Meg Rowley
@megrowler.fangraphs.com
Editor-in-Chief of @fangraphs.com, co-host of @ewpod.bsky.social patreon.com/effectivelywild
The second weekend of WPBL action gets underway tonight! If you missed opening weekend, I got you covered right here.
WPBL Week One: The Queen’s List
The inaugural season of the first professional women’s baseball league since 1954 is officially underway.
blogs.fangraphs.com
Why worry about the Mariners when I can watch Seahawks Hard Knocks? And drink a Negroni? And not work til 9 PM?
Feel like Liberty Mutual is really overestimating our collective appetite for insurance lore?
With the deadline behind us, a few summary pieces to check out at @fangraphs.com! First, @benclemens.bsky.social takes you through some of the deadline's winners and losers:
Winners and Losers From the 2026 Trade Deadline
Let’s make some snap judgments about the tsunami of deadline activity we saw over the last few days.
blogs.fangraphs.com
I wrote up the Cubs' deadline day activity and as a result, I'm now very good at spelling Zeferjahn.
The Cubs’ Pitching Staff Is No Longer Held Together With Chewing Gum
Now it’s held together with clay and something called a zeferjahn.
blogs.fangraphs.com
on Sophie Cunningham and a trans controversy that doesn't involve any actual trans people: defector.com/the-right-ha...
Wrote up the Soriano-for-Nimmala et al trade. I like Soriano and I get what the Blue Jays are doing but maaaaaaaaaaaaaan giving up Nimmala for this guy is a big risk
Blue Jays Snag Soriano, but Pay a Heavy Price
Any pitching coach with a pulse is going to look at Soriano and mutter an epithet beyond “I can fix him.” Namely, “I can turn him into Paul Skenes.”…
blogs.fangraphs.com
the greatest trick Babe Ruth ever pulled was to convince baseball zoomers he didn't exist (and therefore couldn't have set his poor wife Helen on fire)
I was going to haughtily remind everyone that Saucedo is an Angel now (and at Salt Lake to boot), but then I remembered that JP thinks the earth is flat or covered by a dome or whatever.
My annual Deadline Roundup just went live - I'll update throughout the day as more analysis comes in!
FanGraphs Baseball@fangraphs.com · 2d agoThe 2026 FanGraphs Trade Deadline Roundup blogs.fangraphs.com/the-2026-fan...
We break down the Skubal deal: the Tigers' return, his fit in LA, and how we should think about the Dodgers and baseball's broader competitive landscape. Plus, Luis Castillo to the White Sox, Freddy Peralta to the Rays, Lane Thomas to the Braves, Bo Naylor, and other weekend trade ephemera.
FanGraphs Baseball@fangraphs.com · 3d agoEffectively Wild Episode 2513: Abandon Zyhir Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-...
With all the trade activity, @davidlaurila.bsky.social's Sunday Notes might have gotten lost in the shuffle, but what better time to catch up than now?
FanGraphs Baseball@fangraphs.com · 3d agoSunday Notes: Tarik Skubal Sees a Trend in Multiple-Fastball Repertoires blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes...
New @fangraphs.com: Saturday night featured a blockbuster pre-deadline deal involving an AL Central team… and also this more unconventional one, which may induce some very mixed feeling among Mariners fans
FanGraphs Baseball@fangraphs.com · 3d agoSqueezed Out of Seattle, Luis Castillo Lands With the White Sox blogs.fangraphs.com/squeezed-out...
The Rays got their rental starter, even if it's not the big one. I think this is a good organizational fit for Peralta, even if he won't be there long. And I like Émilien Pitre a lot, which is incidental at best to the question of whether he's a good prospect
Rays Trade for Freddy Peralta, Because Too Much Pitching Is Never Enough
Even the world’s biggest optimist has to concede that Peralta is a less exciting rental now than he was in January, but there are a few bits of low-hanging fruit that the Rays can fix.
blogs.fangraphs.com
I find myself talking to the Mariners like I'm Hank Hill disappointed in Bobby a lot these days
Wow, look at how excited Tarik Skubal is about the little refresh we did to the homepage ahead of the trade deadline, thanks Skubs!
I think being pissed at the Dodgers as a fan of another team is totally normal fan behavior, but being so pissed at the Dodgers as a fan of another team that you side with Bob Nutting makes you a bit of a baby?
Trading for Luis Castillo signaled a seriousness about winning that was extremely welcome from the Mariners. It's not right to say that trading him away signals an end to that seriousness - he's not 2022 Castillo, and this team isn't very good - but it would be nice to see that energy matched.
Oh yeah he got traded today and I wrote about it
Bo Naylor Is Milwaukee-Bound as Brewers, Guardians Exchange Depth Pieces
If you can’t find a trade partner in this seller’s market, you just aren’t trying hard enough.
blogs.fangraphs.com
Curt Hogg@cyrthogg.bsky.social · 4d agoBeen quite a fall for 2024 Gold Glove finalist Blake Perkins
this is a flawed comp because the pitching was much, muchhhh worse, and the whole deal more boring, but sometimes watching the 2026 Mariners feels the same way watching the 2015 Mariners did, which is to say, pretty bad
It's not every day I tell specific teams they should make a specific move or else, but this is not a normal day. Money and market don't matter. You've got a good team and an elite farm system. Do you just want to participate in the playoffs or do you want to try and win the World Series?
The Rays or Brewers Must Trade for Tarik Skubal
Every so often, you’ve got to make a serious run at a championship. An occasional deep run keeps existing fans invested and draws new ones in.
blogs.fangraphs.com
watching Dom Canzone homer against the Dodgers (again)
Meg Rowley@megrowler.fangraphs.com · 4mo agowatching Dom Canzone homer on Opening Day
It remains just so funny that Shohei Ohtani, the most incredible baseball player alive, walks up to literally the Michael Bublé version of "Feeling Good." Truly 80-grade dork shit.
I'm sorry, they're putting Ross Douthat on TV, and to be considered a nice person, I'm just not allowed to say what I think about his face?!
new @fangraphs.com: My coverage of what felt like a subdued Hall of Fame Induction Weekend that could only suffer by comparison to last year's Ichiro-driven lovefest — though it did have its moments.
FanGraphs Baseball@fangraphs.com · last wk.Polarizing Honorees Brought Sparse Crowds for Hall of Fame Induction Weekend blogs.fangraphs.com/polarizing-h...
me when I see the plane evangelist start to rise a few rows back
KOTH Screens@kothscreens.bsky.social · last wk.
Mariners losses that come in day games I don't watch don't count in the standings, and both the league and the union agree that has to stay in the next CBA
half the pregame shows, regardless of sport, involve men in sneakers WITHOUT SOCKS, ankles out, let him be!
Michael Baumann@baumann.bsky.social · last wk.I'm not saying they should let Kruk call the game in a fishing shirt and a trucker hat while Benetti is wearing a suit, but surely we're at a point in TV etiquette where we can let him go suit-with-open-collar
