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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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about an Alek Manoah semi-fun fact, a day without any starters going deep into games, economical outings by Adam Wainwright and Corbin Burnes, Cody Bellinger’s bat, a legal decision involving the Phillie Phanatic that may have implications beyond baseball, Joey Gallo feeling small, and the cost of Ray’s lost corn crop in Field of Dreams, then (34:01) talk to writer and editor Danny Funt about his recent deep dive into the relationship between sports media and sports betting, and how the big business of legalized gambling could reshape the way baseball is covered, broadcast, and played.

Audio intro: The Coral, "Song of the Corn"
Audio interstitial: Grateful Dead, "Candyman"
Audio outro: The Notorious B.I.G., "What’s Beef?"

Link to tweet about six-inning starts
Link to origin of “The Maddux”
Link to Dan on Bellinger
Link to Phanatic story
Link to Gallo quote
Link to corn math thread
Link to Danny’s story
Link to Forbes on ballpark sportsbooks
Link to story on the Yankees and betting
Link to Bloomberg on sports betting
Link to USA Today on baseball betting
Link to story on gambling-related threats
Link to Evander Kane story
Link to MLB.com Blue Jays betting story
Link to Jim Margalus on baseball betting
Link to Jacob’s DraftKings tweet

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their imperfections, follow up on flying horses, Justice Blackmun omitting Mel Ott from Flood vs. Kuhn, and a possible defense of pitcher hitters, then assess the state of the standings and playoff races, contemplate a position change for Fernando Tatis Jr., discuss the Field of Dreams Game, and consider a point in favor of robot umps and signs of spin-rate resurgence.

Audio intro: David Bowie, "Win"
Audio outro: Oh Pep!, "The Race"

Link to article about how horses fly
Link to article on Blackmun and Ott
Link to Ben on pitcher hitters/position-player pitchers
Link to post on Canseco pitching
Link to video of Holt pitching
Link to post on slowest possible pitches
Link to thread on slowest possible pitches
Link to FanGraphs Playoff Odds
Link to Mike Petriello on the Mets’ offense
Link to Petriello on the Jays’ offense
Link to Justin Choi on the Jays
Link to Rob Mains on team mobility
Link to Rob Arthur on the absence of superteams
Link to article on Tatis in the outfield
Link to Field of Dreams episode
Link to paper on umpire discrimination
Link to thread about umpire discrimination
Link to tweet about resurgent spin

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman of Céspedes Family BBQ banter about Jake’s baseball bike trip (and Jordan’s accompanying car ride) from New York to Chicago. Then, in honor of Mike Trout’s 30th birthday, they draft their favorite things about Trout and his incredible career.

Audio intro: Jay-Z, "30 Something"
Audio outro: Smash Mouth, "You Are My Number One"

Link to Jake’s fundraising site
Link to Jake’s trip stats
Link to Episode 762
Link to Sam on Trout and Grichuk
Link to Sam on Trout’s 2012 season
Link to story on Trout’s no. 1 jersey
Link to post about Trout’s August 2015
Link to video of Trout’s left-handed BP
Link to Pedro Moura on Trout’s future
Link to Ben on Trout’s rookie year
Link to Ben on Trout’s dad
Link to Trout’s spring training stats
Link to Trout’s Hardy homer robbery
Link to 2009 draft video
Link to Trout Weather Channel video
Link to 2012 SuperPretzel press release
Link to 2016 SuperPretzel ad
Link to SuperPretzel website
Link to list of Trout hypotheticals

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about baseball (and steeplechase?) at the Olympics, then answer listener emails about teams intentionally drafting players they don’t intend to sign, Willy Adames as an NL MVP candidate, Dominic Smith and reverse platoon splits, secret ball-strike counts, and which is better (or worse), position-player pitchers or pitcher hitters, then meet major leaguers Shea Spitzbarth and Stephen Ridings and do a Stat Blast about Flood v. Kuhn and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, the original Rememberer of Some Guys (plus a postscript about the life and death of legendary Astros ace J.R. Richard).

Audio intro: The Baseball Project, "Gratitude (For Curt Flood)"
Audio outro: Joni Mitchell, "The Last Time I Saw Richard"

Link to story about Olympic baseball
Link to Tess Taruskin on prospects at the Olympics
Link to steeplechase wiki
Link to Devan Fink on the NL MVP race
Link to research on reverse platoon splits
Link to Sam Miller on abolishing the strike zone
Link to Ben on pitcher hitters/position-player pitchers
Link to Tribune-Review on Spitzbarth
Link to Post-Gazette on Spitzbarth
Link to Newsday on Ridings in 2021
Link to Newsday on Ridings in 2016
Link to WFAN on Ridings
Link to story on Yankees’ three debuts
Link to Ridings press conference video
Link to story about Haverford’s baseball execs
Link to Flood v. Kuhn wiki
Link to Flood v. Kuhn opinion
Link to SABR research on Flood v. Kuhn
Link to Blackmun Stat Blast data
Link to Cabell’s comments about Richard
Link to MLB.com on Richard
Link to Allen Barra on Richard

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mets not signing first-round pick Kumar Rocker, owner Steve Cohen’s comment about the decision, and the amateur draft as a salary-suppressing institution, then discuss how injuries have destabilized some of the major end-of-season awards races. After that (31:51), they talk to Cleveland native (and Baseball Prospectus writer) Russell Carleton about his history as a fan of the team soon to be known as the Cleveland Guardians, when he changed his mind about changing its name, the real history of the old name, what he and other Clevelanders think of the new name, the potential for a rechristening in Atlanta, and more (plus a postscript on a record streak of alternating wins/losses).

Audio intro: Bruce Springsteen, "I’m a Rocker"
Audio interstitial: Blind Melon, "Change"
Audio outro: Jackson Browne, "My Cleveland Heart"

Link to report about the Mets and Rocker
Link to story on Rocker’s future
Link to story about later Mets selections
Link to Steve Cohen tweet
Link to Brendan Gawlowski on the draft
Link to Joon Lee on Angels minor leaguers
Link to Russell on minor league housing
Link to stream Stove League
Link to Russell on the Guardians
Link to Joe Posnanski on the Guardians
Link to Nancy Kelsey-Carroll on the Guardians
Link to academic paper on Sockalexis
Link to pictorial history of Chief Wahoo
Link to the “Curse of Rocky Colavito”
Link to the “Curse of Chief Wahoo”
Link to story on “racist uncles”
Link to Patrick Dubuque’s Guardians sketch
Link to Guardians of Traffic history
Link to story about the roller derby team
Link to story about an Atlanta name change
Link to longest alternating W-L streaks

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley recap the busiest trade deadline ever, first examining why it was so frantic and then going division by division to analyze the actions or inaction of every team that made a trade (which was, well, every team).

Audio intro: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, "Heard You’re Moving"
Audio outro: Vanessa Peters, "Moving Day"

Link to FanGraphs trade reactions
Link to FanGraphs deadline roundup
Link to Ben on the busy deadline
Link to Ken Rosenthal on the busy deadline
Link to MLB.com on the busy deadline
Link to trade activity graph
Link to “All-Stars traded in a day” data
Link to Zach Kram on trading top prospects
Link to Baumann on deadline returns
Link to Ben on the Scherzer/Turner trade
Link to Baumann on the giant Yankees
Link to Mike Petriello on Gallo and Rizzo
Link to story on outfielder Randy Johnson
Link to C. Trent on Votto

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the one-for-one A’s-Marlins swap involving Starling Marte and Jesús Luzardo, Marte’s underrated career, and Miami’s enviable pitching stockpile, then discuss the circumstances surrounding a potential trade of Max Scherzer. After that (35:21), they talk to FiveThirtyEight senior writer Neil Paine about the factors that affect whether teams add or subtract at the trade deadline, Neil’s “Doyle Number” metric for assessing trade-season incentives, how this year’s unusual playoff picture has created unusual deadline conditions, and specific teams that should or shouldn’t be motivated to make moves.

Audio intro: Guided By Voices, "Bellicose Starling"
Audio interstitial: Modest Mouse, "Bankrupt on Selling"
Audio outro: Arthur Brown, "Come and Buy"

Link to Marte WAR comparison
Link to Zach Kram on trading top prospects
Link to Ken Rosenthal on the Scherzer talks
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Nationals
Link to story on Scherzer’s contract
Link to “Doyle Number” articles
Link to Jayson Stark on execs at the deadline
Link to 2021 “Doyle Number” data
Link to Rob Arthur on the playoff picture
Link to Neil’s “Hall of Good” series
Link to FiveThirtyEight’s forecast history
Link to Neil’s research on true talent
Link to Hot Takedown podcast

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Padres trading for Adam Frazier and other pre-deadline activity, Joey Votto’s offensive resurgence, Shohei Ohtani’s dirty uniform, and more, then react in real time to the Mariners surprisingly trading Kendall Graveman to the Astros for Abraham Toro. They also answer listener emails about adding a pitcher/DH position, bringing back unlimited two-strike foul bunts to combat the shift, trading catchers at the deadline, the possibility of pitchers, not catchers, calling pitches, and enjoying baseball via stats alone. After that, they do a “Meet a Major Leaguer” on two rookies recently traded to the Pirates, Hoy Park and Tucupita Marcano, and share a Stat Blast on Merrill Kelly and the longest team streaks in which the only wins were in starts by one pitcher (plus postscripts on trades, “pulling the goalie,” cycles, and more).

Audio intro: The Pretty Things, "Joey"
Audio outro: Lana Del Rey, "Mariners Apartment Complex"

Link to Dan Szymborski on the Frazier trade
Link to latest Ohtani two-way outing
Link to story on the “phantom DH”
Link to story on electronic pitch-calling
Link to The Hidden Language of Baseball
Link to story on Maddux pitch-calling
Link to Gallo shift before two strikes
Link to Gallo shift with two strikes
Link to story on the two-strike-bunt rule
Link to Travis Sawchik on foul balls
Link to story on Marcano
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to Ryan Divish on the Mariners’ reaction
Link to story on Piniella’s “cycle”
Link to tweet about Kepler
Link to Facebook thread on cycles and no-nos
Link to Mary Shane podcast

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the new name and look of Cleveland’s MLB team, the Guardians, then react to the Rays trading for Nelson Cruz and dealing away Rich Hill, analyze a new electronic system for sending signs from catchers to pitchers that’s about to be tested in A ball, and salute Juan Soto’s post-Home Run Derby hot streak. Then (38:42) they bring on FanGraphs writers Ben Clemens and Kevin Goldstein to talk about their just-completed ranking of the 50 players with the most trade value, touching on how the series’ sausage was made, the most divisive players, the toughest omissions, valuing pitchers vs. hitters, evaluating Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Max Kepler, Ramón Laureano, and other players, synthesizing stats and scouting info (and production and pay), what they expect at this year’s trade deadline, and how teams’ behavior at the deadline has changed (plus a postscript on historic pitching matchups and more alternate cycles).

Audio intro: Lou Reed, "Guardian Angel"
Audio interstitial: The Bats, "Trade in Silence"
Audio outro: Sloan, "I Can Feel It"

Link to Guardians announcement video
Link to Guardians logo and lettering
Link to Guardians uniforms
Link to story on Tom Hanks and Cleveland
Link to article about the Guardians name selection
Link to Dan Szymborski on the Cruz trade
Link to BP IL Ledger
Link to report on electronic signs system
Link to story on Soto and the Derby
Link to story about the Derby “curse”
Link to Trade Value series

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