Stat Blasts: The Best-of-Seven Series on Effectively Wild Episode 2230

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about not sleeping on the less star-studded but still exciting AL Central Division Series, a David Fry prediction, the reliever familiarity effect, an abhorrent TV shot, the Yankees’ ALDS victory, when the Royals will return to October, the Braves firing a few coaches, the future of Tropicana Field, and how MLB will weather climate change. Then (1:00:24) Ben clears out a backlog of seven Stat Blasts, on: Jon Berti and starting at a position for the first time in the playoffs; Beau Brieske and equal counts of games started and finished; the evolution of position-player pitching; Aaron Judge and the most- and least-clutch hitters in the postseason relative to the regular season; Luis Tiant, Pete Rose, and the hitters and pitchers who played the longest at the same time without ever facing each other in the regular season; the Trajekt effect and a century of the times-through-the-order penalty; and the average length of playoff series; plus a postscript.