Effectively Wild Episode 2284: Season Preview Series: Astros and Cardinals

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s new sound-dampening windows, listener defenses of MLB’s altered two-way-player rule, and the latest intolerable “breakout” pick, followed by Stat Blasts (15:49) about the teams with the most winless, non-lossless pitchers and the all-time past-their-prime/time-travel teams. Then they preview the 2025 Houston Astros (32:41) with The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, and the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals (1:25:07) with The Athletic’s Katie Woo.

Audio intro: Ted O., “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 1: El Warren, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 2: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to windows explainer
Link to breakout push notification
Link to Ragans article
Link to late-2023 pitcher WAR
Link to Stathead results
Link to Kram’s Stat Blast
Link to 2005 payrolls
Link to Ryan’s Stat Blast data
Link to Michael’s Stat Blast data
Link to offseason spending
Link to FG payrolls page
Link to Astros depth chart
Link to Astros offseason tracker
Link to Chandler’s author archive
Link to Chandler’s podcast
Link to Cardinals depth chart
Link to Cardinals offseason tracker
Link to 2024 attendance change
Link to Katie’s author archive
Link to Katie’s podcast
Link to MLBTR on Ragans
Link to EW gift subscriptions

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