Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller follow up on a previous discussion of advance scouting’s contribution to Kirk Gibson’s legendary 1988 home run and banter about the strangeness of not having a date for Opening Day, then answer listener emails about how to get into baseball for the first time, how a shortened season could affect future perceptions of players’ careers, whether a shortened season would create more uncertainty in the standings (and whom it would help), whether baseball would be better if the top of the order led off every inning, and the Angels’ ownage of Yusei Kikuchi, plus a Stat Blast about the history of same-named teammates.

Audio intro: Field Music, "Shorter Shorter"
Audio outro: Elliott Smith, "A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to Be Free"

Link to Leonard Koppett book
Link to Craig Edwards on a shortened 2019 season
Link to Dan Szymborski on shortened-season playoff odds
Link to Ben on pitcher hitting
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about life during self-isolation and delayed media consumption and explore some of the long-considered and ultimately rejected article ideas in Sam’s tickler file, including Ken Griffey Jr.’s rap career, an undiscovered baseball star in Yosemite, an advance-scouting conspiracy theory, an unorthodox solution to extra-inning games, and a complaint about baseball inspired by Shel Silverstein (plus a brief baseball coronavirus update and the recommended baseball distraction of the day, about the new Statcast system and Hawk-Eye).

Audio intro: John Lennon, "Isolation"
Audio interstitial: Kid Sensation (Feat. Ken Griffey Jr.), "The Way I Swing"
Audio outro: Built to Spill, "The Wait"

Link to Timóteo video 1
Link to Timóteo video 2
Link to Timóteo video 3
Link to Statcast presentation video
Link to Statcast presentation summary
Link to Statcast presentation notes
Link to article about new Statcast physics
Link to order The MVP Machine

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In the absence of real baseball (and with plenty of solitary time on fans’ hands), Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley devote an episode to three new fictional depictions of baseball, speaking to novelist Emily Nemens (9:18), the author of spring training tale The Cactus League, novelist Gish Jen (36:56), the author of dystopian baseball saga The Resisters, and actor Hank Azaria (1:08:59), the star of IFC TV series Brockmire, which is about to return for its futuristic fourth and final season.

Audio intro: Belle and Sebastian, "Storytelling"
Audio interstitial 1: Lone Justice, "Cactus Rose"
Audio interstitial 2: Everclear, "Science Fiction"
Audio interstitial 3: Richard O’Brien, "Science Fiction/Double Feature"
Audio outro: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, "Let’s Pretend That it’s Summer"

Link to order The Cactus League
Link to The Cactus League review
Link to order The Resisters
Link to The Resisters review
Link to stream Brockmire Seasons 1-3
Link to stream the Brockmire Season 4 premiere
Link to Ben on Brockmire
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley react to MLB’s COVID-19-caused cancellation of the remainder of spring training and the postponement of Opening Day and discuss the disquieting week and the ramifications for the culture and the 2020 baseball season.

Audio intro: Dan Bern, "Ballpark"
Audio outro: Frank Sinatra, "I Get Along Without You Very Well"

Link to MLB announcement
Link to FDR letter
Link to story on baseball’s previous responses to disease
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Padres outfield un-fun facts, then discuss MLB’s $1 million “The Vault” competition to predict several statistical leaders of the 2020s, producing their picks in each category, reviewing how hard it would have been to pick the winners of the 2010s, and ruminating on the nature of baseball predictions and the inexorable impending decline of Mike Trout.

Audio intro: Tacocat, "Crystal Ball"
Audio outro: Tame Impala, "Let it Happen"

Link to MLB’s vault competition
Link to Dan on Trout’s inevitable decline
Link to Ben on Lords of the Realm
Link to Sam’s last Pujols pain post
Link to Trout baby video
Link to Smith LASIK surgery story
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Mike Trout’s career spring training stats, then preview the 2020 Minnesota Twins (9:01) with the The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, and the 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates (46:33) with The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey, plus a conversation between Ben and Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller (1:19:30) about Keller’s historically unlucky debut MLB season.

Audio intro: Union Street Preservation Society, "Meet Me in Spring"
Audio interstitial: Sleater-Kinney, "Leave You Behind"
Audio outro: Ages and Ages, "Just My Luck"

Link to Max Marchi on spring training stats
Link to story on Takashi Miyoshi’s new role
Link to Matt Trueblood on not extending Theo Epstein
Link to Jason on the Pirates’ pitching plan
Link to Ben on the Archer trade
Link to Ben on Keller’s debut year
Link to the Banished To The Pen preview series
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Twins reliever Zack Littell’s powerful affinity for cruise ships and bidding for baseballs from a baseball movie, then preview the 2020 Washington Nationals (12:39) with the Washington Post’s Sam Fortier, and the 2020 Kansas City Royals (40:26) with The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.

Audio intro: Frankie Ford, "Sea Cruise"
Audio interstitial 1: Yo La Tengo, "Season of the Shark"
Audio interstitial 2: Cold War Kids, "Royal Blue"
Audio outro: John Cale, "Ski Patrol"

Link to Littell story
Link to first Knives Out auction
Link to second Knives Out auction
Link to Ben on champions standing pat
Link to Fortier on Kieboom
Link to story on Parra
Link to Lewis on John Sherman
Link to Lewis on Matheny
Link to Lewis on Keller
Link to Lewis on Staumont
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about passing the halfway point of the season preview series, Zach Eflin’s spring training feedback on a possibly less lively baseball, the effect of sign stealing on the average time between pitches, a recent rash of spring pitcher injuries, and the incredible career trajectory of former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., then preview the 2020 Mets (19:06) with The Athletic’s Tim Britton, and the 2020 Blue Jays (58:23) with Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Audio intro: Aceyalone & RJD2, "Junior"
Audio interstitial 1: Yo La Tengo, "Meet the Mets"
Audio interstitial 2: Guided By Voices, "Blue Jay House"
Audio outro: Crowded House, "Now We’re Getting Somewhere"

Link to Eflin story
Link to Ben on sign stealing and pace
Link to Kershaw’s comments on 2017
Link to post about Amaro
Link to story about Mets fans and Venmo
Link to Tim on Ramos
Link to Ben on the one-knee catching trend
Link to The Resisters
Link to The Cactus League
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Astros confiscating signs at spring training and Madison Bumgarner’s rodeo alter ego, Mason Saunders, then preview the 2020 Athletics (13:58) with the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, and the 2020 Rockies (39:47) with The Athletic’s Nick Groke, plus a postscript on the implications of Luis Severino’s season-ending surgery (1:13:16).

Audio intro: Jonathan Coulton, "I’m a Mason Now"
Audio interstitial 1: Johnny Cash, "Wreck of the Old 97"
Audio interstitial 2: Willie Nelson and Ray Price, "This Cold War With You"
Audio outro: Porcupine Tree, "Sever Tomorrow"

Link to Morning Consult sign-stealing poll
Link to Mason Saunders story
Link to story on Monfort’s 94-wins quote
Link to Ben on spring training elbow injuries
Link to Astros response to cheating lawsuit
Link to order The MVP Machine

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In a special narrative episode of Effectively Wild, Ben Lindbergh traces the parallels between baseball’s latest sign-stealing crisis and an almost 60-year-old sign-stealing scandal that caused a comparable upheaval in the sport, drawing on archival clips, contemporary music, and interviews with author Paul Dickson and former major leaguers Eddie Robinson, Al Worthington, and Jay Hook to explore how illicit sign stealing starts, whether players can prevent it, and why it keeps recurring.

Audio intro: Bob Dylan, "Stealin’"
Audio interstitial 1: Elvis Presley, "Suspicion"
Audio interstitial 2: Gene Vincent, "I’m Goin’ Home (To See My Baby)"
Audio interstitial 3: Helen Humes, "‘Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-Ness If I Do"
Audio interstitial 4: Goldie Hill, "I Slipped Off My Wedding Ring"
Audio interstitial 5: Patsy Cline, "Your Cheatin’ Heart"
Audio outro: Ray Charles (Feat. Margie Hendricks), "Tell the Truth"

Link to The Hidden Language of Baseball
Link to Robinson’s memoir
Link to Veeck As In Wreck
Link to Rob Arthur’s Astros research
Link to Major League II scene
Link to Greenberg autobiography
Link to 1913 McGraw article
Link to first part of 1962 Sporting News sign-stealing feature
Link to second part of 1962 Sporting News sign-stealing feature
Link to 1962 Hook article
Link to 1957 Williams pigeon-shooting article
Link to Robinson interview episode
Link to order The MVP Machine

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