Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about MLB player chatbots, an Addison Barger giveaway, Tarik Skubal’s big arbitration win, the Tigers signing Framber Valdez, and a rough week for sports media, then (36:29) begin the 14th annual EW season preview series by discussing the 2026 Houston Astros with The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, and the 2026 Arizona Diamondbacks (1:25:35) with The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro, followed (1:54:53) by a postscript.


2026 EW Season Preview Series



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Audio intro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio interstitial 1: Austin Klewan, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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

Audio outro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to chatbots story

Link to Barger story

Link to season preview series wiki

Link to Passan on Skubal

Link to Baumann on Skubal

Link to Dan S. on Framber

Link to Rosenthal on the Pirates

Link to Rosenthal on the Tigers

Link to Chandler on the cross-up

Link to team SP projections

Link to NPR on WaPo

Link to NYT on WaPo sports

Link to The Ringer on WaPo sports

Link to The New Yorker on WaPo

Link to The Atlantic on WaPo

Link to Silver on WaPo

Link to MLB.com layoffs

Link to Grant post

Link to team payrolls

Link to Astros offseason tracker

Link to Astros depth chart

Link to BP IL Ledger

Link to Dan S. on team injuries

Link to Chandler on Correa

Link to Chandler on Imai

Link to Chandler on the infield

Link to Chandler on Espada/Brown

Link to Trueblood on Peña

Link to Chandler’s author archive

Link to Crush City Territory

Link to Diamondbacks offseason tracker

Link to Diamondbacks depth chart

Link to team RP WAR

Link to team RP WPA

Link to ballpark funding deal info

Link to more funding deal info

Link to funding deal opinion piece

Link to renovations preview

Link to Nick on the Alexander trade

Link to FG post on Santana

Link to Nick’s author archive

Link to Boehly/Epstein article

Link to ESPN’s Clase report

Link to Ben on Clase

Link to EW episode on Clase

Link to SABR awards voting

Link to Wood/Lolich IP leaderboard

Link to Lolich obit

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about MLB owners avoiding the Epstein files, preview the season preview series, bemoan the insurance issues preventing some stars from playing in the WBC, and break down the Luis Arraez and Eugenio Suárez signings, the Brendan Donovan trade, the latest White Sox moves, and their major takeaways from the release of the 2026 playoff odds. Then (1:22:00) Ben brings on historian Richard Hershberger to discuss the 150th anniversary of the National League’s founding, followed by (1:41:02) a postscript.

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

Audio outro: Luke Lillard, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Epstein files sports roundup

Link to season preview series wiki

Link to insurance article

Link to Ben on WBC injuries

Link to Arraez signing FG post

Link to Dan S. on Arraez

Link to Sam on Arraez

Link to team 2B projections

Link to Arraez offers report

Link to Arraez defensive stats

Link to Moneyball quote

Link to Washington hiring

Link to Ben on Arraez

Link to “gotta hand it to them” tweet

Link to “It’s Been Awhile”

Link to Suárez signing FG post

Link to over/under draft tracker

Link to palindrome post

Link to Donovan trade post

Link to Dipoto trade story

Link to “WWJDD?”

Link to Dipoto hospital story

Link to Cijntje specialization story

Link to Cijntje splits

Link to Becker on three-team trades

Link to Rays ballpark funding info

Link to Sam’s trade post

Link to Sam’s original Rays post

Link to “White Soxer” post

Link to FG offseason tracker

Link to Baumann on the White Sox

Link to BP on the White Sox

Link to Slater “top target” quote

Link to Murakami bidets story

Link to Sasaki bidets story

Link to Mamdani bidets story

Link to Ben on bidets

Link to team payrolls

Link to Dan S. on beating the Dodgers

Link to Dan on the Pirates/A’s

Link to the playoff odds

Link to Clemens on the playoff odds

Link to projected team WAR

Link to Strike Four

Link to Richard’s SABR work

Link to projected team WAR

Link to Past Blast wiki

Link to Richard’s NL post 1

Link to Richard’s NL post 2

Link to Richard’s NL post 3

Link to 1876 NL

Link to prediction markets update

Link to team broadcasts update

Link to 2025 player earnings data

Link to original Stat Blast

Link to new Stat Blast data

Link to $/WAR by year

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the oddly timed end of Derek Falvey’s rein as POBOth for the Twins, Jacob Wilson’s extension and the promising but lopsided A’s, pillow contracts vs. trampoline contracts, which teams have had the most frustrating offseasons, dark-horse-candidate teams for 2026, and listener responses to their previous discussion of a Fellowship of the Ring baseball team.

Audio intro: Daniel Leckie, “Effectively Wild Theme”

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

Link to The Athletic on Falvey

Link to Favley Zoom meeting detail

Link to FG payrolls page

Link to MLBTR on Wilson

Link to 2025 team batting WAR

Link to 2025 team pitching WAR

Link to team WAR projections

Link to sowing/reaping meme

Link to team offseason spending

Link to FG offseason tracker

Link to Rooker on aliens

Link to Robertson retirement news

Link to Crizer on opt-outs

Link to EW wiki on trampolines

Link to BP on inactive teams

Link to Sheehan on inactive teams

Link to The Athletic on trying tiers

Link to projected team WAR

Link to “dark horse” wiki

Link to MLBTR on Evans

Link to Mount Doom scene

Link to Pasquantino news

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their coming deliverance from a slow baseball news period, spring training as a spectator experience, and how the prelude to Opening Day has changed, then (12:43) answer emails about the many meanings of “back end” in baseball, an outfielder who repels batted balls, whether all rule violations constitute cheating, a playoff team composed of spoilers, and which positions the members of the Fellowship of the Ring would play, followed (1:16:01) by a Stat Blast about the Mets’ roster reconstruction and the history of high turnover.

Audio intro: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Jonathan Crymes, “Effectively Wild Theme 2”

Link to back end definitions

Link to Magneto wiki

Link to Magnetokinesis wiki

Link to X-Men baseball history

Link to Ben’s Mets article

Link to Stat Blast data 1

Link to Stat Blast data 2

Link to Ben on turnover history

Link to more on turnover history

Link to Clemens on the Mets

Link to Sherman on the Mets

Link to Mets offseason history

Link to Mets depth chart

Link to projected pitcher playing time

Link to projected hitter playing time

Link to projected team WAR

Link to Ben on team complacency

Link to BaseRuns records

Link to listener emails database

Link to cloud seeding wiki

Link to weekend weather info

Link to “And my axe!” clip

Link to “One does not” clip

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley share their responses—and the baseball world’s response—to the events of this month in Minnesota. Then (17:26) they banter about deboned Carlos Rodón, the latest pseudoscientific pursuits of Bryce Harper (and Mike Trout?), and the Giants signing Harrison Bader, before (48:06) discussing José Ramírez’s new extension with the Guardians, Andrew McCutchen’s quarrel with the Pirates, and what teams and star players owe to each other, if anything. Finally (1:26:22), they bring on data scientist/writer Zach Gozlan to Stat Blast about whether baseball is overrrepresented among sports clues on Jeopardy!

Audio intro: Jonathan Crymes, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Calhoun info 1

Link to Calhoun info 2

Link to Calhoun info 3

Link to Ben on Calhoun in 2018

Link to other athlete statements

Link to more athlete statements

Link to Wemby comments

Link to Ober post

Link to Strider post

Link to Woods Richardson post

Link to Klein repost

Link to political affiliation data

Link to Rodón interview clip

Link to Rodón interview article

Link to Harper post summary

Link to Harper clouds repost

Link to Harper’s TikTok

Link to Harper’s mat post

Link to Harper’s mat

Link to Harper and Dombrowski

Link to Trout’s reply to Rooker

Link to Trout’s sponsored post

Link to Trout’s “chamber”

Link to Goop article 1

Link to Goop article 2

Link to Goop article 3

Link to FG post on Bader

Link to BP post on the Giants

Link to FG post on Ramírez

Link to Ramírez interview

Link to Ramírez’s FA value

Link to McCutchen post

Link to Cherington comments

Link to McCutchen article 1

Link to McCutchen article 2

Link to Defector article

Link to Zach’s website

Link to Zach’s data

Link to baseball crosswords research

Link to crosswords wiki summary

Link to Jeopardy! football questions

Link to Jeopardy! Big Dumper question

Sponsor Us on Patreon

Give a Gift Subscription

Email Us: [email protected]

Effectively Wild Subreddit

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Apple Podcasts Feed

Spotify Feed

YouTube Playlist

Facebook Group

Bluesky Account

Twitter Account

Get Our Merch!

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