Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the costs of Christian Yelich ’s broken kneecap and other injuries disrupting pennant races and the Mets-centric personal-catcher controversy involving Noah Syndergaard , Wilson Ramos , and Tomás Nido . Then they answer listener emails about the mystery of Edwin Díaz (and the more minor mystery of Justin Verlander ) and whether we’re heading fo...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Michael Lorenzen , Shohei Ohtani , and two-way terminology, marvel at Eugenio Suárez and other surprises from the 2019 home run leaderboard, celebrate the AL wild card race, salute the improving A’s and Rays, and discuss teams that are reshaping their potential playoff rosters late in the regular season, respond at length to the breaking news that th...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s time in the mountains and subsequent September disorientation, attempt to divine the family dynamics of a Colin Moran vs. Brian Moran matchup, talk about the Twins pulling away in the AL Central race and the implications for Cleveland, and discuss the downsides of the annual debate about the definition of “value” in the MVP award de...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller debate whether a fact about Michael Lorenzen’s multi-way play is fun, banter about Nelson Cruz ’s unflagging offense, technology and the future of the knuckleball, and an ignominious achievement by Billy Hamilton , then answer listener emails about the lack of four-homer games, what would happen if foul balls caught in the stands counted as outs, and whethe...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Cardinals, the Nationals, and the NL’s increasingly interesting playoff races, the pluses and minuses of expanded September rosters, a caveat about time-traveling to see Mike Trout’ s final game, and Justin Verlander’ s third no-hitter and the role of health in determining pitchers’ careers, then discuss the significance of five...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about GPS, resisting the urge to take the bait on bad takes, and the debate about access for broadcasters who double as team personnel, answer listener emails about not replacing broken bats, earning/working walks, and players with underutilized skills, and close with a discussion of Félix Hernández ’s future and some podcast metacommentary (plus a postscr...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about whether they would take a time machine into baseball’s future, Yu Darvish ’s midseason makeover and ability to pick up new pitches, then answer listener emails about whether the warning track should be widened, players having the second halves of Hall of Fame careers, and a robot ump challenge system, plus a Stat Blast about the most common sto...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about what GPS directions have to do with analytics-averse managers, MLB’s black and white uniforms fiasco on Players Weekend, Sam’s takeaways from his trip to see a former podcast guest’s game in the Southern California Vintage Base Ball League, a philosophy professor’s quest to establish that the tie goes to the runner and a complaint a...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about beer and the mercy rule, a 12-minute game finish at Fenway, whether baseball players have high job satisfaction, compelling playoff races and especially lucky and unlucky contending teams, robot ump implications (including measuring player heights, determining the shape of the zone, and preserving receivers’ sense of self-worth), and the Angels&#8217...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Shohei Ohtani , Mike Trout , and the most compelling playoff races remaining, introduce the new Effectively Wild listener email archive, then answer emails about whether a team in a three-team race suffers or benefits when its opponents play each other, whether home runs hit off of position players should be valued lower than others and whether an MLB merc...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller bring on White Sox play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti to banter about sharing the broadcast booth with Bill Walton, Mike Schur, and Mike O’Brien over the weekend and what the success of the experiment says about the future of broadcasting. Then Ben and Sam mull a one-of-a-kind dropped third strike on Scooter Gennett , MLB’s homer rate reaching an even h...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Bryce Harper’ s clutchness and how he’s perceived by fans, Clayton Kershaw’ s resurgence, and Mickey Callaway’s comments about analytics, then answer listener emails about the same player batting twice and playing two positions, whether Byron Buxton ’s defense has hidden value, career WAR vs. career counting stats, whether pla...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about how Gleyber Torres’ s ownership of the Orioles and Aristides Aquino’ s home-run spree are emblematic of 2019, fun facts about players’ accomplishments in their first X games, home-run fun facts and the juiced ball, Juan Soto vs. Ronald Acuña, Jr. , two recent Scott Boras quotes, the Dodgers’ near-record extra-base-hits game, and Jef...

In the third episode of Effectively Wild recorded live at Saber Seminar in Boston, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to Boston Globe sportswriter Alex Speier , author of the new book Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion From the Ground Up , about Boston’s championship core, the twists and turns of player development, why clubhouse chemistry is so unpredictable, player development befo...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bo Bichette fun facts vs. Travis Demeritte fun facts, Javier Báez batting left-handed against a position player and why the shift appears to be exempt from unwritten rules, and umpire perfect games, then (30:46) talk to The Athletic ’s New York Yankees beat writer Lindsey Adler about how to explain the team’s injury-riddled yet somehow ultra-su...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Mike Trout ’s 28th birthday, the stats he’s led the league in, and the stats he still might lead the league in for the first time, the Mets’ recent hot streak and the way in which their season has been both tumultuous and predictable, Max Muncy and a cycle/walk-off triple attempt, and whether the basepaths should be wider, then answer lis...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the non-running Royals and Terrance Gore , the Diamondbacks’ stolen-base success rate and Zack Godley ’s disastrous season, the Phillies’ roster crunch, Sam’s recurring nightmare, a Roman Quinn fun fact, and the outfield exploits of Vince Velasquez , whether the 40-man roster should be bigger, what Velasquez has in common with EW le...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about FanGraphs’ completist coverage of the frantic trade deadline, the backlash to a perceived lack of activity at the deadline and whether the deadline was really a manifestation of baseball’s structural problems, the appropriate balance between trying to win now and trying to win later, what we can learn from the Chris Archer trade one year later,...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about bigger bases in the Atlantic League, then recap and dissect the trade deadline, focusing on why the market took so long to develop, the significance of multiple teams both buying and selling, why some top contenders didn’t do much, what a wild card is worth, the Trevor Bauer three-team trade, the Zack Greinke trade and the Astros as World Series favo...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Gerrit Cole strikeout fun fact, listed heights and weights and Ketel Marte , running the bases clockwise, and a Ramon Laureano postgame comment, then answer listener emails about come-from-behind (and comeback) victories, whether the 2015 season was good or bad for Bryce Harper (and how players’ success is perceived), and whether umpiring crews s...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on the feedback to the preceding “best players of the decade” episode and minimum innings vs. three-pitch innings, then banter about Mike Trout ‘s new-and-improved throwing arm (and Ross Stripling ’s new-and-improved ability to retire Mike Trout), trade-deadline procrastination, the Giants’ and Mets’ outlooks, the future of...

Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about “minimum innings,” striking out the side, and an anecdote about Barry Larkin bunting, then spend the rest of the episode answering a listener request to name the five best hitters and five best pitchers of the decade—but to make matters more interesting, they do so without looking at WAR and then compare their picks to the stats at...

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about a bat in front of home plate that deflected a ball, the José Ramírez resurgence, the base stealer in a Statcast ad, an Andrelton Simmons shift that wasn’t, the Atlantic League, a viral Oliver Drake pitch, and a misguided (and unguided) bunt by Fernando Tatís, Jr. , then discuss what a wild card is worth, how hard teams should pursue a spot in the pla...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the podcast’s seventh birthday, the end of an impressive streak by the Twins, what to think of Aaron Boone ‘s tirade against rookie umpire Brennan Miller (and Brett Gardner ’s odd dugout anger), Mike Trout and the FanGraphs Trade Value series, an Atlantic League player revolt, and five trends taking over the game, including the shift, rel...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s visit to Cleveland, the Giants’ perplexing situation heading into the trade deadline, Edwin Jackson’ s next destination, and the approaching addition of ads to MLB jerseys. Then they answer listener emails about whether Mike Trout ’s popularity among stat-savvy fans stems from his lack of playoff appearances, the “strike...