FAQ

Who I am, what a subscription to this newsletter gets you, and other frequently asked questions.

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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 Athletic, the New York Times Magazine, Men’s Health, SELF, Rolling Stone, Marie Claire, Vulture, Vanity Fair, Variety 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 Non-Fiction Bestseller and a Finalist for the Pen America Award for Literary Sportswriting.

If you sign up for a free subscription 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 recent faves:

• You Cannot Erase Jackie Robinson

• They Elected a White Sox Fan Pope

• Five Things More Awkward Than Watching Pete Alonso Leg Out a Triple

• Boston Man Fired 1,312 Days After Trading Mookie Betts

• Drag Culture Has Always Been a Part of Major League Baseball

• Do Not Give that Medal Back, Jordan Chiles

If you upgrade to a paid subscription to The Long Game, here’s what you get:

• 1-2 Midweek Posts
  I typically do a deep dive on one topic, unlike my Friday round-up of important things that happened that week. 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 a manufacturer behaving badly (“Nike's New Uniform Pants are See-Through and Everyone is Furious”), an examination of the MLB commissioner’s public relations issues ( "Rob Manfred Speaks, Nation Groans"), my essay on what being at the Freddie Freeman World Series grand slam game with my six-year-old niece was like ("Freddie Freeman Forever"), what it was like witnessing the death of baseball in Oakland (“The End of the Oakland A’s”) and more, in your inbox, every Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the timing of the most fun and interesting stories of the week

• Monthly Book Club Zooms for Paid Subscribers

• Saturday Zooms Talking Baseball for Paid Subscribers

  We meet every Saturday, year-round, from 12 PM PT to 1 PM PT, over Zoom, to talk about baseball and creativity. Paid subscribers receive the link in their inboxes every Saturday morning.

• Daily Playoff Newsletters

• 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.

*We also have meet-ups that are open to free and paid subscribers. This year our east coast meet-up will be at Fenway Park for Dodgers vs. Red Sox on Saturday July 26th. Email me for more information if you’re interested!

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

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