Effectively Wild Wiki
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Players predicting things was a frequent topic from Episode 1704 to Episode 1717. From the start, the hosts were skeptical of players having predictive powers and suspected that these stories were the result of survivorship bias.

  • 1701: Luis Urias correctly predicts that he'd win the game on a walk-off.
  • 1704: Miguel Sano claims to have predicted three of the Twins's four triple plays in the last few seasons. He also claims to have predicted a home run the previous month. (In 2014, Sano had predicted that he'd hit 45 homers, but ended up missing the entire season with an elbow injury.)
  • 1705: Luke Williams predicts his walk-off home run.
  • 1709: Kirby Puckett was known for making home run predictions that didn't pan out. In 2017, the Nationals delayed the start of a game by several hours due to a prediction of rain which did not materialize.
  • 1711: Jesse Winker reportedly predicted Tyler Naquin's game-winning homer. A college baseball player confirms that players are constantly making predictions, and on a broadcast, Barry Larkin confirmed that he predicted hitting a home runs "all the time."
  • 1712: Joey Votto's habit of making predictions.
  • 1717: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. tells a mic'd up Ty France that "[Randal] Grichuk is about to hit a double. I'll probably score. Probably." Grichuk hits a double, and Guerrero scores. Ty France retells the story as a prediction. In the same video, Guerrero also made two false predictions.
  • 1836: Albert Pujols predicting a first-pitch home run. "Sometimes you get lucky."
  • 1850: Assessing whether Josh Van Meter predicting the Reds hitless win was notable.
  • 1850: Christopher Morel predicting hitting a homer in his first big league plate appearance.
  • 1888: Vin Scully predicted Larry Miggins's first career home run when they were both in high school.
  • 1947: Another mention of Christopher Morel predicting hitting a homer in his first big league plate appearance.
  • 1989: Ronald Acuña Jr. claims that Orlando Arcia predicted that Acuña and Matt Olsen would open the game with back-to-back home runs.
  • 2008 and 2009: In an attempt to curb out-of-control predictions, Cardinals players employ a novelty phone for players to "call" their predictions.
  • 2029: Luis Arraez reportedly makes a prediction for every plate appearance.
  • 2072: Phillies relievers predict a home run by tossing their cap on the ground. Each reliever is allowed only one prediction per game.
  • 2214, 2215, and 2216: Carlos Estévez was so confident in his prediction that Ryan McMahon would hit a home run off a curve ball that he started to warm up in anticipation of being called in to close the bottom half of the inning. McMahon did hit a home run, and Estévez earned a save. In Episode 2215, Ben confirms the story, but warming up in anticipation of being needed is not uncommon among relievers, and furthermore, Estévez was a prolific predictor. Furthermore, a source inside MLB with access to the archived broadcasts found no evidence of Estévez warming up prior to the home run. Evidence turns up in Episode 2216, when a source inside MLB provided a clip from the high home camera (not shown in the broadcast) that shows a right-handed reliever warming up in the Rockies bullpen prior to the home run.
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