Bat Flips And Nerds

With all the excitement of the playoffs, the team has managed to do very little awards research, so they are put on the back burner once again in favour of Divisional Series chat. John asks Ben and Darius about all four series, touching on such matters as the formidable Dodgers, the outstanding Jose Altuve, the Stephen Strasburg will-he-won't-he start furore, the implausibility of Jon Lester's successful pickoff, and the demise of Cleveland. Ben tries to defend himself for actually liking the Yankees, and the trio also ponder the reasons for John Farrell's firing, bringing about a trademark John diatribe against the Boston sports media. Listener questions about using starters out of the bullpen, and why wildly exuberant American fans are featuring on MLB UK instead of properly reserved British fans.

As the only member of the regular team who isn't a fan of a playoff team, Darius ends up quizzing John, Ben, and Tom about the postseason misfortune of the Rockies and Red Sox - the latter very much in real time. When John isn't lamenting Boston's performance, they talk about John Coppolella's shenanigans, the firing of Terry Collins, the ludicrous reaction to Chris Sale's Game 1 start, and terrible MLB themed Christmas jumpers. Ben then joins Darius to recap the Rockies' Wild Card loss, before Tom jumps on to offer a little more Red Sox rapid reaction.

MLB Shop Europe Christmas Jumpers: http://www.mlbshopeurope.com/stores/mlb/en/search/ugly%20cane?culture=en

Jonah Keri's piece on Coppolella's firing and the international signing rules: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/braves-gm-drama-shows-its-time-to-put-an-end-to-sports-fans-sense-of-entitlement/

John and Darius join Tom to muse how many pitches they'd take to get a hit off Chris Sale. They also dig into the Bruce Maxwell story, whether there are too many home runs in baseball and make ill-advised playoff predictions. Tom introduces a new spot - 'Hot Cakes'.

Here's the Ron Darling article John mentioned:http://www.newsday.com/sports/media/ron-darling-explains-the-lack-of-anthem-protests-in-baseball-1.14278874

And Jeff Passan's great interview with Maxwell: https://sports.yahoo.com/bruce-maxwell-knelt-national-anthem-172301672.html

With Darius back in the UK after touring Chicago's MLB parks, Tom and Ben quiz him about all the important stuff - mainly food, from Chicago-style hot dogs to nacho helmets and even Tom's very strict rules about when it's appropriate to eat chocolate. They also touch on the playoff races, the crap catcher competition, how teams with winning streaks fare in the postseason, and answer listener questions about more food and juiced balls.

Don't forget there's another UK fan meetup at the Shooters Sports Bar in Leeds on Saturday, September 23rd; more details at https://twitter.com/MLBUKCommunity/status/908385298765271041.

John, Ben and Tom talk Dodgers and Indians and Ben's trip to MLB HQ before getting creative with listener questions. There are some terrible puns, include perhaps the best/worst Yu Darvish pun of all time, and a bit of a sing song...

The Dodgers article the guys mention is here: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-dodgers-look-beyond-terrible-right-now/

Bryan Joiner (Baseball Prospectus Boston and Over The Monster) joins Tom to talk all about how he got into writing, wiriting for BP Boston and Over The Monster, the recent SB Nation critism, why he hates writing lineups and how awful (fantastic) it is to record podcasts with Jake Deveraux.

They eventually get onto the main topic of the Red Sox and the guys give a realistic prediction for the end of the season.

AppleGate gets its own segment, Tom and Bryan completely agree, but which way will it be?

You can find Bryan on twitter at - http://www.twitter.com/bryanjoiner

All of our posts and previous podcasts can be found on http://www.batflipsandnerds.com

MLB UK Ambassador, 2007 Comeback Player of the Year, 2009 All Star and home run leader - all these things describe this week's guest Carlos Pena. In a taster for a more in-depth chat soon, baseball's answer to Peter Ustinov takes a break from his MLB Network to talk to John about his family's time in Europe this summer and his hopes and plans to grow the game of baseball on this side of the pond.

John is joined by Great Britain baseball coach Liam Carroll, making his fourth (including cameos) appearance here on the pod. Liam talks about the experience and impact of MLB Battlegrounds on the GB programme and gives the rundown on the recent Under 23 European Baseball Championships in Austria and the Czech Republic. He discusses the bright future for GB in the shape of this team, and the under 18 side and how they can harness the wisdom and experience of recently retired stars such as Chris Reed and Chris Berset.

 

Liam gives a laundry list of places to visit to learn about baseball in the UK, and his own programme. They are:

greatbritainbaseball.com - for updates on the GB Team

britishbaseball.org - to find your local club, volunteer and play

busk.com - the home of the UK Development Agency, Baseball Softball UK, for regular updates, intros to both sports and more info on finding clubs and facilities.

Tom and John join forces for the first live Bat Flips And Nerds show (There was another one, but we will never speak of it again).

The boys talk Manchester Meetup, the dangers of democracy, Erie SeaWolves, U23 Baseball Championships, GB Baseball, GB players in the minors and finally some listener question...questions after a plea on Twitter.

Stay tuned, we plan to do more!

Ben and Darius break down the very exciting news of MLB regular season games coming to the UK in 2019 and 2020, before brainstorming ideas for the UK Night being held on August 16th by Official Minor League Affiliate of the UK, the Erie Seawolves. They then move onto the trade deadline, including the dramatic Yu Darvish trade, whether the Dodgers are invincible, if the Royals were right to buy rather than sell, and what on earth the Orioles were doing. A Crap Catcher update follows, with Jett Bandy moving John ever closer to having to write about the Blue Jays for a year. Finally, they ponder a listener question about which footballers they'd most like to see on a baseball field.