

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about how Gleyber Torres’s ownership of the Orioles and Aristides Aquino’s home-run spree are emblematic of 2019, fun facts about players’ accomplishments in their first X games, home-run fun facts and the juiced ball, Juan Soto vs. Ronald Acuña, Jr., two recent Scott Boras quotes, the Dodgers’ near-record extra-base-hits game, and Jeff Mathis’s offensive ineptitude and defensive prowess, then discuss an ESPN oral history of the 1994 strike, touching on whether the sport would have survived the extensive use of replacement players, the change in media coverage of baseball labor issues, what the biggest loss would be if the rest of the 2019 season were canceled, and more.

Audio intro: Chance The Rapper, "Juice"

Audio outro: The Rock*A*Teens, "Pretty Thoughts Strike Down the Band"

Link to story on Torres and the Orioles

Link to Ben on breakout batters

Link to Jay Jaffe on Aquino

Link to C. Trent Rosecrans on Aquino’s swing change

Link to list of players with most batting runs through age 20

Link to Sam on Scioscia, Mathis, and Napoli

Link to Sam on Scioscia and defense again

Link to R.J. Anderson on Jeff Mathis’s game-calling

Link to worst offensive careers (min. 2500 PA)

Link to worst offensive single seasons (min. 200 PA)

Link to Tim Kurkjian’s oral history of the strike

Link to Ben on Lords of the Realm

Link to the book Baseball’s Power Shift

Link to Emma Baccellieri on players’ social media advocacy

Link to Evan Drellich’s oral history of the strike

Link to Bryan Curtis on the liberalization of sportswriting

Link to order The MVP Machine

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