FAQ
Who I am, what a subscription to this newsletter gets you, and other frequently asked questions.
The Long Game is written by me, Molly Knight, a journalist and author based in Los Angeles. I’ve written for ESPN the Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Men’s Health, SELF, Rolling Stone, Marie Claire, Vulture, Vanity Fair and a lot of other great places. I also wrote the book, The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse, which was a New York Times Bestseller and a Finalist for The Pen America Award for Literary Sportswriting.
If you subscribe to The Long Game, here’s what you get:
The Free Friday Post
A weekly digest of MLB news and other things I find entertaining. Here are some faves:
Drag Culture Has Always Been a Part of Major League Baseball
The Pitch Clock Works Great for TV, But In Person It's Kind of Frantic
1-2 Midweek Posts for Paid Subscribers
I typically focus on one topic instead of doing a round-up of many things. Some examples: a takedown of an owner behaving badly ("Nepo Baby John Fisher Gets His Wish, Moves One Step Closer to Ripping A's Away From Oakland"), a close look at another owner behaving badly ("Orioles Owner to Rest of World: Don't Root for Our Team"), an examination of the MLB commissioner’s public relations issues ( "Rob Manfred Speaks, Nation Groans"), a fun blog about baseball’s main characters ("MLB Is Back in Its Villain Era"), an essay about what it was like to take my six-year-old-niece to a World Series game with a walk-off grand slam ("Freddie Freeman Forever"), and more, in your inbox, every Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the timing of the most fun and interesting stories of the week.
Saturday Zooms Talking Baseball for Paid Subscribers
We meet almost every Saturday from 12 PM PT to 1 PM PT to talk baseball over zoom. It’s fun!
Long Game Chats
Think of it like Slack meets Reddit meets pre-2012 Twitter, with smart baseball fans who don’t ever bully fans of opposing teams. I don’t allow the vitriol you find in every other sports corner of the internet, and the results so far have been wonderful. We’re building a community of baseball fans who have made friends with each other and look forward to seeing each other twice a week. I think this works because we learn from each other instead of tearing each other down, and we are nerds with heart!
During the regular season: paid subscriber chats during all the games every Friday, and chats for everyone during every Sunday Night Baseball game.
During the postseason: paid subscribers get live chats during every playoff baseball game, no matter the team. So sign up now and join us!
Also, I’ll be writing newsletters for the paid list nearly every day in October. Free subscribers will continue to receive only the Friday post. Don’t miss a thing by subscribing now!
You can also gift a subscription to someone you think might enjoy it here:
The Long Game chat lives on the Substack app, and you can find it below:
Other Things
*I also write about my mental and physical health journeys often. This community loves discussing health and wellness and helping each other out through tough times. It’s really a supportive unicorn space of 11,000+ people who care about each other and also have a good time talking ball. <3
*In the off-season, I also offer a book club for paid subscribers, as well as a 12-week course on creativity using Julia Cameron’s excellent guide, The Artist’s Way.
Our October/November 2024 book club selection is Bottom of the 33rd, by Dan Barry. We will discuss this book over zoom on Monday, December 2nd from 8:30 PM ET- 9:30 PM ET.
If you want in on The Long Game but can’t afford it right now, I completely get it! Some loyal subscribers have donated free subscriptions that I’m able to give away. Email me at bestteambook@gmail.com
A Few of The Long Game’s Inside Jokes and Catchphrases
*A pre-occupation with Joc Pederson getting slapped. He must be protected at all costs!
*A general obsession with nepo baby owners. Nepo baby owners are men who only run baseball teams because their dads were rich. They have no other qualifications, and tend to be the worst kind of owners, and they must be stopped!
*”Baseball is awesome/terrible.” Which… yes, I should create a merch store with T-shirts and caps.
“Piece of metal.” Rob Manfred’s assessment of the value of a World Series trophy. He is forever known as Rob “Piece of Metal” Manfred or Rob “POM” Manfred in these parts.
So, to recap, free subscribers get a Friday post and a Sunday Night Baseball chat during the MLB regular season. Paid subscribers get all my posts, chats, weekly Zooms, our book club and our 12-week creativity course (if they want to join).
If you need me, I can be reached via email at bestteambook@gmail.com
I can also be found here:
Instagram at @molly_knight
Bluesky at @molly_knight
What Readers Are Saying:
I don’t tend to do chats, but I’ve found that Substack commenters tend to be far more thoughtful and respectful of one another (and of the authors as well) than is the case in other communities. The Athletic for one maybe isn’t the worst, but whenever I look at their comments section I cringe in anticipation of something knuckleheaded, antagonistic or both.
It's hard to be bith morally outraged and eloquent at the same time. You walked that line wonderfully.