Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their plans for playoff livestreams and an MLB attendance announcement, then recap the highlights of the last weekend of the regular season and discuss what excites them about the playoffs. Along the way, they rank the collapses of the Astros, Tigers, and Mets and banter about trade-deadline do-overs, playoff-clinching walk-offs, Game 162 incentives, whether tiebreakers are fairer than tiebreaker games, a smart save by a first-base coach, the scariest October teams relative to the regular season, the AL wild card matchups, two Alex Cora quotes, the potential for first-time champions, and more, plus follow-ups.

Audio intro: Jonathan Crymes, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Josh Busman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to livestreams sign-up
Link to MLB press release
Link to attendance stats
Link to year-over-year attendance
Link to Marte robbery
Link to Rafaela triple
Link to Sam on walk-off triples
Link to Trout homers
Link to Trout streak
Link to Alomar Jr. intervention
Link to Kayfus walk-off
Link to Norby quote
Link to Mets/Marlins history
Link to MLBTR on Alonso
Link to Cora quote
Link to haters meme
Link to FG staff predictions
Link to preseason playoff odds
Link to other Cora quote
Link to mid-May Gleyber pull rate
Link to May 12 Gleyber game
Link to first-year postseason starters
Link to MLBTR on Toboni
Link to lowest K%+
Link to Adames dinger
Link to Episode 2350

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners clinching the AL West, the benefits and drawbacks of MVP debates, the power of great players to enhance a season for spectators, the Cardinals’ and Giants’ reciprocal eliminations, the near-extinction of the 200-inning pitcher, the Nationals’ new head of baseball ops, and how predictive a track record of adept drafting is. Then (53:15) they answer listener emails about whether a player could/should ever challenge a ball/strike call that went their way, whether increased pitcher injuries have contributed to the lack of great teams, sticky-stuff inspections on broadcasts, how many pitches it takes to evaluate a pitcher, whether/why baseball managers incur fans’ wrath more than other sports’ coaches, whether teams are turning fewer double plays than they used to, and Trey Yesavage’s many 2025 teammates, plus (1:40:47) a postscript.

Audio intro: El Warren, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Beatwriter, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to 2015 MLB promo
Link to Ben on Judge vs. Ohtani
Link to Giants elimination story
Link to Cardinals elimination story
Link to pitcher IP leaderboard
Link to preseason pitcher IP projections
Link to Passan on Toboni
Link to MLBTR on Toboni
Link to WaPo on the Nats
Link to Ben on pitcher injury rates
Link to Ben on pitcher workloads
Link to Rodón quote
Link to MLB GIDP%
Link to Jays tweet
Link to quote-tweet
Link to Kenny Jackelen
Link to 2025 teammate leaders
Link to single-season teammate leaders
Link to listener emails database
Link to BP on Blalock
Link to Blalock leaderboard
Link to highest ML ERA (min. 55 IP)
Link to highest ML ERA (min. 100 IP)
Link to FG wOBA values
Link to BP location research
Link to FG playoff odds
Link to Darowski update

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the delights of the last week of the regular season, the Dodgers’ bullpen problems, and what kind of compromise the challenge system is, then (43:09) answer listener emails about where the warning track extends, the easiest day at the office for a batter, a player who exclusively hits one single per game, whether MLB front offices are Bayesian or frequentist, the relative strength of the AL and NL, and ticky-tack tags, plus (1:37:08) a postscript.

Audio intro: Sean .P, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Austin Klewan, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Skubal error clip
Link to MLBTR on Fry
Link to Tigers/Guardians game story
Link to MLBTR on Sasaki
Link to D-Backs/Dodgers game story
Link to Sheehan on challenges
Link to Goldstein on challenges
Link to Posnanski on challenges
Link to warning track definition
Link to Arenado play
Link to Stanton post
Link to Sam on NoPAPH
Link to NoPAPH by year
Link to 2025 NoPAPH
Link to Yount incident
Link to FG wOBA values
Link to Bayesian inference wiki
Link to frequentist inference wiki
Link to Marlins listing
Link to multiple Marlins listings
Link to Guardians listing
Link to Red Sox listing
Link to Rockies listing
Link to Angels listing
Link to Mets listing
Link to Springer tag
Link to Cameron on sliding 1
Link to Cameron on sliding 2
Link to listener emails database
Link to 2014 F1 story
Link to pitwall explainer

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the standings and stakes of an unexpectedly wild last week of the regular season, whether there’s such as a thing as a playoff team that can’t make a deep run, why Cal Raleigh is the player of the year regardless of whether he wins MVP, whether it still makes sense to say that fan-favorite players will never have to buy a meal/drink in their team’s city, the unique celebrations of Pirates pitcher Dauri Moreta, the official arrival of the ABS challenge system, the Marlins calling pitches from the dugout, the extent to which coaches should influence games, and Mike Trout’s barehand catch with a fan.

Audio intro: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Ben on the last week
Link to latest HUAL episode
Link to Jay on playoff permutations
Link to largest lost leads
Link to FG playoff odds
Link to BaseRuns standings
Link to team payrolls
Link to The Phantom Menace scene
Link to player of the year award
Link to historic achievement award
Link to FG mailbag
Link to Moreta video
Link to Moreta nickname story
Link to challenge system explainer
Link to Marlins story 1
Link to Marlins story 2
Link to 2016 Dodgers story
Link to Trout article/video
Link to Petriello post

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2025’s record number of 25-25 players and whether the current power/speed version of the sport is rendered any less impressive by its recent rule-change origins, the historic pre/post-All-Star break splits of Julio Rodríguez and whether the Mariners can help him become less of an extreme slow starter/fast finisher (phrasing?), the lockstep seasons (and recent slumps) of Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ceddanne Rafaela, the impending retirement (and on/off-field legacies) of Clayton Kershaw, and MLB’s new Amateur Recovery Period Policy, plus follow-ups (1:21:31) on a few of those topics.

Audio intro: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Pedantic)”
Audio outro: Kite Person, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to power-speed fun fact
Link to Opta Sports wiki
Link to Opta EW interview
Link to power-speed number
Link to power-speed by season
Link to ’87 HR spike info
Link to more on ’87 spike
Link to 2025 SB leaders
Link to The Bandwagon on basestealers
Link to Julio’s career splits
Link to biggest pre/post-ASB splits
Link to Paine on Julio
Link to February Julio article
Link to PCA/Ceddanne laggardboard
Link to Kershaw retirement story
Link to Ben on Kershaw vs. Pedro
Link to recovery period announcement
Link to ESPN on the recovery period
Link to BA on the recovery period
Link to 2024 MLB pitching report

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the state of the wild cards and whether the pennant races have been more exciting than forecasted despite the lack of actual changes in the playoff field, Cal Raleigh’s latest exploits, Geraldo Perdomo’s quiet excellence, the Orioles’ 2026 outlook, the Dodgers’ rotation and bullpen, Shohei Ohtani’s playoff role(s), the bouncebacks of Mookie Betts and George Springer, Yordan Alvarez’s ankle, James Wood and Spencer Jones slumps, season-ending schedules, and whether teams playing spoiler is satisfying for fans.

Audio intro: Jimmy Kramer, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Luke Lillard, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to FG playoff odds
Link to Clemens on the playoff odds
Link to Paine on the Mets
Link to Clemens on Raleigh
Link to FG WAR leaderboard
Link to Orioles report
Link to Dodgers rotation ranking
Link to Dodgers reliever ranking
Link to team SP projections
Link to Dodgers rotation story
Link to Ohtani starting story
Link to Ohtani outfield story
Link to Perdomo/Betts leaderboard
Link to Craig on the Dodgers
Link to Rob on the zombie runner
Link to Petriello on Jones
Link to Apple TV+ baseball doc
Link to Astudillo news

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s reaction to the Mariners moving into first place in the AL West (at least temporarily), Jac Caglianone and the Royals’ woeful corner-outfield offense, whether major leaguers have gotten better at sliding, and an unjust byproduct of the zombie runner. Then (50:43) they bring on baseball researcher and Sports Reference designer Adam Darowski to discuss Robinson Canó’s 4000th professional hit and Adam’s work on the 4000 hits club.

Audio intro: Andy Ellison, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Moon Hound, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Alonso quote
Link to mustache/witch article
Link to more on the witch
Link to even more on the witch
Link to 2021 Stat Blast
Link to M’s pitching query
Link to B-Ref newsletter
Link to Langs M’s note
Link to team travel
Link to team extra innings pitched
Link to 2025 worst team LF/RF
Link to worst team LF/RF since 2002
Link to Royals LF
Link to Royals RF
Link to playoff odds
Link to Jac’s leading xwOBA-wOBA
Link to Moniak slide
Link to Moniak slide close-up
Link to Crizer on slides
Link to Cameron on slides
Link to Cameron on slides 2
Link to Treinen game
Link to previous Treinen-type losses
Link to Treinen nickname article
Link to @PitchingNinja tweet
Link to Treinen conspiracy posts
Link to Canó video
Link to Canó video 2
Link to Canó article
Link to Canó article 2
Link to Adam’s Canó post
Link to Canó Insta post
Link to Canó Insta post 2
Link to Canó Insta post 3
Link to Canó Insta post 4
Link to Canó Insta post 5
Link to Canó cards story
Link to Adam’s presentation
Link to Simkus SABR article
Link to BP 4K club article
Link to Adam’s website
Link to underarm serve article 1
Link to underarm serve article 2
Link to eephus pitch wiki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the deepening twilight of Mike Trout, then (21:19) discuss why the so-called “death of expertise” sweeping society hasn’t swept sports in the same way, before answering listener emails (1:04:01) about whether the Rangers are good, how the count can be “quickly 0-2,” what makes a righty seem like a lefty, whether a player can be unclutch, the Rockies’ run differential, and the other kind of pitch clock, plus (1:37:58) a postscript.

Audio intro: Philip Tapley and Michael Stokes, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Grant Brisbee, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to The Athletic on Trout
Link to Woodrum on velo
Link to hitter pitch speeds
Link to previous Trout talk
Link to The Death of Expertise
Link to the WSJ on physics
Link to the New Yorker article
Link to Manfred analytics quote
Link to politics WAR
Link to Democracy at the Ballpark
Link to the Hard Knocks reference
Link to Paine on the Rangers
Link to Dubuque on Helman
Link to previous Burger banter
Link to BaseRuns standings
Link to playoff odds
Link to Brebbia report
Link to leaguewide late & close
Link to Alvarez late & close
Link to worst run differentials
Link to illustrated pitch movement
Link to Statcast spin direction
Link to clock-reading survey
Link to listener emails database
Link to Baseball Reliquary interview
Link to Buehler comments

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss and speculate about the percentage of major leaguers who’ve been inducted into some hall of fame and banter about Elly De La Cruz’s extended slump, Sean Murphy’s hip-to-be-tear revelation, and the perils of playing through injury, then assess where the line is when publicly shaming fans for ballpark behavior, and a pattern of Tigers executive misconduct (plus a postscript).

Audio intro: Jonathan Crymes, “Effectively Wild Theme 2”
Audio outro: Gabriel-Ernest, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Poff induction
Link to Poff pod 1
Link to Poff pod 2
Link to Jones HoF comment
Link to Little League Hall
Link to Reds WAR leaders
Link to Elly 2025 splits
Link to Murphy 2023 splits
Link to Murphy story 1
Link to Murphy story 2
Link to Phillies fan summary
Link to dad interview
Link to Phillies fan video
Link to Phillies fan article
Link to Bader bat story
Link to US Open CEO apology
Link to CEO fake apology
Link to The Athletic Tigers report
Link to Ella Black series
Link to immaculate inning list
Link to Pereda vs. Ohtani
Link to Pereda pitches
Link to Kahle pitches
Link to sports-sounds doc

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s near no-hitter, the Effectively Wild bump, and the Orioles’ incredible comeback), then banter (and quasi-Stat Blast) about four subjects: whether Shohei Ohtani has been more or less valuable as a DH only or as a two-way player this season; whether Cal Raleigh hits a disproporionate number of homers in garbage time (compared to the league and to Aaron Judge); whether position-player pitchers are better when they throw very fast pitches than when they throw very slow ones; and why left-handed pitchers are having a historically strong season, plus (1:23:05) several postscript follow-ups.

Audio intro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to YamamotO’s video
Link to FG win expectancy
Link to B-Ref gamelog
Link to Pages robbery story
Link to Mussina vs. Everett video
Link to near no-nos
Link to Ben on no-no umps
Link to Ohtani two-homer game
Link to one-way Ohtani Dodgers W-L
Link to two-way Ohtani Dodgers W-L
Link to one-way Ohtani WAR
Link to two-way Ohtani batter WAR
Link to two-way Ohtani pitcher WAR
Link to publication bias wiki
Link to file drawer problem
Link to MLBTR on Brebbia
Link to Cal >4 runs split
Link to league >4 runs split
Link to Judge >4 runs split
Link to Cal leverage split
Link to league leverage split
Link to Judge leverage split
Link to clutch comparison
Link to WPA leaderboard
Link to mistake hitting article
Link to most catcher HR
Link to Kingery vs. Kurtz
Link to exit velo responsibility
Link to Kingery vs. Kurtz pitches
Link to Mains on PPP
Link to slowest possible pitches
Link to average PPP velo
Link to slowest PPP pitch
Link to fasest PPP pitches
Link to PPP 45 and under wOBA
Link to PPP 80 and up wOBA
Link to PPP 79 and up wOBA
Link to PPP 45 and under RV/100
Link to PPP 80 and over RV/100
Link to PPP 79 and over RV/100
Link to LHP ERA- leaderboard
Link to LHP FIP- leaderboard
Link to 2025 RHP ERA
Link to 2025 LHP ERA
Link to Sawchik on LHP
Link to Crizer on LHP
Link to Crizer on LHP 2
Link to Nesbitt on LHP
Link to LHP horizontal release
Link to pitching fWAR leaders
Link to LHP pitch types
Link to LHP velo
Link to RHP velo
Link to wRC+ vs. LHP
Link to LHP TBH% by year
Link to LHP Stuff+
Link to LHP familiarity advantage
Link to Soto pitcher article
Link to Soto BP pitcher video
Link to Trammell bat update
Link to pitch-tipping article
Link to Whitecaps article
Link to HUAL episode

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