Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Baseball maverick Mike Veeck talks about his up-and-down story, legendary dad Bill Veeck, Disco Demolition Night, independent baseball, Darryl Strawberry's season with St. Paul Saints, great baseball promotions, Savannah Bananas, MLB's control of minor leagues, and more.

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the career of Bryce Harper and scoring in the postseason. They also talk about Championship Series matchups and desired World Series matchups. The Ringer's Zach Kram joins to Stat Blast about players returning from absences in October and how rate stats differ between regular and postseason. They explore the origins of 'balls and strikes' and key pinch hitting situations. They compare regular season and postseason baseball statistics, and discuss NBA and MLB playoff formats and Patreon support.

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss playoff randomness, the Diamondbacks' victory and the Dodgers' defeat, Bryce Harper's hitting abilities, the Astros advancing to the ALCS, and funny sports-media controversies.

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss some renewed fretting about playoff formats, long layoffs, and upsets, recap (31:44) Clayton Kershaw’s playoff career and consider how (if at all) it will affect his legacy, and then examine (55:25) the latest action in each Division Series, plus follow-ups (1:29:49) on multiple topics from the preceding episode (including […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a failing effort to make peanuts a ballpark staple in Japan, preview the various Division Series (10:32), discuss the deep, enduring desire of former GM Paul Richards to trade his team for an entire other team (47:48), answer listener emails (1:06:50) about postseason “sweeps” and traitorous base coaches […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their takeaways from sweeps week in the wild card round (how sweep it is!) and pick the division series they’re most excited about, then examine Mariners POBO Jerry Dipoto’s comments about aspiring to win 54 percent of games over a decade (46:04) and provide updates on the results […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners, the Cubs, and other teams that just missed the playoffs, discuss the firings of Giants manager Gabe Kapler and Mets manager Buck Showalter (19:21), and then (32:51) bring on FanGraphs writers Michael Baumann and Ben Clemens to assemble an ultimate playoff team by drafting components of […]

Hosts discuss Shohei Ohtani's jersey sales, Mets grounds crew shenanigans, and shrinking minor leaguers. They answer listener emails about restructured pitching staffs, speed limit for pitches, displaying error bars for WAR, and outfielder catch limits. Guest Stat Blast on the Twins' playoff losing streak. Exploring jersey sales, changing heights, error bars for WAR, starting pitchers' performance, baseball cards, and the Twins' losing streak in detail.

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether Ronald Acuña Jr.’s historic strikeout-rate reduction is as impressive as his historic power-speed combination, the Acuña-Mookie Betts NL MVP race, the enduring defensive excellence of the late Brooks Robinson, Josh Hader’s insistence on one-inning outings and the degree to which players should dictate their own usage, the […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about The Rolling Stones’ credentials as a baseball band, Mike Trout’s slow healing, more Padres reporting and one-run-game whiplash, the Mariners’ rough stretch, how well this year’s playoff teams are built for October, and the most bonkers stats of the season, plus a few follow-ups. Audio intro: Dave Armstrong and […]