Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
2,172 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 2.5K ratingsDaily baseball statistical analysis and commentary
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Episodes
Effectively Wild Episode 1721: Forget it, Jake. It’s Chi-Town.
July 17, 2021 01:37 - 1 hour - 66.9 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the conditions David Fletcher has faced during his hitting streak compared to those Joe DiMaggio faced, follow up on a discussion of baseball in a multiverse scenario, discuss the difficulty of extending (or trading) Byron Buxton, mention a quest to collect Willians Astudillo cards, puzzle over the stagnation […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1720: Fun Differential
July 16, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 74.2 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s airport problems, discuss the All-Star Game (touching on mic’d up and profane players, unsightly uniforms, All-Stars being friendly on the field, and MLB embracing the game’s lack of stakes), lament that the zombie-runner rule may not be (un)dead after all, follow up on more players with high […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1719: The Derby and the Draft
July 14, 2021 07:53 - 1 hour - 103 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rob Manfred teasing a possible permanent reprieve from zombie runners and seven-inning doubleheaders, react to Monday’s Home Run Derby and outpouring of appreciation for Shohei Ohtani, and lament Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season-ending injury (and assess the state of the Braves). Then (45:46) they bring on FanGraphs Lead Prospect […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1718: MLB in the Multiverse of Madness
July 09, 2021 09:21 - 1 hour - 75.4 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the 10th anniversary of Mike Trout’s promotion to the majors, Rey Ordóñez and other players with high highlights-to-value ratios, opting against an Albert Pujols pun, MLB wisely forgoing the humidor for the Home Run Derby, and a quibble with the Derby bracket, then follow up on a discussion […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1717: The Bad Hatters
July 08, 2021 10:56 - 1 hour - 101 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Rays’ combined seven-inning hitless game, knuckleballer Mickey Jannis as a secret weapon in MLB The Show, Jacob deGrom and the near-impossibility of breaking the ERA record, Billy Hamilton and players with the highest highlight-to-value ratios, a six-man outfield against Joey Gallo, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the retelling […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1716: Hey Mickey
July 06, 2021 09:37 - 1 hour - 71.4 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their long weekends, birthday boy (and two-way All-Star) Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s perplexing timing when it comes to announcing awards and All-Star honors and scheduling special events such as the Futures Game and the amateur draft, the Yankees’ continuing troubles, pitchers who’ve struggled since the sticky stuff crackdown began, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1715: It’s Academic
July 02, 2021 08:12 - 1 hour - 93 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about passing the halfway point of the regular season, the early effects of the sticky-stuff crackdown, a historically high-scoring day, the white-hot Brewers (and Willy Adames) and the red-hot Nationals (and Kyle Schwarber), a Germán Márquez gem, and a study on how kids become fans that helps explain how […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1714: A Bad Day in Baseball
July 02, 2021 03:28 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s experience attending the worst start of Shohei Ohtani’s MLB career, then (15:04) discuss the Dodgers’ and MLB’s response (and their own reactions to) this week’s serious assault allegations against Trevor Bauer. (Warning: This episode contains some swears, starting at 18:18.) Audio intro: Vanessa Peters, "Rather Bad Day" Audio outro: […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1713: The Straw That Broke the Umpire’s Belt
June 29, 2021 07:35 - 1 hour - 69.7 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s borderline excessive consumption of Angels games and the latest, greatest exploits of Shohei Ohtani, who and what is to blame for the Yankees’ ongoing struggles, Gerrit Cole’s performance post-sticky stuff, Hector Santiago becoming the first pitcher ejected for alleged foreign substance use, a Triple-A umpire’s broken-belt ejection, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1712: The 21-Strikeout Salute
June 26, 2021 05:47 - 1 hour - 69.8 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the brief big league stay of knuckleballer Mickey Jannis, Joey Votto’s predictions, decline, and reminders of mortality, Greg Maddux forecasting foul balls, and the states of the Cubs and Dodgers post-combined no-hitter. Then they answer listener emails about whether MLB regrets making Statcast data publicly available in the […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1711: Strip Search
June 25, 2021 09:56 - 1 hour - 64.4 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about MLB’s much-maligned All-Star Game uniforms and a pair of odd games, discuss the highs and lows of the first few days of MLB’s enforced foreign-substance ban (with special attention to Max Scherzer, Joe Girardi, and Sergio Romo), review Wander Franco’s debut and note the less-hyped arrivals of Lars […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1710: Sticking Time Bomb
June 22, 2021 10:06 - 2 hours - 129 MBBen Lindbergh and guest co-host Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio and the Diamondbacks’ broadcast crew discuss the D-Backs’ 17-game losing streak and more extended stretch of futility before bantering about Shohei Ohtani’s Player of the Week Award-winning performance and the potential for Ohtani to own All-Star Week, the call-up of (and expectations for) Rays […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1709: Number One With a Bullet
June 18, 2021 08:05 - 1 hour - 84.5 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on previous discussions about player predictions and game postponements, answer listener emails about a sticky-stuff pitcher protest, the talent level in the College World Series, the wave as a player-distraction device, a six-year-old who roots for walks, and when the Astros will stop being booed (with an aside […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1708: Spinning Out
June 17, 2021 08:59 - 1 hour - 87.6 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jose Altuve forgoing a home run trot, then break down the details of MLB’s plan to enforce the rules against foreign-substance use starting on June 21, covering the pros and cons of putting that plan into action at midseason and opting to ban all substances, what the effects […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1707: Baseball-Reference Rewrites its Record Books
June 15, 2021 11:08 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s experience seeing Shohei Ohtani pitch, hit, and play right field in person, why balks can be so incomprehensible, the differing recent fortunes of the Angels and the Diamondbacks (and Albert Pujols), Jacob deGrom’s dominance and durability, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the big bats (and playoff fortunes) of […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1706: The Giants, (Sort of) Explained
June 11, 2021 23:32 - 1 hour - 57.2 MBBen Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee discuss Grant’s experience co-hosting a podcast with Hunter Pence and Grant’s hatred of the zombie-runner rule, before attempting to explain how and why the San Francisco Giants have baseball’s best record and what they should do at the trade deadline. Audio intro: The Baseball Project, "The Giants […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1705: Spit Takes
June 11, 2021 06:14 - 1 hour - 73.6 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about another prescient player prediction (this time involving the Phillies’ Luke Williams), Nick Madrigal’s hamstring injury, another aspect of the baseball scene in A Quiet Place Part II, and a few observations about the foreign-substance scandal, including teams’ culpability, how the perception of sticky stuff use may mirror the […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1704: How the Foreign-Substance Crackdown Could Go
June 09, 2021 08:10 - 1 hour - 80 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter (sans spoilers) about baseball movie A Quiet Place Part II, Eric Sogard sliding over first base, a Travis Jankowski TOOTBLAN, Miguel Sanó repeatedly predicting success, and Jesse Winker raking, then consider whether it’s actually “unfortunate” that the first true two-way player in ages is as good as Shohei Ohtani, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1703: Yesterday’s Papers
June 05, 2021 00:13 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1702: Just a Bit Outside
June 04, 2021 09:24 - 1 hour - 82.7 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1701: Just Spitballing
June 02, 2021 08:36 - 1 hour - 96.1 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1700: Dirty Secrets and Naked Truths
May 28, 2021 05:24 - 1 hour - 68.7 MBBen 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, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1699: Fixed That for You
May 27, 2021 08:49 - 1 hour - 83.9 MBBen 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) […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1698: The Smoking Theragun
May 26, 2021 05:35 - 1 hour - 88.1 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1697: Don’t Blame the Batters
May 21, 2021 22:38 - 1 hour - 72.3 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1696: A No-Hitter a Day Keeps the Offense Away
May 20, 2021 06:12 - 1 hour - 87.6 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1695: The Better Angels of Our Nature
May 19, 2021 07:45 - 1 hour - 83.2 MBBen 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, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1694: Twin Killing
May 15, 2021 08:41 - 1 hour - 80.6 MBBen 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, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1693: Dodger Dog Delivery
May 13, 2021 09:33 - 1 hour - 76.9 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1692: No Mo’ No-Nos
May 12, 2021 05:59 - 1 hour - 81.4 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1691: Adios, Albert
May 07, 2021 09:44 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1690: No Regression to the Means
May 06, 2021 07:35 - 1 hour - 81.8 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1689: Take Artists
May 05, 2021 06:31 - 1 hour - 80.6 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1688: Beware of Flying Objects
May 01, 2021 12:22 - 1 hour - 88.1 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1687: Not Bad, Vlad
April 29, 2021 11:10 - 1 hour - 66.8 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1686: The Best and the Rest of the West
April 27, 2021 11:11 - 1 hour - 90.1 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1685: Too Close to Call
April 24, 2021 06:33 - 1 hour - 87.8 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1684: Let’s Premember Some Guys
April 23, 2021 09:24 - 1 hour - 78.2 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1683: The Unlikely Leadoff Man
April 21, 2021 09:36 - 1 hour - 75.1 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1682: You Make the Call
April 16, 2021 23:23 - 1 hour - 70.5 MBBen 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 […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1681: Ghost Runners in the Sky
April 15, 2021 12:09 - 1 hour - 93.9 MBBen 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” […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1680: Díganos de Dihigo
April 13, 2021 07:26 - 2 hours - 123 MBBen 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 call […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1679: How to Keep Players Healthy in 2021
April 09, 2021 12:47 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBBen 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, […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1678: The 2021 Team Fun Draft
April 09, 2021 10:08 - 1 hour - 90.4 MBBen Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer RJ McDaniel banter about a controversial walk-off hit by pitch call involving the Mets’ Michael Conforto, the early success of exciting Tigers Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo, and unexpected fauna on the field, then conduct the second annual Effectively Wild Team Fun Draft, in which they draft all […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1677: Fully Armed and Operational
April 05, 2021 11:25 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley convene an emergency podcast to discuss Shohei Ohtani’s exhilarating, terrifying, and historic Sunday Night Baseball performance against the White Sox (which veered from triumph to near-tragedy), touching on Ohtani’s titanic home run and resounding bat crack, the aesthetics of his stuff, his Statcast superstardom, his narrow escape from injury after […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1676: New Season, Who Dis?
April 02, 2021 23:38 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about immersing themselves in Opening Day action, Opening Day highlights and oddities, early-season optimism, the divisive automatic-runner rule, the Francisco Lindor extension and why it matters so much for the Mets, the perception of players’ positive COVID tests today compared to last season, what they’re most looking forward to […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1675: Season Preview Series: Dodgers and Orioles
March 31, 2021 14:09 - 1 hour - 108 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the completion of the season preview series and the Marlins renaming Marlins Park “loanDepot park,” do a draft of current corporate-sponsored MLB ballpark names from least to most objectionable, and then preview the 2021 Dodgers (24:20) with Pedro Moura of the The Athletic and the 2021 Orioles (1:09:03) […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1674: Season Preview Series: Yankees and Pirates
March 30, 2021 10:14 - 1 hour - 107 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg getting vaccinated, the social dynamics of looser restrictions for vaccinated MLB players, an update on the infamous Tom & Jerry baseball scene, another baseball term named after a player, Willians Astudillo making the Twins, a few other players not making their respective teams, politicians’ performative fandom, Randy […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1673: Season Preview Series: Padres and Rockies
March 27, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 102 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how the absence of the injured Eloy Jiménez will affect the White Sox, follow up on their discussions from the preceding episode about distracting on-field animals and baseball terms named after teams or players, then preview the 2021 Padres (19:37) with Dennis Lin of the The Athletic and […]
Effectively Wild Episode 1672: Untitled Goose Gamesmanship
March 25, 2021 09:19 - 1 hour - 75.5 MBBen Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Isiah Kiner-Falefa being mad at Meg (sort of), a billboard in Boston about Mookie Betts, MLB’s renewed attempts to crack down on foreign-substance use, and what an NHL referee oopsie says about umpire makeup calls and automated strike zones, then answer listener emails about whether the season preview […]