Bat Flips And Nerds

Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic Boston joins John to chat about the possibility of a return for her to London - this time to see the Red Sox - in 2019 and to dip into some of the reasons for the team's red hot start to the season. She also shares her top tips for Brits visiting Fenway!

Dave Shaw from Baseball by Committee joins John and Darius to discuss the spate of MLB fan meetups across the UK, and to discuss which of the stories of Opening Week might be for real. Including Shohei Ohtani, of course! John also chats with British Baseball Federation President Gerry Perez about Opening Weekend here in the UK - including trials for the GB age group teams, special coaching clinics with Cubs instructor Justin Stone, and the NBL opener.

 

It looks like the Yankees and Red Sox are coming to London in 2019. Blake Finney joins John and Darius live from across the pond to discuss the news and ponder the implications and logistics of the situation, including the venue, the timing, and what other events might be in store leading up to the games. They also answer listener questions about the event, including how the teams might prepare (fish and chips before games, anyone?), and, randomly, the inability of the Mariners to win the World Series.

The whole team is back - even Ben is there. So what do they do? They fill in a magic spreadsheet that has magic powers; namely, telling them whether their predictions for the 2018 MLB season make any sense.

They don't. Listen in to see how wrong they are.

John is joined by the head of MLB's UK office, Charlie Hill.

They cover everything from MLB Battlegrounds, through fan engagement and the expanding London office. Oh, they talk about some baseball games too...

Another week in which you, the listener, are the star of our show as we answer your weird and wonderful questions - including which second baseman would best a bar brawl, and which MLB stars are secret jazz stars.

We also consider tanking, surprise teams and try and place some of the remaining free agents.

Darius fawns over Tim Lincecum, and John teases a surprise in the offing.

Miguel Sano provies nothing but a pun.

John and Tom are back, this time they answer all your burning questions.

They start by looking at the Red Sox and their recent moves, tackle the Rays teardown/rebuild/who knows, they speculate free agent training camp, they draft street furniture (feel free to skip this) and finally end by discussing their favourite baseball website and apps.

John and Darius are joined by The Athletic's new Reds correspondent C. Trent Rosecrans to discuss the team's 2018 vintage, and his own podcast 'Great American Dream', which follows Minor League prospect Shed Long through his 2017 season. They also learn about Ken Griffey Jr's secret passion, and ask loads of questions about Joey Votto, obviously...

Tom and Darius talk about the revamped Milwaukee Brewers, including the Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich moves, then discuss the many reasons suggested for the general lack of free agent activity. The new pace of play improvements are then critiqued, from the pitch clock to putting a man on second base in extra innings. Finally, they delve into the mailbag to answer questions about an Ashes baseball series, baseball players in the WWE, whether they'd rather strike out all the time or have no power, which member of the crew would win a home run derby, customised John Sterling calls, and the Disney character who would be the best baseball player.

Former Labour leader and current MP for Doncaster North, Ed Miliband, joins John to discuss his love of the Boston Red Sox and the crossover between baseball and politics.

Ed also has his own brilliant podcast, Reasons to be Cheerful, which he presents with the inimitable Geoff Lloyd. It covers the big social issues of the day with an optimistic and wry outlook. You can find them on Twitter @cheerfulpodcast