

Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, Justin Verlander’s and Rob Manfred’s comments about the juiced ball, the recent rapid turnover among elite hitters, and an instance of premature celebration featuring Fernando Rodney, then answer listener emails about Verlander’s on-pace-to-be-historic strand rate, whether we should have recognized that Verlander’s decline in Detroit wasn’t permanent, whether we should redefine “scoring position,” whether it’s harder to make the majors or to stay there, and what would happen if strikeouts triggered ejections, plus a Stat Blast about a showdown (Sho-down?) between Shohei Ohtani the hitter and Shohei Ohtani the pitcher.

Audio intro: Paul McCartney and Wings, "Arrow Through Me"

Audio outro: Jonathan Coulton, "Sticking it to Myself"

Link to Baseball Savant Derby home-run tracker

Link to Zach Crizer on Verlander

Link to Jayson Stark on Verlander

Link to Ben on hitter turnover

Link to story about Rodney’s blown save

Link to video of Rodney’s blown save

Link to Stat Blast song

Link to Log5 explanation

Link to Sam on theoretical batter-pitcher matchups

Link to Rob Arthur on batter-pitcher matchups and exit velocity

Link to Mike Fast on batter-pitcher matchups and quality of contact

Link to order The MVP Machine

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