Voice of the Turtle, Ep 4: this is your brain on baseball

In this episode of the podcast, HookSlide talks about baseball, brains, and your brain on baseball. Justin Verlander has certainly returned to dominant form, and just in case we were still on the fence about that, he just took a no-hit bid into the ninth inning in his last performance. Verlander's resurgence will certainly make General Manager Al Avila's job in 2016 a bit easier, because, hey, who can't build a decent starting rotation when you've got an ace like Verlander to be the cornerstone?

But what happened in Cincinnati last week? The Tigers were up on the Reds 5-0 in one half of an inning, and in the next half they were suddenly trailing 10-5. Is it fair to blame Brad Ausmus for what's happening? Well, no. But also, yes.

Going into weekend, the Tigers get to face the Toronto Blue Jays and their ridiculously good offense, and on the mound they'll be sending out ... Boyd, Farmer, and Simon? So who will get shelled the least?

At least one MLB team is making plans to extend the nets at the ballpark and do something to preserve fan safety from flying foul balls. Why are some people opposed to this?

In the final segment of the podcast, a licensed professional counselor who specializes in neurofeedback "brain training" talks about what EEG data can do for athletes looking to achieve peak performance, and explains what happens in the brain when a player gets angry and starts smashing water coolers.

Contents:

• 3:26 - Rounding the Bases: all hail Justin Verlander!
• 14:31 - Warming up in the Pen: one fun thing about playing the Blue Jays
• 22:52 - High and Tight: how to avoid getting killed at a baseball game
• 34:59 - Into the Mob Scene at Home: listener questions, who is the one free agent the Tigers should sign in 2016?
• 49:38 - The 7th Inning Kvetch: science answers the question, does getting angry really help a player perform better? (Original SB Nation article "Take Me out the Brain Game" is found here.)