Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the significance of some teams’ slow starts to the season, the slowest batter in baseball, and a curious coincidence on another show. Then they have a mini baseball econ class with FanGraphs managing editor Dave Cameron, who discusses the non-news about Carlos Correa’s contract, the surprisingly static price of mid-tier contract extensions, the death of the early-career superstar contract extension, and the culprit behind the players’ declining share of MLB revenue.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Mike Trout topping the WAR leaderboard, Stephen Wright’s vulnerability to the elements, and baseball-player social media behavior, then talk about the increase in game times in 2017, the factors slowing pace of play, and the coming of the pitch clock.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan drop the no-Reds rule to banter about Michael Lorenzen and Joey Votto, then answer listener emails about a player who’s always in the rain, stats on baseball broadcasts, a curious scoreboard fun fact, the wave, early closer meltdowns, two framing hypotheticals, how many Kemps equals a Kiermaier, an extended draft drought, a Seinfeld trade proposal, and more.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the Mets’ starting rotation, a Keon Broxton sighting, and the five WAR leaders vs. the five WAR trailers, then talk to Rob Neyer about his oral history of Michael Jordan’s baseball career, how good Jordan was and could have been, the ways in which the Jordan experiment is misremembered, and how it differs from Tim Tebow’s current attempt, concluding with a discussion of the use and abuse of the 10-day DL rule.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Keon Broxton and batting helmets, statistical soothsaying, and the two-way-player attempts of Michael Lorenzen and Christian Bethancourt, then discuss the early results of several preseason players and teams of interest.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Jake Arrieta’s velocity loss, the league’s artificial velocity gain, and whether the Astros won the winter, then answer listener emails about topspin and the turf, the Mariners’ and Blue Jays’ 40th anniversaries/seasons, disagreeing with projections, intentional-walk predictions, Madison Bumgarner’s batting, the negative value of player mistakes, single-game double-play leaders, a pitcher who always throws strikes, forecasting final stat lines, and more.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the difficulty of keeping perspective on Opening Day events, the lone disagreement between their preseason predictions, and a common reader misconception about prediction “groupthink.” Then they talk to Astros Double-A catching prospect and trampoline survivor Garrett Stubbs about his childhood trampoline injury and still-crooked finger, his dramatically different rankings on stats-based and scouting-based prospect lists, how size affects his future as a catcher, how he learned to hit for power, how he and the Astros focus on pitch framing, and more.

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the end of the offseason, a Canada-only Clayton Kershaw, and Drew Smyly’s health status, then discuss whether the advancement of technology and the latest sabermetric insights still favor defense over offense, or whether hitters have started to even the score.

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Earlier this week we completed the fifth annual Effectively Wild season preview series, which an astonishing 98.1 percent of polled listeners sadistically demanded that we do. If you already are or would like to become a listener, you’ve clicked on the appropriate post! Find the team that you’d like to hear me, Jeff Sullivan, Vin Scully, and an informed media member discuss. Then prepare to be disappointed, because it’s just me, Jeff, and the more informed media member, who differs by the day.

Even so, we’re worth a listen if you’re trying to set the scene for Opening Day. We’re well-trained: Click the links below (or subscribe) to open individual episodes, and we’ll start speaking on command. I’ve done the math, and even if you haven’t started yet, you have more than enough time to marathon the whole thing before the season starts.

The teams are listened in order of episode publication, so we’re not trying to predict anything on this page, except that this podcast compendium could be useful to you.

AL West: Rangers, Mariners, Athletics, Angels, Astros
AL Central: Tigers, Royals, Twins, Indians, White Sox
AL East: Yankees, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox
NL West: Rockies, Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Padres
NL Central: Pirates, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Brewers
NL East: Marlins, Mets, Braves, Nationals, Phillies

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Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about a Carter Capps mimic, several recently released Effectively Wild favorites, a baseball use for trampolines, and Derek Jeter’s prolific publishing career, then answer listener emails about a different kind of fantasy league, a player who can see slightly into the future, speed vs. velocity, a home-run/strikeout pitcher, spring training intentional walks, breaking Old Hoss Radbourn’s record, magically missing bats, part-time Trout and Kershaw, and more.

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