Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bryce Harper’s hot streak, the players at the top of the WAR leaderboard, the exploits of Byron Buxton and Nelson Cruz, the suddenly unbeatable Oakland A’s, Ben’s new favorite stat to track (Nick Madrigal’s K%+), pitcher hitting performance reaching a new nadir, and more. Then they debut a new recurring segment (and song), “Meet a Major Leaguer,” by introducing Marlins reliever Zach Pop and Rockies reliever Jordan Sheffield. They close by discussing an article about the obstacles facing women working for MLB teams and the latest biannual, Crasnick-esque ESPN insider survey about MLB’s burning questions. (Parental warning: This episode contains a trio of swears.)

Audio intro: Tom Petty, "You and I Will Meet Again"
Audio outro: Laura Marling, "Hope We Meet Again"

Link to story about Lowrie’s knee
Link to story about Lowrie’s sleeping
Link to story about James’s sleeping
Link to story about Smith’s sleeping
Link to 2021 K%+ leaderboard
Link to post-WWII K%+ leaderboard
Link to league-wide pitcher hitting stats
Link to Ben on pitcher hitting
Link to B-Ref’s new debuts page
Link to list of 2021 rule 5 guys
Link to Joon Lee’s article
Link to EW episode 1612 (with Jen Wolf)
Link to 2021 ESPN season survey
Link to Dan Szymborski on the Royals
Link to Ben Clemens on Burnes
Link to Jay Jaffe on Burnes
Link to Facebook group songs section
Link to “Meet a Major Leaguer” song

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the brief lifespan of the soccer Super League, the gift of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry and Blake Snell vs. Joe Musgrove, position-player-pitching overload and the pitching performance of Willians Astudillo, whether the slow-starting Yankees are really doomed, the retirement of Jay Bruce, the end of Tim Locastro’s stolen-base success streak (and the unlikely basestealing prowess of an ancient Albert Pujols), player switcheroos in the minor leagues, whether MLB would air replay review deliberations, the celebration of Jean Segura’s 200th career double, the MLB return of Sean Kazmar Jr., the possibly precedent-setting NPB debut of Carter Stewart, and more, plus a Stat Blast about the most common and uncommon combinations of fielding position and lineup position.

Audio intro: Belly, "Super-Connected"
Audio outro: Hippo Campus, "Way it Goes"

Link to The Athletic on the Super League
Link to Ingenuity helicopter news
Link to Mookie catch video
Link to Emma Baccellieri on position players pitching
Link to video of Astudillo pitching
Link to Astudillo’s Instagram post
Link to video of Mercedes pitching
Link to video of Locastro caught stealing
Link to story about Pujols stealing third
Link to Lindsey Adler on the Yankees and Yankees fans
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Yankees
Link to Brendan Gawlowski on Bruce’s retirement
Link to video of Segura’s celebration
Link to video of Santana’s celebration
Link to story about Kazmar’s comeback
Link to another story about Kazmar’s comeback
Link to story about Stewart’s debut
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to 1900-2020 lineup spot chart
Link to 2015-2020 lineup spot chart
Link to DH era lineup spot chart GIF
Link to Trout’s hard-hit homer
Link to Ohtani return game story

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why they haven’t been talking about Bryce Harper, follow up on previous points about the automatic-runner rule, optional home run trots, and player switcheroos, discuss the latest report about the Mets’ front-office culture and team president Sandy Alderson, and answer listener emails about two automatic-runner-rule variants, first base socializing (and Jackie Robinson the first baseman), catcher’s mitts the size of the strike zone, changing replay review to hide the original call, what would be in a baseball theme park, and the best positions for remembering some guys (plus a couple of reading recs).

Audio intro: The Whigs, "Don’t Talk Anymore"
Audio outro: The Capes, "First Base"

Link to Harper player poll
Link to Reddit thread on home run trots
Link to Reddit thread on Canseco swaps
Link to Canseco boxing story
Link to Markieff/Marcus Morris story
Link to latest Mets report
Link to Boardwalk and Baseball Wiki
Link to 2005 article about on-field chatting
Link to 2007 article about on-field chatting
Link to 2012 article about on-field chatting
Link to 2013 article about on-field chatting
Link to Robinson first base story
Link to Reddit thread on backup catchers
Link to Rob Arthur on the baseball
Link to Ben on Beane and Cashman

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the unanticipated charms of podcast faves Willians Astudillo and Shohei Ohtani, Trevor Bauer’s (and the league’s) spin rates increasing despite MLB’s threatened foreign substance crackdown, the confounding behavior of the new, supposedly deadened baseball, and the news that the mound will be moved back and the “double hook” DH will be tested in the Atlantic League, follow up on the extra-innings automatic-runner rule and the difference between pitch framing and “slide framing,” and answer listener emails about MLB veterans being better people than players, what would happen if home run trots were optional, and whether two players could switch places without being noticed, plus a Stat Blast about the hitter-runner duos with the most runs plated.

Audio intro: Ian Fisher, "One Foot"
Audio outro: The Easybeats, "I’ll Find Somebody to Take Your Place"

Link to latest Shohei heroics
Link to Shohei shiver video
Link to Willians foul pop video
Link to Willians slide video
Link to Ben on Astudillo
Link to MLB 4-seam spin rate by year
Link to MLB slider spin rate by year
Link to Ben on foreign substances
Link to Ben and Rob on the ball in spring training
Link to Eno on the new ball so far
Link to HR/FB rate by season
Link to MLB.com on new Atlantic League rules
Link to Jayson Stark on new Atlantic League rules
Link to Ben on the starting pitcher protagonist
Link to 2019 EW interview with Atlantic Leaguers
Link to Ben on moving the mound back
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past on Litwhiler
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to Eddie Robinson autobiography passage

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Musgrove‘s no-hitter and the significance of Musgrove snapping the Padres’ no-no-no streak, Tim Locastro breaking Tim Raines’s record for the most consecutive successful steal attempts to start a career, Ronald Acuña Jr. beating out a routine grounder and MLB’s “FieldVision” depiction of the play, the controversial call on (and replay review of) an Alec Bohm slide that ended the Philly-Atlanta Sunday Night Baseball game, Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama’s baseball heroes, and the two-way, all-around greatness of Negro Leagues great and five-time Hall of Famer Martín Dihigo. Then (47:56) Ben talks to Dihigo’s youngest son and biographer, Gilberto Dihigo, along with University of Illinois history professor (and Negro Leagues and U.S. Latino history scholar) Adrian Burgos Jr., about Dihigo’s legendary life and career, how he achieved two-way greatness, and whether the sport will ever see his likes again.

Audio intro: Son Volt, "Left a Slide"
Audio interstitial: The Baseball Project, "Phenom"
Audio outro: The Felice Brothers, "Hometown Hero"

Link to BP on Musgrove and Bohm
Link to Ben on the once-anonymous Padres
Link to Devan on Locastro
Link to story on Locastro and Raines
Link to Acuña grounder video
Link to Acuña FieldVision video
Link to Baseball Savant sprint speed leaderboard
Link to Bohm slide video
Link to Atlanta’s reaction to the Bohm call
Link to Dihigo’s Seamheads batter page
Link to Dihigo’s Seamheads pitcher page
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past on Dihigo
Link to The Undefeated on Dihigo
Link to THT on Dihigo
Link to THT on two-way Negro Leagues greats
Link to Newsday on Dihigo
Link to MLB.com on Dihigo
Link to Dihigo’s SABR bio
Link to Gilberto’s Zoom background
Link to Gilberto’s YouTube channel
Link to YouTube documentary on Dihigo
Link to recording of “Elegía a Martín Dihigo”
Link to transcript of “Elegía a Martín Dihigo”
Link to Gilberto’s biography of his father
Link to Gilberto’s book Estrellas Por Siempre
Link to Adrian’s book Playing America’s Game
Link to Adrian’s book Cuban Star

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the seemingly building backlash to the extra-innings automatic-runner rule and Dusty Baker’s comments about anti-Astros heckling, then (19:51) bring on high performance coach Gary McCoy to discuss his epiphany about preventing player injuries, the importance of deceleration, how he helped a team in Taiwan have an injury-free season, the problems with innings limits and pitch limits, how MLB teams should be handling players in a season following a light workload, how and why teams are investing in sports science, how motion-tracking technology and artificial intelligence can help prevent injuries, and more.

Audio intro: Durand Jones & The Indications, "Make a Change"
Audio interstitial: Parquet Courts, "Picture of Health"
Audio outro: The Posies, "Take Care of Yourself"

Link to Ginny Searle on the automatic-runner rule
Link to Dusty on heckling
Link to Joe Lemire on Gary and the Brothers
Link to Gary’s LinkedIn page
Link to study on injury rates in 2020
Link to Mike Petriello on teams managing workloads
Link to J.J. Cooper on innings limits
Link to study on innings limits
Link to second study on innings limits

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer RJ McDaniel banter about a controversial walk-off hit by pitch call involving the Mets’ Michael Conforto, the early success of exciting Tigers Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo, and unexpected fauna on the field, then conduct the second annual Effectively Wild Team Fun Draft, in which they draft all 30 teams in order of how fun they are to follow in 2021.

Audio intro: Dean Martin, "Just for Fun"
Audio outro: The Donnas, "Friday Fun"

Link to Conforto HBP video
Link to RJ on Baddoo
Link to RJ on the Coors Field cat
Link to cat Statcast video
Link to RJ on the angry goose
Link to first Team Fun draft
Link to Ohtani wave video
Link to Rosenthal’s Bauer report

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley convene an emergency podcast to discuss Shohei Ohtani’s exhilarating, terrifying, and historic Sunday Night Baseball performance against the White Sox (which veered from triumph to near-tragedy), touching on Ohtani’s titanic home run and resounding bat crack, the aesthetics of his stuff, his Statcast superstardom, his narrow escape from injury after a controversial move (or non-move) by Joe Maddon, and more, plus ruminations on Ty Buttrey’s farewell.

Audio intro: Jane’s Addiction, "Superhero"
Audio outro: Of Montreal, "Let’s Do Everything for the First Time Forever"

Link to video of Ohtani game
Link to video of Ohtani homer
Link to Baseball Savant Gamefeed page
Link to Sam on dropped third strikes
Link to video of 2005 Pierzynski play
Link to Fabian Ardaya on Ohtani’s spin rates
Link to Ohtani outing fun facts
Link to MLB.com Ohtani outing game story
Link to ESPN Ohtani outing game story
Link to Alden Gonzalez column
Link to list of pre-Ohtani games with no DH
Link to Gary Ashwill on Negro Leagues games
Link to Ardaya on Walsh
Link to Walsh’s helmet highlight
Link to SI piece about “as so often happens”
Link to story on leading off inning after great play

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about immersing themselves in Opening Day action, Opening Day highlights and oddities, early-season optimism, the divisive automatic-runner rule, the Francisco Lindor extension and why it matters so much for the Mets, the perception of players’ positive COVID tests today compared to last season, what they’re most looking forward to this season, and much more.

Audio intro: Hippo Campus, "Baseball"
Audio outro: Paul Weller, "Brand New Start"

Link to Sam on the automatic-runner rule
Link to Cabrera home run video
Link to Trout on his swing
Link to Jay Jaffe on Cabrera
Link to FanGraphs staff predictions post
Link to Ringer staff predictions post
Link to video of Turner/Bellinger play
Link to list of runners passing runners
Link to Yang’s Yankees scarf tweet
Link to Ben on the Lindor extension
Link to Reddit thread on Bally scorebug
Link to Ben on the ball in spring training
Link to latest Ringer MLB Show episode
Link to Darius Austin on preseason predictions

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the completion of the season preview series and the Marlins renaming Marlins Park “loanDepot park,” do a draft of current corporate-sponsored MLB ballpark names from least to most objectionable, and then preview the 2021 Dodgers (24:20) with Pedro Moura of the The Athletic and the 2021 Orioles (1:09:03) with Joe Trezza of MLB.com.

Audio intro: Toto, "We Made It"
Audio interstitial 1: Kiwi Jr., "Dodger"
Audio interstitial 2: Matthew Sweet, "Baltimore"
Audio outro: Gene Clark, "Opening Day"

Link to Ben on the Dodgers
Link to Andy McCullough on the Dodgers as champs
Link to Pedro on Lux
Link to Pedro on Bellinger
Link to Pedro on Seager
Link to Pedro on Bauer
Link to Pedro and Dennis Lin on Dodgers-Padres
Link to Zach Kram on the Dodgers-Padres race
Link to Joe on Mancini
Link to Joe on Santander
Link to Joe on the Orioles’ new Dominican facility
Link to Ben on Jannis and the knuckleball
Link to Ben on the Brennameme
Link to Ben on the new baseball

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