Why Pitchers Cannot Match Position Players’ War Peaks

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With Meg Rowley on vacation, Ben Lindbergh goes long with a few guests and segments. First, Kiri Oler of FanGraphs and Bradley Woodrum of Baseball Prospectus join to banter about how Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jacob Misiorowski illustrate the differences in modern pitcher and hitter usage and value, Sandy Alcantara as the last innings eater, two more baseball movies, Ernie Clement’s post-All-Star-Game decline, and Jefry Yan’s more muted strikeout celebrations. Then (43:34) they break down the inaugural season of the WPBL: what went right, what went wrong, the Kelsie Whitmore-Denae Benites battle, the high-offense environment, their other favorite storylines, the future of the league, and more. After that (1:33:33), Ben brings on the manager of the Pioneer League’s RedPocket Mobiles, former major leaguer Dmitri Young, along with Mobiles co-GM and Pioneer League director of operations Al Maulding, to explain how the Mobiles suffered the longest losing streak in pro baseball history, life on a traveling team, indy-ball oddities, and more. Finally (2:36:23), Ben Stat Blasts about the most times reaching base before a first career hit, players who hit their first homers off position-player pitchers, and lineups composed of players with short surnames.

Audio intro: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme 2”
Audio outro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to previous Bradley appearance
Link to previous Kiri appearance
Link to FG combined WAR leaderboard
Link to Eric André meme
Link to highest-WAR offensive seasons
Link to highest-WAR pitching seasons
Link to pitching rate-stats leaders
Link to on-pace leaderboard
Link to PCA fielding chances
Link to Miz fielding chances
Link to Miz fielding stats
Link to AP on Alcantara
Link to Trueblood on Alcantara
Link to Baumann on Alcantara
Link to IP leaderboard
Link to Ben on innings eaters
Link to baseball rom-com
Link to Powell-Linklater movie
Link to Hanks movie
Link to De Niro/Lasorda movie
Link to Lasorda and son article 1
Link to Lasorda and son article 2
Link to Wahlberg/Rose movie
Link to Ben’s Rose obit
Link to Ben on Rose and the HoF
Link to worst post-ASB hitters
Link to Clement vote totals
Link to Yan’s last leap
Link to Yan’s slide
Link to Yan’s MLB strikeout pitches
Link to Yan’s Insta post
Link to Yan/Jackson Insta post
Link to WPBL standings
Link to WPBL postseason results
Link to WPBL hitting leaders
Link to WPBL pitching leaders
Link to WPBL leaguewide stats
Link to 1871 NA leaguewide stats
Link to Defector on the WPBL
Link to AP on the WPBL
Link to Kiri on WPBL predecessors
Link to other WPBL article
Link to Gladys the Goose
Link to Bradley on Benites
Link to Bradley on Lee
Link to Bradley on grand slams
Link to Bradley on the playoffs
Link to Bradley on WPBL offense
Link to Ben on mid-PA changes
Link to Kiri’s last weekly recap
Link to Kiri on the Firebells
Link to Kiri on the Queens
Link to Apgar video
Link to Apgar article
Link to Sato wiki
Link to Robin Roberts Stadium
Link to WPBL draft order
Link to WPBL run values
Link to MLB-AUSL partnership
Link to article on the WPBL’s future
Link to Women’s Baseball World Cup
Link to The 39 Steps wiki
Link to MLB partner leagues
Link to Pioneer League wiki
Link to Pioneer League standings
Link to MLB.com on the Mobiles
Link to The Athletic on the Mobiles
Link to the Mobiles on the Mobiles
Link to Stockade wiki
Link to Ben on the Stockade
Link to The Only Rule
Link to Empire State Greys wiki
Link to Mobiles announcement
Link to Mobiles YouTube videos
Link to Mobiles Twitter thread
Link to Pioneer League knockout
Link to All-Star swing-off
Link to Northern Colorado Owlz
Link to Young wiki
Link to Young card collection info
Link to Young article 1
Link to Young article 2
Link to Young article 3
Link to Young article 4
Link to Young article 5
Link to Young article 6
Link to Young article 7
Link to betting-threats story
Link to PPP HR sheet
Link to Chapman wiki
Link to Hartung wiki
Link to Iorg game
Link to LaCoss homers
Link to Lara post-homer photo
Link to scoreboard photo
Link to 1946 game
Link to 2004 game
Link to 2024 game
Link to 1956 fun fact tweet
Link to 1926 game
Link to 2025 game 1
Link to 2025 game 2
Link to listener emails database

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