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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined from Moscow by Ken Early of the Irish Times to discuss the men’s World Cup, including Argentina’s fall from grace, England’s impressive play, and Neymar’s meltdowns. The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh talks about the historic terribleness of pitcher hitting in Major League Baseball, and possible expansion and realignment. Finally, Jay Caspian Kang of Vice breaks down a proposal to replace the NBA draft with a public auction of incoming players.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Follow Ken Early on Twitter and listen to the Second Captains podcast.
- In Slate, Ken wrote about why this England team might be different.
- The New York Times examined how Argentina is falling apart at the World Cup.
- Watch Germany’s Tony Kroos score against Sweden, Colombia’s James Rodriguez make a sick pass against Poland, and Panama’s announcers weep with joy.
- Brazilian star Neymar cried after his team’s win over Costa Rica.
- Follow Ben Lindbergh on Twitter and buy his book The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team.
- In the Ringer, Ben wrote about why it’s time to end the farce of pitchers hitting.
- Major League Baseball is considering expanding to 32 teams and realigning its divisions, possible leading to the death of the American and National leagues.
- MLB attendance is way down in 2018.
- ESPN’s Sam Miller wrote about what would happen if every team made the MLB playoffs.
- Follow Jay Caspian Kang on Twitter.
- Read Jay’s proposal to replace the NBA draft with an auction.
- In 2013, the NBA considered a plan to replace the NBA draft with “the Wheel.”
- Here’s a history of drafts in sports.
- The Indian Premier League of cricket has a player auction.
Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Glen Selbos:
Stefan’s Glen Selbo: England striker Gary Lineker famously said that “football is a simple game,” and lots of other people now have too.
Josh’s Glen Selbo: the soccer player who killed an owl and the baseball player who killed an osprey.
On this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Stefan, Josh, and Jay Caspian Kang talk about how to choose sports teams for your kids.
Podcast production and edit by Patrick Fort. Our intern is Meredith Ellison.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
