Ben and Sam banter about Aroldis Chapman and answer emails about title droughts, the Cubs and consecutive pennants, scoreless streaks, World Series strategy, the recent rarity of Game Sevens, playoff ads, and more.
Ben and Sam banter about Manny Mota Grip Stick and Smash Mouth’s latest Twitter feud, then discuss the Cubs’ use of Aroldis Chapman in Game 5 and some strategic considerations for the rest of the series.
Ben and Sam banter about mean-spirited nicknames, then answer emails about Kyle Schwarber’s bat, Jon Lester’s long con, the neglected White Sox drought, the Nationals’ 2016 “success,” overcoming bad broadcasters, paying to play in the World Series, and more.
Ben and Sam banter about the two Indians teams and perceptions of postseason Kershaw, then discuss whether the eight eliminated postseason teams had successful seasons.
Ben and Sam banter about the origin of the pitcher’s mound, the impact of seeing a starter multiple times in the same series, and the Dodgers’ perplexing approach against Jon Lester, who continues to flourish without ever throwing to first.
Ben and Sam banter about Ben’s engagement, then answer listener emails about Andrew Miller, playoff tactics during the regular season, renaming the playoff rounds, and more.
Ben and Sam banter about Zach Britton and Shohei Otani, then discuss Dave Roberts, bullpen management, and the NLCS.
Ben and Sam banter about Kidz Bop, answer emails about facing MLB pitching, a time-traveling manager, and communicating with catchers, and then cold-call the star of the Play Index segment.
Ben and Sam banter about the Madison Bumgarner-Noah Syndergaard wild-card duel, their favorite types of playoff games, and their favorite playoff rounds, then discuss whether the Dodgers are more dangerous than the Cubs and how to weight postseason performance in Cooperstown candidacies.
Ben and Sam banter about an aged usher, Buck Showalter’s decision not to use Zach Britton in the AL wild-card game, and Barry Bonds, then answer listener emails and talk to Saber Seminar raffle winners Armaan and Ishaan about the Red Sox and whether baseball bores kids.
Ben and Sam conduct multiple Mike Trout drafts and discuss DJ LeMahieu’s batting title, the AL Cy Young race, Vin Scully’s sign-off, and more.
Ben and Sam banter about a wild night in baseball, the morality of forfeits, and the triples record, then discuss Theo Epstein’s record-setting extension.
Ben and Sam banter about Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw, and Shohei Otani, then answer listener emails about Mike Trout, playoff formats, inflated homer totals, their introductions to baseball, and more.
Ben and Sam talk about whether adding the late Jose Fernandez to the Hall of Fame ballot would be a fitting way to honor his superlative but tragically brief career.
Ben and Sam talk to Mike Fisher, the baseball coordinator of Moneyball and the new Fox series Pitch, about how he makes baseball look realistic on screen (and what he might have missed).
Classifying the fans you’ll see in the stands at the World Series this weekend.