Effectively Wild: A Fangraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about two spectacular games by Shohei Ohtani and Ohtani’s extraordinary playing-time pace and relay a sinker-iffic response from Michael Lorenzen to a previous discussion about baseball grip, then (24:22) answer listener emails about using different-colored balls to denote different levels of liveliness, how much time to train players have […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether changing managers is at all responsible for the Phillies’ recent success, the Yankees’ almost unparalleled winning-percentage pace, the Royals’ historically terrible pitching performance and the pressure on their pitching coach, another Taylor Ward/Tyler Wade broadcaster slipup, Anthony Rendon’s season-ending surgery, Michael Lorenzen’s comments about baseball slipperiness and […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a broadcaster relatably mixing up Taylor Ward and Tyler Wade, the Dodgers “fixing” former Rockies pitcher Yency Almonte, a deep, perplexing rabbit hole (7:46) of baseball-themed CarShield commercials, the bat spike as the new bat flip, an umpire’s close call with a broken-bat shard, and the building backlash […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about what it means to be humbled, whether Joe Maddon’s mohawk could have caught on and caused a Shohawk had he not been fired, another point about Aaron Judge’s potentially historic home-run pace, a Byron Buxton fun fact, whether Buxton or Luis Arraez is a more entertaining hitter, Ozzie […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Maddon’s mohawk, the latest details about Mike Trout’s (and Tommy Pham’s and Joc Pederson’s) legendary fantasy football league, a rash of hidden-ball-trick attempts, the “old guy’s still got it” resurgences of Nelson Cruz and Joey Votto, how big a deal Aaron Judge’s potentially historic home-run pace should […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Maddon’s firing, the impact and end of the Angels’ 14-game losing streak, and whether the Angels or Phillies are in a worse position for the future, Tony La Russa’s intentional walk on a 1-2 count, whether the weather and the humidor can explain MLB’s sudden upticks in […]

With Meg Rowley on the road, Ben Lindbergh talks to a trio of guests. First (4:10), he’s joined by Mr. King, the creator of Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio, to talk about baseball as ASMR, crafting a fictional league, broadcaster, and collection of players, replicating the soothing, white-noise sounds of a baseball broadcast, putting his listeners […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mike Yastrzemski trying the “KK play,” the distinctive smell of rat urine, Buck Showalter making a mid-PA pitching change, Dave Roberts running afoul of a position-player-pitcher rule, the wording of the zombie-runner rule, Nick Pivetta’s near-miraculous mechanical adjustment, and Mike Trout’s slump, plus a baseball-history fact from 1859. […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Joe Girardi’s firing and where the Phillies go from here, the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez extension, the dip in DH offense, and the trade deadline, then answer listener emails about MLB.TV highlights, the upside of ignoring playoff odds, getting plunked on a full count, things that haven’t happened in […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley announce the availability of new Effectively Wild T-shirts, then follow up on the latest, Mike Trout-related developments in the Tommy Pham–Joc Pederson fantasy-football/slap story as well as Josh Donaldson’s comments about his teammates not supporting him. After that, they banter about a home-run robbery that wasn’t, the homer hitting of […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Nick Castellanos’s uncanny tater timing, and then (4:43) Ben attempts to explain the Joc Pederson–Tommy Pham fantasy-football dispute (and resulting slap) to Meg. After that (44:42), they discuss the Reds’ resurgence, an umpire’s hot mic, updates on defensive-positioning restrictions and the forthcoming pitch clock, and whether the standings […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about why we don’t see more hidden-ball tricks in MLB, why big leaguers practice fielding grounders between innings, comparing the careers of Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman, how baseball broadcasts should discuss domestic-violence suspensions, whether Rickey Henderson would still have stolen bases if he’d been inflicted with […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the apparent end of Mike Trout’s long-lasting SuperPretzel sponsorship, Willians Astudillo’s return to the majors, the Phillies’ fielding and a seeming surfeit of amusingly bad defensive plays across the league, the arrival of overall no. 1 prospect (and Orioles catcher) Adley Rutschman and how to tell when a […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to Kelly Pracht, the CEO and co-founder of predictive analytics startup nVenue, which has provided the real-time probabilities displayed on this season’s MLB Network-produced Friday Night Baseball broadcasts on Apple TV+. They discuss nVenue’s origin story, its sports-betting ambitions, its 100-plus-input machine-learning model, which factors are and aren’t predictive […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley pay tribute (for the umpteenth time) to the great Roger Angell, who died at 101 on Friday, then banter about which underperforming hitters are most in need of the kind of breakout game that slow-starting Trevor Story had this week. After that (21:41), they bring on listener and top-tier Patreon […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the rabidity of opossums and Eugenio Suárez‘s keepie-uppie skills, then discuss the White Sox offense and Tony La Russa’s rationale for batting Andrew Vaughn ninth, Max Scherzer’s oblique injury, and the possibility of a Juan Soto trade, before meeting major leaguers (53:30) Logan Gillaspie (Orioles) and Brandon Hughes […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about two of the worst defensive plays of the season, which came courtesy of the Tigers and Nationals, Albert Pujols pitching and walking, the Pirates winning without a hit (but with one correct prediction), and the breakout of Taylor Ward; answer listener emails about banning gray uniforms, baseball jugglers, […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a wave of baseball ads for cryptocurrencies and NFTs coinciding with crashes in the crypto and NFT markets, injuries to Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw, the dominance of the Dodgers, Yankees, and (especially of late) Astros, the early NL West race, Robinson Canó getting a job as Jarred […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about which is more impressive, Reid Detmers throwing a two-strikeout no-hitter or right-handed hitter Anthony Rendon homering from the left side against a position-player pitcher, recount (11:50) the surprisingly long, largely forgotten history of the 20-seconds-between-pitches rule and the pitch clock in pro ball and the big leagues, and […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Josh Naylor’s record eight RBI after the eighth inning and the hot-hitting Guardians, José Ramírez taking a hometown discount to stay in Cleveland, Rangers manager Chris Woodward’s seemingly misinterpreted joke about Yankee Stadium, the perils of interpreting text-only quotes, Mets hitting coach Eric Chávez’s theory about MLB selectively […]