On this episode Mark Simon announces the winners of The 2026 Fielding Bible Awards. This is the 21st annual edition of the Awards which salute the best defensive players in baseball.

He's joined by two Fielding Bible Award winners: Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler and Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu. Mark is also joined by Ben Clemens of FanGraphs to discuss their processes for voting for the Awards.

Ben's explanation of how he voted

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-i-voted-for-the-2026-fielding-bible-awards-infield

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-i-voted-for-the-2026-fielding-bible-awards-outfield-pitchers-and-more/

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by sportswriters Chelsea Janes (SNY) and Tyler Kepner to review the biggest surprises of the season among hitters, pitchers, fielders, teams, and things.

Among the players and teams brought up both for good and for bad: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Paul Skenes, Miguel Vargas, Andy Pages, Louis Varland, the Rays, Brewers, White Sox, and much more.

Our next episode will be just before the World Series with the announcement of The Fielding Bible Awards.

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On this episode Mark Simon is joined by Braves utility man Mauricio Dubon, as well as baseball researchers Chris and Lindsay Dial. Chris was an early pioneer in the field of defensive metrics. Lindsay is a writer at Baseball Prospectus who has looked into topics that include competitive balance, and language in baseball journalism.

Mark and Mauricio talked about the challenges of playing so many different positions, why transitioning from infield to outfield is tough beyond just making plays, and why Mauricio tracks the catch probabilities on the plays he makes.

Mark, Chris, and Lindsay talked about Chris's early invention of a defensive stat, originally known as Defensive Runs Saved, but now known as Runs Effectively Defended (RED for short). They also discussed Lindsay's recent piece comparing competitive balance across MLB, the NBA, and the NFL, as well as her look at vocabulary used to describe players by baseball writers that was a presentation at the SABR convention.

Lindsay's article on competitive balance

https://www.seatoseabaseball.com/the-myth-of-competitive-balance/

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.