ESPN Daily

The starting pitcher has long been baseball’s marquee attraction, the guy who fans come out to see…but the job description has begun to change in recent years. Complete games are almost nonexistent, and the average outing for a starter has shrunk to barely scratching five innings. The numbers say pitching fewer innings is smart strategically…but is it good for the game and for fans? Jeff Passan explains to us how the position that was once the workhorse, has been reduced to a show pony…and what, if anything, can be done to fix it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The pullup has humbled all of us – from our middle school gym classes to any attempt to get into shape. Doing one, for many, is considered a victory, but then there’s Anthony Robles. The NCAA wrestling champion, who was born with one leg, brings his unbreakable will to take on not just the pullup bar, but one of Guinness’s most-hallowed records. So today, Ryan Hockensmith brings us to Arizona and tells the story of one man’s final pursuit of athletic immortality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the 4th of July, we revisit a special episode. It’s been 75 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, becoming the first Black player to take the field in Major League Baseball in 1947. Jackie was a specific player chosen at a specific time, when baseball was highly aligned with Black popular culture. But what happened between baseball and Black America in the decades after Jackie’s pivotal act? Why didn’t baseball become a majority Black sport, like basketball and football? Why didn’t MLB follow the culture into hip hop or grow its Black fan base? Jesse Washington uses his own lapsed baseball fandom to explore these questions with guests like Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Jackie’s son David Robinson, and current players and executives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s the dream of every sports fan: the star player on your favorite team goes down with an injury. The coach is desperate, and someone needs to step up. Somehow you, the average sports fan, get picked out of the stands to hit with the bases loaded, or step in at quarterback, or take the game winning shot. Obviously, that never happens in real life, or in sports, really…except for extremely rare occasions in hockey, thanks to the EBUG rule: which stands for Emergency Back-Up Goaltender. It’s a rule that requires NHL teams to have a random person standing by in the arena, ready to hit the ice should either team’s two goalies both get injured. Jeremy Schaap interviewed some EBUGs who have been called to action, and he brings us the stories of the lucky few who have lived every fan’s dream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The New York Mets and their fans have been sports punchline fodder for decades. Case in point: Bobby Bonilla Day. Every July 1, this player who’s been retired for many years gets paid more than a million dollars. And it’s seen as the epitome of Mets dysfunction. But Mets fans are a resilient (if occasionally delusional?) bunch, and keep coming back for heartbreak. Author Devin Gordon refers to the team as the “Best Worst Team in Sports” in his book, “So Many Ways To Lose,” and he shares his research into the highs and lows of the Mets, their passionate fans and unique legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is a universal truth that commissioners of pro sports leagues will face deafening boos when they appear in public. Rob Manfred, MLB’s commish, is no exception. A lawyer and seemingly mild-mannered bureaucrat, Manfred has become one of the most hated figures in American sports thanks to a number of public gaffes and unpopular responses to baseball’s various scandals. Today, Don Van Natta takes us inside the world of Rob Manfred (after sitting down with him nearly ten times this year!) and what Manfred thinks his job really is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonquel Jones has won almost every on-court WNBA accolade there is. Since being drafted sixth overall in 2016, Jones has been named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player, Sixth Woman of the Year, and MVP. Before that, she was Maryland’s Gatorade Player of the Year in high school, and a WBCA All-American. But despite being one of the most decorated players in basketball, many people outside of diehard WNBA fans may not have heard of Jones. Being Black and gay and describing herself as more masculine, Jones sits at an intersection that has traditionally struggled to attract brands and media, even though the WNBA is the most inclusive American professional sports league. ESPN’s Katie Barnes talks to us about Jones’ identity, and they tell us if this will finally be the season that Jones wins a title…and if she’ll finally get to be herself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Avalanche beat the Lightning to win the Stanley Cup last night, sending the trophy back to Colorado for the first time since 2001. It was an era when the Avalanche, and their archrivals the Detroit Red Wings, were engaged in a multi-year blood feud that became the center of the hockey universe. It was a rivalry perhaps best remembered for a game played 25 years ago, on March 26, 1997 in Detroit’s Joe Lewis Arena, and is now better remembered as “Fight Night at the Joe.” During the first period, Detroit’s Darren McCarty sought revenge on Colorado’s Claude Lemieux for a violent check in the previous year’s playoffs on the Red Wings’ Kris Draper. The hit caused severe injuries to Draper’s face, enraging the Red Wings, who were furious that Lemieux refused to even apologize to Draper. Now, a quarter-century later, those who were part of it are opening up about what made the rivalry so intense, as part of the latest E:60 special “Unvrivaled.” Detroit native Dave Fleming joins us to discuss the trajectory of the rivalry and why we may never see anything like it again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For all the strides Title IX helped women make in sports, it’s never been a more contentious time for who gets to compete as a woman. In Part 4 of the documentary “37 Words,” filmmaker Clare Marash met transgender kids whose right to participate in society as themselves is in question by dozens of state legislatures — on the field and in life. And in our final episode to mark 50 years since Title IX became law, host Allison Glock and Clare Marash look at the future of civil rights around education and sports through families fighting for their kids to play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the fifty years since Title IX became law, countless women and allies have fought for gender equality in sports and civil rights protections. Filmmaker Dawn Porter shares more about her “37 Words” documentary with host Allison Glock. They dig into the ways Title IX shows up in the lives of legends like Dawn Staley and Abby Wambach, as well as unknown heroes like a Georgia mom who took her daughter’s harassment case to the Supreme Court. Plus, what the new Angel City Football Club in L.A. seeks to do for women’s sports as a business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices