Effectively Wild Episode 2442: Season Preview Series: Tigers and Athletics

by
February 20, 2026

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a generous podcast listener, Bruce Meyer’s elevation to interim executive director of the MLBPA, his framing of the sport’s competitive challenges, media messaging vis-à-vis the owners’ and players’ potential responsibility for missed games in 2027, and the creep of pitch-calling from the dugout, then preview the 2026 Detroit Tigers (53:35) with The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen, and the 2026 Athletics (1:31:28) with A’s on SI’s Jason Burke.

2026 EW Season Preview Series

Audio intro: Harold Walker, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 1: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 2: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Reddit comment
Link to Meyer comments 1
Link to Meyer comments 2
Link to BP on competitive balance
Link to Drellich on Meyer
Link to Passan on the MLBPA
Link to Crizer on dugout pitch-calling
Link to EW on 2025 dugout pitch-calling
Link to Bendix comments
Link to Giants pitch-calling article
Link to Vitello comments
Link to Rockies article
Link to Ben on in-game interviews
Link to team payrolls page
Link to Tigers offseason tracker
Link to Tigers depth chart
Link to Cody’s author archive
Link to Cody’s podcast
Link to Athletics offseason tracker
Link to Athletics depth chart
Link to FG top 100
Link to Vegas promotions
Link to Sacramento jerseys
Link to Jason’s author archive

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