Effectively Wild Episode 2425: The Manfred Mantra

by
January 10, 2026

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a breakup of baseball lookalikes, minor league free agent draft eligibility, and more players who unretired after becoming coaches, then break down the latest baseball broadcasting developments, Rob Manfred’s recent comments (about his priorities and future, an offseason signing deadline, and regular-season structure), Tarik Skubal’s historic arbitration case, and, inspired by sensational hockey streaming series Heated Rivalry (which they discuss without spoilers), when an active MLB player might publicly come out.

Audio intro: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Horny)”
Audio outro: Beatwriter, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to MLBTR on Fitzgerald
Link to Sojo article
Link to Campbell hiring
Link to TV network news
Link to MLBTR on TV networks
Link to TV network news 2
Link to Entertainment Strategy Guy
Link to streaming revenue info
Link to more on streaming revenue
Link to Manfred on a signing deadline
Link to Rooker tweet
Link to Harper sales article 1
Link to Harper sales article 2
Link to Manfred’s tournament comments
Link to MLBTR on Skubal
Link to The Athletic on Skubal
Link to Passan on Skubal
Link to Ben on arbitration
Link to MLBTR on Kepler
Link to Heated Rivalry
Link to hockey culture article
Link to Outsports article
Link to Take Me Out wiki
Link to EW Episode 1776
Link to Unwritten Rules
Link to Manfred’s diversity comments
Link to Venezuela article

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