in Will&...