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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the rise and fall of Ildemaro Vargas, the Mets’ and Cubs’ David Peterson swap, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s refusal to wear a cup, the Giants’ response to Pride Night fallout, and the owners’ CBA strategy. Then (56:41) Ben brings back John Brebbia to discuss the Rockies reliever’s return to the majors, how he’s handling the journeyman phase of his career, when to opt out of a contract, Colorado’s player-dev improvements, Triple-A attitudes, how the minors have changed, the greatest major league luxury, dugout pitch-calling, challenging, his entrance song, how he and other players are following the labor talks, and more.
Audio intro: Jimmy Kramer, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: The Spaghettis, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Pedantic)”
Link to Lennon song
Link to MLFAD
Link to “Train Daddy” article
Link to “Railroad Daddy” article
Link to Brebbia’s first appearance
Link to Vargas hot streak
Link to Vargas cold strea
Link to Voros’s Law
Link to gambler’s fallacy
Link to Vargas collision
Link to Flowers for Algernon adaptations
Link to Charly
Link to TV movie
Link to Awakenings
Link to “Snakes alive” slogan
Link to Nora Morse wiki
Link to FG post on the Cubs
Link to MLBTR on Peterson
Link to Gary Cohen quote
Link to Mets’ six errors
Link to Chisholm clip
Link to Chisholm story
Link to Mariners testicle injury thread
Link to Haniger story
Link to risk compensation wiki
Link to catcher helmets interview
Link to lollipop story
Link to Davitt interview
Link to Posey clip
Link to SF Chronicle on the Giants
Link to The Athletic on the Giants
Link to KNBR interview story
Link to Devers apology story
Link to Vitello’s The Town reference
Link to Manfred letter
Link to The Athletic on MLB’s proposals
Link to MLBTR on MLB’s proposals
Link to Play Sun Smart initiative
Link to Rockies team attitude story
Link to Senzatela pitch mix
Link to Bull Durham scene
Link to Collins quote
Link to dugout pitch-calling story
Link to dugout pitch-calling story 2
Link to Ben on dugout pitch-calling
Link to Wham! song
Link to story about Brebbia’s song
Link to Zoolander scene
Link to Meyer quote
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Effectively Wild Episode 2495: Rank Amateurs
Listen guide
"Effectively Wild Episode 2496: Our Daily Breb" is an episode of Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast. Runtime 1 hr 59 min. Published June 26, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.