Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the end of the Yankees’ beard ban, the potential end of MLB’s business relationship with ESPN, and whether the World Baseball Classic should imitate the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Then they preview the 2025 Texas Rangers (50:07) with MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry, and the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates (1:27:23) with Pittsburgh Baseball Now’s John Perrotto, plus a postscript (2:03:57) about Ben’s growing affection for Tigers righty John Brebbia.

Audio intro: Ian Phillips, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 1: Austin Klewan, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial 2: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Nate Emerson, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Yankees announcement
Link to story on policy change
Link to story on policy origins
Link to Simpsons clip
Link to Gleyber photo
Link to Castillo hair story
Link to Castro hair story
Link to McCutchen hair story
Link to Vlad/Yankees story
Link to Williams reaction
Link to ESPN opt-out story 1
Link to ESPN opt-out story 2
Link to Ben on the WBC
Link to Ben on Hang Up
Link to offseason spending
Link to FG payrolls page
Link to Rangers depth chart
Link to Rangers offseason tracker
Link to Kennedi’s author archive
Link to Pirates depth chart
Link to Pirates offseason tracker
Link to John’s author archive
Link to Brebbia links
Link to EW gift subscriptions

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