Episode Details

Ben Lindbergh talks to Will Leitch about the Cardinals’ horrendous start, their baffling decision to bar big free-agent addition Willson Contreras from catching, how Yadier Molina’s legacy looms over the franchise, how Oli Marmol and John Mozeliak have handled the team’s struggles, how the rest of the season might go, and more, along with the Effectively Wild connection in Will’s new novel, The Time Has Come. Then (54:51) Ben talks to David Hrusovsky about wearing a SpongeBob costume to Guardians games and David’s ongoing effort to map every high school baseball field in the country and document the weirdest ones. After that (1:19:58), Ben brings on frequent Stat Blast consultant Ryan Nelson to deliver several Stat Blasts, followed by (1:51:35) a Past Blast from 2004 and a few follow-ups.

Audio intro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Katie Woo on Contreras
Link to Katie on Contreras again
Link to Rosenthal on Contreras
Link to playoff odds changes
Link to Marmol-Bucknor feud
Link to Marmol on Contreras
Link to Marmol on booing
Link to more Marmol on booing
Link to Posnanski on Marmol

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