Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about their minor league free agent draft results so far and whether this season has helped or hurt minor league free agents gain playing time, the continued watchability of revamped extra innings and the possibility of bringing back traditional extra innings for one week a year, and whether this season’s early big BABIP dip indicates that players are fielding better without fans, then answer listener emails about whether players should retain their rookie eligibility in the event of a shortened season, whether giving up in-person attendance forever would be worth guaranteeing a winning team, how the 2021 amateur draft order should be determined, and whether the lineup should reset in extra innings, plus a Stat Blast about quasi-walk-off hits in rain-delayed games.

Audio intro: Paul McCartney, "Distractions"
Audio outro: Beck, "No Distraction"

Link to minor league free agent draftees
Link to Sam on the automatic-runner rule
Link to Tango tweet about fielding performance
Link to article about basketball/soccer player improvements
Link to Lucas Apostoleris’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to Lucas’s Bandcamp page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’s arm injury and his short- and long-term prospects as a two-way player, Mike Soroka and the ongoing pitcher-injury epidemic, the latest positive tests and player opt outs, Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander’s record-setting nine consecutive strikeouts, Clayton Kershaw’s comeback and other heartening news, MLB’s uptick in TV ratings, the strangeness of the standings, how long the regular season would have to last for MLB to give a green light to the playoffs, and robot umps coming to the KBO Futures League. Then (37:34) they talk to Senior Director of Seattle Mariners Productions Ben Mertens about how the Mariners manage fake crowd noise at T-Mobile Park, balancing boos and cheers, taunting opponents, the level of noise the players prefer, the construction of cardboard cutouts, the ballpark uncanny valley effect, and more.

Audio intro: Budgie, "Forearm Smash"
Audio interstitial: Death Cab for Cutie, "Fake Frowns"
Audio outro: Ernest Tubb, "I’m With a Crowd but So Alone"

Link to Ben on injured pitchers
Link to Tony Wolfe on Alexander
Link to article about TV ratings
Link to article about KBO robot umps
Link to Mariners Seat Fleet
Link to article on MLB’s cheering app

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the coronavirus spreading to the NL Central, the difficulties MLB faces compared to other sports leagues, the dramatic changes that the pandemic has imposed on the sport, why robot umps aren’t part of the pandemic makeover, the jarring visuals of virtual fans, the promotion of Nick Madrigal and the overlap of good and bad baseball news, the latest vexing comments by Astros owner Jim Crane, the power of pitcher deception and the potential to quantify it, and reports that the season could soon cease if conditions don’t improve, plus a follow-up addendum about why the automatic-runner rule shortens games.

Audio intro: John Lennon, "Borrowed Time"
Audio outro: Dr. Feelgood, "One Weekend"

Link to Jay Jaffe on the latest positive tests
Link to Ben Clemens on a baseball bubble
Link to GIF of Nelson Cruz and virtual fans
Link to Jim Crane article
Link to Josh Flowerman on reliever sequencing
Link to Hareeb al-Saq on reliever sequencing
Link to Ben on the knuckleball hangover effect
Link to Ben on perceived velocity
Link to Jon Anderson on quantifying pitcher deception
Link to Jeff Long on pitcher deception
Link to Eno Sarris on pitcher deception
Link to Eno on Yusmeiro Petit’s invisiball
Link to Johnny Cueto Statcast wireframe shimmy
Link to Passan report
Link to Ben Clemens on Passan’s report
Link to Ben on Nick Madrigal

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about family members not attending big league debuts and how teams and broadcasts could make better use of empty ballparks, audible profanity on the field, the rapid change in public opinion of the extra-innings automatic-runner rule, why the rule works as well as it does, the magnitude and causes of the pitcher injury spike through the first week of the season, the desirability of TV cameras mounted on drones, the difficulty of walking straight while blindfolded, and more, plus a Stat Blast about expectant parent Mike Trout’s reputed penchant for leading the league in a variety of statistical categories.

Audio intro: The Rolling Stones, "This Place is Empty"
Audio outro: The White Stripes, "Expecting"

Link to report about new sign-stealing punishments
Link to Zach Buchanan on debuts without family or fans
Link to Marc Carig on baseball broadcast profanity
Link to clip of Reddick cursing
Link to Astros-Dodgers dust-up video
Link to Sam on the automatic-runner rule
Link to Anthony Castrovince on the automatic-runner rule
Link to the new rule’s actual game-shortening results
Link to the new rule’s theoretical game-shortening results
Link to Theodor Bierhoff’s second Stat Blast song cover
Link to Ben on Trout’s bold ink

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller discuss several takeaways from the first weekend of the MLB regular season, starting with the COVID-19 outbreak among the Miami Marlins, the apparent inadequacy of MLB’s health and safety protocols, and the season’s tenuous state, before segueing into game action including sac bunts, pitcher usage, parity, the pace of games, masks, the ways they’re watching, and much more.

Audio intro: Eric Matthews, "Start of the Meltdown"
Audio outro: Fleetwood Mac, "Keep on Going"

Link to Rosenthal and Stark on the Marlins
Link to Joel Sherman on the Marlins
Link to Mike Petriello on bunting in extra innings
Link to Ben Clemens on bunting in extra innings
Link to You Must Remember This episode
Link to Alibi Ike trailer
Link to Alibi Ike short story
Link to BP on Bard and Choi
Link to Shakeia Taylor on MLB’s tepid embrace of BLM

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Sam Miller banter about Sam’s cricket home invasion, then discuss Opening Day, the experience of spectating games without fans, the merits and drawbacks of MLB’s last-second expanded playoff format, Mookie Betts’ surprise contract extension and how and why the Dodgers (and not the Red Sox) made the deal, the new temporary home of the Blue Jays, and more.

Audio intro: The New Pornographers, "Opening Ceremony"
Audio outro: John K. Samson, "Fantasy Baseball at the End of the World"

Link to FanGraphs staff predictions
Link to Craig Edwards on the expanded playoffs
Link to Morning Consult poll
Link to The Athletic on Soto’s positive test
Link to Ben on the Betts deal

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about whether official scorers will be more or less accurate when they’re working from home. Then they conduct the second of two drafts that have been presented on back-to-back episodes, completing the set by selecting five things apiece that they’re excited to see (or not see) during the shortened 2020 season. (On the preceding episode, they drafted five things apiece that they’ll miss this season.)

Audio intro: White Denim, "Good News"
Audio outro: Paul Weller, "Here’s the Good News"

Link to article about official scorers
Link to Scherzer photo tweet
Link to Chris Taylor’s satisfying-sounding home run
Link to Ben on the strikeout-rate increase streak
Link to Ben on sabermetrics meeting the 60-game season
Link to Ben on embracing small-sample randomness
Link to photo of masked pitching coach covering mouth
Link to Rob Arthur on bat cracks in 2014
Link to Rob Arthur on bat cracks in 2020
Link to Ben Clemens on non-playoff teams improving
Link to Hawk-Eye intro
Link to Alyssa Nakken video
Link to Five and Dive podcast archive

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Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about Ben’s latest bad dream about baseball writing and the Toronto (or Pittsburgh?) Blue Jays’ last-minute relocation. Then they conduct the first of two drafts that will be presented on back-to-back episodes, beginning by selecting five things apiece that they’ll miss about “normal” baseball during the shortened 2020 season. (Next time, they’ll draft five things apiece that they’re excited to see.)

Audio intro: Pulp, "You’re a Nightmare"
Audio outro: The Black Keys, "Sit Around and Miss You"

Link to the large baby
Link to Sam on booing the Astros
Link to Ben on the best and worst 60-game spans
Link to FanGraphs 60-game leaderboards
Link to Zach Kram on WAR in 2020
Link to Ben Clemens on Chico

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez’s broken wrist, Meg’s all-time most disappointing Mariners, the Rays’ five-man infield, listener responses to two emails from the previous episode, and news about Freddie Freeman and Yasiel Puig, then complete the 2020 season preview series by (16:23) previewing the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers with The Athletic’s Pedro Moura, and the 2020 Baltimore Orioles (53:26) with MLB.com’s Joe Trezza.

Audio intro: The Replacements, "The Last"
Audio interstitial 1: Haim, "Los Angeles"
Audio interstitial 2: Blur, "This is a Low"
Audio outro: RJD2 (Feat. Blueprint), "Final Frontier"

Link to story about the Rays’ five-man infield
Link to listener Austin’s boost zone graphic
Link to Ben on Dave Roberts in 2019
Link to Pedro on Pollock and COVID-19
Link to Pedro on the legend of Chico
Link to FanGraphs post on Orioles fan event
Link to Ben on MLB’s 2020 strikeout rate
Link to Ben on sabermetrics in the 60-game season
Link to The MVP Machine with Orioles afterword

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2020 season predictions, picking (and pricing) blueberries, and a cardboard cutout of Meg at T-Mobile Park, then open up the pre-pandemic mailbag and answer old but evergreen listener emails about the best type of game for a first-time baseball viewer to attend, whether the Cubs’ 2016 title came too soon, whether hitters should have to finish plate appearances with broken bats, how managers should handle players who are having good or bad days, which players would benefit most from a third arm, where to place a boost zone on the field, comparing the careers of Carlos Peña and Paul Konerko, whether Mike Trout could make the Hall of Fame twice, a parable about rooting for personal success versus rooting for a rival’s failure, and more.

Audio intro: Louis Prima, "Three-Handed Woman"
Audio outro: The Everly Brothers, "Three-Armed Poker-Playin’ River Rat"

Link to Meg’s blueberries tweet
Link to purchase a cardboard cutout
Link to the game the family from New Zealand saw
Link to article about reducing broken bats
Link to analysis of managers pulling pitchers
Link to analysis of game-to-game spin-rate variability
Link to FiveThirtyEight hot hand analysis
Link to article about Formula E attack mode
Link to video explainer of Formula E attack mode
Link to Formula E attack mode highlights video
Link to listener email archive
Link to stream Stove League

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