Explore every episode of the podcast Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski banter about Ben’s timing in respect to Declan Cronin’s homerless streak, the perils of podcasts, predictions, and regression to the mean, the White Sox cutting payroll and their projections for the rest of this season, next season, and beyond, Gerrit Cole’s ignominious intentional walk, Alex Cora’s seeming admission that […]

Ben Lindbergh and R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports debate whether Jackson Holliday, Jackson Chourio, or Jackson Merrill will be the best player long term, discuss the addition of ads to batting helmets and continued MLB ad creep, and ponder the possibility of publicly owned ballclubs. Then (55:52) Ben talks to Mojo Hill about covering Derek […]

Ben Lindbergh and FanGraphs’ Michael Baumann play a game of “College Baseball Player or Vuelta a España Stage Winner?”, discuss Kumar Rocker’s potential and path to the majors, and (17:38) meet major leaguers Tyler Jay and Richard Fitts, before talking (39:33) to *checks notes* Marlins reliever Big Mike Baumann about becoming the second major leaguer […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the solution to a Carlos Estévez prediction cold case, share a baseball-sicko experience prompted by the band Hinds’s new single, put actors on baseball-movie Mount Rushmore (in honor of the late, great, James Earl Jones), scrutinize two suggestions for HBP policing, assess the risks and history of ceremonial first […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the impressiveness of a prediction by Carlos Estévez, how to say the score from the losing team’s perspective, and getting hit in the head by a hot dog. Then (23:13) they discuss getting hit in the head (or the hands) by a baseball: how often it happens, how […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Giants extending Matt Chapman and Manny Machado’s pursuit of Nate Colbert’s Padres home run record, Stat Blast (20:42) about Luis Arraez’s extreme three-true-outcome avoidance, Ben Joyce’s potentially unprecedented pitch speeds, and whiff-averse flamethrowers, and then discuss (54:31) the Yankees’ left-field dilemma(?) involving Alex Verdugo and Jasson Domínguez, […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., and quantifying power/speed excellence and the White Sox somehow playing way worse under Grady Sizemore, follow up on hippos, A-Rod’s relationships, double plates/bases, 40-something hitters, player predictions, and one-pitch first strikeouts, and react to a new kind of bases-loaded walk and private equity’s […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Juan Soto’s free agency and Aaron Judge’s ego, follow up on in-season exhibition games, and (18:51) answer listener emails about the possibility of adding games to the baseball season, bullpen pitchers robbing a home run robbery, redrawing (or enforcing) coach’s boxes, pronouncing “wRC+,” programming ABS to help starters […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about ad proliferation on podcasts and make a sheepish plea for listener support, then discuss the reversal of offensive fortunes for first basemen and shortstops and Oneil Cruz’s move to center field before following up (35:33) on the Mariners’ managerial hiring and the Selig Rule, a Rich Hill record […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Derek Jeter‘s (and Aaron Judge’s) championship-or-bust rhetoric, Alex Rodriguez’s date night, Judge’s home-run robberies, Judge’s offensive prowess compared to Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds, how clutchness (or the lack thereof) could affect the AL MVP race, Juan Soto’s defense, how the trajectory of Seattle’s season may have sealed […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners firing Scott Servais, the Angels not firing Perry Minasian, Joey Votto’s career and retirement, the continued collapse of Craig Kimbrel, NPB players pushing for a faster path to domestic and international free agency, and the NWSL abolishing its draft. Then (42:45) they’re joined by Patreon supporter […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the stretch run, the “championship season,” the surprising solidity of the playoff picture, and how the playoff field could change before the end of the season. They also discuss the turnarounds of Jeff McNeil and Corbin Carroll, the return on the Rangers’ pitching blueprint, and whether A’s fans […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether the custom-painted bats featured during Players’ Weekend should be usable all season, Alex Verdugo’s batting-glove allergy, Rich Hill’s predictable-yet-curious choice of team, where the Rookie of the Year races stand, how the Pirates should handle Paul Skenes down the stretch, the magnitude of the Skenes Day attendance […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the White Sox walking Juan Soto to face Aaron Judge, how Judge’s season could’ve been even better, the world’s untapped baseball talent, Shohei Ohtani’s run at a 50-50 season, ways to discourage intentional walks, a proposal to mandate six-inning outings for starting pitchers, a changing of the guard […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how Jorge López has done since his release from the Mets, Juan Soto‘s underrated dominance, George Springer’s post-replay rage, whether the Rangers are a candidate for Angels-esque August waiver shenanigans, whether Dodgers pitchers are particularly prone to Tommy John surgeries, and the divisive value of Salvador Perez. Then […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the 30th anniversary of the 1994 strike and how nice it is not to have the season end in August, the unusual extension of Victor Robles, Tanner Rainey, Patrick Corbin, and the remnants of the 2019 Nationals, Will Wagner and whether the debuts of sons of big leaguers […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the appeal of deflected balls caught on the fly, the lack of variety in MLB.TV highlights, Aaron Judge’s bases-empty intentional walks, the Braves falling out of playoff position (for now), and the surprising team with a trio of young, above-average, qualified hitters. Then (40:44) they rank the types […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the White Sox and the etiquette and timing of firing the manager of one of the worst teams of all time, Logan O’Hoppe and performance anxiety, Brusdar Graterol and the most demoralizing kind of injury, the return of Anthony Gose, next season’s scheduled game at Bristol Motor Speedway, […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Jesús Sánchez and the (perhaps) surprising longest-homer hitters of the Statcast era, the hot hitting of Victor Robles, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Tyler Fitzgerald, the competitive race for the (nonexistent) utility player of the year award, what lessons should be learned from the 2024 Padres’ clutchness correction, whether […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mike Trout’s latest season-ending injury, the Orioles’ latest top-prospect promotion, and a tweak to the postseason schedule, and answer listener emails (24:20) about ex-player umpires, eavesdropping on pitchers’ thoughts between pitches, whether and how they’d reintroduce baseball to a world without it, awarding belts or trophies for team […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the end of a historic Clayton Kershaw streak, pitcher errors and unearned runs, the lack of top prospects traded at the deadline, the short-handed Marlins vs. the stripped-down Rays, the latest sign of the White Sox apocalypse, the resurgent Blake Snell, Brett Phillips the full-time pitcher, and whether […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley recap the 2024 MLB trade deadline, discussing their big-picture takeaways, breaking down individual deals they found impressive, surprising, or perplexing, and examining the actions of the teams that drove the deadline by adding or subtracting, and the inaction of teams that didn’t do much. Audio intro: Benny and a Million Shetland […]

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Ben Clemens break down the Randy Arozarena, A.J. Puk, James Paxton, and Austin Hays trades (plus real-time reactions to the Yimi García and Zach Eflin deals), Stat Blast (29:21) about the most WAR ever dealt at a trade deadline, banter (54:45) about Garrett Crochet’s extension desire and the MVP cases […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mason Miller’s hand fracture, the extremely slow pitches of Ildemaro Vargas, a Dylan Cease no-hitter, the punchless Mariners, the impending return of Rich Hill, what the teams with the toughest decisions at the trade deadline should do, updates on Clayton Kershaw (good!) and Mike Trout (not good!), Christian […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the likenesses, word counts, and stat citations on Hall of Fame plaques, what would happen if all past stats disappeared, the impending returns of Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw (and the recent return of J.T. Realmuto), the end of James Paxton’s time with the Dodgers, Jo Adell’s breakout […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the BBWAA’s new sports gambling regulations, then (11:22) discuss the stories they’re most interested in following for the rest of the MLB season (plus, the implications of a bearded Aaron Judge). Audio intro: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme” Audio outro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme” Link to tweets about BBWAA […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the highlights of the All-Star Game, a hypothetical Evan Longoria unretirement scenario, the newly announced 2025 regular-season schedule (featuring Tokyo contests and a “Rivalry Weekend”), a baseball movie-mention conspiracy theory, players possessed by Gameday 3D, the timing of Martín Maldonado’s DFA, and the potential effect of moving the […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Home Run Derby, the Futures Game and skills competition, Globe Life Field, All-Star uniforms, and more reflections from All-Star Week, then (34:18) discuss a challenge-system-driven change to broadcast K-zone displays, Chris Sale’s aversion to pitch-calling, quantifying game-calling, David Fletcher’s latest knuckleballing, using a position-player pitcher against a […]

Ben Lindbergh talks to Sam Miller of Pebble Hunting about the increase in IL stints at the All-Star break and Sam’s obsession with the evolving strategy of first-and-third situations. Then (41:29) Ben talks to Iowa state representative and Sioux City Explorers pitcher J.D. Scholten about his incredible baseball comeback at age 44, his baseball background, […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about homerless White Sox second basemen, the recent history of teams with homerless positions, and the upsides and downsides of the trend toward focusing on present-season performance in All-Star selections, then (37:11) answer emails about an award for utility players, a player’s debut age matching his debut number, whether […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s daughter coining a baseball term, how the on-screen strike-zone plot (slightly) delays the rest of the broadcast, Jose Miranda and the surprising 12-consecutive-hits club, David Robertson’s elite relief career, whether Shohei Ohtani should stop pitching, an attempt to quantify players’ smiles, how this season stacks up in […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a genuine, no-foolin’ instance of “Strategy” (aka a mid-PA pitching change), Christian Walker’s affinity for Dodger Stadium, a Triple-A Waxahachie Swap, the Nationals optioning EW legend Joey Meneses, the Marlins DFA’ing Tim Anderson, and the latest Royce Lewis injury, plus follow-ups about bullpen-cart-driver tipping and fan catches. Then […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Phillies reliever José Ruiz threatening Ryan Webb’s career record for games finished without a save, Aaron Judge’s Hall of Fame case, the Mariners having a .540 winning percentage, just as Jerry Dipoto foretold (sort of), Dallas Keuchel being back in the big leagues, the White Sox, weirdly, dictating […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the one (and only one) case where the zombie runner was warranted, why pitchers throw strikes to Aaron Judge (10:00), and MLB’s new Home Run Derby rules (21:11), then answer listener emails about how different baseball would be if runners didn’t have to tag up (34:49), the best […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a player/league/umpire spat over on-screen strike-zone plots, whether “K-Zone” and its ilk have had a harmful effect on the game, where they stand on a hitter vs. pitcher dispute about the mid-game use of advanced pitching machines, the promotion of Nationals top prospect James Wood (and the future […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Nolan Schanuel’s aversion to day games, the Astros reaching .500 and coming for the Mariners, Houston’s weekend opponent (the Mets) making it back to .500 and nearing a playoff spot, the success (and good fortune) of Reynaldo López, the bad fortune of Adam Duvall, and how “expected” stats […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Edwin Díaz’s sticky-stuff suspension, a new name for the internal brace alternative to Tommy John surgery, Blake Snell’s latest setback, the success and extension of Cristopher Sánchez (and the Phillies’ excellence), Shota Imanaga’s regression and Meg’s preseason prediction about Imanaga vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kyle Finnegan’s first-of-its-kind clockoff, the […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the highlights of the MLB at Rickwood Field game and broadcast, Mike Trout’s unsurprisingly slow return from knee surgery, Matt Waldron’s sustained success, the incredible Royce Lewis, the challenge system’s continued ascendance over full ABS, Barry Bonds as a baseball ambassador, Elly De La Cruz’s stolen-base slump, the […]

Ben Lindbergh, Rany Jazayerli, and Neil Paine discuss the death of Willie Mays, Mays as the last legendary link to an earlier era, the statistical cases for Mays as the greatest all-around player and greatest player, period in major league history, and (36:45) baseball’s new greatest living player, plus (46:02) banter about Kansas courting the […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether Nike’s City Connect uniforms have run their course, the Dodgers’ double whammy of injuries to Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (and Kyle Bradish going back on the IL), the approaching returns of Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Correa’s hot streak, Elly De La Cruz […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff, teams paying their players not to do in-game, on-field interviews, the phrase “potential World Series preview,” a team purchasing and privatizing a valuable public baseball website, a player who can’t hit anything except grand slams, a player who homers in every game […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about this season’s giant cluster of wild card contenders, the potential for an inactive trade deadline, the role the White Sox will play, whether the compression of the standings is good or bad for baseball, and expanded-playoffs incentives. Then (33:46) they talk to NPR producer Alana Schreiber, creator and […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Bryce Harper pandering to Londoners, Kiké Hernández booting a ball during an in-game interview, banning player scouting cards to lower BABIP, the effect on home runs of widening the foul lines, Yusei Kikuchi, Tyler Soderstrom, and a foul-territory hypothetical, crediting managers for sacrificial ejections, Aaron Judge’s scalding hot […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s recent resurgence, then answer listener emails about what a dynastic team could do to avoid being widely hated, a mid-plate-appearance batting change, widening the foul lines to increase offense, whether reducing pitcher injuries would be worth bringing back pitcher hitting, the popularity of a perfect […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the showdowns between Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani, Skenes’s strengths and weaknesses as a pitcher and an entertainer, the least and most exciting types of strikes, and more. They then discuss the improbable longevity of Aroldis Chapman’s triple-digit pitch speeds, whether the risk of losing the most games […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss MLB’s clearing of Shohei Ohtani and banning of five other players for betting on baseball (including Tucupita Marcano’s permaban), touching on MLB’s culpability (or lack thereof), gambling ads, the future, and more. Then (39:32) they banter about the latest instance of Tommy Pham going aggro, which demotion is more […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley bring on FanGraphs associate editor Matt Martell to discuss the scenes at Citi Field that kicked off the Mets’ Jorge López saga, the resulting DFA and fallout, and what this silly/sad sequence of events suggests about the potential for player intent to be lost in translation, how off-the-field issues can […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Simeon Woods Richardson’s podcast-approved use of written notes, whether David Fry or Jurickson Profar has the most delightfully surprising stats, Kevin Pillar’s post-White Sox hot streak, MLB’s offensive outage in May, Blake Snell and other slow-starting late-starting starters, Matt Waldron’s knuckleball usage and Jeremiah Estrada’s strikeout streak, and […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the career and competitive implications of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s latest season-ending injury, the retirement of infamous ump Angel Hernandez, the aesthetics of umps issuing warnings, the Brewers’ success sans Craig Counsell and David Stearns, a new unwritten rule against any(?) bunting, White Sox players vs. White Sox skipper […]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about which slow-starting 2023 pennant winner (Diamondbacks or Rangers) is more likely to get back on track to return to October, explain (9:37) the saga of Dick Windbigler, the rare pitcher who actually hurt himself by pausing mid-delivery (featuring an appearance by Dick’s widow, Melba Windbigler), then (30:04) answer […]