Episode 1080: If Baseball Were Beep

## Summary

*Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Jeff's altitude sickness, Matt Albers and Ryan Raburn, an odd-field update, the Rich Hill resurgence, the MLB Battlegrounds event in Hyde Park, Logan Morrison's comments about Gary Sánchez, Jonathan Lucroy's comments about framing, and more on the Reds' pitching staff. Then they take a detour to talk to listener Max Goder-Reiser about Beep Baseball and the Boston Renegades before answering listener emails about team wins, team WAR, and chemistry, the worst records for playoff teams, David Ortiz's tire-changing, reaching-on-error records, pitching after long breaks on the bench, the best non-qualified seasons, Aaron Judge's BABIP, multi-level single-season home-run records, a hypothetical closer, grand-slam oddities, and more.*

## Topics

* Interview with Max Goder-Reiser about Beep Baseball
* Rules of beep baseball
* Beep baseball strategy
* Pitcher/batter relationship
* Beep baseball aging curve
* Beep baseball world series
* Pitcher changes when going from the rotation to bullpen
* David Ortiz helping motorists in need
* Correlation between team performance and player WAR
* Playoff teams with losing records
* Pitching after long in-game breaks
* Players and teams reaching on errors
* The best non-qualified seasons
* BABIP and Aaron Judge
* Multi-level records
* The 0 ERA and 3 WHIP closer
* Career grand slam totals

## Banter

* Episode 1079 follow-up: Jeff had to again abandon his attempts to summit Mount Shasta due to symptoms from the high altitude. Ben offers that there's "no shame in needing oxygen to breathe".
* Matt Albers blew a save in the same game that ended on a walk-off hit by Ryan Raburn.
* Episode 1077 follow-up: Jake Mintz has played at the slanted field and estimated that the incline in the outfield was 45 degrees.
* Review of the MLB Battlegrounds event at Hyde Park
* Episode 1072 follow-up: Rich Hill has improved results with his curveball since Jeff and Ben last discussed his performance this season.
* Logan Morrison's opposition to Gary Sánchez being in the Home Run Debry
* Jonathan Lucroy's comments about pitcher responsibility for catcher framing
* The Cincinnati Reds' pitching staff has a 0.1 WAR this season, finally getting above replacement level.

## Email Questions

* Colin (Virginia): "I noticed that John Smoltz's walk rate during his time as a closer is noticeably lower than the rest of his career. His career BB/9 is 2.6 while his BB/9 during those four seasons is 1.68. I cannot understand why his walk rate would decrease. Perhaps it's a matter of command but I wanted to know what you think."

* Jamison: "Oddly I also know a story of David Ortiz helping a coworker of my mom's who broke down on the side of the road. Ortiz picked her up in his car and called a tow truck. This was around 2006 as well so apparently Big Papi went on a flat tire streak that year."

* Michael: "Historically how correlated is a team's number of wins with its players collective WAR, weighted for off days on the roster?"

* Jake: "As of this moment FanGraphs has the Rays and Jays projected to tie for the final AL Wild Card slots with 82-80 records. This is dangerously close to what we might think of as an embarrassing situation for MLB where the two wild card system creates a playoff team out of a team without a winning record. Would this be embarrassing? How likely is this both in the 2017 AL and in broader terms?"

* Anthony: "Is there any statistical support for the idea that a pitcher can somehow get knocked out of his rhythm by long delays when his team is hitting?"

* Bill: "Please help me understand the usefulness of BABIP for Aaron Judge. Does it have more, less, or the same usefulness as a stat as it does for other players? Is it only useful for him once he has enough at-bats and seasons under his belt?"

* Jeff: "Imagine that Cody Bellinger ends the big league season with 69 home runs. When you factor in the five homers he hit in AAA would his total of 74 homers for the season get the same sort of recognition that, say, Ichiro's MLB/Japan combined records have at times?"

* Jack: "Hypothetical closer scenario: In this scenario Baseball God bestows a magic power upon a dominant closer of your choice. This closer will have an ERA of 0 for the rest of their career but a WHIP of 3. Given enough appearances this closer would break the scoreless innings streak and be recognized as dominant, but would they make it that far? If your closer never gave up a run but loaded the bases in ever appearance would they be able to stick as a closer or would managers panic? How long would it take for this power to be recognized?"

* Eric: "Is it more unusual that Hall of Fame caliber players hit so few grand slams or that they guy who was once behind Ketel Marte and Shawn O'Malley is now seemingly hitting grand slams at will?

## Stat Blast

* There have been two games in MLB history where a team had players reached on error 7 times in a game. There have been 17 games where a team reached 6 times on error.
* There have been three times where a player reached on error three times in a game when they only had three plate appearances.
* The best non-qualified season ever was 1982 by Gary Roenicke. He was worth 5.9 fWAR that season.

## Notes

* Ben says that he typically doesn't like Logan Morrison but enjoyed his comments about Gary Sánchez because "I like when pro athletes are petty."
* Beep baseball is an adaptive form of baseball for the blind (the ball beeps). Once the ball is hit both a base (either first or third) and the ball will beep. If fielders reach the ball before a batter reaches base, then it is an out. If the batter reaches base first, a run is scored.
* There have been several playoff teams with 82 wins (but none with fewer). The Cardinals won the World Series in a year when they won 83 regular season games.
* Max Marchi found that there was a relationship between pitcher performance and length of mid-inning breaks.
* Ben uses *Ignition (Remix)* as an interstitial. This song is usually used for segments related to the Sonoma Stompers. He may have chosen it for the closer-related question. Arguments over the closer were a story line in the book *The Only Rule Is It Has to Work*.
* Jeff refers to Jack's question as the "Fernando Rodney question."
* Jeff believes that the closer is the closer, and managers won't pull him until he actually blows a save. The pitcher will gain a reputation for thriving under the pressure of having the bases loaded.

## Links

* Effectively Wild Episode 1080: If Baseball Were Beep
* MLB Battlegrounds - A Day to Remember by Darius Austin
* Carlos Pena and Cliff Floyd Star in London Home Run Derby by Aidan Jackson-Evans
* Boston Renegades partial team photo
* Should Pitchers Change Their Between-Innings Routine? by Max Marchi