Effectively Wild Episode 1572: Baseball on Borrowed Time

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the coronavirus spreading to the NL Central, the difficulties MLB faces compared to other sports leagues, the dramatic changes that the pandemic has imposed on the sport, why robot umps aren’t part of the pandemic makeover, the jarring visuals of virtual fans, the promotion of Nick Madrigal and the overlap of good and bad baseball news, the latest vexing comments by Astros owner Jim Crane, the power of pitcher deception and the potential to quantify it, and reports that the season could soon cease if conditions don’t improve, plus a follow-up addendum about why the automatic-runner rule shortens games. Audio intro: John Lennon, "Borrowed Time" Audio outro: Dr. Feelgood, "One Weekend" Link to Jay Jaffe on the latest positive tests Link to Ben Clemens on a baseball bubble Link to GIF of Nelson Cruz and virtual fans Link to Jim Crane article Link to Josh Flowerman on reliever sequencing Link to Hareeb al-Saq on reliever sequencing Link to Ben on the knuckleball hangover effect Link to Ben on perceived velocity Link to Jon Anderson on quantifying pitcher deception Link to Jeff Long on pitcher deception Link to Eno Sarris on pitcher deception Link to Eno on Yusmeiro Petit’s invisiball Link to Johnny Cueto Statcast wireframe shimmy Link to Passan report Link to Ben Clemens on Passan’s report Link to Ben on Nick Madrigal  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Effectively Wild Wiki  Twitter Account  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: [email protected] var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source