Episode Details

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether Ben cursed Shohei Ohtani’s bat by predicting that Ohtani would win the Cy Young award but not the MVP award, whether Bobby Witt Jr. could win his first MVP award this season, the defensive transformation of Luis Arraez, and more, then (33:16) further interrogate what homoerotic celebrations say about baseball culture, discuss the latest ABS challenge mishaps, answer listener emails (54:30) about an ABS double-or-nothing idea, trading challenges for runs, purchasing challenges midgame, an upside of umpire rotation, boosting offense with double-barreled batters, and a baseball equivalent to the Kelce brothers, plus Stat Blasts (1:28:21) about players with the most inning-ending at-bats in a game, swing rates in debut plate appearances, grand-slam merchants, teams with many MVP vote-getters, and picked-off pinch runners.

Audio intro: The Gagnés, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to preseason predictions episode
Link to Ohtani slump story 1
Link to Ohtani slump story 2
Link to Ohtani slump story 3
Link to Ohtani slump story 4
Link to Ohtani slump story 5
Link to FG WAR leaders
Link to B-Ref WAR leaders
Link to FG post on Arraez
Link to MLB.com on Arraez
Link to FR