Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley continue their celebration of the 10th anniversary of Effectively Wild by bringing on former cohost Jeff Sullivan and Most Frequent Guest (for now) Grant Brisbee to banter about Jeff’s job with the Rays and draft their favorite baseball stories from the past 10 years (plus a Past Blast from 1878). Audio intro : Joel Plaskett Emergency, “ Old Friends &#...

On the 10th anniversary of Effectively Wild’s first episode, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley kick off a week-long celebration by reflecting on the milestone, then (6:40) bring on producer Dylan Higgins and listener Chris Hanel for a round of Effectively Wild trivia and fun facts. After that (41:49), they dig into the podcast archive for a highlight reel of favorite moments from Effectively Wild...

With Meg Rowley on the road, Ben Lindbergh does an almost-all-interview episode featuring the authors of four new baseball books: First (3:22), Howard Bryant on Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original ; second (42:45), Jeff Fletcher on Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played ; third (1:19:36), Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt on Intentional...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani taking over the MLB WAR lead, a Taylor Ward / Jared Walsh mixup, an on-air “zombie runner” endorsement, another fruitless hidden ball trick attempt, and the need for an amended rule about replay reviews of slide plays, then (26:03) discuss the Blue Jays firing manager Charlie Montoyo and the revelation that the Royals have 10 unva...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s hazardous last week, then discuss the ongoing mellowing of attitudes and discussions surrounding the All-Star game, embracing the game’s potential for sentimentality, how it would feel to be a team’s lone All-Star representative, the results of a new poll about robo umps, an NPB record and whether/when Reggie Jackson will be unseate...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s unfortunate Brussels sprouts incident, then answer listener emails about the ballparks with the most and least locations where a ball would be a home run only in that park, the Rays’ MLB-leading outs on the bases, the Orioles’ possibly improved pitcher development, a loaner-type trade where a player is his own player to be named lat...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley rant and banter (ranter?) about MLB’s approach to promoting the Futures Game, then (17:33) discuss superheroes throwing baseballs, the latest exploits of the semi-superpowered Shohei Ohtani and Sandy Alcantara , and Ohtani’s chances against Aaron Judge (and others) in the AL MVP race, Stat Blast (39:03) about losing teams with two hyper-productive players a...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the possible end of the Taylor Ward / Tyler Wade broadcaster confusion, Ward getting caught unawares at first base, and the Twins turning the first-ever 8-5 triple play, then Stat Blast (11:06) about Cam Vieaux and the most pitches thrown in various types of innings, share a Past Blast (23:33) from 1871, and discuss the Empire State Greys, a traveling Fron...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the varying interpretations of Bobby Bonilla Day and what may be the last-ever Bruce Sutter Day, then (17:20) discuss what an expansive ESPN profile of Rob Manfred reveals about the MLB commissioner. After that (48:49), they answer listener emails about players jumping straight from college to the majors, whether a player who hit a lot of homers but little...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley are joined by Jake Mintz of Céspedes Family BBQ to talk about Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson leaving the team midseason to join LSU, why MLB teams are hiring coaches from college and why colleges are hiring them back, whether MLB teams should pay coaches more, the state of player development in college, Jake’s experience at the College World Series, his short s...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a surprising ESPY nomination for Jorge Soler , another Tyler Wade / Taylor Ward broadcaster mixup, the massive Mariners-Angels brawl and ensuing suspensions and pizzas, Bryce Harper’ s broken thumb and not-broken face, Mark Appel finally making the majors, an update on the Joc Pederson – Tommy Pham feud, the Yankees getting no-hit, the respecta...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about why players in the dugout seem so confident in pitch locations, whether it would ever help to wear two gloves, MLB Big Inning and other baseball equivalents of NFL RedZone, the extreme dimensions of the Polo Grounds, what makes it so impressive that some players perform at the same level for a long time, whether the Cardinals are a fun team...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about two spectacular games by Shohei Ohtani and Ohtani’s extraordinary playing-time pace and relay a sinker-iffic response from Michael Lorenzen to a previous discussion about baseball grip, then (24:22) answer listener emails about using different-colored balls to denote different levels of liveliness, how much time to train players have in-season, wheth...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether changing managers is at all responsible for the Phillies’ recent success, the Yankees’ almost unparalleled winning-percentage pace, the Royals’ historically terrible pitching performance and the pressure on their pitching coach, another Taylor Ward / Tyler Wade broadcaster slipup, Anthony Rendon’ s season-ending surgery, Mic...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a broadcaster relatably mixing up Taylor Ward and Tyler Wade , the Dodgers “fixing” former Rockies pitcher Yency Almonte , a deep, perplexing rabbit hole (7:46) of baseball-themed CarShield commercials, the bat spike as the new bat flip, an umpire’s close call with a broken-bat shard, and the building backlash against position-player pitc...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about what it means to be humbled, whether Joe Maddon’s mohawk could have caught on and caused a Shohawk had he not been fired, another point about Aaron Judge ’s potentially historic home-run pace, a Byron Buxton fun fact, whether Buxton or Luis Arraez is a more entertaining hitter, Ozzie Albies’ fluky foot fracture, and a smart baserunning pl...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Maddon’s mohawk, the latest details about Mike Trout’ s (and Tommy Pham’ s and Joc Pederson’ s) legendary fantasy football league, a rash of hidden-ball-trick attempts, the “old guy’s still got it” resurgences of Nelson Cruz and Joey Votto , how big a deal Aaron Judge’ s potentially historic home-run pace...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Maddon’s firing, the impact and end of the Angels’ 14-game losing streak, and whether the Angels or Phillies are in a worse position for the future, Tony La Russa’s intentional walk on a 1-2 count, whether the weather and the humidor can explain MLB’s sudden upticks in fly-ball distance and home-run rate, the testing of experime...

With Meg Rowley on the road, Ben Lindbergh talks to a trio of guests. First (4:10), he’s joined by Mr. King , the creator of Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio, to talk about baseball as ASMR, crafting a fictional league, broadcaster, and collection of players, replicating the soothing, white-noise sounds of a baseball broadcast, putting his listeners to sleep, and more. Then (34:32) Ben brings...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mike Yastrzemski trying the “KK play,” the distinctive smell of rat urine, Buck Showalter making a mid-PA pitching change, Dave Roberts running afoul of a position-player-pitcher rule, the wording of the zombie-runner rule, Nick Pivetta’ s near-miraculous mechanical adjustment, and Mike Trout ’s slump, plus a baseball-history fact f...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Girardi’s firing and where the Phillies go from here, the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez extension, the dip in DH offense, and the trade deadline, then answer listener emails about MLB.TV highlights, the upside of ignoring playoff odds, getting plunked on a full count, things that haven’t happened in an MLB game, players being coached by thei...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley announce the availability of new Effectively Wild T-shirts, then follow up on the latest, Mike Trout -related developments in the Tommy Pham – Joc Pederson fantasy-football/slap story as well as Josh Donaldson ’s comments about his teammates not supporting him. After that, they banter about a home-run robbery that wasn’t, the homer hitting of Aaron Ju...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Nick Castellanos ’s uncanny tater timing, and then (4:43) Ben attempts to explain the Joc Pederson – Tommy Pham fantasy-football dispute (and resulting slap) to Meg. After that (44:42), they discuss the Reds’ resurgence, an umpire’s hot mic, updates on defensive-positioning restrictions and the forthcoming pitch clock, and whether t...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about why we don’t see more hidden-ball tricks in MLB, why big leaguers practice fielding grounders between innings, comparing the careers of Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman , how baseball broadcasts should discuss domestic-violence suspensions, whether Rickey Henderson would still have stolen bases if he’d been inflicted with Gl...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the apparent end of Mike Trout’ s long-lasting SuperPretzel sponsorship, Willians Astudillo ’s return to the majors, the Phillies’ fielding and a seeming surfeit of amusingly bad defensive plays across the league, the arrival of overall no. 1 prospect (and Orioles catcher) Adley Rutschman and how to tell when a prospect is really ready, t...