Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Bryce Harper’s clutchness and how he’s perceived by fans, Clayton Kershaw’s resurgence, and Mickey Callaway’s comments about analytics, then answer listener emails about the same player batting twice and playing two positions, whether Byron Buxton’s defense has hidden value, career WAR vs. career counting stats, whether players could call balls and strikes better than umpires, and the umpire replacement level in the age of computer-called strike zones, plus Stat Blasts about pitchers whom Mike Trout has faced only once and the Cubs’ extreme home/road split, and a postscript about the Angels’ historic .500-ness and how hitter aging curves have changed.

Audio intro: Courtney Barnett, "Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence"
Audio outro: Dave Mason, "We Just Disagree"

Link to Sam on Harper
Link to Craig on Harper
Link to Ben Clemens on Kershaw
Link to Callaway’s comments
Link to story on the Metrodome’s ventilation system
Link to Chuck Klosterman basketball story
Link to player eyesight story
Link to Ben on young hitters
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about how Gleyber Torres’s ownership of the Orioles and Aristides Aquino’s home-run spree are emblematic of 2019, fun facts about players’ accomplishments in their first X games, home-run fun facts and the juiced ball, Juan Soto vs. Ronald Acuña, Jr., two recent Scott Boras quotes, the Dodgers’ near-record extra-base-hits game, and Jeff Mathis’s offensive ineptitude and defensive prowess, then discuss an ESPN oral history of the 1994 strike, touching on whether the sport would have survived the extensive use of replacement players, the change in media coverage of baseball labor issues, what the biggest loss would be if the rest of the 2019 season were canceled, and more.

Audio intro: Chance The Rapper, "Juice"
Audio outro: The Rock*A*Teens, "Pretty Thoughts Strike Down the Band"

Link to story on Torres and the Orioles
Link to Ben on breakout batters
Link to Jay Jaffe on Aquino
Link to C. Trent Rosecrans on Aquino’s swing change
Link to list of players with most batting runs through age 20
Link to Sam on Scioscia, Mathis, and Napoli
Link to Sam on Scioscia and defense again
Link to R.J. Anderson on Jeff Mathis’s game-calling
Link to worst offensive careers (min. 2500 PA)
Link to worst offensive single seasons (min. 200 PA)
Link to Tim Kurkjian’s oral history of the strike
Link to Ben on Lords of the Realm
Link to the book Baseball’s Power Shift
Link to Emma Baccellieri on players’ social media advocacy
Link to Evan Drellich’s oral history of the strike
Link to Bryan Curtis on the liberalization of sportswriting
Link to order The MVP Machine

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In the third episode of Effectively Wild recorded live at Saber Seminar in Boston, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to Boston Globe sportswriter Alex Speier, author of the new book Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion From the Ground Up, about Boston’s championship core, the twists and turns of player development, why clubhouse chemistry is so unpredictable, player development before big data, how scouting and player development machines break, the future importance of player development, what’s next for the Red Sox, and more.

Audio intro: Derek and the Dominoes, "Keep on Growing"
Audio outro: Jason Isbell, "Grown"

Link to Saber Seminar site
Link to Alex’s book
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bo Bichette fun facts vs. Travis Demeritte fun facts, Javier Báez batting left-handed against a position player and why the shift appears to be exempt from unwritten rules, and umpire perfect games, then (30:46) talk to The Athletic’s New York Yankees beat writer Lindsey Adler about how to explain the team’s injury-riddled yet somehow ultra-successful season.

Audio intro: The Pretenders, "Almost Perfect"
Audio interstitial: James Brown, "I Refuse to Lose"
Audio outro: Bing Crosby, "Out of Nowhere"

Link to Bichette fun facts
Link to story on Báez batting lefty
Link to video of Báez batting lefty
Link to diagram of shift on Báez
Link to Sam on unwritten rules and the shift
Link to Ben on umpire perfect games
Link to story on compassionate umpires
Link to Jay Jaffe on the Yankees
Link to Mike Petriello on the Yankees
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Mike Trout’s 28th birthday, the stats he’s led the league in, and the stats he still might lead the league in for the first time, the Mets’ recent hot streak and the way in which their season has been both tumultuous and predictable, Max Muncy and a cycle/walk-off triple attempt, and whether the basepaths should be wider, then answer listener emails about the best era in which to hit for the cycle, how teams should decide whether they’re out of contention, and baseball without timeouts, plus email-inspired Stat Blasts about whether it’s good to get a lot of walk-off wins and whether pitchers should swing away with the bases loaded and one out.

Audio intro: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, "Forever 28"
Audio outro: The Breeders, "Walk it Off"

Link to Ben on Trout’s league leadership
Link to Sam on walk-off triples
Link to Phil Birnbaum on forecasting team wins
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the non-running Royals and Terrance Gore, the Diamondbacks’ stolen-base success rate and Zack Godley’s disastrous season, the Phillies’ roster crunch, Sam’s recurring nightmare, a Roman Quinn fun fact, and the outfield exploits of Vince Velasquez, whether the 40-man roster should be bigger, what Velasquez has in common with EW legend Ned Garver, the trials and travails of baseball’s forgotten “bullpen jeep” and the sport’s perpetual efforts to shorten games, lying about Babe Ruth, a new nickname for combined no-hitters, the Astros debut of Aaron Sanchez and Houston’s continued way with pitchers, plus a postscript tribute to the late, great unknown comic, Ted Berkelmann.

Audio intro: T. Rex, "Jeepster"
Audio outro: John Entwistle, "Ted End"

Link to post on Gore’s 2019 baserunning misadventures
Link to post on Arizona’s success rate
Link to story on the Phillies’ wild Friday
Link to video of Velasquez’s 14th-inning play
Link to video of Velasquez’s 15th-inning plays
Link to Schifman on the rise of MLB’s minimum earners
Link to Schifman on roster rules and player churn
Link to photo of Garver throw
Link to bullpen jeep photo album
Link to Axisa on Sanchez’s pitch usage
Link to FanGraphs post on Sanchez’s pitch usage
Link to Travis on the Astros and spin
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about FanGraphs’ completist coverage of the frantic trade deadline, the backlash to a perceived lack of activity at the deadline and whether the deadline was really a manifestation of baseball’s structural problems, the appropriate balance between trying to win now and trying to win later, what we can learn from the Chris Archer trade one year later, the significance of the suspensions for the Reds’ and Pirates’ bad brawling behavior, the Hall of Famers Mike Trout passed in July, Bobby Wallace and another reminder that baseball is a wonder of human ingenuity, Jeff McNeil’s netting-assisted snag, a vintage Zack Greinke story, and more.

Audio intro: Belle and Sebastian, "Dirty Dream Number Two"
Audio outro: Robyn Hitchcock, "The Man Who Invented Himself"

Link to FanGraphs trade deadline coverage
Link to Ben Clemens on trade deadline activity
Link to Ken Rosenthal on the deadline
Link to Marc Carig on the deadline
Link to Ben on the Greinke trade
Link to Ben on revisiting the Archer trade
Link to Sam on the Hall of Famers Trout passed in July
Link to Pirates-Reds brawl suspensions
Link to Eno on purpose pitches
Link to article about McNeil’s net catch
Link to Rob Arthur on ejections
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about bigger bases in the Atlantic League, then recap and dissect the trade deadline, focusing on why the market took so long to develop, the significance of multiple teams both buying and selling, why some top contenders didn’t do much, what a wild card is worth, the Trevor Bauer three-team trade, the Zack Greinke trade and the Astros as World Series favorites, and many more moves along the way.

Audio intro: Son Volt, "Last Minute Shakedown"
Audio outro: Great Lake Swimmers, "Let’s Trade Skins"

Link to Putterman Atlantic League article
Link to Baccellieri Atlantic League article
Link to Sam’s study on the wild card
Link to Ben on the Greinke trade
Link to Gammons trade deadline article
Link to FanGraphs trade coverage
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Gerrit Cole strikeout fun fact, listed heights and weights and Ketel Marte, running the bases clockwise, and a Ramon Laureano postgame comment, then answer listener emails about come-from-behind (and comeback) victories, whether the 2015 season was good or bad for Bryce Harper (and how players’ success is perceived), and whether umpiring crews should expand to include replacement umps, plus Stat Blasts about the benefit of running on 3-2 counts and the record for most MLB ballparks played in.

Audio intro: The Bevis Frond, "Enjoy"
Audio outro: Willie Nelson, "I’d Trade All of My Tomorrows (For Just One Yesterday)"

Link to Laureano video
Link to list of players who played in 40+ parks
Link to Jeff on minor-league umpires
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on the feedback to the preceding “best players of the decade” episode and minimum innings vs. three-pitch innings, then banter about Mike Trout‘s new-and-improved throwing arm (and Ross Stripling’s new-and-improved ability to retire Mike Trout), trade-deadline procrastination, the Giants’ and Mets’ outlooks, the future of Noah Syndergaard, the newly slider-iffic (and highly effective) Jacob deGrom, the retirement and legacy of Troy Tulowitzki, which of baseball’s best pitchers are appointment viewing, Stevie Wilkerson and the first position-player save, and Ben’s feature article on the mid-PA-pitching-change strategy previously discussed on the podcast.

Audio intro: Dire Straits, "Your Latest Trick"
Audio outro: Dr. Dog, "Do the Trick"

Link to Eric Stephen on Trout’s throw and throwing arm
Link to Michael Baumann on Strasburg
Link to Zach Kram on Tulowitzki
Link to video of Wilkerson save
Link to Ben on mid-PA pitching changes
Link to order The MVP Machine

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