Effectively Wild Episode 1979: Season Preview Series: Astros and Pirates

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the exciting beginning of the WBC, early indications in spring training that MLB’s rules changes are having the intended effects, and a classic unprecedented occurrence in a baseball game, then continue their 2023 season preview series by discussing the Houston Astros (17:49) with Chandler Rome of The Houston Chonicle, and the Pittsburgh Pirates (59:39) with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, plus a Past Blast from 1979 (1:30:38), preview trivia answers (1:37:36), and a farewell to editor Dylan Higgins.

2023 EW Season Preview Series

Audio intro: Sloan, “So Far So Good”
Audio interstitial 1: The Black Crowes, “Houston Don’t Dream About Me”
Audio interstitial 2: Mason Jennings, “Pittsburgh”
Audio outro: Hockey Dad, “Dylan’s Place”

Link to Castillo catch
Link to runner’s celebration mistake
Link to last play of Australia-Korea
Link to Nootbaar catch
Link to Ohtani highlights
Link to story on Ohtani
Link to Passan tweet
Link to Lewie Pollis on the shift
Link to Tom Tango on stolen bases
Link to Cooper on game times
Link to Johnson’s bird snuff film
Link to You’re Wrong About on snuff films
Link to FanGraphs playoff odds
Link to FG payroll breakdown
Link to Astros offseason tracker
Link to Astros depth chart
Link to Passan on Click and Crane
Link to Chandler on Brown
Link to Chandler’s spring preview
Link to Chandler’s author archive
Link to Baumann on Brown
Link to Pirates offseason tracker
Link to Pirates depth chart
Link to Jason’s spring Pirates preview
Link to Jason on Keller
Link to Jason on catching prospects
Link to Jason on strike-throwing
Link to Jason’s author archive
Link to 1979 article source
Link to Belgium gambling news
Link to David Lewis’s Twitter
Link to David Lewis’s Substack
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter