Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jake Arrieta’s sub-replacement pitching and the sorry state of the Padres’ starting staff, Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, and the NL MVP race, Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the competing, persuasive narratives of the AL MVP race, and the ascendance of micro sports betting. Then (31:49) they talk to FanGraphs writer Jay Jaffe about tracking “Team Entropy,” fun and far-fetched tiebreaker scenarios, the potential for wild endings to 2021’s division and wild card races, the retirement and legacy of Ryan Braun, and the players who’ve most helped their Hall of Fame cases this season.

Audio intro: Humble Pie, "The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake"
Audio interstitial: The Stroppies, "Entropy"
Audio outro: Mandolin Orange, "Old Ties and Companions"

Link to Ohtani on the Time Top 100
Link to story on Ohtani’s Top 100 appearance
Link to Jeff Sullivan on Harper’s 2015
Link to Rob Arthur on Harper’s 2015
Link to Ben on the Soto Shuffle
Link to story on micro sports betting
Link to study on micro sports bettors
Link to story on cricket betting scandal
Link to tennis match-fixing wiki
Link to Jay on Team Entropy in 2011
Link to MLB.com 2011 retrospective
Link to CBS Sports 2011 retrospective
Link to 2011 retrospective video
Link to Ben on five-way tiebreakers
Link to Russell on five-way tiebreakers
Link to Jay’s 2021 Team Entropy intro
Link to latest Team Entropy piece
Link to Rob on the Mariners’ run differential
Link to Jay on Braun
Link to Jay on pitchers’ Hall cases
Link to Jay on hitters’ Hall cases
Link to Jay on Negro Leagues candidates
Link to Jay’s first Sausage Race piece
Link to Jay’s second Sausage Race piece

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Padres reliever Austin Adams tying the single-season hit by pitch record (and some resulting safety concerns), Corbin Burnes pitching (most of) the season’s record-setting ninth no-hitter and the changing norms around pulling pitchers mid-no-no, Max Scherzer’s recent run, pitchers whose whole careers are covered by pitch-tracking tech, and Scherzer vs. Walker Buehler, the Padres’ stretch-run incentives, the Blue Jays raking and the Orioles imploding, the Yankees moving Gleyber Torres from shortstop to second base, and the latest demotion for quintessential journeyman Ryan Lavarnway. Then (40:18) they talk to writers Russell Carleton and Robert O’Connell about their recent (and not-so-recent) research and reporting about conditions in the minor leagues, touching on whether pay and housing have improved, the role of advocacy groups and media members in influencing public opinion, the cases for and against paying minor leaguers more, how much it would cost to raise the standards, the roots of low minor league pay, the impact of anxiety on development, and more.

Audio intro: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, "Just Outside of Austin"
Audio interstitial: Motorists, "Blood From the Stone"
Audio outro: The Both, "Pay for It"

Link to Zach Kram on Adams
Link to locations of Adams’ HBP
Link to Adams’ pitch to Turner
Link to story on Planet Nine
Link to Will Sammon on Counsell’s decision
Link to 1974 Preston Gomez story
Link to Jay Jaffe on Scherzer
Link to Jeff Passan on the Scherzer trade
Link to Dodgers Nation on Scherzer vs. Buehler
Link to Scherzer’s Kershaw reaction video
Link to MLB’s 3000-strikeouts graphic
Link to Ben Clemens on the Blue Jays
Link to Hyde’s postgame quote
Link to Dan Szymborski on Torres
Link to Lavarnway news
Link to Robert’s Defector story
Link to Russell on minor leaguers in 2012
Link to Russell on what it would cost
Link to Russell on responding to objections
Link to Russell on minor leaguers as investments
Link to Russell on minor league anxiety
Link to Russell on player-development losses
Link to Russell on changing teams’ thinking
Link to Marc Normandin on unionizing the minors
Link to story on G League union
Link to G League union announcement
Link to Joon Lee’s Angels report
Link to Brittany Ghiroli’s recent report
Link to Ghiroli on Astros housing
Link to FanGraphs post on housing costs
Link to story about Orioles housing
Link to subsequent story on Orioles housing
Link to Advocates for Minor Leaguers requests
Link to EW meetup info

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Blue Jays’ hot streak and playoff outlook and the meaning of clutchness, then meet major leaguers Andy Ibáñez of the Rangers and Janson Junk of the Angels. After that (37:07), they’re joined by Rob Mains of Baseball Prospectus to discuss the state of starting pitching, the future of pitcher usage, and the ebb and flow of competitive balance in MLB.

Audio intro: Magnolia Electric Co., "North Star"
Audio interstitial: Justus Proffit, "Split Into"
Audio outro: Dag, "Living in the Balance"

Link to Michael Baumann on the Jays
Link to Mike Baumanns podcast
Link to AL East playoff odds graph
Link to Levi Weaver on Ibáñez’s debut
Link to Ibáñez on his call-up
Link to Junk’s FG Audio episode
Link to last part of Rob’s starter series
Link to last part of Rob’s TTOP series
Link to Rob on limiting pitcher usage
Link to FiveThirtyEight on pitcher usage
Link to Twins’ seven-man rotation
Link to Ben on bullpenning
Link to Russell Carleton on bullpenning
Link to Ben on pitching prospects
Link to Gerald Schifman on options use
Link to Russell on four-man rotations
Link to Russell on six-man rotations
Link to Russell on swingmen
Link to Russell on one-inning relievers
Link to Rob on mobility vs. inequality
Link to Rob on competitive balance
Link to Ben on “hope and faith”

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Salvador Perez’s power output, durability, defense, and career, Shohei Ohtani’s offensive slump, the Rays calling up Josh Lowe to go with Brandon Lowe (but not Nathaniel Lowe), and the desirability of being teammates with one’s brother or father, then draft unsung players who are having good seasons that haven’t been mentioned much on the pod.

Audio intro: Ages and Ages, "Unsung Songs"
Audio outro: John Prine, "Pretty Good"

Link to Patrick Dubuque on Perez
Link to Perez oppo homer video
Link to Jay Jaffe on Perez
Link to players with more homers than walks
Link to MLB.com on catcher home runs
Link to Craig R. Wright on Ted Simmons
Link to BP on Josh Lowe
Link to Craig on manager fathers
Link to MLBFrameJobs Twitter account
Link to MLBFrameJobs app
Link to Ben Clemens on Narváez
Link to Kevin Goldstein on the Rays
Link to DRaysBay on Springs
Link to Jake Mailhot on Sewald
Link to Lookout Landing on Sewald
Link to Chet Gutwein on Cease
Link to Dan Szymborski’s breakout picks
Link to pitcher run support leaderboard
Link to EW episode on Wainwright/Miley
Link to Patrick Dubuque on Miley
Link to Ben Clemens on Wainwright
Link to Devan Fink on Riley
Link to Ben on the Soto Shuffle

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mike Yastrzemski, “bubble guts,” and the right way for a manager to publicize a player’s intestinal distress, then follow up on Miguel Cabrera and the factors that influence players’ career ratios of pitchers homered off of to total home runs, review the state of the standings, discuss the Cubs’ unexpected contributions from Frank Schwindel and Rafael Ortega, and answer listener emails about Patrick Wisdom and the difference between building blocks and fun flashes in the pan, Joey Gallo and the decline of the 0-for-4 game with no strikeouts or walks, the advent and spread of intentional balks, a potential systemic disadvantage to moving the mound back, and MLB (briefly) considering the idea of allowing fans to throw home run balls back and keep them in play, plus (1:05:15) two Stat Blasts about Ryan Lavarnway and the longest trip to 162 games played, and the Rays and the lowest leading WAR on a division winner.

Audio intro: The Jayhawks, "Living in a Bubble"
Audio outro: Built to Spill, "Conventional Wisdom"

Link to Kapler’s comment on Yaz
Link to data on pitcher-to-home-run ratios
Link to CBS Sports on the Cubs’ winning streak
Link to Cubs Insider on Schwindel
Link to Sahadev Sharma on Schwindel
Link to Rustin Dodd on Schwindel in 2018
Link to Ashley MacLennan on lovable “bad” players
Link to 1990 article on Kevin Maas
Link to Devan on Wisdom
Link to Stathead on the all-contact 0-for-4
Link to article on Gallo’s “reset”
Link to 2019 story on the intentional balk
Link to video of Jansen’s intentional balk
Link to story on the latest intentional balks
Link to post on Kimbrel’s intentional balk
Link to mention of throwing home run balls back
Link to previous EW convo about balls in stands
Link to Lavarnway Stat Blast data
Link to 2011 post on Lavarnway’s promotion
Link to Rays/WAR leaders Stat Blast data
Link to SABR on DiMaggio’s ’49 comeback
Link to Andy McCullough on the Rays
Link to Zach Kram on the Rays
Link to ESPN on the Rays in 2020
Link to story on the Rays’ saves record
Link to article about deGrom’s UCL sprain
Link to Ben on the Soto Shuffle
Link to post on EW Wiki Chrome extension

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee and SB Nation’s Eric Stephen about the last series of the regular season between the tied-for-first-place Dodgers and Giants, the historic greatness of their race, the state of (and outlook for) their respective rosters, the strengths and weaknesses of each team, their secret sauces, each team’s most pleasant surprise, the highlight of their season series so far, what went wrong for the Padres, how the Dodgers and Giants compare as playoff teams, their toughest potential postseason opponents, the biggest offseason questions facing the two teams, the NL West’s future, and more, plus a postscript on Ben’s top 10 hopes for the the final month of the regular season.

Audio intro: Beulah, "Battle Cry of the West"
Audio outro: The Mountain Goats, "We Do it Different on the West Coast"

Link to FanGraphs series preview
Link to Andrew Baggarly’s series preview
Link to Grant on the gift of Dodgers-Giants
Link to Eric on past Dodgers-Giants races
Link to Eric on the 1971 race
Link to Grant on the teams’ 100-win paces
Link to Grant on the Giants being “lucky”
Link to Grant on SF’s best-case scenario
Link to Fabian Ardaya on Bellinger
Link to Dan S. on September projections
Link to BaseRuns standings
Link to FanGraphs playoff odds
Link to Ken Rosenthal on the Giants’ secret
Link to Tauchman/Pujols play
Link to Defensive Efficiency leaderboard
Link to True Blue LA podcast
Link to Baggs & Brisbee podcast
Link to latest Ringer MLB Show episode
Link to list of 1st/2nd-place WAR gaps
Link to article on Scherzer not reaching base
Link to article on Franco reaching base
Link to article on Tatis and HR/SB leaders
Link to Ben and Meg’s SSAC panel podcast

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Wander Franco coming into his own, Kevin Newman’s steep offensive falloff post-spring training, a strikeout milestone for Robbie Ray, the Kendall Graveman–Abraham Toro trade and promotions/extensions for the Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto and Scott Servais, the new-and-improved Blake Snell, Austin Adams’ historic hit-by-pitch pace, Cardinals radio broadcaster Mike Shannon discovering and attempting to explain NFTs on the air, and the difference between bad and good Mets missteps. Then (41:21) they bring on FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen to discuss September roster expansion, touching on the developmental implications of going from 40-man to 28-man rosters, the most promising prospects who could debut this month and impact pennant races or the playoffs (including Joe Ryan, Nate Pearson, Shane Baz, and Hunter Greene), the remaking of Padres pitcher MacKenzie Gore, post-deadline desperation, the Nationals’ Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz, and Riley Adams, the Royals’ Nicky Lopez and Bobby Witt Jr., and other notable names.

Audio intro: Frank Sinatra, "September in the Rain"
Audio interstitial: Frank Sinatra, "September Song"
Audio outro: Frazey Ford, "September Fields"

Link to Franco streak article
Link to Dan Szymborski on Franco
Link to article on Newman’s spring
Link to spring training stats study
Link to B-Ref career K/9 leaderboard
Link to article about Snell’s reinvention
Link to article about Adams
Link to article on Shannon and NFTs
Link to Zack Scott news
Link to roster expansion explainer
Link to list of September 1 callups
Link to Gore mechanics video
Link to Eric on AL impact pitchers
Link to Carmen Ciardiello on Lopez
Link to Adam’s EW Wiki post
Link to EW Wiki
Link to EW Wiki sign-up sheet
Link to EW emails database

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Ben Lindbergh talks to Defector’s David Roth about the Mets’ freefall in the standings, the extremely Metsy controversy surrounding multiple players giving the thumbs down to fans, and how the franchise still practices Wilpon-era self-sabotage. Then (46:18) Ben “benters” with Ben Clemens from FanGraphs about the post-sticky-stuff collapse of demoted Cleveland closer James Karinchak, the continued success of aged ace Adam Wainwright, and the consistent kind-of-good-ness of the still-contending Cardinals. Lastly (1:27:08), Ben (the first one) Stat Blasts about the most runs scored in a game with no earned runs, the longest streaks of consecutive pinch hitters, and the most outs made with runners in scoring position.

Audio intro: Dinosaur Jr., "Thumb"
Audio interstitial: Semisonic, "Get a Grip"
Audio outro: 2nd Grade, "Sucking the Thumb"

Link to David on the Mets
Link to Ray Ratto on Steve Cohen
Link to Deesha Thosar on the thumbs
Link to NL East playoff odds graph
Link to BP IL Ledger
Link to early Mets thumbs downs
Link to Deesha on the Mets’ apologies
Link to Alderson’s statement
Link to fan stress study
Link to Operation Shutdown retrospective
Link to Defector birthday party
Link to tweet about Bens on podcasts
Link to reliever championship belt article
Link to The Athletic on Karinchak
Link to Defector on Karinchak’s Instagram
Link to biggest in-season K rate drops
Link to Devan Fink on Richards
Link to Ben L. on post-sticky-stuff offense
Link to Karinchak’s 4-seam spin by game
Link to Patrick Dubuque on Miley
Link to Ben Clemens on the Cardinals’ records
Link to Ben Clemens on Wainwright
Link to Nathan Grimm on Wainwright
Link to Mike Petriello on Wainwright
Link to Wainwright on sticky stuff
Link to Cardinals defense by pitcher
Link to Timothy Jackson on RPM losers
Link to Rob Arthur on RPM losers
Link to list of all-unearned-runs games
Link to story on 1987 Petralli game
Link to info on consecutive pinch hitters
Link to article on 1979 Mauch game
Link to story on 2016 Rockies/D-backs game
Link to data on most team outs w/RISP
Link to data on most team LOB

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Ben Lindbergh talks to The Ringer’s Zach Kram about how the red-hot Yankees have salvaged their season, mounted their longest winning streak in 60 years, and put themselves in playoff position. Then (27:33) Ben brings on John Poff, former major leaguer and Stat Blast star, to discuss his brief big league career, walking away from the game, being a bookworm in baseball, playing before big salaries, the evolution of coaching, failure fueling art, his peripatetic post-baseball life, his career as a writer and poet, the racism he observed in the sport, bringing baseball to Native American reservations, and more (plus a postscript about Charlie Watts the drummer and Charlie Watts the infielder, and Vin Scully on catcher framing).

Audio intro: The Rolling Stones, "Sway"
Audio interstitial: The Rolling Stones, "Dancing With Mr. D"
Audio outro: The Rolling Stones, "The Lantern"

Link to Zach’s Yankees article
Link to AL East playoff odds graph
Link to longest Yankees winning streaks
Link to Lindsey Adler on the Yankees
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Yankees
Link to Ringer MLB Show WS draft
Link to Poff’s SABR bio
Link to Poff’s piece on Donnie Moore
Link to Stat Blast about Poff
Link to Poff’s game against Sutter
Link to Fernando Perez episode
Link to Poff’s fundraiser
Link to later Poff fundraiser
Link to piece on salaries and ticket prices
Link to Roger Angell on player salaries
Link to Angell on player salaries and fans
Link to Scully clip
Link to Rob Harvilla on Watts
Link to story on Watts visiting the NLBM
Link to 1925 Watts photo
Link to Watts’ B-Ref page

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Ben Lindbergh follows up on a Stat Blast that generated a lot of listener emails, then (13:04) talks to former major leaguer and current Angels catching coach José Molina about his unparalleled receiving skills, fooling umpires, the importance of framing compared to throwing, blocking, and game-calling, whether stealing strikes can be taught, aspects of catcher defense that still aren’t being measured, robot umps and electronic pitch-calling, Shohei Ohtani, the quarter-century reign of the Molina brothers, Yadier Molina’s Hall of Fame case, and more. After that (44:19), Ben talks to R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports about the lead-up to and aftermath of the Atlantic League’s midseason move of the mound to 61 feet, 6 inches, touching on the early offensive effects, how pitchers and hitters have compensated, why pitchers nearly revolted, the need for a Lab League, the prospects of moving the mound back in affiliated ball, and the debate about who gets to decide how the sport will evolve (plus a postscript about robot-ump perceptions and a long Padres-Dodgers game).

Audio intro: Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Molina"
Audio interstitial: Phish, "Mound"
Audio outro: Del Amitri, "In the Frame"

Link to framing runs leaderboard
Link to Molina’s advanced catching stats
Link to Molina tweet about framing
Link to Max Marchi on Molina in 2012
Link to Ben on Molina in 2012
Link to Ben on Molina in 2013
Link to Ben on Molina framing Brett Lawrie
Link to Ben on framing at Grantland
Link to Ben on Molina framing GIFs
Link to Ben on the Yankees and framing
Link to Ben on the evolution of framing
Link to Ben on framing and the Hall
Link to Ben on Yadi’s hidden value
Link to post about Yadi’s extension
Link to Foolish Baseball on Yadi
Link to EW episode about game-calling
Link to Bengie Molina’s book
Link to R.J.’s Atlantic League article
Link to Rob Arthur’s Atlantic League article
Link to Jayson Stark’s Atlantic League article
Link to Ben on moving the mound back
Link to ASMI study on moving the mound back
Link to 2021 Atlantic League footage
Link to 2019 Atlantic League EW episode
Link to Pinstriped Prospects on the robo zone
Link to the New Yorker on robot umps
Link to thread on the Atlantic League zone
Link to thread on the Low-A Southeast zone
Link to Haniger interview
Link to study on robot-ump perceptions

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