Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Effectively Wild Episode 2531: The Regular-Season Two-Week Warning

Sep 14, 2026

Rany Jazayerli, dermatologist, baseball writer, and Baseball Prospectus co-founder, joins Joe Sheehan, longtime analyst and newsletter publisher, with Ben Lindbergh. They preview the final two weeks, playoff races, awards, roster reshuffling, and October’s likely late arrivals. The discussion tackles expanded playoffs, weak divisions, MLB expansion, attendance, low batting averages, pitcher usage, strikeouts, tanking, player development, and the randomness of baseball’s postseason.

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INSIGHT

Expansion Needs Ballparks More Than Billionaires

Expansion depends less on finding willing owners than on securing viable ballparks and public financing.
Franchise prices may continue rising because teams are scarce status goods, even if operating revenues no longer justify valuations.

INSIGHT

The Extra Playoff Round May Not Pay

The expanded first playoff round was sold to broadcasters before it existed, yet its per-team financial return may be negligible.
Streaming-only weekday games can lengthen the postseason without delivering meaningful revenue or broad audience reach.

INSIGHT

Two Forty Is The New Two Seventy

Low leaguewide batting averages have made .280 resemble yesterday’s .320, while qualifying .320 hitters have become exceptionally rare.
The decline stems primarily from dominant pitching and velocity, not from analysts preferring statistics over contact.

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