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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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s post-concert encounter with a podcast listener, Miguel Cabrera’s 500th home run and the future of the 500-homer club, the latest sighting of Tom’s enigmatic message to Caitlyn at Great American Ball Park, the Rockies possibly promoting a GM from within (again), and a few pennant race updates, then meet major leaguers Packy Naughton and Griffin Jax and share Stat Blasts about whether managers are more likely to make the outgoing pitcher or the incoming pitcher issue an intentional walk, and Yam Yaryan and the players who hit a walk-off for their only career home run.

Audio intro: The Coral, "In the Rain"
Audio outro: Paul Weller, "Moon on Your Pyjamas"

Link to rainy concert video
Link to pajama jeans commercial
Link to video of Cabrera’s 500th homer
Link to fun facts about Cabrera’s 500th
Link to video of Cabrera’s first homer
Link to latest Tom/Caitlyn message
Link to video of Wade homer
Link to video of Cronenworth homer
Link to report about Bill Schmidt
Link to Mike Petriello on the Yankees
Link to Joel Sherman on the Yankees
Link to article about Naughton
Link to article from February about Jax
Link to article about Jax’s call-up
Link to Jax tongue video
Link to Stat Blast data on all IBB
Link to Stat Blast data on pitching-change IBB
Link to PosCast episode about earned runs
Link to article about Yaryan’s nickname
Link to tweet about “the grink”
Link to article on yams vs. sweet potatoes
Link to Criscione’s SABR bio
Link to catcher using mask to touch ball
Link to Stat Blast data about walk-offs

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on a conversation about protective headgear for pitchers by discussing softball face masks, then banter about whether MLB necessarily needs a legalized sticky substance or a pre-tacked ball, and attempt to unpack a distressing message from “Tom” to “Caitlyn” on the video board at a Reds game. Then (37:47) they talk to ESPN reporter Dan Hajducky about a shocking week for the booming sports card industry, highlighted by Fanatics securing exclusive card licenses with MLB, the MLBPA, and other major leagues and unions, baseball institution Topps losing its strangehold on MLB cards and scuttling its plans to go public, and a record-breaking sale of a Honus Wagner T206 card.

Audio intro: Sweet, "Tom Tom Turnaround"
Audio interstitial: Lunchbox, "Tom, What’s Wrong?"
Audio outro: Boat, "Topps"

Link to FAQ about softball face masks
Link to list of softball face masks
Link to Columbia Missourian on face masks
Link to the OU Daily on face masks
Link to Columbia Daily Tribune on face masks
Link to The Oklahoman on face masks
Link to Kelly Barnhill tweet about face masks
Link to history of first batting helmets
Link to history of modern batting helmets
Link to video of Lynn ejection
Link to Rob Arthur on sticky stuff effects
Link to the L.A. Times on Olympic baseballs
Link to Reuters on Olympic baseballs
Link to first Caitlyn/Tom message
Link to second Caitlyn/Tom message
Link to Craig Goldstein on Caitlyn/Tom
Link to Ben on the Castellanos meme
Link to Dan’s Topps/Fanatics report
Link to WSJ Topps/Fanatics report
Link to Sportico on the Topps merger
Link to Dan on the T206 sale
Link to Emma Baccellieri on the card boom
Link to earlier EW card-boom interview
Link to Dan’s website

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Germán Márquez and the ethics of diarrhea disclosure, stretched pitching staffs that were supposed to be deep, the Orioles and Diamondbacks competing for MLB’s worst record, a somewhat deceptive salary floor in MLB’s economic proposal (and the future of the ongoing CBA talks), Mets owner Steve Cohen’s critical tweet about his team’s underperforming bats, Chris Bassitt’s injury and protecting pitchers from line drives, Freddie Freeman’s cycle, and Shohei Ohtani’s latest two-way day and improved pitching.

Audio intro: The Roches, "Runs in the Family"
Audio outro: Ezra Furman, "Haunted Head"

Link to Defector on Marquez’s diarrhea
Link to Meg on Bradley’s diarrhea
Link to Park’s diarrhea video
Link to Ben Clemens on the Padres
Link to FanGraphs farm system rankings
Link to report about MLB economic proposal
Link to JJ Cooper thread on salary cap/floor
Link to Travis Sawchik on a payroll floor
Link to EW episode with former MLBPA exec
Link to Steve Cohen tweet
Link to Mets hitting coach’s reaction
Link to Mets manager’s reaction
Link to Ray Kroc story
Link to Jay Jaffe on Bassitt
Link to story on Tyler Zombro
Link to story on Brandon Patch
Link to 2016 MLB story on pitcher headgear
Link to 2016 ESPN story on pitcher headgear
Link to 2016 story on mandating helmets
Link to 2017 story on protective cap inserts
Link to Freeman’s cycle video
Link to Freeman’s cappucino story
Link to Twitter thread about “Cyclones”
Link to Vlad’s emoji response
Link to Ohtani’s homer celebration
Link to Ohtani vs. Tigers video

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on a recent observation about a baseball-related line in Twilight, then banter about petards, Ben’s latest trip to see Shohei Ohtani at Yankee Stadium, Tyler Gilbert’s improbable no-hitter, the playoff hopes of the Padres, Reds, and Giants (and reshuffling in the NL East and AL East), the lows and highs of heckling, the Rockies’ historic home-road splits, Michael Schur adapting Field of Dreams for Peacock and the near future of baseball TV shows, Carter Stewart making his NPB debut and Kumar Rocker’s future, whether John Olerud would be a two-way player today, and Joey Votto’s revamped plate approach, plus a postscript on fun facts about sequences of wins and losses.

Audio intro: Chip Taylor, "Same Ol’ Story"
Audio outro: The Beach Boys, "Heads You Win–Tails I Lose"

Link to Davis catch
Link to Cole’s reaction to Ohtani
Link to Lindsey’s Gallo tweet
Link to article on seats moving farther from the field
Link to Ben on Gilbert’s no-hitter
Link to Twitter thread about man shouting “Dinger”
Link to Neil Paine on the Coors Field hangover effect
Link to Nick Groke on the Coors Field hangover effect
Link to all-time team home/road splits data
Link to xkcd comic about 2020
Link to story on Schur and Field of Dreams
Link to Schur EW episode
Link to story on Offerman and A League of Their Own
Link to story on Offerman’s Field of Dreams critiques
Link to stream Stove League
Link to Jim Allen on Stewart and Rocker
Link to box score from Stewart’s NPB debut
Link to ESPN on Olerud as a two-way player
Link to list of John Olerud Award winners
Link to first page of 1990 Olerud article
Link to second page of 1990 Olerud article
Link to Mike Petriello on Tatis’s position switch
Link to FanGraphs post on Tatis as an outfielder
Link to Ben on the rise of multiposition players
Link to Verducci on Votto
Link to Vieira’s record-breaking pitch
Link to win-loss sequence data

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Field of Dreams Game, “playing catch” vs. “having a catch,” scouting baseball movies, and a quibble with baseball in Twilight, answer listener emails about extending the Field of Dreams Game concept to other settings (and other baseball movies), the aesthetics of no-doubt dingers and wall-scrapers, saving the ball from a fluky first hit, and the difficulty of comparing per-game stats and statistical qualifiers across seasons with and without COVID-related rules, plus Stat Blasts on the players who’ve been called up and sent down most often in a single season and the longest streaks of matching results for two teams (and additional thoughts on Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Jo Adell, Jacob deGrom, the Dodgers’ division odds, trading catchers, and links on the show page).

Audio intro: Cub Scout Bowling Pins, "Heaven Beats Iowa"
Audio outro: The Ladybug Transistor, "Broken Links"

Link to Field of Dreams Game highlights
Link to Field of Dreams Game ratings
Link to Field of Dreams EW episode
Link to potential future settings for games
Link to Take Me In to the Ballgame podcast
Link to Twilight EW episode
Link to Tom & Jerry baseball scene
Link to expected home runs leaderboard
Link to video of Burger’s first hit
Link to Sam on ERA qualifiers
Link to FanGraphs Playoff Odds
Link to Craig Goldstein on Adell
Link to most optioned/recalled players
Link to Gerald Schifman on options use
Link to Eric Stephen on often-optioned players
Link to EW episode with Oliver Drake
Link to list of longest matching W-L streaks
Link to data on trade rates by position
Link to Ohtani on his pitching potential
Link to Ohtani WPA tweet

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