Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben, Meg, Michael Baumann, Ben Clemens, and Chris Hanel congregate to review the results of the 2025 minor league free agent draft (11:45) and recap their 40 bold preseason predictions (19:01), following quick games of “2025 College World Series Starting Pitching Matchup or First Amendment Supreme Court Case” (2:58) and “Cedar Rapids Kernel or Character in the Star Wars Universe&...

Ben and Meg banter about the benefits of baseball supporting longer careers than some other sports (inspired by LeBron James becoming the first NBA player to make it to a 23rd season), the Mariners re-signing Josh Naylor , four free agents accepting qualifying offers, the Orioles and Angels swapping Grayson Rodriguez and Taylor Ward , whether teams will find/develop the next Kyle Hendricks , MLB&#...

Ben and Meg banter about Based Boras vs. Borscht Belt Boras and a few corny quips they overlooked, then discuss end-of-season awards ( Aaron Judge vs. Cal Raleigh , Paul Skenes vs. Cristopher Sánchez , Skenes as a paid pitchman, José Ramírez MVP shares, Shohei Ohtani ’s dog vs. Judge’s dogs, repetition among award winners, groupthink among voters, WAR preference, bringing back old-scho...

Ben and Meg banter about a hotel-lobby shrine to Addison Barger and Scott Boras wordplay at the GM meetings, Stat Blast (25:50) about Paul DePodesta’s comeback, POBO percentage, postseason questions, and Mike Greenwell , and (1:01:07) conduct the 11th annual free agent contract over/under draft, plus a Boras postscript. Audio intro : Beatwriter, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Au...

Ben and Meg break down the federal indictment of Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz , including the documentary and statistical evidence of their alleged pitch-fixing, the implications for the sport and sports gambling, the unanswered questions, the dark comedy, and more (plus a real-time reaction to an MLB betting reform and an answer to an email about parenting in the age of ubiquitous sports-bett...

Ben and Meg banter about the Rockies reportedly hiring Paul DePodesta as their new head of baseball operations, another managerial hiring, MLB’s World Series ratings bonanza, the resurgence of the splitter, the Royals extending Salvador Perez , and more. Then (44:30) they bring on Ben Clemens to discuss his ranking of this offseason’s top 50 free agents, the strengths and weaknesses of...

Ben and Meg banter about the slightly shorter-than-usual duration of the offseason, how big the WBC will be, and a few managerial hirings. After that (41:53), they talk to FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen about Munetaka Murakami and this offseason’s most promising free agents from international leagues, what we’ve learned about Roki Sasaki and the factors that predict M...

Ben and Meg banter about all the highlights of World Series Game 7, with a side of World Series Game 6, break down the appeal of the now-completed postseason, and discuss what teams might take away from the success of 2025’s pennant winners. Audio intro : Guy Russo, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio outro : Sean .P, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to Ben&#821...

Ben and Meg banter about Trey Yesavage’ s performance in World Series Game 5, whether he’s already provided a career’s worth of value to Toronto, his current prospect ranking, and his future, plus Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’ s steady postseason production vs. Shohei Ohtani’ s clustered postseason production, covering the regular season like we cover the postseason, why the...

Ben and Meg banter about Magic Johnson’s Game 5 preview, Game 4 observations, belated Game 2 takes on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Jonas Brothers, Addison Barger’ s sleepovers and doppelgangers, David Popkins’ impact on the Jays, another Cal Raleigh award win, Bryce Harper ’s hurt feelings, and more. Audio intro : Luke Lillard, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audi...

Ben and Meg banter about and draft their favorite 18 moments (one for each inning!) from an endlessly entertaining, and almost just plain endless, World Series Game 3. Audio intro : Grant Brisbee, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Audio outro : Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Link to Ben on Game 3 Link to Laurila on Game 3 Link to Baumann on Ga...

Ben and Meg banter about Ben’s trip to a World Series-obsessed city, whether Game 1 of a best-of-seven series can be “must-win,” the Jays-as-underdogs narrative, the global audience for the matchup, and a few factors they’re following throughout the series, before reacting to two California clubs’ managerial hirings: the Angels’ choice of Kurt Suzuki and the Gia...

Meg Rowley and guest co-host Ben Clemens of FanGraphs discuss the conclusion of the ALCS, including Dan Wilson ’s decision to the turn to Eduard Bazardo to face George Springer with runners on in the seventh rather than bring in a higher-leverage reliever like Andrés Muñoz . Then they preview the upcoming World Series between the Blue Jays and the Dodgers, highlighting a few matchups they th...

In the hours before an ill-fated (for the Mariners) ALCS Game 7, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the state of Meg’s fan feelings and the highlights, lowlights, managerial moves, and more from Games 5 and 6. Then they discuss Shohei Ohtani ’s instantly legendary NLCS Game 4 performance (plus postscript). Audio intro : Kite Person, “ Effectively Wild Theme ” Au...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about ALCS Game 4 and NLCS Game 3, with an emphasis on Max Scherzer’ s must-win mentality and why his hyped-up mound and start-day demeanor stops just short of scanning as too intense, the Dodgers’ likeability (or lack thereof), and repetitive promos. Then (as Meg sporadically exclaims about the beginning of ALCS Game 5), they discuss how the Tigers...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the effect of road dominance on the postseason spectator experience and discuss NLCS Game 2 and ALCS Game 3, touching on Yoshinobu Yamamoto ’s throwback complete game, the historic playoff production of Kiké Hernández , the less surprising excellence of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , a budding Dodgers backlash, pitcher usage when a team is trailing, how to...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley revisit Meg’s experience of Mariners-Tigers ALDS Game 5 and recap the first few games of the Championship Series round, touching on postseason broadcast booths, the Mariners’ mauling of the Blue Jays in Toronto, Pat Murphy’s burnishing of the Brewers’ underdog image, broader narrative-building about the Brewers-Dodgers series, whether the Dodger...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley announce their playoff livestream plans and then break down Game 4 of the Phillies-Dodgers NLDS, including their musings on Orion Kerkering ’s game-ending error and the events that preceded it, whether baseball would be better or worse without its tragic on-field figures, the Phillies’ future, and the intimidating Dodgers. Then, after a few thoughts on the...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the rampant overuse of the phrase “must-win game,” denying late timeouts, the Blue Jays’ victory over the Yankees, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , a Yankees postmortem, Aaron Judge’ s partial postseason redemption, the athletic (and managerial) highlights and lowlights of the other ALDS and the two NLDSes, the swan song of October Clayton K...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s recovery from illness and her ongoing emotional distress as a postseason spectator, then share their takeaways from the first two games of each ALDS and the first game of each NLDS. After that (51:15), Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie joins to talk about how he’s handling postseason stress, his thoughts on the Mariners season and playof...

Ben Lindbergh brings on Michael Baumann, who immediately makes Ben regret it by subjecting him to a lyrical ode to Effectively Wild inspired by the Taylor Swift song “Wood.” Then they play “College Baseball Player or Make and Model of Car?” before recapping the three decisive Game 3s of the wild card round (with an emphasis on the absurdity of the Guardians’ immediate...

Ben Lindbergh brings on Hannah Keyser and Zach Crizer of The Bandwagon to banter in a hopefully not-immediately-dated way about the first two days of playoff action, including the Dodgers dispatching the Reds, Dave Roberts using “Strategy,” Aaron Boone’s perceived mismanaging, the flamethrowing Mason Miller and a playoff-pitch-speed conundrum, and more, plus conversation about ho...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their plans for playoff livestreams and an MLB attendance announcement, then recap the highlights of the last weekend of the regular season and discuss what excites them about the playoffs. Along the way, they rank the collapses of the Astros, Tigers, and Mets and banter about trade-deadline do-overs, playoff-clinching walk-offs, Game 162 incentives, wheth...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners clinching the AL West, the benefits and drawbacks of MVP debates, the power of great players to enhance a season for spectators, the Cardinals’ and Giants’ reciprocal eliminations, the near-extinction of the 200-inning pitcher, the Nationals’ new head of baseball ops, and how predictive a track record of adept drafting is. Th...

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the delights of the last week of the regular season, the Dodgers’ bullpen problems, and what kind of compromise the challenge system is, then (43:09) answer listener emails about where the warning track extends, the easiest day at the office for a batter, a player who exclusively hits one single per game, whether MLB front offices are Bayesian or fre...