Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how the White Sox have played in Tony La Russa’s absence, then discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the rules changes coming to MLB in 2023: a pitch clock, restrictions on pickoff attempts and the shift, and bigger bases (with asides on a new WAR, Zack Greinke’s front-office acumen, and Ben’s hiccup cure). Then (52:40) they’re joined by historian Richard Hershberger for an in-person Past Blast from 1901, plus a long-term perspective on responses to times of rapid change in baseball, the sport’s cyclical nature, and more.

Audio intro: Phoenix, “1901”
Audio outro: Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses, “Change Is”

Link to La Russa report
Link to MLB story on rules changes
Link to ESPN story on rules changes
Link to info on infield dimensions
Link to Evan on player objections
Link to MLBPA statement
Link to episode on pitch clock history
Link to MLB BABIP by year
Link to Rob Mains on August offense
Link to Rob Arthur on spin
Link to Ben on banning the shift in 2015
Link to Jeff on banning the shift in 2018
Link to shift loophole idea
Link to Russell on banning the shift
Link to Justin Choi on banning the shift
Link to BA on the shift
Link to BA on the rules changes
Link to Justin Choi on banning the shift
Link to info on hiccups
Link to info on “intractable” hiccups
Link to article on Greinke in Milwaukee
Link to article on Greinke in L.A.
Link to article on Greinke in Arizona
Link to article on the new WAR
Link to other article on the new WAR
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to Richard’s SABR archive
Link to 1901 story source
Link to episode on 1889 relief experiment
Link to Jacob Pomrenke’s website
Link to Jacob Pomrenke on Twitter
Link to Evan on voluntary recognition
Link to Michael Baumann on unionization
Link to Stengel HoF bio

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the late Queen Elizabeth II’s first baseball game, the latest on Joey Meneses and Juan Soto (and on Soto being booed!), an Albert Pujols/Willians Astudillo fun fact, a Mets/Yankees first-place race update, additional thoughts on Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, Paul Goldschmidt and the traditional Triple Crown vs. the “sabermetric” Triple Crown, and the great Rookie of the Year races between Julio Rodríguez and Adley Rutschman in the AL and between Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II in the NL, then (49:03) answer listener emails about Carlos Correa’s front-office chops and unwritten rules they actually like, plus a Past Blast (1:22:15) from 1900.

Audio intro: Dan Bern, “Queen”
Audio outro: Keith Richards, “Yap Yap”

Link to story about QE2’s first game
Link to other story about the game
Link to the game at B-Ref
Link to video of the Queen at the game
Link to The Naked Gun clip
Link to Reggie tweet
Link to Meneses/Soto graphic
Link to other Meneses/Soto graphic
Link to Meneses EW YouTube video
Link to post about Nats’ elimination
Link to article about Soto boos
Link to Uni Watch on booing
Link to Pujols/Astudillo tweet
Link to Sarah Lang’s Mets tweet
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Mets
Link to list of Triple Crown winners
Link to Ben Clemens on Judge
Link to Historic Achievement Award
Link to Strider screenshot
Link to Jeremy Frank tweet
Link to CBA details
Link tweet about Correa
Link to story about Correa
Link to Keuchel’s 2017 comments
Link to info on nose-thumbing
Link to list of unwritten rules
Link to Vlad’s comment on showboating
Link to Hang Up and Listen episode
Link to story on Rangers vs. Celtics
Link to EW emails database
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1900 story source
Link to story about 2023 rules changes

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a baseball (and softball) toilet flapper, discuss (13:32) the continued excellence of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani (and the benefits of celebrating both instead of elevating one over the other), follow up on the Angels’ shutouts, Mike Trout’s post-injury rebound, the MLBPA’s effort to unionize minor leaguers (38:09), players whose homer totals matched their uniform numbers (46:25), César Hernández’s homers (47:38), Dallas Keuchel’s disastrous denouement (51:14), the Frontier League’s record-setting Empire State Greys (57:38), the variability of check-swing strike call rates (1:00:27), Yankee Stadium’s noise level (1:04:16), and a playoff-seeding quirk’s potential for tanking (1:13:05), followed by additional discussion on Zac Gallen’s scoreless streak (1:22:01) and Joe Maddon’s thoughts on analytics and managing (1:26:35), plus a Past Blast from 1899 (1:46:42) and a few closing thoughts (1:50:30).

Audio intro: The Lumineers, “Flapper Girl”
Audio outro: The Long Blondes, “You Could Have Both”

Link to flapper wrapper photo
Link to Korky flapper page
Link to Hugh Laurie “Corky” montage
Link to article on Clemens and Ohtani
Link to article on Ohtani’s autograph
Link to team shutout leaders
Link to Russell on Ohtani’s WAR
Link to final Frontier League standings
Link to Greys interview episode
Link to lowest pro winning percentages
Link to Evan’s unionization update
Link to list of highest ERAs (min. 60 IP)
Link to Bill James on grounder longevity
Link to Rob Neyer’s response to James
Link to @would_it_dong for Hernández
Link to video of Hernández’s HR
Link to article on Hernández’s HR
Link to Stat Blast on Hernández
Link to Craig Finn tweet
Link to Rob Mains on playoff seeding
Link to Joe Sheehan on playoff seeding
Link to Dan Szymborski on Gallen
Link to Michael Ajeto on Gallen
Link to team OAA leaderboard
Link to “OAA behind pitcher” leaderboard
Link to Maddon’s comments
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1899 story source
Link to Richard Garner primate research
Link to Barzun baseball essay

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and listener/Patreon supporter Nathan Valentine banter about Nathan’s dual team fandom, then answer listener emails (9:58) about Aaron Judge’s lead over the next-most-prolific HR hitter, handing out awards for all of MLB rather than each league, Jhoan Duran and defining an “off-speed” pitch, what constitutes actually visiting a stadium, and whether certain players might lose some motivation after signing a long-term extension, plus “How can you not be pedantic about baseball?” questions (54:11) about saying “after the final out,” “playing DH,” and “hitting safely,” Stat Blasts (1:08:20) about David Peterson and pitcher three-true-outcome outings, Ross Stripling and the fewest pitches to get through the first time through the order, Yadier Molina and seasons where a player had a higher age than wRC+, players with the highest matching HR totals and jersey numbers, and two-out-batting records, and a Past Blast (1:26:28) from 1898.

Audio intro: Aimee Mann, “It’s Not Safe”
Audio outro: Willie Nelson, “Valentine”

Link to Ben’s article on Meneses
Link to Meneses walk-off video
Link to Statcast HR leaderboard
Link to Judge’s expected HR by park
Link to Joe Sheehan on Judge
Link to Zach Kram on Judge
Link to Ben on Stanton in 2017
Link to article on PED Era HR leaders
Link to Russell on league differences
Link to Duran video
Link to Pavlidis on Duran
Link to Apostoleris on Duran
Link to pitch-type-name matrix
Link to pitch-type guessing game
Link to Ben Clemens on sweepers
Link to Timmy Trumpet story
Link to Players’ Tribune piece
Link to tweet about hitting safely
Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson on Twitter
Link to Peterson TTO game
Link to Mathews TTO game
Link to Stripling EW episode
Link to Adcock game
Link to Age>wRC+ sheet
Link to post on Levey’s MVP vote
Link to 2021 Braves game
Link to 1954 Dodgers game
Link to EW listener emails database
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1898 story source

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the annual promotion of Terrance Gore as a harbinger of the changing seasons, the modest September roster expansion and the arrivals or returns of Gunnar Henderson, Oswald Peraza, and Billy Hamilton, an umpire caught swearing on a hot mic (4:45), whether the Yankees could actually lose their lead in the AL East (7:59), the continued torrid hitting of Joey Meneses (20:09), the offensive potential of MLB games in Mexico City (21:34), an interruption (22:02) for a real-time reaction to Meneses’s walk-off homer, and two Past Blasts from 1897 (30:10). Then (46:57) they talk to Evan Drellich, senior writer for The Athletic, about the MLBPA’s effort to unionize the minors, touching on why the announcement was such a surprise, why this campaign is happening now, what will happen next, how a union of major and minor leaguers would work, potential points of conflict and agreement, how the sport could change, how far minor league advocacy has come, the league’s response, what the unionized minors might mean for Rob Manfred, and Jeff Luhnow’s sneaky phone deletions.

Audio intro: James Taylor, “Migration”
Audio interstitial: Todd Rundgren, “Long Flowing Robe”
Audio outro: Billy Bragg, “There is Power in a Union”

Link to Gore EW episode
Link to story on swallow migration
Link to Dan S. on Henderson
Link to hot-mic ump
Link to Rob Mains on winning by losing
Link to story on Ohtani homer
Link to Trivino jersey story
Link to story on Meneses homer
Link to MLB.TV offer
Link to Ben on baseball in Mexico City
Link to MLB on the Mexico City series
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1897 knuckler story source 1
Link to 1897 knuckler story source 2
Link to @OldBaseballNews account
Link to NYT story on bathrobe
Link to Emslie’s SABR bio
Link to bathrobe story 2
Link to bathrobe story 3
Link to bathrobe story 4
Link to bathrobe story 5
Link to bathrobe story 6
Link to bathrobe story 7
Link to bathrobe story 8
Link to bathrobe story 9
Link to bathrobe story 10
Link to bathrobe story 11
Link to Evan on unionization
Link to Evan’s Clark Q&A
Link to Evan’s ILR expert Q&A
Link to Gallup poll on unions
Link to Winning Fixes Everything
Link to Luhnow book excerpt
Link to Rodger Sherman Yankees tweet

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s habitual misappraisal of checked swings and the potential for automated checked-swing calls, then discuss the potential unionization of the minor leagues via minor league players joining the MLBPA, Nationals rookie replacement Joey Meneses outplaying Juan Soto and Josh Bell since the trade deadline, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and the AL Cy Young and MVP races, the Brewers’ and Padres’ results since the Josh Hader–Taylor Rogers trade, the potential postseason teams with the most sympathetic narratives for neutral rooters, Dallas Keuchel and the long tail of a former Cy Young winner’s career, the Angels’ surprisingly high shutout total, an Albert Pujols fun fact, John Smoltz’s communication breakdown, the return of soaring spin rates, a record-setting Mickey Mantle card, New York number retirements for Paul O’Neill and Willie Mays, and the reinvented stance of the late John Wockenfuss, plus two Past Blasts (1:36:32) from 1896 and a few followups.

Audio intro: Kurt Vile, “Check Baby”
Audio outro: Nick Drake, “Joey”

Link to checked-swing rule explainer
Link to SIS study on checked swings
Link to Ben on checked swings
Link to Tipping Pitches T-shirt
Link to MLBTR on unionization efforts
Link to Ohtani’s postgame comment
Link to team RP WAR since 8/2
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Hader trade
Link to SIS on Hader
Link to Michael Ajeto on Hader
Link to Robert Orr on Hader
Link to highest ERAs w/29+ saves
Link to team shutout leaders
Link to Pujols record article
Link to Ben Clemens on Smoltz
Link to Rob Arthur on spin rates
Link to 2022 offense by month
Link to story on the Mantle card
Link to EW episode on memorabilia
Link to Yankees WAR leaderboard
Link to story on the Mets and Mays
Link to Craig Wright’s story series
Link to Wright on Wockenfuss
Link to video of Wockenfuss
Link to BSG imitation of Wockenfuss
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1896 story source
Link to first source on Pond
Link to second source on Pond
Link to third source on Pond
Link to Pond/sweater story
Link to Pond’s SABR bio
Link to Fox 96 mph screenshot
Link to Fox 97 mph screenshot
Link to Dan S. on head-to-head records

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Julio Rodríguez‘s complex, long-term extension with the Mariners, which wild card contenders Meg is most worried about as a Mariners fan, George Kirby’s game-starting strike streak and the nature of a strike, the new CBA’s impact on midseason callups, and Bryce Harper’s return, follow up on MLB players playing KBO players, “defended” vs. “defensed,” Munetaka Murakami’s homers, and Yankee Stadium’s design, share a Past Blast (43:17) from 1895, and reflect on the 20th anniversary of the first MLB game stream. Then (54:40) they talk to listener and broadcast designer/director Chris Hanel about his research into the pitch-speed flames and score bugs on baseball broadcasts, the biggest score bug mistakes and disputes, how score bugs have evolved, the best and worst score bugs, the future of score bugs, and more.

Audio intro: The Apples in Stereo, “Stream Running Over”
Audio interstitial: Bobbie Gentry, “Bugs”
Audio outro: Popsicle, “Join My Stream”

Link to Passan’s extension article
Link to Passan’s Twitter thread
Link to MLBTR on the extension
Link to Dan S. on the extension
Link to Stathead on 20/20 players
Link to Kirby strike-record data
Link to Stowers walk-off video
Link to Elias fact tweet
Link to CBA incentive details
Link to BP on the Cavalli callup
Link to tweet about Henderson
Link to info on the “Korea Series”
Link to Mark Simon on Walker
Link to Zach Buchanan on Walker
Link to Murakami tweet
Link to defended/defensed discussion
Link to story about streaming anniversary
Link to 2002 streaming screenshot
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1895 story source
Link to Sam on the flames
Link to Chris’s flames grid
Link to Chris’s graphics sheet
Link to NPB graphics screenshot
Link to NPB graphics screenshot 2
Link to story on ESPN NFL graphics change
Link to MLB survey screenshot thread
Link to Chris’s score bug account
Link to Chris’s thread with more info
Link to Chris’s baseball account
Link to Chris’s company

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the approving responses to Ben’s blistering (by Ben’s standards) Yankee Stadium review, Christian Walker’s scale-breaking defense at first base, “defended” vs. “defensed,” the Dodgers’ historic run of regular-season success, and the battle between teammates Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt for NL MVP frontrunner status, followed by Stat Blasts (49:13) on the Yankees and slumping prospective playoff teams, teams whose players led their league in each type of hit, the biggest differentials in pitcher Game Score from one start to the next (against different teams and the same team), Lucas Giolito and the longest strings of starts with different numbers of earned runs allowed, and the most non-hit RBI to start a career, plus a Past Blast (1:11:56) from 1894.

Audio intro: Super Furry Animals, “Run! Christian, Run!”
Audio outro: Atomic Rooster, “Never to Lose”

Link to first base OAA leaders
Link to Petriello’s tweet
Link to Mark Simon on Walker
Link to Scoop leaders
Link to Petriello on the Dodgers
Link to Ben on the Dodgers in 2015
Link to Dan Szymborski on Bellinger
Link to Angels lineup with Ford
Link to info on MLB co-MVPs
Link to Tyler Kepner on the Yankees
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Yankees
Link to Jay on playoff-team season ends
Link to MLB.com on playoff-team season ends
Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson on Twitter
Link to hottest team starts
Link to playoff-team slumps
Link to league hit leaders data
Link to worst 2022 Game Scores
Link to worst pre-2022 Game Scores
Link to biggest Game Score swings
Link to listener emails database
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1894 story source

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the inflation of flames for fast pitches on baseball broadcasts, Oneil Cruz’s record-setting hard hit and the limitations of tools, Ben’s review of a trip to Yankee Stadium and Red Sox pitcher Josh Winckowski’s review of Wrigley Field compared to Fenway Park, the potential impact of a forthcoming Angels franchise sale, the latest Tony La Russa shenanigans, the importance of Johnny Cueto, updates on the streaking Cardinals and Albert Pujols, Jordan Montgomery, and Yadier Molina, Fernando Tatis Jr.’s shoulder surgery, the new, more balanced MLB schedule coming in 2023, the return of Alex Bregman’s bat, and the historic exploits of NPB phenoms Munetaka Murakami and Roki Sasaki, plus a Past Blast from 1893 and a few followups.

Audio intro: The Super Friendz, “Down in Flames”
Audio outro: Nils Lofgren, “Yankee Stadium”

Link to Sam on the flames
Link to percentage of 95+ pitches
Link to percentage of 95+ fastballs
Link to percentage of 95+ 4-seamers
Link to percentage of 96+ 4-seamers
Link to story on Cruz hit
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Yankees
Link to Winckowski comments
Link to “bean counter” etymology
Link to Angels sale announcement
Link to The Athletic on the Angels sale
Link to MLBTR on the ballpark sale
Link to La Russa quote
Link to article on Kopech
Link to other post on Kopech
Link to MLBTR on the Cueto signing
Link to article about players of the week
Link to Jay on Pujols
Link to Jeremy Frank tweet about Pujols
Link to Ben Clemens on Montgomery
Link to Foolish tweet about Montgomery
Link to article on Molina’s absence
Link to article on Tatis’s surgery
Link to article on the 2023 schedule
Link to Clemens on Bregman
Link to David Laurila on Bregman
Link to June episode about Bregman
Link to DeltaGraphs
Link to Ben on DeltaGraphs
Link to CBS Sports on Murakami
Link to The Sporting News on Murakami
Link to The Japan Times on Murakami
Link to Kyodo News on Murakami
Link to article on Murakami’s streak
Link to video of Murakami’s streak
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1893 story source
Link to Goldeyes EW episode
Link to Wade/Ward EW wiki page
Link to high Offense, negative WPA sheet
Link to 1978 Orioles cap

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the impending premiere of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, the projection-system verdict on the Braves’ extension of Michael Harris II, the White Sox signing Elvis Andrus, the possibly underrated, could’ve-been-Hall-of-Fame career of José Abreu, and the sophomore improvement of Ha-Seong Kim, then (25:06) answer listener emails about Albert Pujols and the 100-WAR threshold, big leaguers who’ve lost more games in their lives than they’ve won, and at which level a team would be unable to win even one game in a season were it promoted to the majors, followed by a Meet a Major Leaguer segment (51:08) on the Rockies’ Wynton Bernard, the Mariners’ Brennan Bernardino, and the Diamondbacks’ Stone Garrett, Stat Blasts (1:08:49) about the most first-round picks in a team game (and a starting lineup), streaks of team games with identical scores, and the highest WAR by a player with a negative WPA, plus a Past Blast (1:25:20) from 1892 (including a surprising Ed Delahanty comp) and (1:31:51) multiple Taylor Ward broadcaster mistakes.

Audio intro: Biz Markie, “The Dragon”
Audio outro: The Baseball Project, “The Death of Big Ed Delahanty”

Link to Dan S. on the Harris extension
Link to Dan on the Albies extension
Link to Craig Edwards on Albies
Link to MLBTR on the Sox signing Andrus
Link to Ben Clemens on the Abreu deal
Link to Abreu’s pre-MLB stats
Link to Dan S. on Kim’s projection
Link to Grant on Little League
Link to replacement level explainer
Link to Clay’s league strength post
Link to B-Ref’s new debuts page
Link to MLB.com on Bernard
Link to Bernard call-up video
Link to MLB.com on Garrett
Link to Garrett call-up video
Link to Bernardino announcement
Link to story on Bernardino and Rossman
Link to story on Bernardino’s debut
Link to Stathead
Link to Stathead addition post
Link to Ryan Nelson on Twitter
Link to first-rounders-in-game data
Link to first-rounders-in-lineup data
Link to high WARs with negative WPA
Link to Beltré’s pivotal 2010 plays
Link to Delahanty comp article
Link to Phillies LF article
Link to Delahanty’s SABR bio
Link to RIP Baseball on Delahanty
Link to article on 1900 Phillies
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1892 story source 1
Link to 1892 story source 2
Link to Harry Stevens article
Link to Wade/Ward EW wiki page

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