The Stat Blast segment (formerly known as the Play Index) is a recurring feature of the podcast revolving around a statistical question put forth by the segment host or a listener.
Play Index era
The Play Index was originally started by Sam, as part of listener email episodes, though it was not a Baseball Reference-sponsored segment until Episode 391, and dealt with the drop in triples in the American League since the 1970s.
Stat Blast era
Around the time of the show's transition to FanGraphs, the Play Index sponsorship was ended and the segment was continued by Jeff but without an official name.
On Episode 1146 in December 2017, Jeff had decided on "Stat Blast" as the name of the segment. An intro theme performed by Ben's wife Jessie Barbour was later added to the segment in Episode 1152.
Hosting of the Stat Blast segment transitioned back to Sam when Jeff left the podcast, and was then inherited by Ben after Sam's second departure.
During the baseball shutdown of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ben used performances of the Stat Blast theme contributed by listeners. See Facebook group: 2020 Season for details.
Starting in Episode 1834, the Stat Blast has been sponsored by Stathead, part of the Baseball Reference family of sports statistics sites.
Stat Blast Theme Lyrics
| They'll take a data set sorted by something like ERA- or OPS+ And then they'll tease out some interesting tidbit, Discuss it at length, and analyze it for us In amazing ways Here's today's Stat Blast! |
List of Stat Blasts
- (Note: This list is incomplete and currently being compiled.)
Some of the topics listed below were not formally considered Stat Blasts, but they nevertheless fit the mold. We try to remember to mark those entries with asterisks.
2019
| Episode | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1401 | What would Ohtani's stats be if he faced only himself? |
| 1405 | Pitchers who have thrown both immaculate and minimum innings |
| 1410 | Sending the runners on 3-2 counts |
| 1410 | Who has played in the most stadiums? |
| 1414 | Correlation between number of walk-off wins and team quality |
| 1414 | GIDP rates for pitchers batting with bases loaded and one out |
| 1418 | Mike Trout's performance against pitchers he faced exactly once |
| 1418 | Teams whose winning percentage at home were best and on the road were worst in MLB |
| 1420 | Receiving Rookie of the Year award votes in a 1-season career |
| 1423 | Most common career stolen base total |
| 1423 | Most career plate appearances without a stolen base |
| 1423 | Players with exactly one career stolen base |
| 1426 | Teams with highest career cumulative WAR |
| 1429 | HBP and BABIP trends on 3-0 counts |
| 1435 | Overall rise in home runs among qualified hitters |
| 1438 | Teams with the highest share of WAR generated by foreign-born players |
| 1443 | The rate of increase of reliever usage in the postseason |
| 1456 | The closest combined AL/NL MVP races by WAR |
| 1462 | The Mariners' lack of intentional walks in 2019 |
| 1462 | Batters with more HBP than BB in a season |
| 1465 | The worst innings for team pitching staffs, as measured by tOPS+ |
| 1470 | The most statistically similar players |
2020
| Episode | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1484 | The positional patterns of multi-position players |
| 1488 | Striking out every hitter on an opposing team in a game at least once |
| 1490 | Quickest/slowest franchises to have an alum in the Hall of Fame |
| 1493 | Intentional leadoff walks |
| 1493 | Plate appearances by Hall of Famers by franchise |
| 1493 | Do managers call for replay review more often on good teams? |
| 1502 | Instances of walk-off catcher's interference |
| 1516 | The history of teammates with the same name |
| 1519 | The worst player to debut in their teens and retire in their 40's |
| 1523 | The longest opening day streaks for players in a position |
| 1525 | The most lopsided WAR league leaders |
| 1528 | Franchises with head-to-head tie records |
| 1528 | Can a star pitching rotation carry a replacement-level team to the playoffs? |
| 1532 | Would-be Major Leaguers we'll never see play because of the pandemic |
| 1534 | The highest Championship Leverage Index |
| 1538 | Is there a home/away bias in official scoring? |
| 1541 | Defensive indifference leaders |
| 1541 | Winning pitchers giving up more earned runs than the losing pitcher |
| 1541 | Perfect batting averages in both a debut and final game |
| 1544 | How much could you expand foul territory to offset shorter home run distances |
| 1544 | The least valuable World Series MVP's |
| 1547 | The lowest scoring games despite "double cycle" offense |
| 1547 | Hitless career batter vs. pitcher matchups |
| 1550 | The most repeatedly drafted players |
| 1552 | Mark Buehrle facing the minimum 27 batters a record three times |
| 1552 | Players with the least service time compared to their career length |
| 1553 | Players on the most World Series winning teams without playing in a WS game |
| 1556 | The value of Billy Hamilton as an extra-inning runner |
| 1571 | The variety of Mike Trout's black ink categories |
| 1574 | Quasi-walkoffs immediately before rain delay that led to called games |
| 1575 | The longest hitless innings |
| 1577 | How many more HR players would have hit had they batted earlier in the lineup |
| 1579 | Longest team vs. team losing streaks in the regular season and postseason |
| 1580 | The Mariners' 4 best pitchers in team history having identical ERA |
| 1580 | The most pitches thrown in a 1-2-3 inning |
| 1580 | Games with "half no-hitters" thrown by both teams |
| 1584 | Facts surrounding the most prolific trading teams |
| 1584 | Most identical final scores on the same day |
| 1584 | Hitters who have struck out 4 times on 12 pitches in one game |
| 1586 | Players responsible for the most balls out of play due to foul balls or homers |
| 1586 | The most times a player has been traded away by the same team |
| 1586 | Records for number of consecutive pitches thrown of each type |
| 1587 | Teams with the most 1-run games in a season |
| 1587 | Players who hit in the same lineup spot for an entire season |
| 1591 | Teammates with the same first name who both had 5+ bWAR |
| 1591 | Are pitchers more likely to go 7.0IP in a 7-inning doubleheader game? |
| 1594 | Did pickoff attempts increase with no fans in the stands? |
| 1600 | The biggest height mismatches between starting pitchers in a game |
| 1603 | Trends in % of runs scored on non-homers |
| 1609 | Ranking teams that lost the World Series |
| 1612 | Players who have hit a HR from every spot in the lineup |
| 1615 | Fake player names used as examples in the MLB rules |
| 1616 | What pair of infielders have collaborated for the most putouts? |
| 1618 | Who was the first ever LOOGY? |
| 1623 | The longest span of time of two playing careers that overlap |
| 1623 | Do doubles and triples have different Statcast profiles? |
| 1631 | Follow up from 1101: The ultimate journeyman players |
| 1633 | Low OBP hitters who still were league-average or better hitters |
2021
| Episode | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1642 | Did demand for baseball increase after the 1919 pandemic? |
| 1645 | Players with the longest gaps between World Series hits |
| 1649 | Most prolific pitcher-catcher battery mates |
| 1651 | Leroy Stanton's consistent career splits |
| 1654 | Least productive positions for a franchise over the last 5 years |
| 1659 | Teams with every player on the roster over 30 years old |
| 1659 | Players responsible for the majority of a team's WAR at one position |
| 1666 | Teams that scored the highest percentage of their runs in one game |
| 1681 | Hitter-runner combos with the most runs scored |
| 1683 | Most common and uncommon defensive position and lineup spot combinations |
| 1685 | Players with high black ink/grey ink but low WAR and vice-versa |
| 1686 | The AL West spelling "ASSHAT" and most common division ordering |
| 1687 | Most successful pitchers with a runner on 2nd and no outs |
| 1687 | Pitchers with 'stupid wins' (win after blowing a save) |
| 1689 | Most consecutive pitches taken |
| 1689 | Pitcher appearances where no balls ended up in play |
| 1691 | Most lopsided trades of all time based on post-trade WAR |
| 1696 | Players who have participated in the most no-hitters |
| 1698 | Players with extreme home/road splits |
| 1701 | Players who have contributed highest % of team's runs |
| 1709 | Ship of Theseus: Quickest starting lineup turnover |
| 1717 | Fewest pitches before a grand slam in a game/inning |
| 1720 | Notable instances of under/overperforming a run differential |
| 1723 | Homestand perfect record droughts |
| 1725 | Team streaks where all wins were started by a single pitcher |
| 1733 | Most times a player has been called up/sent down in a single season |
| 1733 | Streaks of games where two teams matched wins and losses |
| 1737 | Are managers more likely to make an outgoing or incoming pitcher commit an intentional walk |
| 1737 | Players who hit a walk-off for their only career home run |
| 1740 | Most runs scored in a game without an earned run |
| 1740 | Longest streak of consecutive pinch hitters |
| 1740 | Most outs made with runners in scoring position |
| 1743 | Longest path to 162 career games played |
| 1743 | Worst best player for a division winner |
| 1748 | Are all relievers "failed starters", or have some always been a reliever? |
| 1748 | The Pirates' record futility at securing a sweep |
| 1752 | Longest innings streak of a team not holding a lead |
| 1752 | MVPs of both leagues not making the playoffs |
| 1757 | How many player debuts has Royals announcer Denny Matthews seen in his career? |
| 1771 | Ship of Theseus: Highest postseason usage of players who recently joined the team |
| 1771 | The most common batter/pitcher matchups |
| 1773 | Going to a game in every Major/Minor league ballpark in one year |
| 1780 | Most times a team has acquired/re-signed the same player |
| 1790 | How long it typically takes for every player from a given game to leave MLB for good |
2022
| Episode | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1801 | Biggest intra-season player performance gaps between Triple-A and MLB |
| 1804 | Times when the best players in each league played in the same city |
| 1807 | The longest "home run trees" |
| 1807 | The modern equivalent of “Three-and-Two Jack” Graney |
| 1807 | Whether MLB player performances adheres to the Pareto Principle |
| 1809 | Players who batted toward the bottom of the order after hitting 300 career homers |
| 1819 | Minor league affiliates with the longest streaks of sending an alum to the World Series |
| 1825 | "Ghost players" with the longest streaks of not fielding the ball or putting it in play |
| 1829 | "Ghost catchers" who went the longest without touching the ball |
| 1831 | Largest age difference between older player and younger manager |
| 1834 | Players who were most overpaid, underpaid, or appropriately paid |
| 1835 | Relievers who blew the most no-hitters |
| 1835 | Batters who broke up the most no-hitters |
| 1835 | Starters who lost the most no-hitters in late innings |
| 1838 | Batters with highest and lowest "expected no-hitters subtracted" |
| 1839 | Players who opened their career with consecutive "reached base on error" |
| 1839 | Lowest WAR of a multiple-time All Star |
| 1839 | Shrinking velocity gap between max-effort fastballs and average-effort fastballs |
| 1840 | Are higher pitch counts the primary reason for longer games? |
| 1840 | Teams who have cornered the market on players with a specific first name |
| 1840 | Team games with no outfield putouts |
| 1840 | The most unassisted putouts by a player in a game |
| 1841 | Most lopsided shutout |
| 1841 | Best run differential despite losing series |
| 1841 | Players whose team winning percentage changed the most when they played |
| 1842 | Players whose team winning percentage changed the most when they started |
| 1845 | Pitchers with ERA+ higher than batters faced |
| 1845 | The best offensive performance by a player whose team got no-hit |
| 1845 | Players who failed to "hit their weight" |
| 1845 | Home run distribution by day of week |
| 1846* | Teams with highest/lowest player speed variability. |