Effectively Wild Episode 2021: Always Be Closing

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani’s latest exploits and career-best WAR pace, the Angels’ playoff hopes, Corbin Carroll’s physique, and Mickey Moniak’s fluky-but-fun hot streak, then (20:55) answer listener emails about how big a scandal it would be if Ohtani turned out to be two twins, when managers would choose to take in-game mulligans, and which stat should replace errors in the traditional line score, followed by a Meet a Major Leaguer segment (54:00) featuring Keaton Winn and Ricky Karcher (as well as Joe Jacques and Stan Musial), Stat Blasts (1:18:45) about Zack Greinke and the widest pitch-speed spreads and Jo Adell and the players with the biggest career gaps between their Triple-A and MLB production, plus a Past Blast (1:39:30) from 2021. Audio intro: Dave Armstrong and Mike Murray, “Effectively Wild Theme” Audio outro: Gabriel-Ernest, “Effectively Wild Theme” Link to Ohtani’s oppo homers Link to Ohtani oppo graphic Link to Ohtani’s Statcast record Link to story on Ohtani’s series Link to Ohtani’s HR lead Link to Blum’s bat tweet Link to Ohtani’s streak Link to Neil Paine on Ohtani Link to Ohtani sweepers by start Link to Ohtani sweepers vs. LHB Link to FG playoff odds Link to Angels wRC+ leaders Link to The Athletic on Moniak Link to minor league chase leaders Link to MLB swing-rate leaders Link to article on Carroll Link to Dan Bern’s Ohtani song Link to Canseco conspiracy Link to Atlantic League EW episode Link to Craig/Báez play Link to Minor’s 200th strikeout story Link to other Ben on line scores Link to modern box score story Link to EW emails database Link to list of saves in debuts Link to MLB.com on Winn’s debut Link to McCovey Chronicles on Winn Link to story on Giants bullpen WAR Link to toothpaste/Sriracha tweet Link to Karcher interview Link to Karcher pitch plot Link to Karcher article 1 Link to Karcher article 2 Link to Karcher article 3 Link to Karcher article 4 Link to Jacques call-up article 1 Link to Jacques call-up article 2 Link to Jacques debut play Link to Jacques interview Link to Jacques other interview Link to Musial/Jacques query Link to Musial story Link to 2023 new debuts Link to Topps Now cards Link to pitch-speed-spread leaders Link to new Greinke stories article Link to EW episode on Greinke stories Link to active-pitcher spreads Link to Simon pitch spreads Link to Padilla pitch spreads Link to consecutive-pitches Stat Blast Link to Lucas Apostoleris on Twitter Link to Triple-A/MLB gaps spreadsheet Link to Triple-A/MLB hypothetical email Link to intra-season AAA/MLB gap Blast Link to Ben on the majors/minors gap Link to Kenny Jackelen on Twitter Link to Home Run Challenge press release Link to Home Run Challenge leaderboard Link to donate to Home Run Challenge Link to 2021 Past Blast source Link to Ben on moving the mound Link to Ben/Rob on the results Link to David Lewis’s Twitter Link to David Lewis’s Substack  Sponsor Us on Patreon  Facebook Group  Twitter Account  EW Subreddit  Effectively Wild Wiki  iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)  Get Our Merch!  Email Us: [email protected] var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source