Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Sports Illustrated ’s Emma Baccellieri banter about Ryan Yarbrough throwing a rare Rays complete game, then share their thoughts on the recent debate about media access in sports sparked by tennis star Naomi Osaka, touching on how access to athletes compares across sports, the dubious value of press conferences, athletes’ obligations and mental health, ho...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why “Zombie Runner,” not “Manfred Man,” remains their preferred term for the automatic runner, zombies in general, position player pitchers vs. pitcher hitters, the benefits of forfeits, the increasing rate of pitcher hitters not attempting to put the ball in play, MLB’s bad timing with NFTs, the minor league sticky substance...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Luis Urías , the zombie runner, and walk-off wins, a few other aspects of the Will Craig / Javier Báez play, a new stat called the “Boner,” MLB and NFTs, Theo Epstein’s recent comments about making changes to the game, Shohei Ohtani ’s player-page traffic and the future of two-way players, the Rays and Rich Hill , how the aftermath...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Javier Báez and Will Craig combining on a baffling blooper, a naked streaker seizing the moment during a rain delay at Nationals Park, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt’s objection to a foreign-substance inspection (and how MLB should respond), an update from New Era about its short-lived “Local Market” caps, and Francisco Lindor ’s pro...

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about cicadas, New Era’s short-lived “MLB Local Market” caps, the exploits of Adolis García , and Byron Buxton being too fast for his own good, then discuss Craig’s recent writing on how to fix what ails baseball, touching on what exactly the problem (if any) is, whether the offensive...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the scant separation between the top teams in each division and the division races they find the most intriguing, Buster Posey , Scott Kazmir , and other old Giants, Isiah Kiner-Falefa backing up his objection to coming in last on FanGraphs’ shortstop positional power ranking, Mariners catcher José Godoy becoming the 20,000th major leaguer (or not) a...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Shohei Ohtani stalker cam on Japanese telecasts of Angels games, the Low-A Palm Beach Cardinals facing Jacob deGrom , why this season’s no-hitters have all been so dominant, and why it doesn’t make sense to hold hitters responsible for strikeouts and low batting averages. Then they do a Meet a Major Leaguer segment on the Cubs’ Tommy...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about scheduling their days around Shohei Ohtani and the latest examples of Ohtani excitement, Tony La Russa and unwritten rules vs. fun and the White Sox clubhouse, and Spencer Turnbull and no-hitter overload ( before Corey Kluber’s no-no on Wednesday), then answer listener emails about whether Ohtani is the world’s best athlete, resting or playing...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Dodgers signing Albert Pujols and what the rest of his season could look like, Kevin Pillar’ s broken nose and the ongoing HBP epidemic, Shohei Ohtani’ s latest heroics (and modeling video) and whether he can become a face of baseball and a crossover star, MLB’s rising injury rate, Huascar Ynoa’ s self-inflicted fracture (and wh...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the same-day debuts of Jarred Kelenic and Logan Gilbert , the future of the Mariners, and whether Mariners fans have actually had it so bad, another distinction between framing and flopping, the retirement of Tyler Flowers and the impact he had on catching technique, the resurgence of Rich Hill , the state of the AL Central and whether it’s too soon...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners calling up pitching prospect Logan Gilbert , the late-inning dominance of Aroldis Chapman and (more unexpectedly) Kendall Graveman , Shohei Ohtani ’s best start of the season, and the Astros providing housing for their minor leaguers, then answer listener emails about their favorite baseball seasons, how long it will take for 2020 footag...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners’ impending call-up of top prospect Jarred Kelenic , the Dodgers’ recent slump, the Oakland A’s threatening to relocate, Wade Miley ’s no-hitter and how long it takes for no-no fatigue to set in, whether MLB’s offensive downturn will force the league to take action, the role of hitters in the hit-by-pitch spike, a...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Byron Buxton and the Twins, discuss the Angels designating Albert Pujols for assignment, and answer listener emails about whether to accept a scenario where one’s team always finishes .500 but one also gets to enjoy the career of a generational player, pitchers accepting automatic strikeouts, the best way for catchers to call for appeals on check swi...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Orioles ace John Means pitching a no-hitter and the dropped-third-strike rule that prevented him from having a perfect game, Tony La Russa’s latest managerial miscues, an umpire admitting he guessed at a call, the Yankees turning their season around after a slow start and the perils of small-sample team performance, heckling the Astros, Dylan Cease ,...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about being fully vaccinated, injuries to Dustin May , Luis Robert , Jesús Luzardo , Jacob deGrom , Shohei Ohtani , and others around the league, grumbles about Tony La Russa’s managing, the Angels’ perplexing, persistent .500-ness, the Mets firing and hiring hitting coaches, and surprising pricing for players on Cameo, then follow up on the Dodgers&...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rays flamethrower Shane McClanahan ’s regular-season MLB debut, a Bryce Harper hit by pitch and the causes of the current HBP epidemic, and the biggest surprises of the topsy-turvy standings entering May. Then (33:32) they’re joined by listener and Patreon supporter David Whitcomb to answer listener emails about whether excelling at fantasy bas...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s morbid press conference comment, the continued excellence of Byron Buxton , Mike Trout , and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , an early-season dip in infield shifting and an interesting disparity in defensive disparity between the Padres and Dodgers, and Rob Manfred’s comment about sports betting and the pace of baseball. Then...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the latest riveting Padres-Dodgers series, the beef between Trevor Bauer and Fernando Tatis Jr. , Tatis’s fielding, the end of GM Jeff Bridich’s reign with the Rockies, Madison Bumgarner’ s hitless start (but non-no-hitter?), Jacob deGrom ’s dominance and starts in which pitchers produce as many hits as they allow, and John Means an...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley offer a few updates on the first subject of their “Meet a Major Leaguer” segment, Zach Pop , banter about Corey Dickerson ’s impending 200th career double, and answer listener emails about weather-based scheduling, giving umpires the option of not making close calls and deferring to replay reviewers instead, the strange statistics of Javier Báez , enf...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bryce Harper’ s hot streak, the players at the top of the WAR leaderboard, the exploits of Byron Buxton and Nelson Cruz , the suddenly unbeatable Oakland A’s, Ben’s new favorite stat to track ( Nick Madrigal ’s K%+), pitcher hitting performance reaching a new nadir, and more. Then they debut a new recurring segment (and song), &#822...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the brief lifespan of the soccer Super League, the gift of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry and Blake Snell vs. Joe Musgrove , position-player-pitching overload and the pitching performance of Willians Astudillo , whether the slow-starting Yankees are really doomed, the retirement of Jay Bruce , the end of Tim Locastro’ s stolen-base success streak (and th...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why they haven’t been talking about Bryce Harper , follow up on previous points about the automatic-runner rule, optional home run trots, and player switcheroos, discuss the latest report about the Mets’ front-office culture and team president Sandy Alderson, and answer listener emails about two automatic-runner-rule variants, first base social...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the unanticipated charms of podcast faves Willians Astudillo and Shohei Ohtani , Trevor Bauer ’s (and the league’s) spin rates increasing despite MLB’s threatened foreign substance crackdown, the confounding behavior of the new, supposedly deadened baseball, and the news that the mound will be moved back and the “double hook”...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Musgrove ‘s no-hitter and the significance of Musgrove snapping the Padres’ no-no-no streak, Tim Locastro breaking Tim Raines ’s record for the most consecutive successful steal attempts to start a career, Ronald Acuña Jr. beating out a routine grounder and MLB’s “FieldVision” depiction of the play, the controversial...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the seemingly building backlash to the extra-innings automatic-runner rule and Dusty Baker’s comments about anti-Astros heckling, then (19:51) bring on high performance coach Gary McCoy to discuss his epiphany about preventing player injuries, the importance of deceleration, how he helped a team in Taiwan have an injury-free season, the problems with...