Effectively Wild Episode 2480: The Most Embarrassing Baseball Play
5/19/20261 hr 46 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about whether the Phillies’ surge would have happened the same way if Rob Thomson hadn’t been fired, discuss streaks that were snapped for the Mets and Rico Garcia, delight and dismay in John Kruk repeating a podcast talking point, try to determine the most embarrassing failure a player can suffer on the field, bemoan a missed opportunity for an ambidextrous pitching appearance, mark the promotion of Mariners prospect Colt Emerson, and then discuss which of this season’s most over- or underperforming teams will regress.
Audio intro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: The Spaghettis, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Link to team records since 4/28
Link to team run differentials since 4/28
Link to team records since 4/26
Link to Dan S. on managerial firings
Link to Neil P. on managerial firings
Link to Mets comeback game story
Link to past Mets streak discussion
Link to Holmes injury story
Link to Davis call story
Link to Garcia hit
Link to .000 BABIP streaks
Link to mound-charge strategy discussion
Link to Kruk clip 1
Link to Kruk clip 2
Link to Phillies vs. Pirates game
Link to Adolis arms
Link to Reds walk streak
Link to Cortes pitching play log
Link to Cortes profile
Link to 2025 Cortes switch-throwing game
Link to Venditte glove article
Link to Cortes pitching tweet
Link to FG post on Emerson
Link to MLBTR on Emerson
Link to Crawford fielding stats
Link to preseason playoff odds
Link to BaseRuns standings
Link to team performance vs. projections
Link to Sheehan on the Rays
Link to Sheehan on the Cardinals
Link to Ben on playoff velo
Link to updated PR pickoff data
Link to team positioning runs
Link to MLB.com Walls article
Sponsor Us on Patreon
Give a Gift Subscription
Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com
Effectively Wild Subreddit
Effectively Wild Wiki
Apple Podcasts Feed
Spotify Feed
YouTube Playlist
Facebook Group
Bluesky Account
Twitter Account
Get Our Merch!
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKevin Brown· Soundbite0:00
[singing] Luxtras stats and entry. They both mean a lot to me.
Meg Rowley· Host0:04
That's why I love baseball.
Kevin Brown· Soundbite0:07
Special guests and review series, pitching and pure poetry.
Meg Rowley· Host0:10
That's why I love baseball.
Kevin Brown· Soundbite0:13
Effectively Wild. Effectively Wild. Effectively Wild Baseball Podcast.
Meg Rowley· Host0:29
Hello, and welcome to episode 2480 of Effectively Wild, a FanGraphs baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters. I'm Meg Rowley of FanGraphs, and I am joined by Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer. Ben, how are you?
Ben Lindbergh· Host0:41
Doing well, but not nearly as well as the Philadelphia Phillies.
Meg Rowley· Host0:46
Mm.
Ben Lindbergh· Host0:47
Now, I, I know we've had this kind of conversation before, quite possibly when the Phillies replaced Joe Girardi with Rob Thompson- Mm ... and their fortunes changed. But these Phillies are 15 and four since firing Rob Thompson. That's the best record in baseball over that span, and it's not a bunch of fluky one-run wins or extra-inning wins. They have the second-best run differential over that period too, trailing only the Brewers.
Meg Rowley· Host1:16
Wow.
Ben Lindbergh· Host1:17
So what are we to make of this? As rational sabermetrically minded observers, must we simply say regression and small sample, or th- they were bound to