Effectively Wild Episode 2342: The Extension Extension
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 July 2025
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the return of Richard Lovelady, the MLB season debut of knuckleballer Matt Waldron, the superlative Zack Wheeler, how other knuckleballers in baseball are faring, Rich Hill’s wait for a call-up, Shohei Ohtani vs. Vinnie Pasquantino, Jacob Misiorowski and the leaguewide rise in pitcher extension, James Wood’s four intentional walks in one game (and the Angels’ outlier IBB total), MLB’s strikeout plateau (or reversal), Luis Arraez’s pursuit of contact history, historic events involving Wilyer Abreu, Trevor Rogers, and Jack Leiter, a serial fan interferer, the biggest team attendance climbs and declines, and how MLB’s minor league parks have played.
Audio intro: Philip Tapley and Michael Stokes, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Justin Peters, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Link to MLBTR on Lovelady
Link to uniforms changes
Link to best pitchers in June
Link to Posnanski on Wheeler
Link to AARP patch
Link to Pasquantino tweet
Link to extension leaderboard
Link to leaguewide extension
Link to leaguewide four-seam extension
Link to leaguewide four-seam velo
Link to velo leaders
Link to perceived velo leaders
Link to extension mailbag
Link to Ben on pitching distance
Link to Whitley on Wood
Link to Andrews on Wood
Link to four-IBB club
Link to 2025 team IBB
Link to IBB difference spreadsheet
Link to Bonds/Rays IBB post
Link to Rays IBB
Link to 2025 K%+ keaders
Link to all-time K%+ spreadsheet
Link to Dan S. on Arraez
Link to Rob on strikeouts
Link to MLB K rate by year
Link to non-pitcher K rate by year
Link to Abreu fun fact
Link to Rogers/Leiter fun fact
Link to Arizona fan story
Link to Arizona fan story 2
Link to Arizona fan tweet
Link to Hang Up episode
Link to attendance changes
Link to park factors
Link to Severino story 1
Link to Severino story 2
Link to Manfred quotes
Link to leaguewide TTO%
Link to player TTO%
Link to Marte update
Sponsor Us on Patreon
Give a Gift Subscription
Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com
EW Subreddit
Effectively Wild Wiki
iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
Spotify Feed
Facebook Group
Bluesky Account
Twitter Account
Get Our Merch!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Have a catch and a slog with me and a virtual rise. |
| 0:07.0 | From small sample size, these fun facts must lie. |
| 0:14.0 | It's effectively wild. |
| 0:18.0 | A strange book could hang, Effectively Wild. |
| 0:25.9 | Hello and welcome to episode 2342 of Effectively Wild, a FanGrafts baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters. |
| 0:33.1 | I'm Meg Rowley of Fangraphs, and I am joined by Ben Limburg of the Ringer. |
| 0:36.3 | Ben, how are you? |
| 0:37.7 | I'm okay, and I'm pleased to report that Richard Love Lady is yet again with the Mets. |
| 0:43.1 | This is just the way that we will start every episode of hopefully well now. Just checking in. |
| 0:48.1 | Is Richard Love Lady a major leaguer? Dickie Love Lady, some may call him. Yes, he is. |
| 0:57.0 | The Mets. They acquired him, then they designated him for assignment. And now he's back. He signed a majorly contract, back on the |
| 1:02.1 | active roster, at least for now. Wow. What a whirlwind, how the turn tables have turned. |
| 1:08.4 | It's been a real roller coaster. Did they take my advice and change his number to 69? |
| 1:15.3 | Don't believe so, but there is still time. |
| 1:17.3 | I mean, I guess how many times are they going to do this? |
| 1:21.1 | Probably a couple more. |
| 1:22.3 | I would not surprise me. |
| 1:23.8 | And in other news about pitchers that we have followed being back in the big leagues, Matt Waldron has arrived. |
| 1:31.3 | Knuckleballer extraordinaire, whom I unsuccessfully attempted to have on this podcast for quite some time, but followed affectionately from afar. |
| 1:41.1 | He had an injury to start the season, and then he was rehabbing in AAA, and he just made |
| 1:47.5 | his major league debut of 2025 for the Padres. |
| 1:51.2 | So that's exciting. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.