Effectively Wild Episode 2531: The Regular-Season Two-Week Warning
With Meg Rowley on vacation, Ben Lindbergh continues his quest to (temporarily) resurrect a few dearly departed baseball podcasts. Next Up: The Baseball Show With Rany and Joe, featuring Ben, Rany Jazayerli, and Joe Sheehan of the Joe Sheehan Newsletter. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Ben, Rany, and Joe talk about what’s worth watching the rest of the way: playoff races, awards chases, roster reshuffling, and more. They also examine some big-picture trends pertaining to MLB’s low-average offense, pitcher usage, expansion, and popularity.
Audio intro: Garrett Krohn, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Link to The Baseball Show podcast archive
Link to the Joe Sheehan Newsletter
Link to Rany’s medical practice
Link to Rany on the Royals
Link to Rany on Pitcher Abuse Points
Link to Ben on postseason usage
Link to Dan S. on 2026 playoff rosters
Link to Dan S. on the postseason crapshoot
Link to playoff randomness by sport
Link to Kiger wiki
Link to De Paula homer
Link to 2023 Cranston promo
Link to attendance-boost story
Link to article on Vlad’s homer
Link to article on Fischer’s homer
Link to the Teoscar resurgence
Link to Laurila on SP usage
Link to Ben on improving player talent
Link to Elly throw video
Link to Elly throw article
Link to Passan on expansion
Link to NBA franchise values
Link to KC ballpark update
Link to Veblen good wiki
Link to Sarris on sinkers
Link to Ben C. on expanded playoffs
Link to Dan S. on expanded playoffs
Link to FG combined WAR leaderboard
Link to Schlittler MVP article
Link to leaguewide K rates
Link to leaguewide non-pitcher K rates
Link to Ben on Ks in 2017
Link to foul-ball info
Link to Ben on pitcher limits
Link to Ben on improved defense
Link to Rany on Ben’s gaming pod
Sponsor Us on Patreon
Give a Gift Subscription
Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com
Effectively Wild Subreddit
Effectively Wild Wiki
Apple Podcasts Feed
Spotify Feed
YouTube Playlist
Facebook Group
Bluesky Account
Twitter Account
Get Our Merch!
Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Ah, yes… pining for the good old days of baseball: More Balls in play, more in play outs, etc. Joe specifically says the good old days were 2005. I decided to fact check:
Sure enough, you look at Balls in Play per Game and it was relatively stable from 1995 to 2007, then it takes a steep drop off a a cliff, bottoms out in 2021 and has rebounded a bit, but well below the 2005 level.
One interesting thing, though, is we are talking about a TOTAL difference between the 2005 total (27.5) and the 2026 number (24.5) of 3 balls in play, per team per game. There used to be 1 extra ball in play every three half innings. The same is true for In Play Outs. 2005 saw 19.5 per offense per game, whereas this year we have 17.5.
Perhaps where you can argue the biggest noticeable difference is, comes from the ratio of In Play Outs to Ks. In 2005 we had 3.1 In play outs for every strike out, now we are down at 2.1.
The reason I really looked into this, is I am a Brewers fan. I expected the Brewers were bucking this trend. That if Joe really wanted to watch this type of baseball, he should just turn on a Brewers game. I was surprised to learn that is not the case. The Brewers are 19th in ratio of IPO to Ks on offense. They are 5th in balls in play per game, but at only 25.
Anyway, I found all that a little interesting. Now, back to work