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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca talk to Grantland’s Jonah Keri about how the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants ended up in the World Series, the greatness of Giants manager Bruce Bochy, and the intentionality of the Royals’ team design. They discuss NBA teams’ increasing use of biometric data and the accompanying ethical considerations, and they interview legendary Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan about his early days at the Globe, how sports journalism has evolved, and his new book, Scribe.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

• Jonah Keri is the author of the books Up, Up, and Away and The Extra 2%, and the host of the Jonah Keri Podcast.
• On Baseball Prospectus, Sam Miller challenged the notion that the baseball playoffs are just a crapshoot.
• On Grantland, Jonah Keri twice tried to explain how the Royals keep winning.
• Rany Jazayerli noted that the Royals were the first team to make the playoffs after finishing last in both home runs and walks.
• Keri called Bruce Bochy one of the best managers of all time.
• Chris Jaffe wrote a history of baseball managers.
• Miller wrote about the A’s—of all teams—looking to clubhouse chemistry to help win games.
• Major League Baseball’s Statcast feature has shown how amazing the Royals’ outfield defense really is.
• In ESPN the Magazine, Pablo S. Torre and Tom Haberstroh wrote about the increasing use of biometrics in the NBA.
• Last year, Zach Lowe wrote about the NBA’s embrace of SportVU.
• The Premier League uses blood tests to root out performance enhancing drugs.
• Eddy Curry fought the Chicago Bulls over the team’s demand that he undergo genetic testing.
• The Phoenix Suns utilized a great training staff to get more playing time out of Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Nash.
• On Grantland, Bryan Curtis wrote about Bob Ryan’s career and his new book.
• Ryan reflects on his life in sports journalism in the book Scribe.

Hang Up and Listen’s Little League slops:

Mike’s Little League slop: Signing up to end an overused sports cliché.

Stefan’s Little League slop: Pining for more Greek-on-Greek action in Major League Baseball.

Josh’s Little League Slop: Uncovering Joe Louis’ impact on the game of golf.

On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca kvetch about new Jet Percy Harvin and team chemistry. Slate Plus members get an ad-free version of this podcast with bonus segments. Visit slate.com/hangupplus and try it free for two weeks.

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Links compiled by Chris Laskowski.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.