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 Trea Turner), the (dubious?) merits of the BBWAA’s new reliever of the year award, Tyler Phillips’s anti-hitter mentality, new large relievers Zach Maxwell and Drew Sommers, Brady Singer in Cincinnati, Juan Soto’s basestealing, Zack Wheeler’s prognosis, the latest on Shane Bieber and Kyle Tucker, and Samuel Basallo’s extension, plus responses about other sports’ significant sounds.

Audio intro: Alex Ferrin, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Audio outro: Andy Ellison, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to schedule announcement
Link to Contreras ejection video
Link to Contreras ejection quotes
Link to suspension news
Link to pre-September HR stat
Link to 50-homer-seasons query
Link to FG WAR leaderboard
Link to Seinfeld scene
Link to Zoolander clips
Link to Sheehan on Witt
Link to Stark on the reliever award
Link to setup man award
Link to Phillips interview
Link to Maxwell intro tweet
Link to Sommers intro tweet
Link to Maxwell story 1
Link to Maxwell story 2
Link to Kirk steal story
Link to Vogelbach promo
Link to TOS types
Link to Curb scene
Link to Wheeler diagnosis
Link to FG on Basallo
Link to Rubenstein on extensions
Link to Kiley on Basallo
Link to table tennis spin
Link to table tennis stomps
Link to catcher stomps
Link to Spieth shot
Link to Tiger shot
Link to quotes about drives

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