Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the symbolism of the baseball in Knives Out (beware of slight spoilers from 4:17 to 10:32), follow up on a few reader suggestions about outside hires who could clean up the Astros, and discuss the latest developments in the sign-stealing scandal, then try to invent a new end-of-season baseball award that could catch on in an era of advanced stats and award saturation, plus a postscript on a baseball reference in an episode of Sex and the City.

Audio intro: Radiohead, "Knives Out"
Audio outro: Fabolous (Feat. Pusha T), "Life is so Exciting"

Link to info on the baseball in Knives Out
Link to Sam’s article about the most exciting players
Link to paper on WAR and MVP voting
Link to Sam on WAR and Hall of Fame voting
Link to article about advanced stats and Gold Glove voting
Link to video of Sex and the City scene
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller review a wild, rumor-filled Thursday in baseball, touching on Jessica Mendoza’s comments about Mike Fiers, the end of Carlos Beltrán’s brief tenure as Mets manager, the Mets’ handling of his exit, the saga of not-Beltrán’s-niece, Twitter detectives following alleged leads about buzzers, Alex Bregman, and José Altuve, how efforts to document the banging scheme fueled the search for suspicious jerseys, MLB losing control of the sign-stealing narrative, comments on sign stealing by non-Astros players, how bad the scandal will be for baseball, and (on a happier note) the Giants’ hiring of Alyssa Nakken, the first female major league coach, then answer listener emails about how the Astros’ performance in 2020 will affect perceptions of sign stealing’s effectiveness, how many games the Astros would win if they were barred from the playoffs, the baseball equivalent of Ed “Straight Arrow” Gennero from Necessary Roughness, and Beltrán’s chances of making the Hall of Fame, plus a Stat Blast on striking out every hitter in a game.

Audio intro: Dr. Dog, "Buzzing in the Light"
Audio outro: Donovan, "Jersey Thursday"

Link to Mendoza comments
Link to Michael Baumann on the spread of sign-stealing rumors
Link to Jeff Passan’s recap of Thursday
Link to Alyssa Nakken story
Link to Bregman’s 2018 comments about Beltrán
Link to Cora’s 2018 comments about Beltrán
Link to Verlander’s 2017 comments about sign stealing
Link to Jay Jaffe on Beltrán’s Hall of Fame chances
Link to Will Leitch on the sign-stealing scandal
Link to Congressional letter
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Red Sox firing Alex Cora, the Twins signing Josh Donaldson, an uptick in online player pettiness, fans taunting the visiting Astros, and a baseball-themed Jeopardy! clue. Then (22:30) Ben and Sam Miller banter about baseball fandom as a form of family bonding and the appeal of Remembering Some Guys and conclude by remembering something about each of the players who just appeared for the first time on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Audio intro: The Walkmen, "Another One Goes By"
Audio interstitial: Jenny Lewis, "Just One of the Guys"
Audio outro: Chance The Rapper (Feat. Death Cab for Cutie), "Do You Remember"

Link to Red Sox announcement
Link to post about Minor
Link to Jay’s ballot breakdowns
Link to David’s video series
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s report about the findings of the league’s investigation into the Astros’ sign-stealing activities and the firings of Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch, touching on the appropriateness of the punishments, the new details revealed in the report, where the report fell short, why players weren’t suspended, the futures of the suspended personnel, the culpability of Luhnow, Hinch, Alex Cora, and Carlos Beltrán, when and why the sign stealing (supposedly) stopped, the future of the Astros, whether other teams will be implicated, permanent solutions to sign stealing, and more.

Audio intro: Queen, "Hammer to Fall"
Audio outro: Justin Townes Earle, "Someone Will Pay"

Link to MLB report
Link to Hinch statement
Link to Luhnow statement
Link to Ben on the report’s ripple effects
Link to Verducci report
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2019’s non-playoff teams actually being the big buyers this winter, the six-player Rays-Cardinals trade involving Matthew Liberatore and José Martínez, working with friends, and the Mariners not making trades, then answer emails about what constitutes a blockbuster trade, the worst go-for-it trades, and whether it’s better for the fans of a losing World Series team to know that the victorious team illegally stole signs.

Audio intro: Sister Sledge, "Blockbuster Boy"
Audio outro: Tame Impala, "The Less I Know the Better"

Link to latest Ben Clemens research on signings
Link to Craig Edwards on winning and free-agent spending
Link to Ben Clemens breakdown of the Cardinals-Rays trade
Link to Sam’s famous Rays trade tweet
Link to list of disastrous deadline deals
Link to video of Smith’s homer
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the latest revelations about Red Sox sign-stealing, MLB’s impending punishment of the Astros, and long-term sign-stealing solutions, then answer listener emails about banning executives, the offseason coverage of the Cubs and White Sox and what it means to win the winter, why bench players aren’t displayed in box scores, the merits of MLB’s approach to instituting an automated strike zone, and what makes errors and misplays memorable, plus a Stat Blast about the positional patterns of multi-position players.

Audio intro: Uncle Tupelo, "Steal the Crumbs"
Audio outro: Otis Redding, "Everybody Makes a Mistake"

Link to The Athletic’s report on Red Sox sign-stealing
Link to Verducci on Boston’s sign-stealing
Link to Venezuelan Winter League brawl video
Link to Tropeano strikeout story
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and a slightly light-headed Sam Miller banter about baseball and vomit and 2019 World Series Game 7 losing pitcher Will Harris signing with the Nationals, then attempt to predict what baseball will look like in the 2020s, touching on the most celebrated retirements, how high the strikeout rate will rise, how many games will be played, which tactics will come to the fore, what the most notable trends of the decade may be, whether baseball will get better or worse, and more.

Audio intro: The Verve, "A New Decade"
Audio outro: Koufax, "Going to Happen"

Link to Ben on sick pitchers
Link to Sam’s end of the decade awards
Link to story on Harris’ Game 6 home run allowed
Link to story on Harris’ Game 7 home run allowed
Link to the history of rising strikeout rates
Link to Ben on the mid-plate-appearance pitching change
Link to Ben on trends that could define baseball’s future
Link to ESPN broadcast featuring Bat Track
Link to ESPN Bat Track data
Link to order The MVP Machine

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In the final (for now) installment of a special, seven-episode series on the past, present, and future of advanced analysis in non-baseball sports, Ben Lindbergh talks to sabermetric pioneer Sherri Nichols about her trailblazing work in baseball analysis and then data scientist and sports entrepreneur Tiffany Kelly (41:02) about her experience in the sports analytics field, touching on their contributions to rec.sport.baseball, Retrosheet, and ESPN and the need for greater diversity and representation in the industry (plus a postscript from Ben on Scott Boras and insights and takeaways from the entire Multisport Sabermetrics Exchange series).

Audio intro: Tegan and Sara, "Come On"
Audio interstitial: The Sensations, "Let Me In"
Audio outro: Nas, "Represent"

Link to Ben’s article on Sherri
Link to story on Sherri on the CMU site
Link to story on Sherri in the CMU magazine
Link to Sherri writing about Defensive Average in 1990
Link to rec.sport.baseball archive
Link to story on the Andrew File System
Link to Tiffany on her career in sports analytics
Link to Tiffany on the Sports Analytics Club Program
Link to the SACP’s site
Link to article about Rachel Balkovec
Link to Jalen Rose’s comments about analytics
Link to Jalen Rose’s follow-up comments
Link to ESPN report about the MLB Racial and Gender Report Card
Link to past MLB report cards
Link to MLB Diversity Fellowship Program
Link to Boras prediction
Link to order The MVP Machine

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In the sixth installment of a special, seven-episode series on the past, present, and future of advanced analysis in non-baseball sports, Ben Lindbergh talks to Motorsports Analytics founder and The Athletic writer David Smith about NASCAR and then former Garmin-Sharp and Team Sky analyst Robby Ketchell about cycling (47:48), touching on the origins of sabermetrics-style analysis in each sport, the major challenges, big breakthroughs, and overturned misconceptions, the early adopters, the cutting-edge stats and tech, the level of acceptance within the game, the effects on the spectator experience, the parallels with baseball, and more, plus a postscript on Bucky Dent, Rich Hill, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, and ESPN Bat Track.

Audio intro: Grateful Dead, "The Race is On"
Audio interstitial: Yo La Tengo, "The Race is on Again"
Audio outro: George Harrison, "Faster"

Link to David Smith’s archive at The Athletic
Link to Motorsports Analytics site
Link to Positive Regression Podcast
Link to David’s 2019 analytical takeaways
Link to David on Erik Jones
Link to David on driver stat darlings
Link to David on crew chief stat darlings
Link to David on metrics that do or don’t matter
Link to article on Andrew Maness and NASCAR
Link to article about Robby and Team Sky
Link to article on Team Sky’s use of data
Link to article on big data in racing
Link to article about technology in racing
Link to article about Chris Froome’s power data
Link to article about technology in racing
Link to article about using power data to detect doping
Link to article about Team Sky and doping
Link to another article about Team Sky and doping
Link to article about Robby and Kipchoge
Link to Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method Wiki
Link to ESPN broadcast featuring Bat Track
Link to story about Bat Track
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about Kohl Stewart signing with the Orioles, another convoluted Scott Boras quote, and a few of the things Sam learned in 2019 (including Candlestick Park’s “Cardiac Hill,” the sound of Hideki Matsui’s swing, and the disturbing story of “Toothpick” Sam Jones), then discuss what the most defining/enduring baseball memory of 2019 will be.

Audio intro: The Proper Ornaments, "Memories"
Audio outro: Uncle Tupelo, "That Year"

Link to Sam on what he learned in 2019
Link to Death at the Ballpark book
Link to SABR bio for Sam Jones
Link to Sam on the defining baseball memory of 2019
Link to Sam on the defining baseball memories of previous years
Link to Zach Kram on the baseball as an unreliable narrator
Link to Craig Edwards on MLB’s 2019 competitive balance problem
Link to video of Hal Smith homer
Link to order The MVP Machine

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