Episode Details

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a low-suspense awards week, the vastly varying paths to being a major league manager, the latest sign of the Angels player-development apocalypse, Brian Cashman on Giancarlo Stanton, the death of Padres owner Peter Seidler, Michael Jordan’s baseball career on For All Mankind, how much holding runners matters, and how to judge how many championships a franchise “should” have won, then Stat Blast (1:08:56) about postseason baserunning, scoring first in October, winning rings without playing a lot, and players who lost a lot of WAR, plus a PSA (1:31:02) about EW Secret Santa.

Audio intro: Daniel Leckie, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Nate Emerson, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Posnanski on unanimous awards
Link to Meg’s preseason predictions
Link to “Imperial phase” wiki
Link to Sheehan on managers
Link to story on college-coach managers
Link to Blum on Percival
Link to Cashman’s comments
Link to Stanton’s agent’s response
Link to NYT Seidler obit
Link to FAM Jordan image
Link to Petriello on running prevention
Link to the EW wiki on Lester
Link to running prevention leaderboards
Link to BP piece on cham