Effectively Wild Episode 2516: Baseball Is So Back

Summary

Effectively Wild Episode 2516: "Baseball Is So Back"
August 11, 2026
Hosts: Meg Rowley (FanGraphs), Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the current whirlwind of baseball news and trends, with a particular emphasis on streaks, managerial upheavals, baseball's surprising resurgence in pop culture, and injury updates. The hosts blend their signature statistical deep dives ("stat blasts") with banter about baseball movies, broadcasting legacies, and lighter topics (like pickle-flavored hydration products). The tone remains witty, analytical, and conversational as Meg and Ben unpack both the numbers and the narratives shaping baseball in 2026.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. WPBL Managerial Shake-Up

• Boston Hunters' Sudden Change ([02:00]–[09:00])
  • The Boston Hunters of the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL) fired manager Keith Foulke (ex-Red Sox) after just three games. The move surprised the hosts, who note a lack of transparency about whether the departure was a firing or resignation.
  • Jamile (Jemile) Weeks is announced as the new manager. Questions arise about the league’s vetting and hiring processes, especially after managers were named very close to the start of the WPBL season.
  • Ben contextualizes the decision by comparing it to the MLB's recent dismissal of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, noting that proportionally, Foulke lasted longer (20% of the season vs. Cora's 16%).

"Three games is how long Keith Foulke was the manager...We don't know if this was a firing. We don’t know if this was a resignation. We don't know if this was a mutual parting of ways." — Ben [03:00]

2. Historic Series Streaks: Red Sox vs. A’s

• Opposite Streaks Collide ([11:50]–[18:38])
  • Ben delivers a "stat blast" about the A’s snapping a 12-series losing streak and the Red Sox ending a 9-series winning streak by losing to the A’s. According to research from Michael Mountain, this is the most extreme collision of opposing series streaks in MLB history, with a combined 21 consecutive series outcomes flipped.
  • Historical comparisons: Previous records and statistical calculations (including harmonic mean) illustrate the rarity.

"As far as Michael could find...this is by far the most extreme example of a momentum shift series-wise." — Ben [13:37]

• Meg humorously imagines streaking teams: "Streaking in opposite directions, which implies two groups of naked men going back to their respective dugouts after a brawl has subsided." [14:50]

3. Red Sox Revival and Playoff Odds

• Boston’s Turnaround ([18:38]–[26:16])
  • Playoff odds for the Red Sox soar to 95.4%. Meg jokes about the team's transformation: "They were so over, but now they're so back." [19:03]
  • The possibility of a World Series win triggers reflection on how to evaluate preseason predictions, with Meg rejecting the idea of “crowing” if her early Red Sox pick comes true.

"You probably got lucky even if you were right." — Ben [25:19]

4. Defensive Records and Context: Jacob Wilson’s Errorless Streak

• Jacob Wilson’s Errorless Games ([28:10]–[41:03])
  • A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson sets the MLB record for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error (111+ games).
  • Ben contextualizes the record: There are far fewer opportunities for errors today, due to a lower groundball rate, higher strikeout rate, and perhaps more lenient official scoring. Wilson’s streak involved 323 chances; Mike Bordick, whose streak he beat, had 539 chances over the same span.

"Did Wilson set the record? Yeah...but the degree of difficulty, one would think, would have to be higher for Bordick." — Ben [30:59]

• Discussion about the limits of error stats as a defensive metric and the sometimes conflicting advanced defensive systems.

5. Giancarlo Stanton’s Fascinating Injury Update

• Yankees Injury News, Explained ([41:03]–[53:08])
  • Aaron Boone says Stanton has "started the introduction to some bases." The hosts poke fun at the odd phrasing.
  • Stanton’s reputation as a physically imposing player is contrasted with his ongoing injuries — "Achilles made entirely of heels," quips Meg [45:04].
  • References to Stanton’s earlier comments about being unable to open chips due to elbow issues, and musings on his off-field persona (incl. music videos).

6. Pop Culture: Baseball’s Renewed Spotlight

• Baseball on Screen ([53:08]–[69:17])
  • Netflix is developing an anthology-style Yankees drama, with Jason Bateman’s company attached.
  • Universal greenlights a new Lou Gehrig film (director: Richard Linklater, star: Glenn Powell), as well as a baseball rom-com "The Catch" starring Emma Stone and Chris Pine.
  • Tom Hanks will return to baseball films in "The Comebacker," out 2027.
  • Meg laments the focus on real teams/players and wishes for more fiction-based baseball shows, praising the old TV show "Pitch."
  • The hosts see this wave of baseball storytelling as evidence: "Baseball movies are back," says Ben [64:58].

"I think baseball's got the juice again. I think this is a reflection of what people think is cool and what people think other people are interested in and will buy tickets to see." — Ben [69:57]

7. Broadcasting Transitions and Legacies

• Mike Krukow’s Upcoming Retirement ([70:27]–[78:25])
  • Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow will retire at season’s end. The hosts reflect on the special bond between baseball fans and their local announcers, especially during seasons when on-field stakes are low.

8. Pop Culture Interlude: Ted Lasso Visits Baseball

• Ted Lasso’s Baseball Scene ([80:07]–[89:46])
  • Ben watched the new Ted Lasso premiere for its cameo at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, noting its value in boosting awareness, but lamenting that Bob Kendrick wasn’t used in the scene.

9. Injury Updates: Reds’ Hunter Greene & Others

• Hunter Greene’s Setback ([99:41]–[107:36])
  • Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene faces another extended absence due to elbow surgery, a blow to both player and franchise hopes.
  • The hosts pivot to chat about Paul Skenes’ and Gerrit Cole’s recent performances.

10. Miscellaneous Banter: Pickle Chips and Liquid IV

• From Baseball to Snacks ([49:43]–[53:08])
  • Meg shares her strong opinions on pickle-flavored snacks and pickle-flavored hydration products, promising to taste-test an electrolyte powder on a future bonus episode.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Three games is how long Keith Foulke was the manager of the Boston Hunters and we don't know why." — Ben [03:00]
• "It's still good, but I'm going to take a little bit away. Just as Jacob Wilson has taken away many potential hits with his dependable glove at shortstop." — Ben [28:59]
• "They were so over, but now they're so back." — Meg [19:03]
• "Started the introduction to some bases." — Aaron Boone, quoted by Ben [41:50]
• "What if Achilles were made entirely of heels, you know?" — Meg [45:04]
• "Baseball movies are back. I really think baseball scripted entertainment is back." — Ben [64:57]
• "You probably got lucky even if you were right." — Ben, on predictions [25:19]
• "Raw, uncut Krukow." — Ben, on getting to hear more from the retiring Giants broadcaster [73:08]
• Closing pun: "This is a very long buildup to say we had a fantastic Scherzo this weekend too." (linking "Scherzo" music to "Scherzer" pitching) — Ben [94:47]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:00] Managerial shakeup in WPBL (Boston Hunters)
• [11:50] Streaks/stat blast: A’s and Red Sox historic series
• [18:38] Red Sox’s resurgence, playoff odds, and predictions
• [28:10] Jacob Wilson’s errorless games and defensive context
• [41:03] Yankees injury updates; Giancarlo Stanton’s “introduction to some bases”
• [49:43] Pickle-flavored snacks and hydration tangent
• [53:08] Baseball TV/movie news; Yankees, Lou Gehrig, rom-coms, and Hanks
• [70:27] Mike Krukow’s retirement and baseball broadcast legacies
• [80:07] Ted Lasso’s baseball scene, Negro Leagues Museum cameo
• [99:41] Hunter Greene’s injury; discussion of Skenes, Pirates, Reds future

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Flow and Tone

The conversation balances enthusiastic geekery (statistical deep-dives, historical context) with playful irreverence (pop culture references, food digressions, self-aware joking). The exchange between Meg and Ben is informed, accessible, and peppered with dry, gentle humor.

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For Those Who Haven't Listened

• The episode covers big swings in baseball fortunes (teams and players), the latest and quirkiest baseball stats, and baseball’s ongoing cultural comeback.
• Both serious statistical subjects (team streaks, defensive records) and lighter sidebars (Stanton’s injuries, pickle chips, TV dramatizations) are given engaging, thoughtful treatment.
• Highlights include a breakdown of a record-breaking streak collision, insightful analysis of what baseball records really mean in context, and an inside look at how baseball is reasserting itself in the world of scripted entertainment.
• The show closes with news on beloved broadcasters, injury updates for young pitchers, and some excellent banter about snacks and pop culture crossovers, making for a rich and wide-ranging podcast experience.

Transcript

[A]

How can you not be pedantic? A stat blast will keep you distracted. It's a long slog to death, but for sure to make you smile. This is effectively wild. This is effectively wild. This is effectively wild. Hello, and welcome to episode 25, 516 of Effectively Wild a Fan Graph Spaceball Podcast, brought to you by our Patreon supporters. I'm Meg Riley of fangraphs, and I'm joined by Ben Lindberg of the Ringer. Ben, how are you?

[B]

I feel great, because I am. I am bursting with banter and blasting today. I just. I feel good about it. You know, sometimes we come into an episode and I don't know what we're going to talk about, and sometimes I feel like maybe I do have some sense of what we're going to talk about, and I'm not sure which kind of episode ends up being better, but I know that the latter makes me feel a little bit better in the moments before we record. So today I just. I feel like I have a surplus of quality stuff, but we'll let people be the judge of that. I just. I feel like Dak at the Battle of Hoth, you know, right now, I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself. And Dak didn't make it, I'm afraid. He couldn't actually take on the Empire even when he had help. He was Luke's gunner. You had Luke and Dak, Wedge and Jin. Then, of course, you had Hobby. Don't ask how the Battle of Hoth went for Hobby. Didn't go great for him. Hobby. Not Hobie.

[A]

Right. Which one was Hobby?

[B]

Hobby was. Was Luke's wingman in the Snow Speeder. Yeah, gotcha, Rip. But he was feeling very confident.

[A]

Kind of gave it away, didn't you?

[B]

So, yeah, spoilers for the Empire Strikes Back. Apologies to anyone who hasn't quite caught up with that. So where to begin when we have so much to discuss? Well, why don't we begin with the Boston Hunters of the Women's Pro Baseball League? So, as we speak here on Monday, every team in the WPBL is within two games of 500. So it's basically like Major League Baseball, except that in wpbl, each team has played four games, so it's a little more understandable that they would be that close to 500. But in last place, bringing up the rear are the Boston Hunters. And it turns out that they are not content to idly watch the season just slip through their hands.

[A]

Right.

[B]

They made a move. They're making moves much like those Red Sox and Alex Cora and Breslow, they have changed their manager already. They have made a managerial change. Now, we talked to Kyrie recently about how the managers were announced just shortly before the season.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And the manager of the Boston Hunters, as Kiri Uller informed us, was Keith Folk, formerly of the Boston Red Sox and now formerly of the Boston Hunters because he was dismissed after three games. Three games is how long. Keith Falk was the manager of the Boston Hunters and we don't know why. As. As far as I'm aware, there has as of yet been no reporting as to why the Boston Hunters changed their manager. We don't know if this was a firing. We don'. Know if this was a resignation. We don't know if this was a mutual parting of ways. The announcement by the Boston Hunters, which was published I. I think shortly before game time on Sunday, just said Jamile Weeks has been named manager of the Boston Hunters, effective immediately. So while we're remembering some guys. Jam Weeks, formerly of the A's, the Orioles, the Padres and the Boston Red Sox. So now he's with another Boston team, one that doesn't actually play in Boston, but never mind that.

[A]

Is he any relation to Ricky Weeks Jr?

[B]

Was Ricky Weeks a junior we were just talking about? I didn't even remember he became a junior.

[A]

I think he started doing.

[B]

Ah. Jamiah was the brother of Ricky and is okay.

[A]

And. Yes. And. And Junior is now. I knew. I remembered. Now he. He's. I think he's on the coaching staff of the Brewers. Is my.

[B]

I. I think coaching is in the family. Evidently.

[A]

Roll with Brewers. So right. He has associate manager. What's that?

[B]

Some sort of associate manager or coach of some sort these days. So Jabia Weeks has been named manager of the Boston Editors, effective immediately. We would like to thank Keith Folk for his contributions to the team and his efforts on behalf of the club. Whatever they were, we. We looking forwards. Slight typo there, but we're looking forward to building a winning team culture under Jamal Weeks's. It doesn't really say anything about why Keith Volk's no longer the manager and who instigated this. So feel free to fill in the blanks with your imagination. I don't know if this is something bad. Something went wrong. He just decided he wasn't into it. Whatever. Presumably something didn't go great. If you're making a change after three games and under Weeks, the Hunters lost their first game. So they are now one in three. They were one and two when they parted ways. With Folk. So I was thinking, okay, this seems like pretty quick on the trigger here. This is a. A pretty itchy trigger finger type move. But if you put it in the context of the WPBL season, this is actually sort of similar to the Red Sox dismissing Alex Kora quite early this season. Like, if you thought that firing Alex Kora 27 games into the MLB regular season was fast, well, keep in mind, okay, three games, that sounds a lot faster. But in the WBPL, it's a 15 game season. Each team plays 15 games, so. So three out of 15, they were a fifth of the way through the season. That's 20%. And if we compare that to Kora being let go after 27 games, well, 27 outta 162, that's 16.7%. So actually they were more patient. They gave a longer leash to Keith Folk. He had completed a. A higher percentage of the regular season than Alex Kora was when he was fire. Folk was fired after 1/5 of the season. Korra was fired after 1/6 of the season. Also, the Hunters were underperforming even more than those Red Sox were. I mean, maybe not relative to preseason expectations. I don't know what the preseason expectations for the Hunters were, but The Red Sox were 10 and 17 when Cora was fired. That's a.370 winning percentage. Well, 1 and 2. That's a.333 winning percentage. 1 for 3. So Keith Falk had completed more of the season with, with a worse winning percentage than Alex Kora had when he was fired. So if we just do the, the translation here, then this was actually kind of comparable to that firing. So I guess if things aren't working out well, you gotta make a change quickly if you want the benefits to manifest while the season is still ongoing. I'm not sure it quite works that way because it is still three games, even if the percentage is similar. But, but I was trying to put it into what would this be in MLB terms? And it turned out that actually the Cora firing was more extreme. If you put it on that scale.

[A]

I hear what you're saying. Right. I understand how percentages work.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It feels different. It's like when, when NFL writers are like, well, yeah, I mean, the NFL trade deadline's like pretty similar. No, it's like, what are you talking about? You have no idea what you need yet. That's ridiculous. Why don't you make it later? Just put it later. Why isn't it later? It's ridiculous. You know, this is one of those things where you want to know what happened? Not only because it's just. Is there like some objective metric or rubric that he's falling short of? Is this a vibes thing that he do something naughty? And I, I raised the question because I think one of our primary takeaway from my primary takeaway from our conversation with Kiri about the league was that we want this to work and it's very exciting. And I think that a lot of folks are pretty invested in it as a going concern, not because of any particular developed attachment they have to any of these specific teams or players, but because they want women's baseball to thrive. We also expressed some concern about some of the logistical issues. Hiccups and the fact that the managers were announced so late in the game made you a little concerned about sort of what, what was the vetting process for these folks? What was the criteria used to evaluate them? And, you know, we probably won't have an answer to that to the extent that we have one at all until the end of the year, except for this. Right. So part of why I think it's important to know why there was a dismissal is because it's like, does it reveal that that process was sort of wanting from a hiring perspective? Which isn't to say that the other managers won't be successful, but it's just interesting that there would be a move so quickly. So I would like to know why

[B]

it is quite curious. Yes. And maybe more will come out. I don't know. The. The commissioner, Justin Siegel, did say in this statement, we appreciate Keith's time and commitment to the Boston Hunters, which is. I mean, it wasn't much of one really, but. And wish him and his family all the best in the future. Which sounds to me like something you wouldn't say if he did something really bad. So hopefully. So maybe he just decided he wasn't into it or something. Which does make you kind of question why he took the job or why they gave him the job in the first place. So seemingly, maybe there was a bit of an issue with. With fit or vetting. I mean, I can't think of a per. Innocuous reason why someone would take that job and then leave three games into the season. But some explanations would be way worse than others. So maybe he just decided it wasn't for him. But anyway, that's the math. And hopefully the Boston Hunters will have a Boston Red Sox esque resurgence under Jamal Weeks. He can be the Chad Tracy of the Boston Hunters, though they better hurry because they don't have that many games to go, but we'll see if that happens for them. Speaking of the Red Sox, though. Yeah, I do have an item on them because they have not done a lot of losing lately. And they did do a little losing this weekend against of all teams, the A's, who have not done a lot of winning lately. And we talked last time about the fact that they fired David Forst, their gm. That news broke while we were recording and we reacted to it in real time. And the A's have just totally nosedived for months now. And so the A's met the Red Sox, the team that can't win versus the team that can't lose. And because it's baseball, the A's won the series and Red Sox lost the series. And I saw an item about this that noted that both of these teams entered this series on long streaks, opposing streaks, a winning streak and a losing streak. So the A's had lost 12 consecutive series and the Red Sox had won nine consecutive series. So they entered on diametrically opposite paths and then Boston lost two out of three. So this got my stat blast sense tinkling. So I had to request a stat blast assist from Michael Mountain here.

[A]

They'll take a data set sorted by

[B]

something like ERA minus or obs and

[A]

then they'll tease out some interesting data,

[B]

discuss it at length, and analyze it for us in amazing ways. Here's two days to plug. So I wanted to know what's the most extreme version of this? Where one team comes in on a winning streak, a series winning streak, and one team comes in on a serious losing streak and then both streaks are snapped in said series. What's the highest number of combined consecutive series losses and wins for those two teams? And frequent step last correspondent Michael Mountain ran these figures for me and he ran it a couple ways. He ran it with just winning streaks and losing streaks. You have to have won or lost every series heading into the series, which was the case for these A's and Red Sox. And then he ran it in a less stringent way where you just have to not have won. So you could have split a series at some point there. And if we take the stricter version of you have to have been on a. A streak of consecutive wins or losses, draws allowed. The A's and Red Sox have made combined history here. This is in fact the most extreme example of this ever.

[A]

No.

[B]

As far as Michael could find. Yeah. So my, my eye for a staplast still intact here because if you look only at win and Loss streaks and split series break any streak. Then before this, the most notable all time instance of this was The Pirates taking two out of three from the Mets in August of 1985. The Pirates entered series on an eight series losing streak while the Mets entered on a six series winning streak. So that's a combined 14. And here again we have 12 consecutive series losses for the A's and nine consecutive series wins for the Red Sox. That's 21 heading into this. That blows that out of the water.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So this is by far the most extreme example of a momentum shift series wise. When you have two teams that are streaking in opposite directions, they meet, the momentum is halted and reversed. It has never happened like this before. So who knows, maybe the A's just needed to fire their gm. Or maybe they just needed to run into the red hot Red Sox and that somehow was the solution for them.

[A]

I love the notion of them streaking in opposite direction which implies two groups of naked men going back to their respective dugouts after brawl has has subsided.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And they were like oh boy, we got to get our clothes back on here.

[B]

Well this was noteworthy and I will for completion sake give people because Michael ran it the other way too where a series split, a draw, a tie does not break the streak. So if you do it that way then the all time record is the final series of the 1916 season. The Boston Red Sox, that team again just. It's just all Boston teams all the way down this episode so far they were 90 and 61. They had already clinched the American League pennant and they were playing against the last place Philadelphia a's who were 34 and 1 16. When those Connie Mac A's were good, they were good. And when they were bad, oh boy did they bottom out. The A's had not won any of their prior 31 series entering the matchup, 29 losses, a two game split and a four game split. The Red Sox had not lost any their prior eight series. Five series wins, a two game split and two different four game splits. And with nothing to play for, just playing out the string, coasting to the end of the season, Boston lost that series two games to one. So that would be the all time record there. The integration era record was a late July tilt 1997. The Padres 52 and 53, five series wins and a two game split in their previous six series. And the Phillies 30 and 72 entered with 16 series losses, five two game splits and two four game splits in their previous 23 series. Naturally the Phillies Swept both games in San Diego going 15 and 4 from then until August. So yeah, you never know. And Michael also looked at this in terms of harmonic mean, because anytime Michael has an excuse to work harmonic mean into his stat blast, he will. But, but that kind of accounts for both teams having a long streak because you can have a long average or combined total if one team has a really long streak and the other has a shorter streak. And so this is kind of making it so that each team has to have a long streak entering the series, as was kind of the case for the A's and Red Sox here. In that case, the all time record 1908, the last place Yankees who were not yet the Yankees that we know and love or loathe today they beat the soon to be AL champion and Tigers two games to one in mid August. New York had not won any of its previous 21 series. That's 18 series losses, a two game split and two four game splits. Detroit hadn't lost any of its previous 13 series, 10 series wins and three four game splits. And that changed. So this is quite something. And the A's and the Red Sox were the second most notable streak ending series in the integration era using this less strict definition. And the record again Boston in involved 1961. They were on a ten series winless streak, defeating the Tigers again who were on an 11 series lossless streak. But I like restricting it to the wins and losses only. Get out of here with these ties. It's un American. And also it, it makes the stat blast look better because they're by far the first.

[A]

I love Boston involved as a, as a way of describing these things like oh boy, here we go again.

[B]

Could mean anything. It's meant very different things at different stages of the season. But, but it's nice that the Boston Hunters, even though they're not actually playing in Boston or particularly tied to Boston in the same way, they're, they're really channeling that Boston chaos spirit.

[A]

It's really something because our listeners are familiar with the, the, it just. You look at the, you look at the playoff odds graph and it's, it's, it's really something, Ben. You know, they were down so bad, you know, and now they are so back. Yeah, I know that I'm mixing two expressions there, but I'm 40, so.

[B]

So over, I guess.

[A]

Right? They were so over, but now they're so back because their playoff odds entering play today, 95.4%.

[B]

Yeah, they're sitting pretty. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And like actually good to See, I shouldn't have ever apologized for my World Series prediction.

[B]

Yes. Should have stuck to your guns.

[A]

Well, I, you know, the, the predictions made. Right. And wondering how most people are listening to the. That particular episode of the pod, you know, but it's just, it is kind of shocking. They really have turned it around. I do wonder. It would be so funny if at the end, imagine for a moment they, they managed to, to do it, to win the whole, the win the whole dang thing because I don't know if you know this, but the Dodgers are bad now, so.

[B]

Right. Yeah. Worst record since they won the trade deadline.

[A]

Yeah. Kind of washed. But it would be funny if like they, you know, they go on, they win the, the whole thing, they, they hoist the trophy, they have their parade and Craig Breslow goes in for like his end of season meeting and they're like, like. But we do need to talk about your communication skills. It just don't lose sight of the parts that were dysfunctional because now you have an opportunity to address those under circumstances where everyone feels so good about themselves that seems.

[B]

He's a new man. He's a new Craig. He's going for it.

[A]

Probably exactly the same. He's probably the exact same Breslow. And you know, that Breslow from before, it wasn't a completely bad Breslow that it wasn't like everything there was partially vindicated. Yeah, well, some of it's been vindicated and some of it, you know, it doesn't matter is the thing. So there you go.

[B]

Yeah, he's turned over a new leaf in terms of just being aggressive, not necessarily trying to win the trade, but win the season. So if you make a quote, such a risky quote, if you make a preseason prediction and then you, you subsequently think better of it, but then that prediction is borne out later. So I know that you brought up that you had predicted that the Red Sox would win the World Series in a sort of self deprecating way. Right when they were, when they were struggling.

[A]

Right, right when it was, when it was so over.

[B]

Yes. But you did still make the prediction. Now if you, I don't know if you officially recanted, if you disclaimed any responsibility for having made that prediction. You predicted it, it's in text, it's published, Nothing on the Internet ever disappears. But then do you still get to crow about it after the season if in the interim you lost confidence and we're not sort of, hey, I said it, I'm standing by it. I mean, even if you didn't officially say, well, that was way off. Still, obviously you were skeptical that that was going to come to fruition, which was only reasonable.

[A]

I think that that's a fair question, but I'm gonna answer it by saying I don't think anyone should crow about their predictions. You know, I think that in general, people make predictions for reasonable reasons. Right. It was reasonable to look at the AL field and the projections and think to yourself, well, you know, sure, they have to emerge from a difficult AL east, but maybe you're down on the Yankees mostly because you find them boring, as we've established. And I, you know, I didn't think the race would be much of anything. And I worried that Toronto was in first wound, if only because, you know, it's just hard to do it in back to back years. And I really liked particularly the Red Sox pitching and I thought they would hit enough. You know, I also thought they'd have like a useful and healthy Roman Anthony. Remember Roman Anthony?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is incredible, not just that they've had this turnaround, but that they've done it really, without contributions from Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet. So just watch out if they get those guys back and humming.

[A]

Right. But. So I think I had good enough reasons to think that they. Well, really, that they would be a postseason team. Here was my actual logic. I thought that they would be a playoff team and I thought that they had the depth of pitching to resist attrition during the regular season and to put together a really scary playoff rotation. And so I was like, sure, why not? Let's go. Let's go with Boston. I think that that is part and parcel with Most predictions from. Or 1. One dominant category prediction from sort of analytically inclined analysts, which is. I looked at the projections. I understand the potential randomness of the postseason experience. Sure. You know, it's reasonable. And then there are the, the predictions that I think most people will acknowledge when they make them fall into the second category, which is I wanna, I wanna zig where others are zagging, I want to bob where others might weave. And so I'm picking, you know, the Oakland A's to win the World Series because I really like the hitting. There's. There is something here that is of understood quality and I don't want to pick any of the obvious blue chippers. So let's go with sort of a fun, funky pick. Both of those are fine to do. I don't think either of them require, like a lot of skill. So I don't Think that you should crow about predictions because it's sort of silly. Now, I think that it's fine to say, hey, I, I am articulating a rationale for this selection that suggests that I think the projections are missing something about the team. And then maybe they do miss in that way. And you look and feel clever and you can say, yeah, here's why I thought that. But I just think that it's tacky. Don't crow about predictions.

[B]

Yeah, stay humble. You probably got lucky even if you were right.

[A]

Right. Because the team on some level got lucky too. Like, and that's not to say that every team can take advantage of the luck they're given or that every team benefits equally from luck. Some teams are just good, some teams are bad, and they can't buy luck because they're the Seattle Mariners, for instance, just as like to pick one out of my brand space.

[B]

We can relitigate this. If the Red Sox do win the World Series, which maybe they will as. As long as they don't run into the A's again, which they won't in the World Series or even in the playoffs. So that won't be a problem for them.

[A]

Right. And now, as we've established, the Dodgers are bad. So I think that the. The field is clear for them. They are still several games out of first place in that division. That's hilarious. Yeah. The Mariners didn't help their cause. The Red Sox, I mean, because they were like, oh, what if we just lost to the race?

[B]

Yeah, but the Red Sox are nipping at the Yankees heels. How, how many games, by the way, do you think would you set the over under for Jimmy Dugan, Tom Hanks's character in A League of Their Own? Do you think he today would last longer or less long than Keith Falk where he appointed manager of a WPBL team? Because I feel like the, the ranting and the drinking. Even if he had a heart of gold and some good baseball advice, I don't think it would play as well today, probably. So I feel like he might not fit in. He might have a full length tenure.

[A]

I would like to think that his disdain for the enterprise, assuming that we are transporting the fictional character of. Of course, you know, it's Tom Hanks and we're all like, wow, it's so weird that guy looks like Tom Hanks, but we're like transporting him forward in time. We're not bothered by the fact that he like, doesn't know what a computer is, let alone how one works. I think that his hostility and sort of vaguely antisocial tendencies would be obvious in the initial interview and they'd be like, we can't hire this guy.

[B]

Yeah. Although he had time to come around, which Keith Falk was not afforded that same time. For all we know, Keith Falk would have really rounded into form if he had stuck around and gotten more invested in the gig.

[A]

I mean, maybe. But again, since we don't know why he was dismissed, I hesitate to speculate. Cause like, maybe he wouldn't have. Maybe he like naughty. And I don't want to accuse him of anything. I genuinely don't know. I just want to spare myself the indignity of being on the record saying like, yeah, totally. And then it turns out that he like killed a puppy or something. I don't know, like just I'm picking a thing that is, even if he misbehaved, is not likely to be the actual thing. That's why I'm sorry to introduce the notion of the puppy.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You know, I regret about that.

[B]

I do have another thought about Tom Hanks in baseball movies. But before that I have to share something about another A's related streak. Okay, so Jacob Wilson. While the A's were beating up on the Red Sox this weekend, Jacob Wilson, A's shortstop, set a record, an all time major league record for consecutive games at shortstop without an error.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He has not made an error since I believe last July 6th. So he has now gone 111 games without making an error and that's the most all time. So congrats to Jacob. And now that I've congratulated him on the achievement, let me undercut the achievements slightly. It's like when people say not to take anything away and then they proceed to take something away. I'm going to take something away. It's still good, but I'm going to take a little bit away. Just as Jacob Wilson has taken away many potential hits with his dependable glove at shortstop. So Jacob Wilson, I looked up up how many defensive chances he has recorded over the course of that streak. So in the 110 games preceding Sundays and he beat Mike Bork. Mike Bork was the previous record holder. Mike Bork went 110 games as a shortstop without an error in 2002. So he made an error on April 10th of that season and then went airless the rest of the way before making an error in his very first game of 2003. But, but Bordick got to 110 games. So Jacob Wilson in tying Bordick he had 323 defensive chances in those 110 games. And then in the record breaking game on Sunday 111, he got up to 329 chances. But let's stick with 3:23 as the basis for comparison here. Same number of games games as in Bordick streak. So the question is, how many chances did Bordick have in his streak? An equal number of games, same length. But was it the same number of opportunities? Was it remotely the same number of opportunities? So if, if Wilson had 323 defensive chances in that 110 game stretch, would you guess that Bordick had more than that or or fewer than that almost 25 years ago?

[A]

I am guessing based on the way you set this up that he had more chances.

[B]

He did indeed have have more chances and he had a lot more chances in fact. So Jacob Wilson, 323chances, Mike Bordick, 539.

[A]

Oh wow.

[B]

In the same number of games at the same position. So that's 67% more chances. That's like two thirds again as many chances as Wilson had. So did Wilson set the record? Yeah, he set this specific record for consecutive games at shortstop without an error. But the degree of difficulty there, one would think would have to be higher given that Bordick made so many more plays or had the opportunity to flub so many more plays over his 110 games. And I don't know, maybe people weren't hitting the ball quite as hard in Bordex day or something, but still that's a lot more chances. And I was thinking of this, I was, I was motivated to investigate this because I was thinking this must be one of the things that has changed the most or changed a lot over that period. Because every trend is toward fewer defensive chances or at least fewer defensive chances on the infield. Because like first of all, the league wide ground ball rate is an all time low this season at least. You know, we have easily accessible batted ball data on fan graphs going back to 2002. You can get it via retro sheet or whatever going back further, but you can easily look it up going back to 2002 and in that span of, of 25 years, almost 25 seasons, this year's grand ball rate leaguewide, which is 41.6% of all batted balls, that is the lowest in that span. And so back when Bordick was doing this, it was a couple percentage points higher, which doesn't sound like all that much, but it adds up. There are a lot of batted balls. Also, there were more batted balls, period, back then because there were fewer strikeouts. So the league wide strikeout rate in 2002 was 16.4%. This year it's 22.1% which is lower than it was a few years ago. Fortunately, that rise has been arrested and has even reversed itself slightly. But still a lot fewer balls put in play. And of the balls put in play, fewer of them are grounders because, you know, guys are launch angling and trying to hit the ball high and hard. And so, you know, whether it was a response to infield shifting and just trying to get it over the infield or just trying to, to elevate and celebrate and do damage. Right? So fewer grand ball balls, fewer batted balls, period. Also, the error rate is lower and, and we've talked about that, We've stat blasted about that before. There is a conspiracy theory out there that I know MLB has instructed official scores to be more liberal about what counts as a hit. The idea being that it would juice the extremely low batting average if you are more lax, more lenient when it comes to awarding hits versus errors to hitters. And I don't know if I buy that and have heard from official scores that that's not the case, but it is true that the error rate has declined and there seems to have been maybe a pandemic related decline which Sam has written about. And his thought was basically that when official scores were not necessarily watching from, from the park, if they were watching remotely, they were accustomed to seeing all the replays. And thus when you slow something down, everything looks like kind of a tough play or you get to see, oh, that actually did take a tough hop. I didn't see that on at real time speed or now also we have statcast and so we know when a ball was hit super hard. And so maybe it looks like it's kind of an easy play. But then you see, oh, that was actually 112 miles per hour or something. And even subconsciously you're thinking, oh, maybe that was kind of a tougher play for whatever reason. But. But there's been a longer term a gradual decline in the error rate. So in 2002, according to Baseball Reference, there were. 0, 66 errors per game. And this year there are 0, 52 errors per game. And part of that is possibly that there are fewer balls in play and, and more fly balls relative to ground balls and there are fewer errors on fly balls. That's what we were just saying. But also in 2002, 1.8% of chances were errors. And this year it's 1.5% again, could be a bit of the batted ball distribution, but also maybe official scores have gotten less strict about judging errors. So for all those reasons, fewer balls in play, fewer grounders especially, and maybe just fewer errors in general, I think it's easier now to have the sort of streak that Wilson had. So yeah, I have congratulated him but also said that it's not as impressive to me as the streak that he just beat. So if you ERA adjust, then I think it's not quite as impressive.

[A]

Yeah, I think that that is all very fair, I guess is what I would say. And also. So it's not bad. It's still good.

[B]

It's good. It's good.

[A]

Yeah, it's still good.

[B]

It's nice not to make errors, but so qualified.

[A]

You're, you're.

[B]

Yeah. Another factor here is that the A is this year as a staff have the lowest ground ball rate, which seems like it's not the best thing in West Sacramento. Maybe you'd want to keep the ball on the ground, but they have, they have not done that. So that means fewer chances still for Wilson, even relative to the league baseline, which the ground ball rate is lower. The A's infielders have have faced the lowest ground ball rate from their pitching staff of any team. And in 2002, the Orioles pitching staff had the seventh highest ground ball rate. So Bordick was facing more worm burners back then or was pitching behind more worm burners or as a worm burner, I guess it's the ground ball, not the pitcher who induces the balls. But either way it was a league and ERA specific difference, but also a team specific difference. Another thing you might think is, well, is it good? I mean, obviously all else being equal, it's good to have an errorless streak. But maybe you're not making errors because you're not reaching any tough plays. That's always been the thing. That's. You know why errors. One of the reasons errors have fallen out of favor as a defensive metric is because, well, it tells you if you, you make the mistake on the ball, that's to you. But do you get to a lot of balls? Do you have a lot of range? And we're comparing here to a 36 year old Mike Bordick. So Bordick was a good fielder, but in 2002 he was at the tail end of his career. 2003 was his last year. So even though he was a good defensive reputation guy, I mean he never won a Gold Glove, but on the whole, the metrics are, are solid for him. But I don't know if he still had it at that time. Now, according to DDRs, he was a zero in the field. He was a perfectly average shortstop in 2002. Then again, total zone has him as elite. It looks like he's a plus 18 boardick in 2002, so the defensive metrics differ. Perhaps he was still good and he was getting to a lot of balls back then, which would make it more impressive that he didn't have baubles or anything. Wilson, who's just 24, similarly confusing. No errors. Okay, that's good. Minus six defensive run saved. That doesn't sound good. But then plus seven fielding run value via stat cast. So DRS says not so good. Stat cast says good. Errors say good. So probably he's good, I guess. But there are so often these differences of opinion among these statistical systems, even though they have somewhat similar inputs and frameworks in some respects. So never know what to make of that. Exactly. But yeah, this is one of those where kudos to Wilson, but if you want to dive really deep, this is one of the sort of records where there is a big ERA effect that perhaps makes this seem slightly less impressive when you put it in terms of games and not defensive chances. Yeah. Anyway, no one needs to tell Jacob Wilson about that. He can. He can just be happy about being the most errorless shortstop ever and feel good about himself.

[A]

Do you think he knows?

[B]

I think so. Yeah. It was, it was reported on, on the broadcast and everything. It wasn't a super obscure fun fact that was only on Twitter or something. So probably he heard about it or someone asked him about it. I don't know if he, if he commented on it and was asked to make any reaction to joining the August group of Mike Bordick and who was. Who's third now? I think Ray Ordonez was up there. Yeah, Ray Ordonez is third now. Cal Ripken Jr. And Omar Visquel, I mean, you know, these are, these are some good fielders and he probably belongs in that lineage, but he has it easy these days. Back in the day, Mike Bordick, he had to come to the ballpark uphill both ways. And he was. Is fielding ground balls left and right. And Jacob Wilson, I mean, he's taken innings at a time off because nothing has hit his way. It's easy. Anyone could do it, really. We could all just play Arrows major league shortstop and see what the big deal is.

[A]

I mean, I I sure could. Honestly, I couldn't do that. But of all the things I couldn't do playing shortstop, I mean, I'd still be like, it's more achievable than me, like hitting a home run or catching a big league fastball or hitting a big league fastball. And I want to be clear, I'm not saying I could do it. I couldn't. But of all the things I couldn't do. Closest to that one.

[B]

But you'd be less bad at it now than you would have been in 2002. I think that's true, at least. So things are looking up. Yeah. Okay. Well, we've covered various Boston teams. Also, today's sign of Giancarlo Stanton's impending return. I shared with you the update the other day where Aaron Boone said about John Carl Stanton it was good to see him outdoors and moving. Here's the latest update from Boone on Jar Carlos Stanton. Because Stanton jogged in the outfield this weekend. Yeah. Here's how Aaron Boone described that. He said Stanton has, quote, started the introduction to some bases.

[A]

Started the introduction to some bases.

[B]

Has started the introduction to some bases. I expect him back here at some point. He'll be in there when the time's right. So it was sort of. Giancarlo, here's the second bass bag. Second bass bag. Here's Giancarlo. I'll let you guys do an icebreaker here. Started the introduction to some basis. So I guess that means that he's doing a little jogging on the base paths or something like that. This is part of his baseball activity.

[A]

Started the introduction to some bases.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. That's quite a way of putting it. So I look forward to the next injury update on Stanton. And I know he has been hurting. I'm joshing about the terminology. Sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I know that he has hurt, been injured, and I'm sure he's doing his best to get back and everything. And he has turned into Mr. Glass in. In this latter phase of his career. And it's unfortunate because I like seeing him out there and. And even if he's not the player he was, he still hits the ball as hard as anyone and. And hits some distinctive Stantonian dingers. And so I look forward to seeing that again. And, you know, he's trying to get to 500 home runs, but this is. It's hard for me to remember anyone really, like, having their injury progress, their return to the field described in quite these terms where it's just like he's. He's refamiliarizing himself with the concept of baseball. I mean, it's. Right, it's usually like, you know, you talk about, all right, he's starting baseball activities, he's. He's doing some jogging, he's taking some swings. People disagree about what a dry swing actually means. And sometimes it turns out that Tristan Casas was actually taking swings in his mind and not actually taking physical swings. He was simulating swings. So something. It varies by the player and the team swings. In his mind, he was doing that.

[A]

How do we know?

[B]

Well, yeah, I guess you gotta, you know what I mean? Like, take his word for it. Yeah, right. He's not now because he just had wrist surgery and he's done for the year. Year last year for him.

[A]

But why is he only now having wrist surgery?

[B]

I guess even after wrist surgery, he could still be taking imaginary swings. It won't. Won't hurt him any. But, you know, I guess maybe might make him sad. It's true. But maybe it would help him maintain his. His visual acuity. You know, you could break out the VR headset or something, make sure your pitch recognition doesn't stagnate. But yeah, this is, it's almost unique to Stanton. It's quite unusual. And I think it stands out even more because he's such an Adonis. I mean, he's built the way that he is built. And so when he is being described in some sort of Dickensian, 19th century orphan type of terms, it's like, it's so incongruous because it's like he's still built like that. He's still towering and muscular and strong. And so it seems somehow discordant that he is both a type of titan and a behemoth, but also seemingly cannot run without straining something.

[A]

I mean, it's one of those things where you're like, what if Achilles were made entirely of heels, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You probably would be less impressed by him and less surprised that he got got. But, you know, it's sort of like that. It has a. It has a. Make the whole plane out of heels. Well, why would you do that? Yeah, that was Boeing's problem. They were like, oh, we misunderstood this story. Story.

[B]

Could be. Well, I've recommended before that Stanton do some swimming, maybe some, some lower impact exercises. Not static stretching, obviously, but just some other forms of. And maybe he has, you know, maybe he's. He's getting into the flexibility and the yoga and the swimming and all the rest. But whatever he's doing, it doesn't seem to be Helping. Maybe it would be worse otherwise, but he also just had those mysterious elbow ailments.

[A]

His elbow chips.

[B]

Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's the. The contrast. That's what it is. It's like this guy who looks like the strongest person you've ever met and the epitome of professional athlete in terms of his physical form, and yet in practice, quite incapacitated. Yeah. Which, you know, it's. You can't. Can't always judge by appearances.

[A]

Do you think that he regrets that particular little nugget? I hate to say nugget, because you probably can't open those either. And I also don't want to be dismissive of. I'm sure I can only imagine how frustrating it must be, because I'm sure that Giancarlo Stanton is also aware of how he looks and I imagine is doing everything he can to be able to be on the field. And I wonder if he's like, yeah, is this a little chip story? Like, I know you couldn't have said that. I couldn't open. Like, he could have said, I can't open a pickle jar. And people would have been like, okay, well, there are times when that's really tricky, and you need one of those little rubber.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sheaths, you know, the grippy little rubber sheets, so that you can hold it and really get the torque on the thing.

[B]

Yeah. I found that those never work that well. They just. They work itself is pretty slippery, at least in my experience.

[A]

But you think it's still slippery. Are you getting ones that are textured? They have to have a little bit texture to them.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's the specific sheet that I was using.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not that I've ever struggled to open.

[A]

Well, and you can. You can. You know, you can, like, put a butter knife up under the lid a little bit and, like. And try to get it to. Yeah.

[B]

Pop. Yeah.

[A]

You know.

[B]

Yeah, that's. I admire his. His frankness, though. I like the. The upfront. I mean, maybe that specific anecdote, it definitely has stuck, and people still cite it and everything, but, hey, if. If that's the state of his body, then I guess don't pretend otherwise.

[A]

You don't want to lie about it.

[B]

Yeah. Set unrealistic expectations and.

[A]

But they could have been like, can't get the lid off a pickle jar. And again, people would have been like, yeah, that's tricky to do. Whereas, like, I. I can. Well, I can't always open chips. Sometimes they really don't want to pull apart. You know, the chips not always. Yeah, I would be really. I love chips.

[B]

Vacuum sort of situation going on sometimes,

[A]

but never enough of them.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, he has flaunted his physique at times. Right. Like, he's done plenty of thirst trapping and being in music videos and ESPN the Magazine, body issues and all the rest of it. Workout videos, music videos.

[A]

Was he in.

[B]

He was in a somewhat raunchy music video that I'm. He was. I'm struggling to remember. It was not that long ago. Or maybe it was. It was a Lexi Pantera music video in 2017. So it was some time ago. This was. This was still Marlin's era. Stanton for the song. So good. And he was extremely shirtless and showing it all off. And if. If he had it, flaunt it. And he did.

[A]

He still looks like a demigod, even if he's made out of candy glass. So, you know, flaunt away. I say.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, if I. If I try to search this, the default is safe search.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I mean, I did. I mean, yeah.

[A]

Praise be to the booty is one of the captions.

[B]

You could all check that out after the pod. But yeah, because he still looks like that, it's hard to get your head around. Wait, the guy not being able to open chips also. Yeah, but that's the case. So anyway, hope he makes it back and gets reacquainted with the basses and that he and the basses get along great.

[A]

I hope as well as whoever he's with in this music video, you know,

[B]

get in there getting quite cozy.

[A]

Can I ask you an unrelated question? Because I feel like I'm not contributing very much to this episode, which wasn't my plan. Where do you stand on chips, Ben? Do you like chips? Are you a chip fan?

[B]

Not a big. Not a big chip.

[A]

You're not a chip guy. Okay, well, then this is going to be lost on you. But here's the thing that I've noticed and. And then I saw a headline suggested to me this weekend which made me think. Well, it made me think that I must be both purchasing and searching for pickle related things more than I was realizing. Because, you know, there are all of these chips now that are pickle flavored and what they really are is they're dill flavored. Like they're not that. And there's a new introduction, a new sort of entrant to this across multiple chip brands of spicy pickle chips. And I'm here to tell you that I have tried all of them and they are all great, except the Miss Vicky's ones are the best. So if you're in the spicy pickle chip market, those are, those are my recommendation better than the bolder ones. And they're doing avocado oil stuff and I don't have any issue with that. But I do worry that it's like, like Maha coated in a way I'm not appreciating. So there's that. But here's the most deranged pickle related thing and we will move on. You know those, like, electrolyte mixes that you can buy, like the hydro whatever. And they, they're supposed to hydrate you better than water. And I'm like, I think you can just probably drink water. And in most circumstances that's going to be sufficient if you're not like really working out or dehydrated or lost in the desert or what have you. They have Grillo pickle flavored, like electrolyte dust that you can put in your water so that you're essentially drinking pickle juice, which makes sense because, well, pickles are delicious. My opinion, I don't need to hear from other people on that score. If you don't like pickles, that's, that's fine for you. More for me to eat. Okay. Happy with that. I was into fermentation before the garbage disposal. Voiced MAN in the. It was our health secretary. Okay. Fermentation, great. Anyway, I just was like, this is a, this is a thing. This is a thing that we're doing. And it's like, it's special edition electrolyte powder. And I think that we have jumped the pickle shark. I think that we are being infiltrated by big pickle. I think that this suggests a level of pickle popularity that maybe doesn't match my own enthusiasm, which again, is high liquid iv. That's the hydration multiplier. This is the.

[B]

That doesn't sound appetizing to me.

[A]

This is Grillo's pickles Dill pickle, faster hydration. You have to order it special. Should I order this and try it?

[B]

This is primo bonus pod material that you are burning on a regular pod right now. This could have carried us at the end of the month.

[A]

I thought we were going to talk about, like a bunch of real baseball stuff. And then, and then you were doing a bunch of really wonderful stat blasts. And I appreciate that so much. But I, I felt like I wasn't adding anything. So here's a preview of our bonus pods. I'm gonna order the Grillo pickle chip, liquid iv and I will try it on air. Okay.

[B]

I don't mind a good dill from time to time. I'm more of a half sour specialist, but.

[A]

Oh, half sours are good too. See, here's the thing. I've never met a pickle I don't like. You know, I, I really haven't. And I used to not like sweet pickles, and it's still not my preference. But every now and again, every now and again, those ones that are a bit, little bit sweet, I'm like, that's good.

[B]

Well, when Stanton returns, maybe he could use some liquid iv, some electrolytes to, to keep him from straining anything else. But also, over the past five years or so, when he has been on the field and in the Lineup, he has a.301 on base percentage, which suggests that maybe he had not been introduced to the bases sufficiently prior to this point. So this could pay dividends in more than one way. And I hope he makes it back. For multiple reasons, but also because the hottest IP these days, Meg, is the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees are hot IP when it comes to adaptations, which I guess is not new. There have been plenty of Yankees movies before, but evidently, as reported by the trades last week on Friday, it came out that Netflix is developing a New York Yankees drama series. So Netflix has this relationship with MLB and is broadcasting Opening Night and the Home Run Derby, et cetera, and is also developing an untitled drama series about the New York Yankees from MLB Studios. Jason Bateman's aggregate films and writer, director, producer Josh Wakely, all attached to this project. Details are minimal other than the fact that the series will take on, quote, one of the most decorated franchises in American sports and take place across the team's several eras. So it sounds like, based on that very vague description, that this will be some sort of anthology show.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And that maybe each season will cover a certain season or era of Yankees baseball. So Giancarlo's got to get back out there in case they have a season. I don't know what season it would be. If this thing gets renewed maybe a few dozen times, they'll be up to the 2026 season, and they'll need to cover Giancarlo Stanton and whether he makes it back to field. But this is an interesting one because it's not exactly new that the Yankees have won a lot of World Series. In fact, they have not won any of late. And so much of the decoration and the winning has happened some years ago, really, before Netflix got into the original scripted streaming series Game. So I wonder what form this will take and whether that would even be interesting. Aggregate Films helped make the recent limited series Black Rabbit on Netflix, which got several Emmy nominations, and Bateman was involved in that as well. So we'll see, I guess. Do you want to watch New York Yankees, the TV show? I don't know if this will be like a. Like a winning time type deal, whether it's based on any particular Yankees IP or book or reporting, or whether it's just the Yankees, full stop. The Yankees, the TV show. So I don't know what that would look like. But, you know, maybe they can cover Babe Ruth and reassure various ex Mariners relievers and Cub center fielders that he did indeed exist.

[A]

Three things. The first is, I'm just relieved we're getting something that isn't about the Red Sox from.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

Because, good God, I have reached saturation on that. So that's the first thought. The second is, shouldn't they just do, like, something that is loosely based on, like, the Bronx is Burning? Like, shouldn't they just revisit the 77 team? Because that's probably the most interesting team for. For, like, TV drama purposes. Everyone's mileage might vary on their favorite era of Yankees baseball, but it's like, what are you gonna. You're gonna do something on Jeter and the models? Like, why?

[B]

Right.

[A]

I know.

[B]

And then, you know, 61 has already been a TV movie, right? So you could go back to that. Well, I guess, but.

[A]

And, you know, the. The. The Bronx's Burning got a treatment during that brief window when ESPN was like, what if we do scripted dramas? It is funny that that is an ESPN production and not an HBO production because it feels like it should be on hbo. And then you watch it and you're like, oh, no. People who do scripted TV had nothing to do with this. Which is a shame because, you know, Turo Platt, like, sign me up. Yep, it's fine. It's just. It feels like it could have been more. You know, that's my second thought. And my third thought is I did. I did order the. The Grillo's pickle. Look what I did just now. So, coming on our next bonus pie report back. Yeah, I will give a full report. The shipping was almost as much as the pouch, and they were like, oh, you could order three packets. And I was like, I don't think I need to do that.

[B]

Bateman's a big Dodgers, big fans, so maybe this is a. A backdoor way to season one will be the 1955 World Series where the Dodgers defeat the Yankees or something. Probably not, I guess. Yeah. You know, and maybe you'll recast players. Like, you could have a. A young babe or young DiMaggio or young Mantle crown. Yeah, right. Maybe you could do a. The crown meets the Yankees sort of thing. Babe Ruth had a crown made for him once. Maybe, maybe that approach would work, I don't know. Or is it just the story of a season? Is it more of a character study? But I guess there's a lot to work with there if you're not already super sick of the Yankees. But there are a lot of Yankees fans, so people would watch. If they build it, people will watch.

[A]

Sure. And I can imagine it being good. And there is something to the idea of this organization that prides itself on being buttoned up and hyper professional and the behind the scenes drama. I just am skeptical that we need another round of this. I wish that we would get more scripted dramas about baseball that exist sort of within the universe. We know, but about players who are fictional. Like, one of the things that was great about pitch, which I still miss, was that it could be anybody. Right. You could just write whatever story. It didn't matter because while it was a real team and it was cool to get to see them in the Padres stadium and against, you know, like it can just be whoever. You're not bound by it. Although there were times when it would have been better for them to be bound by it a little bit, maybe. So, you know, you come in, you come and go with this stuff. But you could do like a modern retelling of that Bronxist burn here. And then you get like all the paranoia of the 70s that feels like

[B]

it would fit well, yeah, the Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson and all the nightlife, you know, Whitey, Billy, Mickey kind of stuff. And then the Babe and Lou Gehrig and DiMaggio and you can do all

[A]

the Son of Sam stuff and the blackout and like, it just. It allows you to have a broader cultural canvas that you situate baseball in in a way that I think could be cool and interesting. But maybe they're going to do like one episode per era and so you'll get like a smattering of that stuff. Yeah, maybe. But if I wondered. I wonder.

[B]

Hopefully, yeah, hopefully it'll be at least a season per era. Just because to have a whole cast for a single episode, I don't know. But yeah, if they need a historical consultant to ensure the accuracy of 2009 Yankees baseball operations in terms of when they tell the story of the last ever Yankees World Championship, then they can call me up and I can provide my perspective on that. But, but speaking of Garrick and pride, because you said a lot of pride of the Yankees. Speaking of which, more Yankees IP coming down the pike. There's a new pride of the Yankees coming from Glenn Powell and Richard Linklater, who previously teamed up for the excellent 2016 college baseball movie Everybody Wants Some. And of course, as a huge fan of college baseball, I loved that movie. No, I actually did love that movie as a non huge fan of college baseball. So they are teaming up again. Linklater also regrettably did the Bad News Bears remake. Hopefully this remake slash reboot will be better than that. So Universal is doing an untitled Lou Gehrig film with Linklater and Glenn Powell and Linklater directing, Simon Rich writing. Lorne Michaels Yankees fan producing. Yeah, Glenn Powell is, is playing. Is playing Sweet Lou, evidently.

[A]

What?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Have they seen sweet pictures of Sweet Lou? Well, I don't understand Glenn Powell's career. Glenn Powell's career is. Is so mysterious to me. Some of these choices are objectively terrible. And he is so handsome and yet there what are some. What?

[B]

He has had some misfires. It's true. He's been all over the place. And by the way, I said Sweet Lou, that's actually not really one of Lou Gehrig's many nicknames. That's L. Penella's nickname. So if they do make the the 70s show, he doesn't look like Lupinella, then they can, they can have somebody playing Lupinella. But you know, I'm sorry, you can call Lou the Iron Horse or, or Biscuit Pants. My favorite.

[A]

I mean, I guess there are. It's not the worst.

[B]

No, you can make that work.

[A]

Yeah, you can make it work.

[B]

Was handsome. He's not identical, but he doesn't have to look exactly like him.

[A]

I don't under. I'm looking at. I'm looking at Glenn Powell's IMDb and I'm just like, how did this happen to you? Do he and Amy Adams share an agent? Because I don't understand her career either.

[B]

I think this, what happened, this is definitely a better choice that he is making in the sports realm than Chad Powers, I believe. But you know, he's had some good ones. He's had many misfires, but he is about the right age. I mean, I don't know exactly if they are doing late career ill Garrig. And luckiest man on the face of the earth, etc. If they are doing Pride of the Yankees style and covering that period, then he is about as old as Garrick was in his last season. I could see it working. Plus he has to be a better athlete than Gary Cooper, who was famously so bad that they tried everything they could to minimize his actual baseball performance in that film. So, you know, maybe it could work. And the original Pride of the Yankees, I think I have some fondness for it. I don't know that it's exactly a masterpiece, but you know, it's. It's quite old. Right. So on the Hollywood remake scale, I. I once did an article at the Ringer about the white men can't jump remake when that was announced because that seemed so unnecessary. And I think that was borne out by the movie not being so good. And I did a remake necessity score to try to grade just how extraneous each remake was. I think this would probably fare decently, I guess. Sure. That, you know, it's old, it's dated, it's from 1942. So. So sure. I don't know whether the Netflix series and this Linklater Powell movie will have to squabble over the. The rights to tell this story or something, or they'll both do it in. In different ways. But. But I think this is a symptom of something. I think baseball movies are back. I really think baseball scripted entertainment is back because it's not just that they're remaking Pride of the Yankees or retelling the Garrig story. Also announced. So that was announced in late July, announced in late June is that there is a rom com, a baseball rom com coming. And this is called the Catch and it's also universal and it will be starring Emma Stone and one of the Chrises, Chris Pine.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Chris Pine and Emma Stone in a baseball romantic comedy will also star Ashley Padilla from SNL and Druski and Tim Robbins, baseball movie veteran and Sissy Spacek will be in this as well.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

So quite a catch. And details are scant, but the Hollywood Reporter says that sources say the rom com is described as Bull Durham meets Notting Hill with Stone playing the most hated woman in baseball. Pine is playing a baseball player.

[A]

Wait a minute. How is that Bolder Room?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

That doesn't describe either of those movies.

[B]

I guess that mostly means it's baseball, but it's also a rom com. So in very broad terms, it's Bulderham meets Notting Hill. Maybe I don't know if it's, if that applies more specifically than that, but

[A]

it's as feminist as Bulldrum is. Yeah, I said it. I'm right about this.

[B]

Yeah. All right.

[A]

Every, every girl can wear white on her wedding day. That's right. That's right. So I cannot believe how bad Glenn Powell's choices.

[B]

Yeah. Jen Statsky is writing on this, who worked on Hacks.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

And the Good Place and Parks and Rec and Broad City and lots of good stuff. So that's encouraging. And yeah, I mean, you know, we don't know much about it, but just the fact that this is happening and the Garrig movie is happening. And then as I have mentioned previously, Tom Hanks is coming back to baseball movies because he's going to be in the Comebacker, which is coming out next year, July 2027. We're less than a year away from the release of the Comebacker and this is an adaptation of a Dave Eggers short story and it's a baseball movie. Hanks plays a pitching coach of a pitcher whose life is upended when he is hit in the head by a line drive on the mound. The devastating comebacker changes his life in all kinds of ways. So presumably he got hit by a comebacker and also he's trying to come back from being hit by the Comebacker. It works on so many levels, or at least two.

[A]

So which dovetails with Glenn upcoming filmography because he is in a post film that is in post production called the Comeback King.

[B]

How about that?

[A]

Here's his upcoming slate. Ron Howard untitled Firefighter film project, the Natural Order. I don't know about that. The Great beyond again, again, untitled Lou Gehrig film the Comeback King, which is presumably him coming back from the failed movies that I just. How are you so handsome and getting such bad advice? I don't understand.

[B]

Anyway, I think it's good news for, for baseball movies, I think because this is, these are like major baseball movies. This is not right. EFIs, for instance, which was a really good movie and wonderful, by the way, is now available on Prime Video.

[A]

But.

[B]

But that was not some sort of major motion picture, huge studio release, widely distributed on thousands of screens sort of thing. And there really hasn't been that kind of baseball movie. There have been movies that had baseball elements, absolutely. But a genuine baseball movie, they've been pretty few and far between and Thin on the Ground really, since Everybody Wants Some, which was, was not some sort of blockbuster. Great movie. But. But yeah, the fact that we've got Got at least three in the works coming in the next year or so. That's pretty exciting. Not to mention TV stuff and Netflix making a Yankee series. I, I do think that this is to some extent a reflection of baseball being back, baseball being the comeback king itself, just in terms of its reputation in the culture, its prominence in the culture, the buzz about baseball, the perception of baseball. I think that's reflected in the fact that Hollywood is green lighting some stuff again.

[A]

Yeah, it's very exciting. I like the fact that Emma Stone is involved with, you know, Boulder and meets Notting Hill, even though how that makes sense I don't really understand given the description you gave me, because she's a big, she's a huge baseball fan, I think. A Padres fan, presumably. If there's stuff in the movie that doesn't make sense, she can be like. But that's not how that works. And that's so great. Hope.

[B]

Yeah, save us, Save us some work on the post release pod. Yeah, yeah. So that's exciting. And, and there were some recently, there were some photos that went kind of viral of Emma Stone looking upset in Mets regalia. And she is not a Mets fan, as you said. She is a Padres fan. And people were trying to figure out why is she wearing Mets stuff and looking so sad. People were speculating that she just became a Mets fan for a day and was instantly rendered upset or something. But evidently that was for the film that, that she was at a baseball game or wearing. Wearing Mets gear and get upset.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So, yeah, so a lot to look forward to. I think baseball's got the juice again. I think this is a reflection of what people think is cool and what people think other people are interested in and will buy tickets to see. And so it does seem like a symptom of the wider glow up that baseball has enjoyed lately in the popular perception.

[A]

Yeah, it does seem in keeping with that. Just in time for us to have a lockout.

[B]

Well, yeah, that's terrible timing in any number of ways. It's true. But yeah, okay, we'll accentuate the positive. Positive for now. I was also thinking we've, we've gotten some emails about the announcement that Mike Kruco will be retiring. Beloved Giants broadcaster and former player, he's been in the booth, various booths for decades and he is calling it a career at the end of the season. And he's had some health issues in recent years and has had trouble traveling to games and everything. So he's worked a more dependent, diminished schedule. But this is it. He is hanging up the mic at the end of this season. And so a lot of people are celebrating and mourning and sorry to see him go, but also grateful for all he gave. And of course this is sad because it's breaking up the partnership between Kruko and Duane Kuyper, who I guess is not retiring as of yet. So I was thinking about this in terms of, of is this the best or the worst case scenario for an outgoing, beloved broadcaster to have that happen in a season like this. First of all, I thought it was amusing that in his statement, he put out a little statement to announce that this. And it ended with when Green Day asked I hope you've had the time of your lives. We certainly have. Which was kind of a, it was cute. I mean, and I don't think that's actually a question, but you know, nonetheless

[A]

you say I hope you had the time of your life.

[B]

Right. Anyway, I guess Green Day would be happy regardless that, that he has. So that's nice. But do you think this is a good way to go out with kind of a dead end team that is playing out the string? Because it would seem like, well, isn't the best case scenario you, you make a run to the World Series or something? I mean, I guess that's probably the best and you get to take one less victory lap. But he's had those moments. The Giants won championships with him. And the virtue of this, when you have a team that's not so good and just got worse at the deadline, they probably will give him a lot of time to talk and, and for people to enjoy that partnership and to give him the send off he deserves. Cuz if you really want to just hear broadcasters yapping, then probably it's better if they're calling games for a terrible team. Right. Or a bad team.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Because there's just, they have to fill that time themselves. Right. And so if you want more Kruko like raw, uncut Cruco, which is a weird way to put it, but then again, they were talking about dropping Trow and Hogs out earlier this year.

[A]

That's right. So they were.

[B]

Is this the best way to sort of, of get your fill of the guy before he rides off into the sunset? Because you can just get unvarnished, just access to him and the small talk and the banter that you really remember with broadcasters? Because as much as say a memorable iconic call, you might remember when broadcasters got off onto some tangent, you know, during a blowout or something. And that's so baseball, even in the pitch clock era, when there's just a lot of time to talk.

[A]

I think that, you know, if you get to have sort of a nice, protracted postseason run or run to a postseason, that's fun. Although given the way that postseason broadcasts work, it's not like we don't, you know, if the Giants were on the cusp of the playoffs this year, it's not like we get him in the booth during that postseason run. Right. Like, this is the odd thing about the national broadcast, and a lot of times guys will cycle onto radio or whatever, but we don't necessarily get him calling an amazing home run or whatever, an incredible Logan Webb performance during the playoffs. I don't know if he's done other sort of mediums during their playoff run. So if, If I've missed that in the past, forgive me, but I also think postseason baseball is a funny thing from a commentator perspective, because I think there are absolutely performances that can elevate your experience of it, and there are calls that are blown or whatever, insufficiently enthusiastic. Love to complain about Smoltz, but I think that. Not that it's easier to be a good broadcaster in the postseason, but the script is more sort of straightforward. Right. Like, you know what you're going to be talking about. It's the playoffs. If you have to be in someone's living room for 162 games, that's a big blank canvas to fill in. And so I think that a mark of a good broadcaster is how they do in those big moments. Do they rise to them? But also, what kind of company do they keep you in when you're dealing with a slog of a season like this and how do they fill that time? And so for his sake, because I think that it's really enjoyable for broadcasters to get those special seasons and to be there along the way and to have highlights from the regular season that get replayed over and over again. I wish for his sake that things were different. Different. But I, I don't know that it'll diminish anyone's enjoyment. I think the key to these things is just to give people time to, like, kind of give you your, Your. Your flowers and, you know, being able to savor his presence in the booth in a weird way does give Giants fans something to, like, latch onto, even if this is a bad season. Yeah, it does give them a little something. So it's a. Taking the time to. To. To appreciate him while he's still around is an odd little boost to give people.

[B]

Yeah. And probably if, if the team were great and exciting. He wouldn't want to make it about him and he want to deflect some of the attention and maybe he still will, but this way at least he can savor some of it and other people can savor it. And it's like, well, what are we really missing if we just spend some of our time hailing him? You know, it's probably for the best and no one's going to be upset that you're not narrating the action on the field enough. So I think as long as you have had the championship runs, which obviously the Giants did during his tenure, it would be sad if, if a long tenured broadcaster never got to win one and never got to call one and you never got to experience that as a fan. But he's had that. Giants fans have had that. And so I think in a weird way maybe this is actually kind of nice that the folks focus can just be on him and on that partnership and yeah, they have time to breathe and let that be a focus at least over the next month or two. So that's good. Yeah. And I have to get used to calling him crook because you know, every time I see it looks like Croc in print because it's, you know, Kruke and Kype. But it's not. I mean, it is, but when I see Cruck, I think the other crook who we talk about so, so much. And I have to remind myself, no, it's, it's spelled the same, but it's actually crook when you're talking about Kruko. I just, I wish they'd stick an E on the end there just to help me keep it straight. But I'm sure Giants fans don't have any trouble anyway.

[A]

Yeah, I think that they do. Fine.

[B]

Congrats to Kruke on an excellent career and to everyone who has had such lovely times listening to him because, yeah, I know when, when John Sterling was in his last season and he came out of retirement. Retirement to call that Yankees playoff run. Part of me was rooting for that run to continue so that Sterling could keep calling games just solely for that reason, so I could keep hearing him and he wouldn't be gone. And I'm sure that a lot of Giants fans are feeling that too. But we've, we've done our various odes to local broadcast institutions over the years and it's, it's one of the most special sacred things about being a sports fan and maybe particularly baseball. And maybe I'm saying that just because I'm a baseball guy. But also there are so many games and there's so much time for them to talk that, that bond. I think it's special in baseball.

[A]

It's so much time both in terms of the volume of games and also, you know, the amount of time they're not even with the pitch clock. It's generally a couple hours out of your day. It's a pretty special relationship. I do wish that again you're noting this with Sterling. I know a number of that them end up sort of cycling over onto the radio side. I do wish that we could get the local guys into the broadcast, the TV broadcast booth more often. It remains one of my favorite things about this year's Sunday night gamut, which is, you know, Benetti as the constant and then this sort of rotating cast of supplemental folks. Although on the topic of Sunday night baseball, very briefly, I saw the intro for maybe the first time this season. I don't know if this has been there the whole time. Has that song been. Been there the whole time? That Sunday Night Baseball song?

[B]

So, yeah, I think so.

[A]

Garbage. That's. I don't know if they went to the same person who wrote the, the Sunday Night Football song, Waiting all day for Sunday Night. It's worse than that song. I don't know who's singing it. I'm just saying that, like, I appreciate country music as a genre and I like it quite a bit.

[B]

And I know it's a Zach Brown band song, I think.

[A]

Is it?

[B]

I think. Yeah, I think so.

[A]

Oh, well. Not your best guys. And I know it's not really a super high bar to be clearing, but it's really bad.

[B]

Well, it is country music's moment, so I guess they're leaning into that.

[A]

I can't believe I ordered pickle flavored liquid iv. What if I really like it?

[B]

Then I guess you'd have to have it injected intravenously. That might be redundant. I guess if you get an IV drip of liquid iv. Probably not supposed to ingest it that way.

[A]

Probably not.

[B]

Yeah. I meant to mention I had one more example of baseball showing up in popular scripted entertainment because this past weekend I subjected myself to Ted Lasso for podcast purposes because I will do anything for content.

[A]

Not our podcast. Right.

[B]

Yes. Well, this, this bit of banter because.

[A]

Okay, wow.

[B]

You, you know, I'll. I'll watch anything on Apple tv, tv, almost anything, except strangely, its most popular show, which I, I did watch Ted Lasso for a season, a season and a half, when it was good. I Thought it was good at the time. And then it got just too treacly and saccharine for me, and I just sort of couldn't stand it.

[A]

And it's just like, hey, it doesn't, this doesn't have to be your whole personality. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[B]

So I, I, I bounced off it at some point and never looked back. And it ended. But it's back after an extended layoff and it's back for a fourth season. And I tuned in again, not having caught up on the interim seasons or familiarized myself with what happened. I just went in cold because I had heard that there was a baseball scene in the season four premiere of Ted Lasso. And there was. And specifically it was a Negro Leagues baseball museum scene. And I'm not sure exactly why it was in the show other than the fact that it's Kansas City and they probably just wanted to highlight the museum and everything. And I guess that's a good enough reason. Plot wise, it felt a little shoehorned, but hey, why not? And the former colleagues of Ted, who has since moved back to the heartland after his European coaching career, he is visited by his British friends and they come back and try to persuade him to take a job managing the women's soccer team now. And on this trip, the character Leslie Higgins, who is one of the executives for the team, kind of this buttoned up guy, he wants to go to the Jazz Museum because they're in Kansas City and it's closed. And so he goes to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. And he doesn't really know what it is or what baseball is, but he just sees that it's open and asks if the Jazz Museum is open and they tell him it's closed, but you can come in here. I was disappointed that it does just appear to be an actor who's playing the guy at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. It's not Bob Kendrick.

[A]

They didn't get Bob.

[B]

They did not. And I don't know why. I guess you got to get an actual actor, but I don't know. I feel like he could do just fine. I mean, he's done fine in the MLB the Show segments, although opportunity to

[A]

put that voice on TV and you're not taking it.

[B]

One of the most charismatic, magnetic men. I feel like, oh, my God, if they didn't even screen test him. Lost opportunity. But. But no, they just have someone else who ushers Leslie Higgins in and gives him a personal private tour of the museum. It doesn't appear to be anyone else there that day, for whatever reason, when he comes in in, he doesn't know anything about baseball. And so the. The usher who's welcoming him in explains, it's a museum dedicated to black baseball players. And I was wondering if they were afraid to say Negro Leagues, maybe on the show, because people might not know what the Negro Leagues are and might be like, what did they say? Can you say that? Can you call people that? They did eventually say it after they had introduced the concept and the history and everything. Everything. The guy who was showing him around did mention it one time, but I was wondering if they were kind of easing people in. Even though you could see the sign for the museum. People aren't as plugged into this stuff. They might not know about the Negro Leagues, and they might think, oh, is it politically incorrect to call them that? Or something? But no, that was what they were called anyway. I don't know if that's why, but it was striking that he didn't just say the name of the museum at first. Also, they misrepresented the admission price. So, you know, if you're seeing Ted Lasso and you want to go pay a visit, it's going to cost you a little bit more to get in there than they implied on the show. Costs him a mere 10 bucks, and really it's 15 when you go to the actual museum. And I know what you're thinking. Actor Jeremy Swift, who plays Leslie Higgins, he's 66, so he would be eligible for the senior rate. But even that's $12 anyway, you should still go. It's a good deal. So they show him a race, and they do a little segment on Satchel Page and kind of tenuously link it to the women's team that's starting. But it's. They kind of poke fun at the fact that these leagues don't actually have much in common. So it's sort of a stretch. So I don't know why it's there, but I'm happy it's there. There was one little aside where this guide is. Is telling him about Satchel Page. Satchel Page, the biggest star at the Negro Leagues. Some say he's the greatest pitcher of all time. Better than Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan. Wow, those are certainly some names of baseball men. Just, it's probably not the top three I would have mentioned for best pitcher ever. I feel like there are better candidates than some of those guys. But when it comes to name recognition and legendary peaks and just, you know, guys who were sort of larger than life and everything. I guess I get why you go with. With those three.

[A]

I guess I'm always just so confused by this because it's like, okay, so what is your understanding of the, like, level of baseball knowledge the person you're pitching this scene to has? Right. Because it's like, if you know enough about baseball to know who those three pitchers are. Well, you've heard of the Negro leagues, probably, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so this one this season is. Is Ted Lasso does feminism. Am I given to understand that?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Because, like, that feels like it's gonna be a brutal watch.

[B]

I did not watch beyond the premiere, and I don't plan to unless there's additional baseball coverage.

[A]

If you all like it, I'm happy for you. It's fine. It's just not for me because I was with you. It's like, so saccharine. And then, like, there was this weird. There was a stretch where there were some Mariners fans who were bringing the believe signs, and I can't remember if they were doing that in a year where the Mariners were made the playoffs or not, but I was like, you do know that at the end of this season, they get relegated. Like, what are. Why is this? There are times when I feel like I'm grumpier than people know, and then I have a big feeling about stuff like this. And they're like, wow, I can't believe you're in such a bad mood. And I'm like, no, I just. It doesn't make sense. Like, Glenn Powell's career.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know,

[B]

Cy Young's a good choice. Cy Young's the all time baseball reference world leader. He's second in Fangraphs where he has the award named after him. Fine.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I would, I would. I mean, Sandy Koufax, obviously, you know, living legend and just generally legend. And perhaps his reputation as a pitcher is somewhat inflated because he had the short, incredible peak and Dodger stadium working for him and expanded strike zone and all that. But people know him. And Nolan Ryan. People know Nolan Ryan, too. He was around forever. He never won a Cy Young award, but a very good pitcher and strikeout king and all the rest of it. But, you know, if you were actually saying, well, who are the best pitchers of all time? Obviously with Satchel, you couldn't really look at a WAR leaderboard either because he was in the Negro leagues. But yeah, I mean, I guess you'd want to go Walter Johnson or something. Or, you know, there are a number of people who are perhaps better choices, but you can't really go wrong with the three they chose. Anyway, it was more about just singing Satchel's praises, which is fine.

[A]

Which is great.

[B]

Yeah. And. And hopefully it brings some publicity to the museum and helps with their donation drive and all the rest of it. Yet another example of baseball just sort of showing up because. I don't know, it's. It's in the ether, it's in the air, it's in the discourse. So it's always nice to see baseball pop up. And speaking of Nolan Ryan, by the way, we were informed by some listeners, including Patreon supporter David, that Nolan Ryan's father was named Lynn. Nolan Ryan Senior.

[A]

Sure, sure.

[B]

Because we were wondering about the Nolan Ryan Jr, but he doesn't go by Lynn. Lynn. He doesn't go by Lynn. I don't know whether Lynn Senior went by Lynn either. I suppose it's possible that he didn't either. But if he has the same name, if Lynn went by Lynn and Nolan went by Nolan, then even if his first name is technically Lynn, then I guess it's. It's sort of surprising that he would go with the junior. Right. But. But maybe Lynn went by Nolan too. I don't know.

[A]

To be clear, I have not. Sorry. I'm still worked up about the fact that they didn't put Bob in the show and also that they're doing. I've seen the previews and they're like, now it's girls. And I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ. Sorry. Just like allergic to that show now, clearly, and still worked up. And so I don't mean to yell at the folks who were kind enough to point this out. My point, though was I don't doubt that he is literally a junior. Right. I'm sure that he is a junior. It's just that he doesn't go by his first. His like actual legal first name professionally.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is the junior part. And so it's just funny to me for them to put. For him to append it with the junior now because he doesn't have the Lynn in there, which is the junior part. So that's. That was the part of it that I was like, kind of flummoxed by. But you're right. Right. It's possible. It's quite possible that his father also goes by Nolan and so his sort of sense of the name is that the Nolan part is the important variable.

[B]

Yeah. Although it would be funny if. If you were named Lynn and didn't go by Lynn and then named your son Lynn anyway. I mean, maybe it's a family name or something, and it's a tribute to someone.

[A]

But, but, but yes, that was going to be the next thing I was going to say.

[B]

And so could make it a middle name at that point.

[A]

Yeah, right. Make it right. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you, Ben. And so I just, I'm flummoxed by it. And I wonder what motivated the change. And I don't know, like, if he recently, I mean, it would be kind of surprising given his own age, I suppose, but maybe he recently lost his father or maybe it was an important anniversary. I don't know. I don't, I, I don't know. But yes, I know his, his name is Lynn, but he doesn't go by Lynn Ryan.

[B]

Right.

[A]

He goes by Nolan Ryan.

[B]

Yeah. On Ted Lasso, they called him Nolan, not Lynn or Nolan Jr. For that.

[A]

Or Nolan Jr. It would have been so funny if they had. If that had been the place that they had decided to, like, really, really, really hone in on fidelity to, like, how things are.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And, and then they got a bunch of emails about, like, why did you call him Nolan Ryan Jr are you confused about this?

[B]

Have.

[A]

I guess here's my thing. I understand that we are in an era where people like to, you know, people are vocal when they see things in media they don't like, and there are a lot of good things about that. There are some downsides. Have some confidence in your audience. Right. Have some confidence, evidence in your audience that if the museum dedicated to celebrating these players is comfortable continuing to use the, the name Negro Leagues, which, like, there's no reason they shouldn't be. Just, like, it's not a slur like it, it's an artifact of the time. You know what I mean? Like, yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. And I don't know, to be clear, that that's why they didn't say the name of the museum on the show.

[A]

I think you're probably right, though.

[B]

It's possible. I, I have seen people who knew nothing about baseball see the name of that and react to it like, whoa.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

You can't call it that anymore. But yeah, that they don't know the history and the context and everything. So I was just speculating that maybe they were afraid that some, some looky lose would be watching this and would not be familiar with the league or the museum. And so they, they ease them into it, but I don't know that for sure.

[A]

What is the split, do you think, between American and. I was going to say non American, but British, specifically. Ted Lasso viewers Like, I imagine that that show is more popular with Americans than Brits.

[B]

Yes, yes. I wouldn't be surprised if. If Brits did not care for the representation of soccer.

[A]

So to be clear, I'm not happy with the representation of soccer either, and

[B]

I don't care about it at all. Yeah. And hey, Apple TV has baseball broadcasts, so there are at least some baseball fans probably who are subscribing and have access to. To TED Lasso. So anyway, just another example.

[A]

If you like it and it brought you comfort or joy, I'm really happy for you. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. And, you know, another thing that I did this weekend was enjoy a piece of music that came on while we were streaming the local classical music station here in New York, wqxr. And a piece that I had. Had never heard of or at least didn't remember came on. It was by a Czech composer of the 19th and 20th century named Josef Suk. S U K. Yeah. He was a composer and an Olympian. And you might wonder, wait, how is he a composer and an Olympian? Well, he was an Olympian as a composer because they used to have art competitions in the Olympics. Yeah. And so he was at the 1932 Los Angeles Games and he. He won a silver medal in music at the Olympics.

[A]

That's amazing. This is like how I lettered in debate.

[B]

Yeah. So maybe we should bring back Music at the Olympics while we're at it.

[A]

But I love that.

[B]

That's not the point. The point is that this piece, which I will link to and maybe other people will enjoy it, is called Fantastic Scherzo. And Scherzo, it's, you know, a type of music. It's like a genre. Right. And a fantasy and. Yeah, Fantastic Scherzo is, I guess maybe a sub genre, one of the very

[A]

best kinds of scherzos.

[B]

Yeah, you'd think it's just. It's a really good scherzo. But no, I think it's, you know, there are fantastic elements to it. Right? Oh, fantastical. I think so, yeah. Yeah.

[A]

It's like a sci Fi scherzo. I'm sorry, I guess it would be

[B]

like a sort of fantasy. Yeah, that would. That would track. But it's like fantastique. But yeah, Scherzo is like a fast or. Or playful or. Or jokey kind of kind of piece. Anyway, this is a very long buildup to say we had a fantastic scherzer this weekend too.

[A]

That is. Sir, what did you just do? That was.

[B]

I was aware that that was labored even by my stand.

[A]

Wait, I'm Just wait. I'm sorry, is the way that you justified that in your mind that you think Scherzer and Scherzo sound the same or something?

[B]

Well, they're spelled almost the same because. Because Scherzo is S, C, H, E R, Z O. So when I saw that the name came up, Fantastic Scherzo. I thought of Max Scherzer. But it's not.

[A]

Wait. But it wasn't Fantastic Scherzer, like, wow, he was so fantastic. It's not like fantastic Mr. Scherzer. Well, like fantastique. Like fans, like fantastical fantastique.

[B]

But, but he was, he's not. He was fantastic pitching wise. He, he performed well as a pitcher. I realize this is a stretch everyone, and I apologize for it. I wanted to, to sneak in a music recommendation and look, it was close enough for me. My mind made that leap from Scared so to Scherzer when I saw it spelled. Does it work as well in audio? On a podcast? No. Would it even work that well in print? Probably not. But now we learned a little something anyway. Max Scherzer, he passed Walter Johnson, who would have been a good candidate for Ted Lasso to name drop. He passed Walter Johnson's strikeout tally. And Walter Johnson, who himself was passed by lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. In 1983 after Walter Johnson had held that record since 1919. I think no one was coming close to touching the big train until the Ryan Express came along and there were disputed totals. There are like three different totals for how many strikeouts Walter Johnson had, according to various sources. Sources. But now Fantastic Scherzer has, has passed all three of Walter Johnson's possible career strikeout totals. So we can congratulate him on that. And I'm not going to do a Jacob Wilson qualified congratulations. Even though the strikeout rate is a lot higher these days. Nonetheless, Max Scherzer, it's quite an accomplishment and I'm just happy to have him intact and on a mound and actually having a couple solid outings regardless of record setting total totals. He's now had a couple strong starts in a row, which is more than I thought he would ever have again because he just looks so broken and was getting beaten up just in almost every start to start this year. And even when he didn't have a ton of damage done against him, he wasn't really missing many bats. I mean, it was, it was bad and he kept breaking down in various parts of his body. As soon as one thing healed, something else would, would be out of whack. And so he, he went on the IL in late April. He came back in June. He made one start. He got rocked. He went back on the IL. He came back in late July. He threw two and two thirds against the Gnats and allowed only one run, which I guess by 2026, Scherzer standards, was sort of a success, except he walked three, but also struck out four. But his last two start starts coming against solid teams, the Cardinals and the Phillies, he has gone six innings, one run, one walk, five strikeouts, and most recently, five and a third, two runs, no walks, four strikeouts. So I just, I'm just kind of glad that we even got a glimpse of good or pretty good Scherzer again, because I really, I thought he might be gone for good. And we talked about whether he'd be retired, retiring at the end of this year. And maybe he's still well, but he doesn't seem to have signaled it the way that Justin Verlander has. And if there's anyone who fits the bill of you have to tear the uniform off me, it's Max Erzer. So if he can convince himself and any potential employers that he has anything left in the tank, maybe he will continue to scrape whatever's left in there out. So I don't know, maybe he'll just decide that he's done at the end of the year and maybe that would be for the best and he and Verlander could go into Cooperstown together. That'd be nice, too. But I just, I hoped the last time we talked about them and how they had been bad and hurt this year, I just, my wish was for a few vintage outings, just give us a glimpse again of Verlander being good at some point down the stretch and maybe Scherzer can pull it together again and have a solid outing or two. And he has. So that's nice. And also got to make some history and got to be the subject of an extremely strained segue by me on Effectively Wild.

[A]

I can't. I'm. I'm still overwhelmed by that segue. I can't.

[B]

You could say that that segue souked. The last thing that I have to share with you. And I promise not to make any terrible jokes. At least I don't think I will. But you never know. We started out by talking about. About the Boston Hunters, so I figured that we could finish by talking about the Cincinnati Hunter, namely Hunter Green. Actually, that was a pretty bad joke, too, but it wasn't nearly as bad

[A]

as Fantastic Scarecrow because I lowered the bar, right? I was like, that's great. That is connected. You know that.

[B]

Barely.

[A]

I am, I am relieved to hear you say that. It wouldn't have worked better in a in print because I was worried you were going to say and this is why we have to do video podcast from now on. I was going to be like, wouldn't

[B]

have worked any better in video though.

[A]

Do it.

[B]

If I could have acted it out somehow. If I could have put up a sign to explain a diagram.

[A]

I'm imagining like a chiron at the bottom that. Like.

[B]

Yeah, I guess. But that's. Yeah, we'd have to have a whole video production team in service of making that joke land. And it still wouldn't. It would bomb regardless of the medium. But Hunter Green is now out for the season and potentially for some time beyond that because he missed most of this season having an elbow cleanup already. Loose bodies and chips. Not the kind of chips you were asking me about and not a big fan of that kind either. And he didn't get the Schuyl scope right. This was pre scubal scope. But he worked his way back from that only to make five pretty unsuccessful starts. I mean, unsightly era, better peripherals, better fit and everything, but still near seven era, which is not so hot. And now he is having some sort of elbow surgery again. And seemingly a more serious elbow surgery. We don't know if it'll be a Tommy John, if it'll be a brace, internal brace or what. I guess they've got to get in there and see what's going on. But they did, I believe, say it was a ligament surgery. So it would seem that he's going to be gone for quite some time, which really stinks because it's just a lost year for him and people had high hopes for him. I mean he was so good when he was pitching last year and he was also good the year before that. And he's just, he's never made more than 26 starts in a season. Never topped 150 innings in a season except by one out. And then 19 starts last year, five starts this year. It's just a bummer. I mean he's, he's 27. He just turned 27 last week though. I guess it probably wasn't super happy birthday for him. But I really hope that we see him back on the mound and healthy and with good stuff. Cuz he's already had Tommy John surgery. He had Tommy John surgery years ago, right. So it's just, it stinks so much when someone who is so, so talented like that is just prevented from really finding out whether, whether it can work, whether he can be as good as as everyone hoped.

[A]

Yeah, it's, it's really a shame.

[B]

I guess he could always go back to, to hitting. Can explore the, the two way play again or the other way maybe if he can't stay healthy as a pitcher.

[A]

Yeah, maybe.

[B]

Yeah, I know that's a long shot too. But yeah, hopefully he'll work his way back from this. But yeah, it stinks. And I was thinking about young NL Central aces because Paul Skeens has continued to struggle sort of too since we last talked about him. We talked about him on that same episode, July 10th, episode 2502 when we talked about Stephen Kwan's struggles and last time we updated and said hey, Stephen Kwan has been fantastic since then. He even hit a home run finally, even though the White Sox announcers were doubting him. Him, he did it. He cleared the fence. Doesn't do himself any favors when he's trying to hit home runs. Cuz maybe, maybe in a huge year he'd have 10. That's not enough to take 30, 40 points off your batting average, which is something that will happen when you're not a power hitter. But trying to act like one. As Quan turns on this one, will it stay fair? Yes. The pole. I can't really say the same about Skins because he has continued to struggle, at least superficially, at least when it comes to runs allowed, which, you know, it still still matters to some extent. Yeah, the underlying numbers are, are not so bad over that span. I mean he has had five starts since we last talked about him and he has a 5.4 ERA over that span, but with a 2.71 fifth hip and he has one of the highest strikeout rates in baseball over that span. He has struck out 39 in 26 and 2/3 and he's still sitting like 96. So that that top end Velo has not come back. And yeah, I'm now beyond thinking that it's totally voluntary and he's just like let me take something off because I, I think he has struggled enough that if it were that and only that, probably he would have dialed it up again. Right. But it could still be mechanical and not injury related. So I, I hope he's not headed for a Hunter Green type outcome here. And he's still, I mean he's missing a ton of bats. He's been just outside the top 20 in Fang graphs war since we last talked about him, which is FIP based because his FIP has been solid, but I know no one else really feels that way. It hasn't really been all that reassuring, obviously.

[A]

Yeah, it's just a shame because it's a shame for him individually. Obviously it's a bummer for all of us not getting, getting to watch him. And it does feel like just as they were building up an area of, of potential strength on their team, which is, you know, it's been a real mid season for Cincy.

[B]

This is.

[A]

They've not been able to build on their playoff run from last year and even though they've had a couple of standout individual performances, like they haven't been able to get over the hump and yet they were committing money and resource to this rotation and you're like, okay, well maybe, and, and then, you know, the, the best guy in it, which I say really liking. Chase Burns is going to be out for some length of time, so it's just hard to know exactly when we should expect the next Reds competitive window to open. Now they're not disastrous, right? They're not having a, a Rocky season or an angel season or an athletic season. They're 56 and 61. So it's not like they're are horrible. But they're also 17 and a half games out of first place in their division. And like Ellie's Ellie and he's great and Sal Steward is a good player. Like he's not as good as he was in the opening stretches of the season, but he's still a quality player. But some of their other choices, like they haven't taken a step forward and some of them are survivable. Like, you know, a Suarez isn't having a great year but that's okay. That's not a long term contract. But like, like I don't know, it's just a weird, they're in a weird kind of caught in between spot as a franchise and that is, it's tricky to know what to, what approach to take or what to expect of them. And you know, it's not like they have a ton of help in the minors. Like their farm System is ranked 25th for us right now. So it's not like, oh well, next year it's fine because they'll graduate this new group of hitters that they really need to the, to the majors. It's like, well they, you know, yeah, you've got Alfredo Duno and we like him, he's 55 for us. But that's really it in terms of their, their guys, their bats in the High Miners.

[B]

Yeah, they're almost in a Orioles sort of situation where they had all these talented young position players come along and then they went backward or sort of failed to flourish and now what do they have? And maybe you do need to bottom out at some point. Not that I would wish a Rocky's or Angels level fate on Reds fans, but sometimes if you're just good enough or just respectable enough, then there's no

[A]

change and it becomes an excuse to not really do very much.

[B]

Yeah, and the Angels and the Rockies have finally made some sort of change. Will that help long term enough? I don't know. But at least they're trying to do something different. Maybe the Reds are heading for that. That and with the Pirates. The Pirates are close enough to be within striking distance, but they're now five and a half out in the wild card race, I believe. And, and that's kind of a bummer. I just, I feel like they're less than the sum of their parts somehow. I just, I look at the individual components of that team and think how are they not better than this and it would help if they had peak skins and maybe the rebuilt bullpen will help. Part of it I guess is that they maybe actually are are better than they have looked like they have outscored their opponents and they have a sub.500 record. They're eight games below their base runs expected record, the Pirates, which is quite bad although The Giants are 10 games below their expected record and the Tigers are 11 games below. That's how good the underlying numbers for the Tigers are. So could be worse I guess. But yeah, I keep thinking the Pirates, they'll end up there somehow, but not if Skeens keeps scuffling. But we'll see. Maybe he can hammer out the command and control issues and the mechanics and the velo and he'll round back into form. And if this is as bad as it gets for him, well that's not so bad I guess. Also, just in the encouraging Tommy John post Tommy John success stories, Garrett Cole has pitched pretty well since his return. Not like peak vintage Cole, but you know, good.

[A]

There's a real split in the starts as as Jay noted when he wrote about some of the milestones that got passed this weekend. Like the first seven back were pretty middling but he has been quite strong in his second set of seven cents returning. So he looks like he is pretty close to being himself. He just needs to get that knuckle curve figured out. I think it's Alfredo Duno. Not dunno so if I mispronounced it Alfredo, I apologize. We like your game game.

[B]

But and overall, since late May when Cole came back, he is just outside the top 20 in Fangraph's war, which isn't so bad, especially given the rust that he was perhaps still shaking off. So that's encouraging for any other pitchers who may need to go under the knife. All right, well, we had so much to discuss. I didn't even get to the number one banter blasting topic I was looking forward to talking about. Was I gonna pass up the Scherzo fantastique? I think not. That's gold, Jerry Gold. But this just means I've got some quality banter bank for next time. That topic will keep a couple quick injury Updates for you. 1. We mentioned the mishap that Dodgers prospect Kendall George had had back in May when he jumped to avoid a wayward bat dog and hurt his knee. This led to the Double A Tulsa Driller suspending their bat dog program. Sadly so, before the trade deadline, the report surfaced that the Dodgers had scratched Zaire Hope and Kendall George, both with Tulsa. Turned out that Hope was scratched because he was about to be traded for Tarek Skubal. George was scratched because he still had some ling soreness in his knee and now he is undergoing or has already undergone left knee surgery. He had a patellar problem and of course he is a speedster, one of the fastest men in the Miners. Hopefully he'll be back next year and as speedy as ever. But maybe we can't say the same about the bat dog program that may have been scratched for good. And I don't mean behind the ears where dogs like to be scratched because they're such good boys and girls. A more positive injury update concerns Ryan Lasko, the A's prospect who seriously hurt his spine in a game on June 3rd 30th. There was a collision on a diving catch and he was motionless on the field and he lost feeling and movement in his lower body and it was very scary. Fractured his C6 to C7 vertebrae, had spinal decompression and stabilization surgery. Well, it's still scary, but he did post an update on Instagram. He said, I'm currently feeling much better. I have sensation from my feet up to my knees along with a lot of involuntary like movements. I also have been getting some sensation in the side of my thighs, hamstrings and back. I currently have about 75% usage of my left hand and about 50% in my right. I'm very happy with my progress and once again so thankful for the love and support. It has continued to help me get up every day and work my hardest. Best of luck to Lasko and while Hunter Green may not have had the happiest of birthdays, I hope Mike Trout did. He turned 35 on Friday, which can't be possible because if Mike Trout is 35 then that must mean I'm Ah, never mind. But Mike Trout hit a homer on his birthday for the sixth time and it turns out this is an all time major league record. He was tied with five other players, Todd Helton, Derek Lee, Mark Reynolds, Alex Rodriguez and Al Simm. One of those names is not like the others in terms of the era the player played in anyway. Now Trout stands alone with six birthday dingers. I'm semi surprised that that's the record, or at least that he holds it. Obviously there are quite a few players who have more homers than he does, though. You have to be born at the right time to have your birthday coincide with a season. Mike Trout is 33 career homers behind Sean Carlos Stanton, with whom I'm sure he could commiserate about being on the il Happy Birthday to Trout. You can support Effectively Wild on Patreon by going to patreon.com effectivelywild and signing signing up to pledge some monthly or yearly amount to help keep the podcast going. Help us stay ad free and get yourself access to some perks as have the following five listeners Steve Ganz, Gil Renberg, Michael Pink, Huni Permo and Andrew Berkheimer. Thanks to all of you, Patreon perks include access to the Effectively Wild Discord Group for patrons only Monthly bonus episodes where you can hear more about Meg's Pickle consumption and our other observations about life, the universe and everything. A third unrestricted episode each week. Exclusive livestreams membership in our Discord Group for patrons only, personalized messages, prioritized email answers, shoutouts at the end of episodes, potential podcast appearances, Fangraphs memberships and more. Check out all the [e-mail] effectivelywild. If you are a Patreon supporter, you can message us through the Patreon site. We hope you will send us your questions, comments, intro and outro themes. You can also contact us via email odcastancrafts.com you can rate, review and subscribe to Effectively Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music and other podcast platforms. You can join our Facebook [e-mail] group effectivelywild. You can find the Effectively Wild subreddit at R Effectivelywild and you can check the show notes in the podcast posted Fangraphs or Patreon or the episode description in your podcast app for links to the stories and stats we cited today. Thanks to Shane McKeon for his editing and production assistance. We'll be back with another episode a little later this week. Week talk to you then.

[A]

Wild A Fan Graphs Baseball Podcast Listen

[B]

our emails that blast anti baseball ch every weekday break down your favorite pastime. Sit down, relax and unwind as we learn our t worst.