Capturing the Essence of Effectively Wild Episode 2248: Zeroing in on the Target

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how much Shohei Ohtani’s teammates helped him win his third MVP award, his incredible four-season stretch, whether Dekopin/Decoy is really his dog, the other MVP and Cy Young results, a Joey Meneses signing, Austin Slater and the virtues of being a team’s “top target,” the Rays’ confounding stadium strategy, the varying pronunciations of “envelope,” a listener question about RSN ownership, the seventh annual Effectively Wild Secret Santa, and more, plus a postscript Stat Blast (1:15:40) about players whose whole MLB careers were confined to “non-MLB” ballparks.

Audio intro: The Shirey Brothers, “Effectively Wild Theme”Audio outro: Grant Brisbee, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Ohtani interviewLink to Ohtani quoteLink to preseason projectionsLink to Episode 2140Dekopin clipLink to MLB.com on OhtaniLink to AL MVP votingLink to NL MVP votingLink to AL Cy votingLink to NL Cy votingLink to MLBTR on MenesesLink to Sox Machine on SlaterLink to Rays letter storyLink to DRaysBay on funding 1Link to DRaysBay on funding 2Link to Calcaterra on the RaysLink to Manfred on the RaysLink to Joe on the RSN eraLink to Rangers RSN storyLink to ROOT scheduleLink to Ben Zimmer’s websiteLink to Ben on WolfeLink to first pronunciationLink to second pronunciationLink to summer sausage episodeLink to Secret Santa sign-up formLink to listener emails databaseLink to 2020-only playersLink to Ryan Nelson’s TwitterLink to Andrew Lowden’s coverLink to “The Good in Everyone”Link to Stat Blast parks listLink to Stat Blast players listLink to Reddit comment

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