Effectively Wild Episode 2272: Leagues of Their Own

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley react to the news that Roki Sasaki is signing with the Dodgers (shocker!), breaking down how the posting process played out, the Dodgers’ ridiculous rotation, whether L.A.’s talent-acquisition advantage is good or bad for baseball, the runners-up for Roki, and more. Then they explore how softball and baseball are joining the women’s sports boom via the expansion/launch of professional leagues this year and next by talking to Emma Baccellieri of Sports Illustrated about the Athletes Unlimited Softball League and AU’s innovative scoring model (49:15), and Kiri Oler of FanGraphs about the Women’s Professional Baseball League and her work as a data scientist on MLB: The Show (1:25:28).

Audio intro: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: Liz Panella, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Austin Klewan, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Sasaki’s announcement
Link to MLBTR on Sasaki
Link to previous Sasaki episode
Link to Ben on Sasaki
Link to Ben on the Dodgers in 2015
Link to Ben on the Dodgers’ advantage
Link to Dodgers depth chart
Link to team SP projections
Link to team WAR projections
Link to Emma’s book post
Link to Emma’s author archive
Link to Hannah/Lindsey episode
Link to Emma on AU in 2021
Link to Emma on Olympic softball
Link to AUSL wiki
Link to AU scoring system
Link to AUSL announcement
Link to Emma on baseball dying
Link to Emma on the Players’ League
Link to Emma on the WPBL
Link to AUSL announcement
Link to Justine Siegal EW episode
Link to WPBL wiki
Link to Kiri’s LinkedIn
Link to Ben on The Show
Link to EW gift subscriptions