January 30, 2021
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the quirks and cancellation of a long-lost (and recently rediscovered) baseball successor to arcade hit
NBA Jam called
Power-Up Baseball, then discuss the Cubs signing Joc Pederson and the Cardinals bringing back Adam Wainwright and (probably) Yadier Molina, share a Stat Blast about where Wainwright and Molina rank among the most prolific pitcher-catcher combos of all time in terms of total starts, break down Nick Madrigal’s chances of achieving the “very reachable” (according to Madrigal) milestone of 3,000 hits, and celebrate Ken Griffey Jr.’s hiring as a senior advisor to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, then answer listener emails about whether contract incentives could encourage players to adopt data-driven approaches, how Mike Trout could tank his career WAR while continuing to play, and how to make baseball as bad as possible while preserving the core structure of the sport.
December 24, 2020
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about why MLB reportedly isn’t interested in short-term expansion and an observation about Tyler Glasnow, Martin Shkreli, and Cillian Murphy, then review the accuracy of last year’s annual ESPN MLB insiders survey, predict and assess the responses to the just-released, latest edition of the survey, answer a listener email about the cutoff for “young” players, and share a Stat Blast about Byron Buxton and the lowest on-base percentages by league-average hitters (plus an addendum on the longest baseball player Wikipedia pages).
December 19, 2020
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up briefly on their recent Scott Boras banter, then answer listener emails about what a manager has to do to get fired because of a single game, possible scenarios in which Mookie Betts enters the Hall of Fame representing the Red Sox instead of the Dodgers, whether nature excursions could be beneficial to teams, what baseball would be like with weight classes for players, which party or parties to root for in conflicts between MLB and the minor leagues, how many players they could recognize from their mechanics if they saw them only as stick figures, and more, plus a Stat Blast about the most itinerant journeymen.