Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley preview the 2021 Astros with Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle and the 2021 Rangers (54:07) with Levi Weaver of The Athletic.
Audio intro: The Felice Brothers, "T for Texas" Audio interstitial: Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, "Dirty Little Texas Story" Audio outro: 2nd Grade, "Bye-Bye Texas"
Link to Michael Baumann on the aging Astros Link to Chandler on Valdez Link to Chandler on Álvarez Link to Martino’s Astros book Link to Drellich’s Astros book Link to Levi on the Rangers and fan safety Link to ESPN on the Rangers front office Link to The Daily News on the Rangers front office Link to story on Charley Pride Fellowship Program Link to Levi on Young Link to Levi on the Rangers’ rotation Link to Ken Rosenthal report about Lynn Link to Andrew Simon on Kiner-Falefa Link to Levi on Kiner-Falefa Link to Levi on Calhoun Link to Levi on Arihara Link to Levi on Dunning Link to Levi on the first-base battle Link to things Levi is looking forward to Link to story about B-Ref being sued Link to Baseball-Reference Stream Finder
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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley attempt to make sense of unsightly spring training uniforms, then preview the 2021 Braves (08:42) with Grant McAuley of From The Diamond and the 2021 Mariners (45:27) with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.
Audio intro: Ken Stringfellow, "Uniforms" Audio interstitial: Anti-Flag, "20 Years of Hell" Audio outro: Jethro Tull, "Uniform"
Link to Meg’s tweet about the Padres’ uniforms Link to Uni Watch on the St. Patrick’s Day unis Link to Mike Petriello on the Braves’ projections Link to Petriello on Tatis/Acuña/Soto Link to Craig Goldstein on Fried Link to study on Cobb County Link to Neil deMause on the Cobb County study Link to From The Diamond Link to BP Mariners preview Link to Rodríguez homer video Link to Ryan on the Rodríguez homer Link to Ryan on Kelenic and Mather Link to Ryan on Kelenic’s injury Link to Ryan on Dunn and spring training clichés Link to Dan Szymborski’s hitter bust candidates Link to Ryan on Kikuchi Link to Ryan on the pandemic and the M’s rebuild
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about weirdness and whimsy in spring training, the Giants and Cleveland playing an unnecessary bottom of the ninth (without umpires), the 22-pitch plate appearance between Jordan Hicks and Luis Guillorme, Jacob deGrom’s ever-escalating velocity, and two recent research pieces, then preview the 2021 Twins (23:33) with Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic and the 2021 Tigers (59:27) with Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group.
Audio intro: Fruit Bats, "The Bottom of It" Audio interstitial 1: Joel Plaskett, "Catch 22" Audio interstitial 2: John Frusciante, "Central" Audio outro: Will Butler, "Finish What I Started"
Link to story about Giants-Cleveland game Link to Jesse’s Giants-Cleveland Twitter thread Link to story about 22-pitch PA Link to RJ McDaniel on the 22-pitch PA Link to Forman tweet about timing the 22-pitch PA Link to Russell Carleton on full-count fouls Link to spring Statcast standouts Link to story about deGrom’s spring speeds Link to Matt Kelly on deGrom’s velo in 2020 Link to Travis Sawchik on deGrom’s velo in 2020 Link to Ben on moving the mound back Link to Rob Mains on the modern TTO penalty Link to Rob on the TTO penalty in the past Link to Matt Trueblood’s Twins preview Link to Aaron on impact Twins rookies Link to Aaron on the playoff losing streak Link to Aaron on the closer-less bullpen Link to Aaron on Cruz Link to Aaron on Colomé Link to Aaron on Simmons’s defense Link to Aaron on a Kirilloff extension Link to Travis on Garver’s framing Link to Dan Syzmborski on hitter bust candidates Link to Evan on the Tigers’ spending Link to Evan on Baddoo
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley pass the halfway point of their 30-team season preview series by previewing the 2021 White Sox with James Fegan of The Athletic and the 2021 Diamondbacks (46:45) with Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic, plus a brief postscript on the career and retirement of Nick Markakis.
Audio intro: Parquet Courts, "Black and White" Audio interstitial: The Hives, "Try it Again" Audio outro: Nick Lowe, "Halfway to Paradise"
Link to Athletic article on teams developing velocity Link to James on Kopech Link to James on Crochet Link to James on La Russa and team unity Link to report about Reinsdorf and La Russa Link to James on Vaughn Link to James on Giolito Link to James on Lucroy Link to James on Cease Link to Dan Szymborski’s bust candidates Link to Szymborski’s breakout candidates Link to Nick on Lovullo’s contract Link to Jake Mailhot on Ketel Marte’s power Link to highest-WAR seasons without an MVP vote Link to highest-WAR careers without an MVP vote
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the new baseball format embraced by the Savannah Bananas, the experimental rules MLB is imposing at various levels of the minor leagues in 2021, and whether they would want to live in a ballpark (like a man who claims to have lived for three years in Veterans Stadium), then answer listener emails about whether this season’s spring training stats are more or less meaningless than usual, the ideal photo to represent baseball on the sport’s Wikipedia page, the definition of pitchability, whether the public’s perception of player mega-contracts has changed, whether this is the “tanking era” or the “superteam era,” and whether tanking is as bad as it’s cracked up to be, plus a Stat Blast about teams that scored the highest percentage of their total runs in one game.
Audio intro: Louis Prima, "Yes, We Have No Bananas" Audio outro: Iron Maiden, "The Number of the Beast"
Link to story about the Bananas Link to video about the Bananas Link to MiLB rules changes announcement Link to Jayson Stark on the new rules Link to story about living in Veterans Stadium Link to The Secret Apartment Link to Dan Rosenheck on spring training stats Link to Dan’s presentation on spring training stats Link to Heyward photo from Wikipedia Link to Alex Chamberlain on Hendricks Link to A-Rod contract facts Link to Zach Kram on the superteam era Link to Ben on competitive balance and tanking Link to Craig Edwards on competitive balance and tanking Link to Craig on the 2019 competitive balance problem Link to Stat Blast data
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about MLB.TV repetition, Yadier Molina throwing out Jose Siri, teams opting to end innings early, the effect of Jarred Kelenic’s injury on the Mariners service-time controversy, the Astros signing Jake Odorizzi, and teams being more brazen about lowering their competitive balance tax assessments, then preview the 2021 Blue Jays (21:50) with Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic and the 2021 Giants (1:06:14) with Grant Brisbee of The Athletic.
Audio intro: Zeus, "At the Risk of Repeating" Audio interstitial 1: Neil Young, "Far From Home" Audio interstitial 2: Old & In the Way, "Old and in the Way" Audio outro: Sloan, "Everything You’ve Done Wrong"
Link to sentient-baseballs email episode Link to MLB Film Room Link to Molina/Siri play Link to Evans/Phillips face-off Link to Ichiro/Cameron simulated game Link to story about Kelenic’s knee injury Link to rule about “rolling” innings Link to Dan Szymborski on the Odorizzi signing Link to Odorizzi contract terms Link to drafts and competitions spreadsheet Link to story on Kovalchuk’s 17-year deal Link to story about Kovalchuk penalty reduction Link to story about Blue Jays’ radio feed Link to story about Blue Jays’ free agency premium Link to Kaitlyn on where the Jays will play Link to Kaitlyn on Vlad Link to Dan on Vlad as a breakout candidate Link to Kaitlyn on the Jays’ pitching depth chart Link to Kaitlyn on the Jays’ new complex Link to story on the Jays’ high performance department Link to story on Biggio and the less lively ball Link to Spin Rate podcast Link to Ben Carsley on the Giants Link to Matt Trueblood on Yastrzemski Link to Grant on Yastrzemski Link to the Giants’ giant coaching staff Link to Andrew Baggarly on Alyssa Nakken Link to Grant on the Giants’ old lineup Link to Grant on the Giants’ rotation depth Link to Grant in 2017 on AT&T Park offense Link to Grant on Oracle Park offense in 2020 Link to Baggs & Brisbee podcast
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’s first home run and pitching appearance of spring training, follow up on their previous discussion about the abominable baseball scene in Tom & Jerry, and recap the results of a Baseball America study about the number of big leaguers (and good big leaguers) in the average farm system, then preview the 2021 Red Sox (31:32) with Alex Speier of The Boston Globe and the 2021 Reds (1:13:42) with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.
Audio intro: Real Estate, "It’s Real" Audio interstitial 1: The Style Council, "All Gone Away" Audio interstitial 2: Cordovas, "Step Back Red" Audio outro: Fiona Apple, "Red Red Red"
Link to Ohtani splitter GIFs Link to story on Ohtani’s homer Link to Fabian on Ohtani having fun Link to Tom & Jerry clip Link to actual Gordon fly ball Link to Tom & Jerry director interview Link to Baseball America prospects study Link to earlier BA study about future all-stars Link to Jeff on good players and prospects Link to Jeff on good players who weren’t prospects Link to Alex on Martinez rebuilding himself Link to Alex on Cora Link to Alex on Cordero Link to Alex on Boston’s outfield Link to Homegrown paperback Link to Trent on Greene Link to Trent in 2020 on Driveline Link to Redleg Nation post on Reds’ unlucky offense Link to Reddit post on Reds’ unlucky offense Link to Trent on Farmer Link to Trent on the Reds’ payroll Link to Redleg Nation post on Votto’s adjustment Link to Trent and Eno on Votto
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Justin Dunn’s offseason overhaul and the value of spring training clichés, the Brewers signing Jackie Bradley Jr., why Jake Odorizzi is still a free agent, where he’ll end up, and why he’ll decide the EW free agent contracts competition, and an abominable baseball scene from the new movie Tom & Jerry. Then (41:25) they bring on Sam Rosenthal and Joel Clarke of video game studio The Game Band, the creators of the viral online simulation league Blaseball, to talk about their baseball backgrounds, how they created Blaseball, how and why it took off, how the game works, its active fan community, its dedicated researchers, how they write the story and simulate games, how they make money, how to get into the game, the impact of the pandemic on the game, the demographics of its fans, player incinerations/resurrections, and more.
Audio intro: The Garages, "Empty Stadiums" Audio interstitial: Josh Millard, "Let Me into the Blaseball" Audio outro: The Garages, "Rogue Ump"
Link to Dunn story Link to Ben’s BSOHL study Link to Ben’s new pitches study Link to David Laurila on Bradley Link to Jay Jaffe on Odorizzi Link to FA contracts draft stats Link to Ben Clemens on Houston’s rotation Link to Tom & Jerry clip Link to actual Gordon fly ball Link to Sonic the Hedgehog baseball scene Link to Blaseball website Link to the Blaseball wiki Link to The Game Band intro Twitter thread Link to Blaseball explainer video Link to Polygon intro to Blaseball Link to Polygon on Blaseball fans Link to Vice on Blaseball Link to Android Central on Blaseball Link to Defector on Blaseball Link to Cat Manning’s Blaseball primer Link to the Los Angeles Times on Blaseball Link to The Universal Baseball Association Link to SIBR Link to Blaseball Reference Link to story on The Garages Link to Blaseball Patreon page
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about spring training games starting, Jeff Mathis batting cleanup in a spring training game (and once improbably batting fifth in a regular-season game), the latest reports about suspended Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway, the postponement of the start of the Triple-A season, the outlook for attendance in Texas, and Zack Greinke’s quest to join the exclusive 10-10 club for pitchers, then preview the 2021 Angels (26:23) with Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and the 2021 Royals (1:09:10) with Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star.
Audio intro: Shovels & Rope (Feat. Brandi Carlile), "Cleanup Hitter" Audio interstitial 1: Filthy Friends, "Angels" Audio interstitial 2: Heart, "Treat Me Well" Audio outro: Pavement, "Harness Your Hopes"
Link to 2012 Mathis game Link to latest Callaway report Link to Alderson comments about Callaway Link to Passan report about Triple-A Link to Rangers attendance story Link to Greinke’s 10-10 quote Link to Fabian on Ohtani’s offseason Link to story about Angels’ GM hiring process Link to story about Angels’ furloughs Link to story about Pujols paying employees’ salaries Link to Jared Diamond on the Royals treating people well
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jarred Kelenic’s beef with the Mariners about alleged service-time manipulation, then preview the 2021 Nationals (25:37) with Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post and the 2021 Cubs (59:43) with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.
Audio intro: Ty Segall, "Manipulator" Audio interstitial 1: Gary Louris, "D.C. Blues" Audio interstitial 2: Jason Isbell, "Chicago Promenade" Audio outro: Van Morrison, "March Winds in February"
Link to USA Today article about Kelenic Link to Mather video transcript Link to Craig Goldstein on holding down prospects Link to Jayson Stark on fixing service-time manipulation Link to R.J. Anderson on the Bryant grievance Link to Sahadev on the Darvish trade Link to Sahadev’s interview with Breslow Link to Sahadev on Kimbrel Link to Sahadev on Arrieta Link to Sahadev on the Cubs’ defense Link to Alex Chamberlain on Hendricks Link to Joe Sheehan on hitters in walk years Link to Jesse on Schwarber getting squatty Link to Jesse on Kieboom Link to Jesse on Strasburg Link to Jesse on Hand Link to Buzz Saw