Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a Shohei Ohtani survey, early WBC action, Andrew McCutchen’s new team, Payton Tolle’s triple-digits t-shirt, ABS-driven changes to Alex Bregman’s and Bo Naylor’s listed heights, wonky player cards, why teams start spring training days so early, Dodgers pitching problems, and the prevalence of inventive slides, then preview the 2026 Seattle Mariners (50:22) with The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish, and the 2026 Miami Marlins (1:34:43) with MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola, plus a few postscript updates (2:17:42).


2026 EW Season Preview Series



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Audio intro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 1: Cory Brent, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 2: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Alex Glossman and Ali Breneman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to YouGov survey

Link to Team USA vs. Rockies recap

Link to WBC soundtrack story

Link to MLBTR on McCutchen

Link to Speier on Tolle

Link to Tolle max velos

Link to in-season velo data 1

Link to in-season velo data 2

Link to in-season velo article

Link to 2025 info on height changes

Link to 2025 Naylor page

Link to 2026 Naylor page

Link to 2024 Bregman page

Link to 2025 Bregman page

Link to 2026 Bregman page

Link to 2024 Lux page

Link to 2025 Lux page

Link to wonky Ohtani card

Link to wonky Judge card

Link to wonky Bregman card

Link to wonky Naylor card

Link to email about giant player

Link to early starts post

Link to Baumann on Sasaki

Link to FG World Series odds

Link to Crizer on slides

Link to Sam on slides

Link to Naylor’s inclusiveness comments

Link to team payrolls page

Link to Mariners offseason tracker

Link to Mariners depth chart

Link to “Boys Podcast” SNL skit

Link to Ryan’s author archive

Link to Marlins offseason tracker

Link to Marlins depth chart

Link to Christina on Marlins’ elimination

Link to Christina on Alcantara’s outing

Link to “catcher’s balk”

Link to Christina on pitch-calling

Link to 2025 Marlins Pythag/BaseRuns

Link to 2025 team RP WAR

Link to 2025 team RP WPA

Link to Pérez nickname article

Link to grievance avoidance article

Link to Lauren’s NL East post

Link to Christina’s author archive

Link to ball/strike ejections article

Link to Brewers challenges tweet

Link to Tango’s challenges tweet

Link to Brewers challenges article

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Team USA’s pre-WBC warm-up games, follow up on spring training ballpark naming rights, and discuss Jurickson Profar’s second PED suspension in as many seasons, then preview the 2026 New York Yankees (20:07) with The New York Daily News’ Gary Phillips, and the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals (59:53) with The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold.


2026 EW Season Preview Series



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Audio intro: Beatwriter, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 1: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 2: Sean .P, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Team USA vs. Giants gamer

Link to Team USA vs. Rockies story

Link to Kershaw clip

Link to Sunny clip

Link to Passan on Profar

Link to MLBTR on Profar

Link to Arrested Development clip

Link to Goodyear wiki

Link to Wrench Group story

Link to milkshake duck meme

Link to Wrigley naming info

Link to team payrolls page

Link to Yankees offseason tracker

Link to Yankees depth chart

Link to Cashman comments

Link to Gary on Cashman’s comments

Link to Ben on team turnover

Link to Stanton comments

Link to Chisholm comments

Link to Gary on Volpe

Link to 2025 team RP WAR

Link to team RP projections

Link to Petriello on Judge and ABS

Link to team challenges leaderboard

Link to Gary on Yankees challenge strategy

Link to Yankees sewage story

Link to Gary’s author archive

Link to Cardinals offseason tracker

Link to Cardinals depth chart

Link to Derrick on the roster

Link to team fielders by FRV

Link to team FRV leaderboard

Link to YoY attendance data

Link to 2025 team K%

Link to projected team WAR

Link to Simpsons “That’s the joke” clip

Link to Herrera/Raleigh data

Link to Derrick’s author archive

Link to Derrick’s podcast

Sponsor Us on Patreon

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Email Us: [email protected]

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about corporate naming rights of spring training ballparks vs. MLB parks, and potential unwritten rules surrounding the challenge system, then (47:03) preview the World Baseball Classic with MLB.com’s Michael Clair, touching on the big and unsung stories of the WBC, whether the interest level will increase again, how often the WBC should be held, and more, as well as Michael’s WBC-inspired book, We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball.

Audio intro: Ted O., “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial: Andy Ellison, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Garrett Krohn, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to list of spring training parks

Link to list of MLB parks

Link to Abreu challenge

Link to Michael’s book

Link to electrician vs. Ohtani

Link to Michael’s pools preview

Link to Michael on possible surprise teams

Link to Michael on must-watch games

Link to Michael on who will win

Link to Kershaw clip

Link to Ben on WBC injuries

Link to Ben on demanding more WBCs

Link to Ben on Team USA

Link to UNP editor on EW

Link to denied visa story

Link to “yips” quote

Link to politician baseball expressions

Sponsor Us on Patreon

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mets pitching prospect Ryan Lambert’s consumption of copious quantities of raw eggs, then preview the 2026 Chicago Cubs (27:15) with The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, and the 2026 Cleveland Guardians (1:17:46) with The Athletic’s Zack Meisel, plus a postscript.


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Audio intro: Grant Brisbee, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 1: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 2: Philip Bergman, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Daniel Leckie, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Lambert article

Link to Cool Hand Luke scene

Link to Beauty and the Beast scene

Link to Syndergaard “therapies”

Link to Syndergaard velo story 1

Link to Syndergaard velo story 2

Link to pasteurized eggs wiki

Link to eggs and cholesterol link

Link to Ben’s scrambled eggs pic

Link to Ron Swanson clip

Link to team payrolls page

Link to Cubs offseason tracker

Link to Cubs depth chart

Link to Sahadev on Bregman

Link to PCA profile

Link to Sahadev on PCA

Link to Sahadev’s spring questions

Link to Shaw absence article

Link to Sahadev’s author archive

Link to Sahadev’s podcast

Link to Guardians offseason tracker

Link to Guardians depth chart

Link to team wRC+

Link to team RP WAR

Link to team SP projections

Link to framing leaders

Link to Bregman/Aiken article

Link to Zack on Kwan in CF

Link to Vogt MotY article

Link to Zack’s author archive

Link to Zack’s podcast

Link to Skenes article 1

Link to Skenes article 2

Link to Ohtani/Judge article

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Konnor Griffin’s openness to an extension with the Pirates and a weird Wilyer Abreu check-swing broken bat, then preview the 2026 Boston Red Sox (20:00) with The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, and the 2026 Cincinnati Reds (1:08:36) with The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans.


2026 EW Season Preview Series



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Audio intro: Kite Person, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 1: Philip Tapley and Michael Stokes, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 2: Austin Klewan, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: El Warren, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to FG post on Scherzer

Link to FG post on Sale

Link to Misiorowski video

Link to article about video

Link to FG post about video

Link to Griffin report

Link to MLBTR on Griffin

Link to Griffin’s wedding

Link to Griffin’s homers

Link to MLBTR on his bonus

Link to Skenes WBC quote

Link to Skubal start news

Link to Abreu video

Link to Abreu article

Link to definition of swing

Link to team payrolls page

Link to Red Sox offseason tracker

Link to Red Sox depth chart

Link to team SP projections

Link to Pete Abe post

Link to Red Sox HR projections

Link to Red Sox 2B projections

Link to Cora on the projections

Link to FG post on Duran

Link to Alex on Gonzales

Link to Alex’s author archive

Link to Reds offseason tracker

Link to Reds depth chart

Link to 2025 team SP WAR

Link to C. Trent on Marte’s catch

Link to Statcast park factors

Link to Votto post 1

Link to Votto post 2

Link to The Simpsons quote

Link to C. Trent’s author archive

Sponsor Us on Patreon

Give a Gift Subscription

Email Us: [email protected]

Effectively Wild Subreddit

Effectively Wild Wiki

Apple Podcasts Feed

Spotify Feed

YouTube Playlist

Facebook Group

Bluesky Account

Twitter Account

Get Our Merch!

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