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In this week’s special episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Mike Pesca introduces segments from three other sports podcasts. In Howler magazine’s podcast DUMMY, host George Quraishi is joined by U.S. defender/midfielder Kelley O’Hara and FiveThirtyEight’s Allison McCann to talk about lineup changes in the quarterfinals in the Women’s World Cup as well as plans for the upcoming semifinals. Then, hosts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus’ podcast Effectively Wild discuss the rise in Tommy John surgeries in the MLB. Finally, Chad Matlin, Kate Fagan, Neil Paine, and Jody Avirgan talk about potential changes to the NBA draft structure on FiveThirtyEight’s podcast Hot Takedown.               

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

• Check out DUMMY and Howler magazine’s other soccer podcasts here or subscribe in iTunes.
• Listen to Baseball Prospectus’ Effectively Wild podcast here and subscribe in iTunes.
• Subscribe to FiveThirtyEight’s Hot Takedown in iTunes.
• The New York Times’ Andrew Keh on the 1–0 U.S. win over China in the quarterfinals.
• Ahead of the June 26 match, FiveThirtyEight’s Allison McCann argued that the USWNT’s offensive dry spell stems from problems in the midfield.    
• Offensive-minded Morgan Brian turned in an impressive performance as a defensive midfielder for the U.S. against China, according to an article in Goal.
• During the quarterfinal game, USWNT’s Kelley O’Hara played through a bad nose injury and has since been cleared to play in the semifinals.
• As of Monday, FiveThirtyEight’s Women’s Soccer Power Index says that the U.S. has a 30 percent chance of winning the Women’s World Cup, while Germany has a 43 percent chance.
• ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle writes about the tough lineup decisions facing U.S. coach Jill Ellis for the semifinal game against Germany.
• Led by Julie Johnston and Becky Sauerbrunn, the U.S. defense has been very consistent throughout the tournament.
• Slate’s Jeremy Stahl noted some improvement in the U.S. offense against China in the quarterfinals.
• Manager Robin Ventura received the vote of confidence amid the White Sox’s poor season performance.
• Andrew Hopen writes about MLB managers and “quantifying the wobbly chair” in Baseball Prospectus.
• After undergoing Tommy John surgery, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Moore is expected to make his season debut in early July.
• Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez will start on July 2 following more than a year off for surgery.
• On July 25, John Smoltz will be the first pitcher inducted into the Hall of Fame after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
• Jeff Dugas is trying a new surgical approach to Tommy John surgery that could cut recovery time by at least six months.
• Grantland’s Jonah Keri writes about the sharp increase in pitchers undergoing elbow surgery in recent years.
• Baseball Prospectus’ Sam Miller on possible solutions for preventing pitcher injuries in ESPN magazine.
• Hot Takedown reached out to listeners for proposals on how to fix the NBA draft structure.
• FiveThirtyEight’s Jody Avirgan breaks down some of the common suggestions for the NBA draft in about 6,500 proposals submitted by listeners.
• FiveThirtyEight announced four finalist proposals, including “The Tombstone Date,” “The Lottery Playoff,” “The Tweaked Wheel,” and “The NBA Futures,” and shared some of the more bizarre propositions it received.
• NBA Commissioner Adam Silver responded to Hot Takedown’s proposal.
• FiveThirtyEight’s Neil Paine and Zach Bradshaw on the 2015 NBA draft class.
• One possible NBA solution, “the wheel,” would replace the draft lottery with a rotating system “in which each of the 30 teams would pick in a specific first-round draft slot once — and exactly once — every 30 years.”
• Kate Fagan is a columnist for espnW.

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Emma Zehner.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.