Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Clayton Kershaw’s back, balky backs in general, some of the players traded at the deadline who made immediate impacts in their debuts, and the perhaps surprisingly small impacts that deadline moves make on playoff and World Series odds. Then (15:09) they answer listener emails about intentionally scuttling a trade for leverage in a future negotiation, what would have to happen to convince them that the Rockies were a well-run organization, penalizing slow-paced pitchers by gradually lowering the mound, how to design the perfect pitching hand, convincing MLB to cut ties with gambling sponsors by paying players to throw games, Gold Gloves for utility players, an ethical conundrum involving Shohei Ohtani, and why we call them “triple-slash stats” when there are only two slashes, plus a Past Blast from 1885 (1:30:15) and followups.

Audio intro: The Smiths, “Stretch Out and Wait”
Audio outro: Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, “Twenty Fine Fingers”

Link to article on Kershaw’s back
Link to article on stretching research
Link to article on the shortest day
Link to Dan on deadline improvements
Link to Merrifield article
Link to post on Rockies pizza party
Link to Sam Miller on the pit
Link to Driveline post on generating spin
Link to Driveline on finger/grip strength
Link to Fielding Bible utility awards
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1885 story source
Link to Angels tweet
Link to Timber Rattlers mascot
Link to Philadelphia Zoo mascot
Link to high-scoring-game box score
Link to 2014 Tigers rotation story
Link to 1880s baseball story source
Link to submarine softball story
Link to North Pole baseball story

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After a busy deadline day, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley react to all the trade activity, beginning with a high-level overview of the deadline, a recap of the Rockies’ inactivity (5:28), the Padres’ Juan Soto, Josh Hader, Brandon Drury, and Joe Musgrove moves (13:58) and the mad genius of A.J. Preller, the equally unprecedented nature of the Hader-Taylor Rogers swap (33:42), and the Nationals’ side of the Soto blockbuster (42:03). Then they pause to pay tribute to Vin Scully (53:37), whose death was announced during the recording. With heavier hearts, they return to the trade talk and discuss the Mariners and Luis Castillo (1:03:00), the completion of the Reds and A’s teardowns (1:15:43), the Yankees’ additions (1:20:50), the Astros’ upgrades (1:31:27), the Orioles’ decision to sell (1:36:01), the Twins’ activity in contast to the Guadians and White Sox (1:44:11), what the Cardinals did and didn’t do (1:47:51), the NL East’s moves (1:49:06), the Cubs keeping Willson Contreras and Ian Happ (1:52:56), and the Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays, Giants, and other teams (1:57:55), plus a Past Blast from 1884 (2:06:45).

Audio intro: Minutemen, “No Exchange”
Audio outro: Dan Bern, “The Golden Voice of Vin Scully”

Link to FanGraphs’ trade coverage
Link to CBS trade tracker
Link to The Ringer’s winners/losers
Link to Ben on Preller in 2020
Link to FG farm rankings
Link to Schmidt’s Rockies quote
Link to Nick Groke on the Bard deal
Link to Dodgers’ Scully announcement
Link to EW episode on Scully
Link to Gallo’s quotes to The Athletic
Link to later Gallo quotes
Link to The Athletic on Mancini
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1884 story source 1
Link to 1884 story source 2
Link to 1884 story source 3
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer Ben Clemens banter about a flummoxing fun fact, Justin Verlander’s career vs. Max Scherzer’s career, and Max Meyer’s Tommy John surgery, then (24:55) discuss the Andrew Benintendi trade, Joey Gallo’s struggles, and the biggest questions surrounding the trade deadline before (45:53) reviewing “other” Ben’s work on the annual FanGraphs Trade Value series, focusing on the list-making process, players who just missed the cut, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, Oneil Cruz, the surprisingly underperforming top three, Julio Rodríguez, Yordan Alvarez, Mike Trout, the relative lack of pitchers, and more. After that, they end (1:30:57) with a Stat Blast about big leaguers on minor league rehab assignments, plus a Past Blast from 1883 and a postscript.

Audio intro: Frank Sinatra, “(I Offer You the Moon) Señorita”
Audio outro: The Bens, “Just Pretend”

Link to first fun fact
Link to cached second fun fact
Link to Dan S. on the Benintendi trade
Link to Boone’s “fake news” quote
Link to Lindsey Adler on Gallo
Link to Gallo Stathead query
Link to Eric L. on the Naquin trade
Link to Dan S. on the playoff format
Link to Neil Paine on the deadline
Link to Trade Value intro
Link to Trade Value conclusion
Link to Ohtani report
Link to Ben on Harper’s defense
Link to Emma on promotional jerseys
Link to Stathead
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1883 story source
Link to Evan on Manfred’s letter
Link to article on Trout’s back
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mike Trout’s rare back injury, Zac Veen and vaccines, the Rangers’ one-run record, interesting team trade rumors, and teams with tough deadline decisions, plus a Past Blast from 1882. Then (42:40) they talk to MLB.com’s Mike Petriello about Statcast’s newly public bat speed and swing path data, touching on how bat speed is calculated, the fastest swingers so far, how teams are already using bat-tracking tech, bat-tracking on broadcasts, the size of the sweet spot, the majors’ small margin for error, the pitcher-batter balance, scouting vs. developing swings, and what we still don’t know about bat-tracking.

Audio intro: Queen, “Back Chat”
Audio interstitial: Remember Sports, “No Going Back”
Audio outro: Gillian Welch, “Back Turn and Swing”

Link to Jeff Fletcher on Trout
Link to Sam Blum on Trout
Link to Trout’s comments
Link to Zac Veen thread
Link to Rosenthal on the Tigers
Link to FG Playoff Odds
Link to Joe Posnanski on the Rangers
Link to Red Sox misplays montage
Link to Tapia grand slam
Link to Mike’s bat-tracking primer
Link to Ethan Moore’s article
Link to ESPN BatTrack broadcast
Link to ESPN BatTrack data
Link to Rob Arthur on pitch/exit speed
Link to Tango’s Stanton post
Link to Tango on swing speed
Link to Tango on angular vs. linear speed
Link to Tango’s swing model
Link to Tango on bat collisions
Link to Tango on swing explosiveness
Link to Tango on bat position
Link to Tango on bat position/swing speed
Link to Tango on the Barrel zone
Link to Tango on attack angles
Link to Ballpark Dimensions pod
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1882 story source
Link to Sir Parsifal’s spreadsheet
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a convoluted fun fact, the Cardinals’ anti-vaccination contingent, a historic Red Sox slump, an injury to top draftee Druw Jones, and a Willians Astudillo double-play pitch, Stat Blast (16:00) about Bryan Shaw and late-starting starters (plus an update on zero-RBI cleanup hitters), and share a Past Blast from 1881. Then (30:48) they talk to The Athletic senior writer Evan Drellich about what the end (for now) of negotiations over an international draft portends for the future of the concept and relations between MLB and the MLBPA, the latest legislative challenge to MLB’s antitrust exemption, a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over minor league pay, Rob Manfred’s comment about living wages for minor leaguers, MLB’s broadcasting and blackout plans, and more.

Audio intro: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, “First to Finish, Last to Start”
Audio interstitial: Television Personalities, “Evan Doesn’t Ring Me Anymore”
Audio outro: The New Pornographers, “Chump Change”

Link to fun fact tweet
Link to Goldschmidt/Arenado comments
Link to Mikolas comments
Link to Red Sox slump story
Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter
Link to first-start data
Link to updated zero-RBI records
Link to story about Shaw
Link to Shaw game box score
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1881 story source 1
Link to 1881 story source 2
Link to story on Astudillo double play
Link to Jones injury report
Link to Evan on the international draft
Link to Ken and Maria on the draft
Link to James Wagner on the draft
Link to Evan on the antitrust exemption
Link to Evan on extended spring pay
Link to Forbes on the lawsuit settlement
Link to Hannah Keyser on MiLB pay
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley wrap up the podcast’s 10th anniversary week by doing a dozen listener-inspired Stat Blasts and then (51:53) talking to 42-year-old Red Sox starter and podcast legend Rich Hill about how the game and his game have evolved over his long career, plus (1:31:18) a Past Blast from 1880/postscript.

Audio intro: Silk Sonic, “Blast Off”
Audio interstitial 1: Levon Helm, “The Mountain”
Audio interstitial 2: Esther Rose, “Mountaintop”
Audio outro: This is the Kit, “Keep Going”

Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter
Link to split doubleheaders sheet
Link to zero-RBI records sheet
Link to Ben on Joseph in 2016
Link to non-hit walkoffs sheet
Link to bases-clearing PA sheet
Link to most players managed sheet
Link to no-LOB shutouts list
Link to HR vs. same pitchers sheet
Link to country debuts sheet
Link to Madris story
Link to saves vs. former teams sheet
Link to Kimbrel vs. Jansen story
Link to Dunn/Thome cycle leaders
Link to Stat Blasts on the EW wiki
Link to Hill on the EW wiki
Link to article on Hill’s handedness
Link to Rosenthal signing news
Link to Walsh/Epstein saying
Link to listener emails database
Link to 10th anniversary shirt
Link to all shirts
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1880 story source 1
Link to 1880 story source 2
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley are joined by FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen to banter about what accounts for the variability in how quickly prospects acclimate to the majors and detecting holes in swings, discuss (10:50) which teams have the prospects to trade for Juan Soto, review (22:59) impressive performances from the Futures Game (including a booming BP by Francisco Álvarez and a record throw by Masyn Winn), recap (31:02) the highs of the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game (with a focus on Julio Rodríguez’s standout Derby and the events’ best promotional moments), then break down the amateur draft, touching on the top three picks, the Orioles’ fruitful draft, the Rangers’ surprising Kumar Rocker selection, why so many sons of major leaguers were drafted, atypical players and potential two-way players, the teams with the best and most perplexing draft classes, the impact of the draft combine, and more, followed (1:45:09) by a Stat Blast on César Hernández and historic power outages, and a Past Blast from 1879.

Audio intro: St. Vincent, “All My Stars Aligned”
Audio outro: David Crosby, “Rodriguez for a Night”

Link to EW guest data
Link to Grant’s tweet
Link to quote about “transition tax”
Link to Ben on minors-to-majors gaps
Link to Ben Clemens on a Soto trade
Link to Baseball Trade Values
Link to MLBTR on Soto trades
Link to R.J. Anderson on Soto trades
Link to story on Soto’s brother
Link to Emma on Dodger Dogs
Link to clip of Cruz’s throw
Link to clip of Winn’s throw
Link to MLB.com ASG game story
Link to MLB.com on Manoah
Link to Joe Posnanski on Manoah
Link to MLB.com on Cortes
Link to Ben on mic’d up players
Link to MLB.com on best ASG moments
Link to The Ringer on the ASG
Link to The Ringer on the HRD
Link to R.J. on the Orioles’ draft
Link to Eric’s first-round recap
Link to Eric’s farm rankings
Link to MLB.com on father-son players
Link to Sawchik on father-son players
Link to R.J. on atypical picks
Link to Cory Lewis story
Link to Jared Beck story
Link to Jurrangelo Cijntje story
Link to Cijntje interview
Link to Reggie Crawford story
Link to Tyler Cleveland story
Link to info on the draft combine
Link to Stathead
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1879 story source
Link to tweet about Ohtani’s ESPYs
Link to Secret Headquarters trailer
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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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”
Audio outro: Willie Nelson With Waylon Jennings, “Old Friends”

Link to EW guest data
Link to story on Orioles catchers
Link to story on Yankees sliders
Link to Trout on the EW wiki
Link to Jeff on Trout’s adjustments
Link to Grant’s Quintana trade tweet
Link to Ben on young newsbreakers
Link to @NoContextEWPod
Link to Grant on Rueter’s shed
Link to Jeff on framing
Link to Ben on sign stealing
Link to Rob Arthur on sign stealing
Link to other BP sign-stealing study
Link to Jeff on the Astros
Link to Grant on the Astros
Link to Meg on Bradley
Link to Meg on Lind
Link to Stanton homer
Link to tweet about Lester
Link to Ben on Lester
Link to Jeff on Lester
Link to Lester on the EW wiki
Link to Hill on the EW wiki
Link to Grant on Ishikawa
Link to Ben on home runs in 2016
Link to Ben on the Negro Leagues
Link to Ben on the Negro Leagues again
Link to LaRoche retrospective
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1878 story source 1
Link to 1878 story source 2
Link to Richard on the triple play
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page
Link to 10th anniversary shirt
Link to all shirts

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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’s past, narrated by broadcaster Jason Benetti, which is followed by a Past Blast from 1877 (2:21:48) and a collection of listener-submitted audio tributes to the show (2:27:43).

Audio intro: Travis, “Anniversary”
Audio interstitial 1: Mark Eitzel, “The Last Ten Years”
Audio interstitial 2: Tennis, “10 Minutes 10 Years”
Audio outro: Al Stewart, “Anniversary”

Link to EW trivia spreadsheet
Link to Chris’s scorebug Twitter account
Link to @NoContextEWPod
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page
Link to EW podcast archive
Link to EW competitions/drafts sheet
Link to listener emails database
Link to 10th anniversary shirt
Link to all shirts
Link to playlists and music/episode info
Link to clips reel order
Link to clips reel files
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1877 story source 1
Link to 1877 story source 2
Link to listener tribute clips

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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 Balk: Baseball’s Thin Line Between Innovation and Cheating; and fourth (1:58:38), Paul Oyer on An Economist Goes to the Game: How to Throw Away $580 Million and Other Surprising Insights From the Economics of Sports, followed (2:32:42) by a Past Blast from 1876.

Audio intro: Drive-By Truckers, “Dancin’ Ricky”
Audio interstitial 1: Sir Douglas Quintet, “Revolutionary Ways”
Audio interstitial 2: Franz Ferdinand, “Cheating on You”
Audio interstitial 3: Dan Bern, “Economy”
Audio interstitial 4: Feist, “Past in Present”
Audio outro: Kelley Stoltz, “Read it in Books”

Link to Rickey
Link to Howard’s website
Link to Sho-Time
Link to Jeff’s website
Link to Ohtani’s Garcia impression
Link to Ohtani’s bat CPR
Link to Ben on Ohtani’s origin story
Link to Intentional Balk
Link to Mark’s website
Link to Daniel’s website
Link to EW sign-stealing episode
Link to Ben on overrated cheating
Link to An Economist Goes to the Game
Link to Paul’s website
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to vaccination story source
Link to 1876 story source
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Subscribe to Stathead (Code: WILD20)
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