Effectively Wild Episode 2518: Dear John

by
August 14, 2026

EWFI
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, please visit our Patreon.

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the latest apparent change in the baseball’s behavior (this time it seems to be deader) and, in a tribute to Tommy John (11:35), retrace the timeline of his trailblazing surgery and his return to a major league mound 50 years ago through contemporaneous accounts and quotes. Then (55:58) they bring on top-tier Patreon supporter Jamie Verbrugge to discuss his podcast and baseball backgrounds before answering listener emails (1:05:02) about the upper bounds of a cup of coffee, a really entertaining but trophy-less season vs. a really boring championship season, an undercover baseball robot, whether Jefry Yan would celebrate a strikeout on an overturned ball call, whether fans are suggestible enough to be fooled by fake home run distances, an ultimate frisbee-style integrity rule for baseball, the value of Ron Washington, and the advisability of bringing the infield in, followed by Stat Blasts (2:01:49) about Pete Crow-Armstrong leading his league in offense and defense, every team in a divison having the same recent record, team games with high matching run, hit, and walk totals, pitchers who got a win, a loss, and a save in a single three-game series, team games with streaks of the same start to each offensive inning, bullpens where one pitcher out-WARed all the others combined, and strikeout-free shutouts.

Audio intro: Beatwriter, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: Sean .P, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Sheehan on the ball
Link to Savant drag dashboard
Link to earlier ball analysis 1
Link to earlier ball analysis 2
Link to John’s statement
Link to MLB.com on John’s statement
Link to Reuters on John’s illness
Link to Tommy John wiki
Link to Frank Jobe wiki
Link to Jaffe on John
Link to career IP leaders
Link to Grant on Posey/Avila
Link to NanoNeedle article
Link to Maness repair article
Link to TJ timeline links
Link to TJS database
Link to Strom surgery article
Link to Bordley surgery article 1
Link to Bordley surgery article 2
Link to Ben’s baseball/America course
Link to Ben C. on Skubal and Detroit
Link to Dickson on “cup of coffee”
Link to Asimov’s Robot series
Link to Super Baseball 2020
Link to Baseball Highlights 2045
Link to Data smell Reddit thread
Link to Skenes photos
Link to Yan game video
Link to Yan box score
Link to Yan Savant search
Link to ultimate’s integrity rule
Link to Arraez/Washington article
Link to article on Wash in 2027
Link to SIS infield-in study
Link to Ben on shifting vs. RHB
Link to Stirnweiss SABR bio
Link to PCA/Snuffy Blast spreadsheet
Link to AL Central streaks image
Link to 13-13-13 Stathead query
Link to win/loss/save spreadsheet
Link to leadoff streaks info
Link to 2026 Guardians relievers
Link to bullpen WAR gaps spreadsheet
Link to Tigers-Guardians gamer
Link to zero-K, zero-run games
Link to listener emails database
Link to MLB All-Century Team
Link to BNS Jays play podcast

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