Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Mariners clinching the AL West, the benefits and drawbacks of MVP debates, the power of great players to enhance a season for spectators, the Cardinals’ and Giants’ reciprocal eliminations, the near-extinction of the 200-inning pitcher, the Nationals’ new head of baseball ops, and how predictive a track…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the delights of the last week of the regular season, the Dodgers’ bullpen problems, and what kind of compromise the challenge system is, then (43:09) answer listener emails about where the warning track extends, the easiest day at the office for a batter, a player who exclusively hits one single per game, w…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the standings and stakes of an unexpectedly wild last week of the regular season, whether there’s such as a thing as a playoff team that can’t make a deep run, why Cal Raleigh is the player of the year regardless of whether he wins MVP, whether it still makes sense to say that fan-favorite players will neve…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2025’s record number of 25-25 players and whether the current power/speed version of the sport is rendered any less impressive by its recent rule-change origins, the historic pre/post-All-Star break splits of Julio Rodríguez and whether the Mariners can help him become less of an extreme slow starter/fast f…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the state of the wild cards and whether the pennant races have been more exciting than forecasted despite the lack of actual changes in the playoff field, Cal Raleigh’s latest exploits, Geraldo Perdomo’s quiet excellence, the Orioles’ 2026 outlook, the Dodgers’ rotation and bullpen, Shohei Ohtani’s playoff …

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s reaction to the Mariners moving into first place in the AL West (at least temporarily), Jac Caglianone and the Royals’ woeful corner-outfield offense, whether major leaguers have gotten better at sliding, and an unjust byproduct of the zombie runner. Then (50:43) they bring on baseball researcher and …

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the deepening twilight of Mike Trout, then (21:19) discuss why the so-called “death of expertise” sweeping society hasn’t swept sports in the same way, before answering listener emails (1:04:01) about whether the Rangers are good, how the count can be “quickly 0-2,” what makes a righty seem like a lefty, wh…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss and speculate about the percentage of major leaguers who’ve been inducted into some hall of fame and banter about Elly De La Cruz’s extended slump, Sean Murphy’s hip-to-be-tear revelation, and the perils of playing through injury, then assess where the line is when publicly shaming fans for ballpark behavior, an…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s near no-hitter, the Effectively Wild bump, and the Orioles’ incredible comeback), then banter (and quasi-Stat Blast) about four subjects: whether Shohei Ohtani has been more or less valuable as a DH only or as a two-way player this season; whether Cal Raleigh hits a disproporionate number of…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether Trent Grisham’s 30-homer season is more or less surprising than Juan Soto’s almost-30-steal season, Colson Montgomery’s dinger spree, why there hasn’t been a no-hitter this season, and the exciting-but-boring AL/NL West races. Then (26:47) they bring on top-tier Patreon supporter Ashton Moss to bant…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about broadcasters’ anxiety about saying “Cam Schlittler,” whether the Mets’ pitching-prospect trio of Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat will produce more WAR than “Generation K,” a protracted trot by Rafael Devers, whether Framber Valdez intentionally crossed up his catcher, how a lockout looming in l…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk about not talking about the Cardinals, then banter about Sandy Alcantara’s resurgence, whether Walker Buehler will have his own bounceback for the Phillies, Ha-Seong Kim’s reunion with Jurickson Profar, the concept of “adversarial location,” Aroldis Chapman and Taj Bradley‘s discoveries of inside/outside and scouti…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about John Brebbia’s return to the big leagues, Kyle Schwarber’s four-homer game, the potential for a position-player-pitcher-assisted five-homer game, Heliot Ramos and dingers on extremely slow pitches, an interminable inning, whether the playoff race is over and, if so, whether that’s an indictment of the 12-te…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the semi-resurgence of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw, Nathan Eovaldi’s injury and Patrick Corbin’s climb to the top of the Rangers innings leaderboard, the great-but-forgotten Steve Rogers, the end of Andrew Heaney’s Pirates tenure, Royce Lewis’s focus on his stats, whether MLB’s strik…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the early start to the 2026 regular season and MLB’s schedule in a warming world, tossing snacks after tossing a bat, this year’s potential trio of 50-homer hitters (including a Cal Raleigh update), the virtues of players who have high floors (with check-ins on Bobby Witt Jr. and […]…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about sports equivalents to baseball’s bat crack, Colson Montgomery’s torpedo bat, reserving judgement on the MVP race, Francisco Alvarez’s minor league reset (and subsequent injury), a Kyle Tucker slump/injury update, the hot hitting of Giancarlo Stanton and Jakob Marsee, the Twins’ new knuckleballer, Pierson Oh…

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about torpedo bats (remember them?), Cody Bellinger’s good year and confounding career, recent comments by Craig Counsell and Aaron Boone, the impending call-up of Bubba Chandler and the recent arrival of Owen Caissie, the weirdest things about being a pro baseball player, a zombie-runner-induced ending to a pitc…