Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller discuss the results of MLB’s investigation into Boston Red Sox sign stealing, touching on Boston’s lighter penalties and seemingly lesser offenses compared to the Astros’, whether Boston’s front office and coaches deserved to be absolved, the moral hazard of the advance scout who doubles as a replay-room operator, and more. Then they answer listener emails about firing managers based on one egregious in-game decision, transporting a modern coach to an earlier era of baseball, and properly appreciating Mike Trout, plus a Stat Blast about how many would-be big leaguers will miss out on making the majors because of a canceled or shortened season, and a postscript on trainers, trampolines, and an advance scout.

Audio intro: The Walkmen, "Lost in Boston"
Audio outro: Earlimart, "First Instant Last Report"

Link to MLB report
Link to Sam on Trout and WAR
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Mike Conte’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to trampoline study 1
Link to trampoline study 2
Link to trampoline study 3
Link to Stubbs interview episode
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past
Link to trainer story 1
Link to trainer story 2
Link to trainer story 3
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Effectively Wild community’s least-disliked MLB teams and two unjust Cy Young/MVP snubs, then discuss what Michael Jordan’s brief baseball career taught us about Jordan and about baseball.

Audio intro: Willie Nelson, "Why Do I Have to Choose"
Audio outro: Emmylou Harris, "Jordan"

Link to EW MLB Survivor game recap
Link to EW MLB Survivor game data
Link to Ben on peak Pedro
Link to Jordan oral history
Link to episode about Jordan oral history
Link to Steve Wulf on Jordan and baseball
Link to Neil Paine on Jordan’s career
Link to list of significant minor league seasons
Link to order The MVP Machine

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With MLB in limbo, Ben Lindbergh investigates virtual baseball, talking to the designers of three new baseball video games—Ramone Russell of Sony San Diego, makers of MLB The Show 20, Markus Heinsohn of Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball 21 (37:56), and Scott Drader of Metalhead Software, makers of Super Mega Baseball 3 (1:21:50)—about the histories of their respective franchises, how their games differ stylistically, their different development plans, balancing realism and fun, how their games are helping fans and players cope with the absence of actual baseball, and much more (plus postscripts on Baseball Mogul 2020 and minor leaguers’ likenesses in MLB The Show).

Audio intro: The Alan Parsons Project, "Games People Play"
Audio interstitial 1: Jim Noir, "Do You Like Games"
Audio interstitial 2: Shout Out Louds, "Play the Game"
Audio outro: Drive-By Truckers, "Play it All Night Long"

Link to Episode 427 with Owen Good
Link to MLB The Show 20 trailer
Link to MLB The Show 20 website
Link to MLB The Show Players League
Link to MLB Network on Twitch
Link to FanGraphs on Twitch
Link to Ben on the ball in MLB The Show
Link to Mets broadcasters calling MLB The Show
Link to Ben on esports
Link to Out of the Park Baseball 21 trailer
Link to OOTP 21 website
Link to B-Ref’s OOTP 21 season sim
Link to MLB Dream Bracket
Link to Super Mega Baseball 3 trailer
Link to Super Mega Baseball 3 website
Link to Baseball Mogul 2020 website
Link to story about minor leaguers in MLB The Show
Link to Advocates for Minor Leaguers
Link to More Than Baseball
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley speak to FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel about their new book, Future Value: The Battle for Baseball’s Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar, touching on topics including the best kinds of scouting stories, how technology and data have confirmed or overturned traditional scouting beliefs, how smart teams are spending, how to make a miserly owner invest in scouting and development, whether scouts should have access to data, whether scouts can accurately assess makeup, introverted vs. extroverted scouts, whether it’s good or bad for teams to have a “type,” how teams will train prospects if there isn’t a minor league season, whether it’s possible to predict injuries, Eric and Kiley’s scouting strengths and weaknesses, and much more.

Audio intro: The Weakerthans, "Relative Surplus Value"
Audio outro: Erick Dayz, "Scouting Report"

Link to order Future Value
Link to Future Value excerpt
Link to Eric and Kiley’s scouting primer
Link to Ben on Scout School
Link to Kiley on the Yankees signing minor league free agents
Link to Russell Carleton on adolescent cognitive development
Link to Brandon Martin story
Link to Toe Nash story
Link to Ebert’s John Prine review
Link to article about serial athlete impersonator
Link to article about Joba impersonator
Link to article about Pasqua impersonator
Link to article about Mets/Marlins con man
Link to Stark on Molina’s home run
Link to order The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the strange story of a man named Bill Henry who impersonated former major league reliever Bill Henry for decades, then answer listener emails about seasons with an ERA+ or OPS+ of 420, teams from the past that they would most want to cover as time-traveling beat writers, and the difference between being fans of teams and being fans of particular players, plus two Stat Blasts about all-time head-to-head franchise records and how good a starting rotation would have to be to make up for a replacement-level rest of the roster.

Audio intro: First Aid Kit, "Master Pretender"
Audio outro: Roy Orbison, "The Great Pretender"

Link to AP story about the Bill Henrys
Link to impostor’s obituary
Link to local story about the Bill Henrys
Link to story about exposing the fake Bill
Link to SI story about the Bill Henrys
Link to Bill Henry’s SABR bio
Link to de Kooning theft story
Link to false memory story
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Tess Taruskin’s cover video
Link to order The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about how runs, hits, and errors became baseball’s standard scoreboard stats and the piecemeal way in which baseball evolves, then reminisce about and reevaluate the 2015 experiment that led to their 2016 book about running the independent league Sonoma Stompers, The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team.

Audio intro: Wishbone Ash, "Errors of My Way"
Audio outro: Splinter, "After Five Years"

Link to Sam on Runs/Hits/Errors
Link to article about modern box scores
Link to first 2016 book companion podcast
Link to second 2016 book companion podcast
Link to third 2016 book companion podcast
Link to The Only Rule website
Link to order The Only Rule Is It Has to Work
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about new options for supporting FanGraphs and a potential plan to play the 2020 season with a radically realigned league structure, then talk to FanGraphs writer and ZiPS projection system proprietor Dan Szymborski about how a shortened or canceled season would affect projections for 2021, whether players would exceed or fall short of their projections after a long layoff, how a canceled season could impair player development, how returns from injuries, strength of schedule, and fewer games could help or hurt certain teams in 2020, tactics and roster strategies that could be beneficial in a shortened season, whether Statcast has improved projections, doing away with divisions, the appeal of streaming/esports in the absence of traditional sports, the MLB The Show players tournament, and how projecting baseball is different from projecting pandemics.

Audio intro: The Mountain Goats, "This Year"
Audio outro: The Strokes, "Ode to the Mets"

Link to FanGraphs financial update
Link to FanGraphs membership page
Link to FanGraphs gift membership page
Link to FanGraphs donation page
Link to realignment report
Link to Rob Arthur on uncertainty
Like to Matt Trueblood on shortened-season tactics
Link to Dan on playoff odds changes
Link to Dan on healing teams
Link to Dan on embracing weirdness
Link to Ben on esports
Link to Hannah on simulated seasons
Link to MLB The Show league
Link to Mets broadcasters calling MLB The Show
Link to FiveThirtyEight on modeling COVID-19
Link to Dan’s COVID-19 Twitter thread
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about a possible banter shortage, a mysterious sack of flour from 1971, the kinds of baseball stories being published in the absence of baseball, the greatness (and eye-popping pitcher usage) of the 2001 World Series, the October travails of Charlie Leibrandt, and how MLB should approach planning for the start of the season, then answer listener emails about how to reward true talent in a shortened season, whether the Mendoza Line needs a new name, whether the White Sox are the most cursed team, and whether rules changes should be agreed to far in advance, plus a Stat Blast about the most lopsided WAR league leaders, a team of unlikely MVP vote-getters, and the odd diet of Ski Melillo.

Audio intro: I Was a King, "Bubble"
Audio outro: Pulp, "Help the Aged"

Link to Pedro’s sack of flour story
Link to Sam on the most meme-worthy moments
Link to Zach Kram on the Arizona plan
Link to Ben Clemens on the Arizona plan
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller split up to talk to the authors of two new baseball books. First, Sam speaks to Sports Stories newsletter author Eric Nusbaum about Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between. Then (33:18) Ben brings on Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond to discuss Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Home Run Revolution, plus a postscript covering the release of the expanded, paperback edition of The MVP Machine, a Stat Blast addendum about the longest Opening Day starting streaks, and the career of the late, great Hall of Famer and Tigers legend Al Kaline.

Audio intro: Bill Withers, "Lonely Town, Lonely Street"
Audio interstitial: Fountains of Wayne, "Laser Show"
Audio outro: John Prine, "Hello in There"

Link to Stealing Home
Link to Eric’s Sports Stories newsletter
Link to Swing Kings
Link to Jared on machine-made baseballs
Link to Ben Clemens on strikeouts and offense
Link to list of longest Opening Day starting streaks
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the response to FanGraphs’ request for financial support, discuss the latest news about minor league pay, Tommy John surgeries, college eligibility, the possibility of baseball coming back, Astros suspensions, and the suspiciously lively ball, and unveil a Stat Blast song cover and a Stat Blast about the longest team streaks of starting different players at a particular position on Opening Day. Then (45:34) they bring on Texas Rangers major league strength and conditioning coach Jose Vazquez to explain how teams are trying to keep players in shape from afar while the season is on hold, how technology is aiding that effort and changing training, how players are maintaining their strength, the risk of injury if/when the season starts, how to discourage players from hiding injuries, bearing responsibility for injuries, and working with independent facilities.

Audio intro: The Minders, "Give Me Strength"
Audio interstitial: Neil Young, "Give Me Strength"
Audio outro: The Go-Betweens, "All About Strength"

Link to article about Choo donation
Link to Emma on Tommy John surgery ethics
Link to report about Astros suspensions
Link to report about postseason baseballs
Link to Ben on the postseason baseball
Link to Stat Blast song cover
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Opening Day start streak data
Link to Reds pitching WAR leaders
Link to article about 2014 Rangers injuries
Link to 2014 team injury data
Link to TeamBuildr
Link to Gallo video
Link to article about Yankees pitcher training
Link to order The MVP Machine

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