Bat Flips And Nerds

John, Darius and Russell dive into the early findings on the Atlantic League's experience in moving the pitching mound, the storming New York Yankees and the under-heralded Rays.

They find plenty of time to praise and berate Yadi Molina, Vlad Jr, Chance Sisco, the Angels and the Orioles. We'll leave you to work out which is which...

Russell, Ben and Darius convene for the latest MLB roundup and begin by discussing the latest leaked proposal from MLB: a $100 million salary floor. They can't help but talk about the Mets, discuss whether they're having a worse season than the Padres, and then 2Good2Bad brings us Joey Votto, Tyler Gilbert and more City Connect uniform rants.

John, Russell and Rob round up the first half of the season with some harsh words for the Minnesota Twins, the LA Dodgers and the treatment of Minor Leaguers, but garlands for the SF Giants, Trey Mancini and bae himself, Shohei Ohtani.

But not before a quick gallop through the trade deadline, a new name in Cleveland and the loveliness of Olympic baseball!

A special guest episode as Ben is joined by Felix White of Maccabees and Tailenders fame to talk his new book, falling in love with the New York Mets and what cricket can learn from baseball (and vice versa).

Ben and Russell team up for a two-man spin through the week's All-Star festivities, from Shohei Ohtani's eye-popping performances just about everywhere to Charlie Freeman's adorable cameos. There's also the usual two good, two bad chat, some MLB draft reviews and are the Mariners going to be buyers?!

Russell talked with @Razzball and @PitcherList writer @EverywhereBlair about the history of baseball in Japan.

They covered the origins of NPB, Shohei, the Olympics and that some of what you might know and maybe read recently about Japanese baseball and players is likely wrong.

Darius and Russell are joined by a mystery man who has no place on a baseball podcast. It's Tom Pringle.

They talk about the sticky baseballs, Bobby Bonilla, Eric Hosmer, the San Francisco Giants, the All-Star Game and what Russell's stat lab might look like.

You can tell Tom is back, can't you?

(Tom swears once, just sh*t...not really explicit is it?)

John, Rob and Ben are in our rotation this week.

Regrettably they are back on the topic of rubbing balls.

In happier news they have plenty to say about the history making Diamondbacks, the mega fun Toronto Blue Jays, lovely lil Frankie Lindor, Mr Magic Joey Votto, plus a factoid that may put you off Jacob deGrom for life.

It's weekly round-up time and the nerds are left unsupervised! Russell and Darius discuss the planned enforcement of foreign substance rules, the Cubs' City Connect scrubs, Jarred Kelenic's demotion, before embarking on a bumper round of 2 Good 2 Bad featuring Jake Bauers, Luke Williams, Bill James, and more.

Former Mets minor leaguer and Director of Outreach for More than Baseball, the non-profit which supports the wellbeing and conditions of minor league baseball players, joins us to explain the work of the organisation, the need for structural change within baseball and what fans can do to both support current players, and campaign for justice for these baseball professionals.

You can find out more about this incredible organisation at: www.morethanbaseball.org

And follow them on social @mtb_org