Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s episode (Aug. 1, 2017), we celebrate the publication of Kate Fagan’s latest book, “What Made Maddy Run.” FiveThirtyEight senior editor Chadwick Matlin and Kate discuss the story of Madison Holleran, a University of Pennsylvania track star whose death by suicide sparked a conversation about the difficulties of transitioning to college life, mental illness and the impact of social media. Next, we’re joined by FiveThirtyEight’s Rob Arthur, who helps us make sense of the MLB trade deadline by breaking down how the deals made by this year’s top teams might affect the playoffs. Plus, a significant digit on the Chicago Cubs.
Here are links to what we discussed on this week’s show:
- An excerpt from “What Made Maddy Run” can be found here.
- ESPN looked at the trade deadline’s biggest winners and losers, declaring that the Dodgers and Yankees stocked up while the Orioles missed out.
- Ahead of Monday’s MLB trade deadline, Rob wrote that trades aren’t just for the deadline anymore.
- Rob also notes that as a result of this year’s trades, baseball’s richest just got much richer.
- Significant Digit: 14, the number of years between the infamous Steve Bartman incident during the 2003 National League Championship Series and the Cubs’ decision to present a 2016 World Series ring to Bartman. The Cubs said that “while no gesture can fully lift the public burden he has endured for more than a decade, we felt it was important Steve knows he has been and continues to be fully embraced by this organization.”