Podcast Summary: The Windup | The Roundtable | Wild Card Race Chaos

Podcast: The Windup: A Show About Baseball
Hosts: Grant Brisbee, Sam Miller (Andy McCullough absent)
Episode: 176 | Wild Card Race Chaos
Date: September 15, 2025

Overview

This episode of The Windup's Roundtable is a classic, free-flowing dive into the current state of Major League Baseball with a particular focus on the wild card races, the chaos surrounding playoff spots, and the quirks of fandom. Hosts Grant Brisbee and Sam Miller lament the fatigue and excitement cycles of following non-marquee teams down the stretch, dissect streaky team behavior, and dig into which active player will someday receive the most fervent retirement sendoff. They treat listeners to signature analogies, impromptu statistical deep-dives, and some playful MLB fandom therapy.

Episode Highlights & Discussion Points

1. Unread Messages & Modern Communication (01:51–06:16)

• Grant confesses to having over 1,000 unread text messages and tens of thousands of unread emails.
• Sam muses on the evolution of human communication, the diminishing return of new forms of messaging, and how even direct messages like texts eventually get ignored by "psychopaths" (02:30).
• The exchange turns playful and self-deprecating as Grant justifies "glancing at" messages as effectively responding.
• Grant:

  "It is not 1000 unseen messages. It is 1000 messages that I perhaps have seen pop up on a push notification. I have turned my Apple watch slightly so that I have seen the information, and it doesn't need to be responded to." (04:39)

2. Current State of the Wild Card Races: Fatigue and Chaos (06:16–13:08)

• Grant notes that the playoff races are heating up, but with mostly non-marquee, less-exciting teams (Guardians, D-backs, Reds) in the mix, it's hard to feel genuine enthusiasm.

  "I'd rather be checking the scores for Padres, Dodgers. I'd rather be checking Yankees, Blue Jays. Man, which one of them is going to get left out? That sort of. But I think that's the story of baseball right now is just the others, the other teams." (06:18)

• Sam expands on "playoff chaos" and the cultural desire for underdog stories, noting this year’s race just doesn’t inspire the same passion.

  "It's not quite fatigue... but there is some aspect of being unable to rally enthusiasm for them. I liken it to when you make a tape of a tape of a tape and like the quality degrades over each replication." (07:14)

• Grant awards this "tape of a tape" analogy as the best in Roundtable history (11:29).

3. How Steady or Streaky Are This Year’s Playoff Teams? (19:33–29:49)

• Sam devises a "streakiness" analysis: calculating team records in games after wins vs. after losses to see who rides the hottest or coldest streaks.
  • Most streaky: Guardians, Mets, Red Sox (23:17–25:32)
  • Least streaky: Dodgers, Cubs (Cubs are actually "reversionary"—more likely to win after a loss and lose after a win).
  • Notable Stat: "The Cubs after they win, have a losing record…But after they lose…they're 43 and 20." (25:32)
• Grant calls this a scientific attempt to measure “vibes,” connecting fan feelings to team performance streaks.

4. What Makes a Joyful Retirement Sendoff? (34:45–47:46)

• Prompted by the exuberant Anthony Rizzo "retirement day" at Wrigley, Sam and Grant ask: Which active MLB player will receive the wildest, most joyful franchise sendoff?
  • Grant considers (and ultimately dismisses for various reasons): Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutchen, Jose Ramirez.
  • After much debate, both settle on Bryce Harper for the Phillies as the likely future recipient. His charisma, willingness to connect, and transformation into a Philly icon despite not starting there fuel the case.

    "I think it might be Bryce Harper. I feel like Bryce Harper has got, he's got some of that, right? Like he's, he wants to charm you." (42:58) "He might, you could say, get in the fanatic costume. And there's like a non zero chance that he'll say, yeah, hell, yeah, absolutely. Why haven't you asked me before?" (45:11)

  • Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor, and Kershaw are passed over for reasons of personality, narrative, or lack of rings.

5. The Surreal Rizzo Foul Ball Story & Other Unlikely Fan Moments (47:50–50:34)

• Sam marvels at Rizzo almost catching a home run ball on his day at Wrigley, calling it “surreal” and rigged by the universe.

  "You really had that sense, like that dream, like that Jungian dream sense where you're the only real person, there's only one real character, and everybody else is just, like, manifestations of your psyche. And Anthony Rizzo is the only real person in this entire stadium. The ball just goes directly to him." (48:34)

• A run of legendary "fan-ball" stories ensues: Denard Span hitting his own mom with a foul, Richie Ashburn famously hitting the same fan twice in one at bat (49:33–49:57).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Grant on the realities of rooting for the current wild card hopefuls:
  "When I look at the standings and I see that [the Guardians have] won nine out of 10, I swear, I use, like, bad words. I just go, God, I know. We have evolved past the point of caring about the Guardians in 2025." (11:29)

• Sam on tape-degradation and rooting interest:
  "You make a tape of a tape of a tape and like the quality degrades over each replication. And every time you give up on a team. Every time they lose two out of three to the Pirates... your enthusiasm for that idea has degraded over time." (08:45)

• Sam’s proposal for playoff format chaos:
  "...we can mostly fix baseball by waiting until September 1st to decide what the playoff format for the season is." (13:08)

• Sam on Cubs’ weird streakiness:
  "The Cubs after they win, have a losing record. So after they win a game, The Cubs are 41 and 43. But after they lose, after the Cubs lose a game, they're 43 and 20." (25:32)

• On Bryce Harper’s Philly bonafides:
  "Bryce Harper made a lifetime commitment… He went through a couple of years where they were disappointing… Bryce Harper was in the center of it, postseason hero, and he's just sort of like aging into like great American status as a Philadelphia Phillie." (43:29)

• On Rizzo’s surreal home run near-catch:
  "You really had that sense, like that dream, like that Jungian dream sense where you're the only real person… Anthony Rizzo is the only real person in this entire stadium." (48:34)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Unread Messages & Communication: 01:51–06:16
• Wild Card Race Fatigue & Tape Analogy: 06:16–13:08
• Reviewing Playoff Format Chaos: 13:08–16:18, 18:50–22:14
• Measuring Team Streakiness: 19:33–29:49
• Joyful Player Sendoffs Debate: 34:45–47:46
• Rizzo’s Surreal Foul Ball Story: 47:50–50:34

Tone & Style

The episode is witty and conversational, oscillating smoothly between incisive analytics, personal anecdotes, and affectionate baseball-nerd philosophizing. Grant and Sam’s repartee is playful yet honest, and the episode is rich with analogies and in-jokes that will delight regular listeners. There’s a constant sense of tongue-in-cheek resignation to both the randomness of baseball and the fate of fandom.

Summary Table

| Topic | Speakers | Time | Summary/Quote | |----------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Unread Messages | Grant, Sam | 01:51–06:16 | Grant’s 1,000 unread texts—Sam theorizes on why comms always get ignored | | Wild Card Race Fatigue | Grant, Sam | 06:16–13:08 | No one cares about the fringe teams, tape-degradation analogy for rooting enthusiasm | | MLB Playoff Format Proposal | Sam, Grant | 13:08–16:18 | Randomize playoff format on Sept 1; let a kid drop a winning format in a barrel | | Team Streakiness Deep-Dive | Sam, Grant | 19:33–29:49 | Guardians, Mets, Red Sox most streaky; Cubs bizarre reversion to the mean | | Joyful Player Retirement Sendoffs | Grant, Sam | 34:45–47:46 | Harper for Phillies as top candidate; debate over Kershaw, McCutchen, Jose Ramirez, Judge, Trout | | Anthony Rizzo’s Surreal Near-Catch | Sam, Grant | 47:50–50:34 | “Jungian dream” moment—legendary fan-ball stories shared |

Takeaway

This episode provides a lively, insightful snapshot of late-season baseball ennui and hope, with the wild card races feeling more like a test of fan stamina than a festival of ascending heroics. Using their trademark analogies and good humor, Grant and Sam unpack what makes a playoff chase—or a player’s farewell—truly meaningful. Whether you’re a numbers junkie or a vibes-driven fan, you’ll find sharp observations and genuine laughs. Even if the wild card crop feels bland, rest assured: the hosts’ banter is in post-season form.