Let's Have a Catch!

The Milwaukee Brewers have swept the Los Angeles Dodgers and are heading to the World Series for the first time since 1982! Calvin and Dad are here to walk you through the highlights of this abrupt National League Championship Series, as well as a recap of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians American League Championship Series that is still in progress. Plus we’re continuing the spooky-yet-respectful Baseball Zombie of the Week, popping down to Rhode Island to dig up Joe “Rocks” Start, before playing a very Canadian-inspired version of MODSOCs, Modern Stats on Old Cards, where Calvin teaches us all about Game-entering Leverage Index, aka gmLI. Thanks for listening!

Major League Baseball is down to its final four teams and Calvin and Dad are here to recap the Division Series-es and preview the Championship Series-es for you! Unfortunately we must say goodbye to the show favorite Chicago White Sox, but there are plenty of fun teams and interesting players remaining to root for. We also talk about the comparatively tiny payrolls of 3/4ths of the final franchises, and how it sure would be nice if playoff games started a little earlier so more kids could watch them. Plus we’re continuing the spooky-yet-respectful Baseball Zombie of the week with a trip to a Vermont dairy farm, and play a round of MODSOCs featuring packs of 1991 Upper Deck cards, hoping to dig up a Michael Jordan. Thanks for listening!

The first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs was over in a flash and Calvin and Dad are here to prepare you for the ongoing Division Series-es. With the Red Sox out of it, who will Dad root for now? Tune in to hear if Calvin can keep his perfect prediction streak going, and to learn about some fun players to keep an eye on. Also in honor of October, instead of naming our Baseball Ghost of the Week, we’re grabbing some shovels and hunting for local Baseball Zombies. It’s a fun and totally respectful bit, you’re going to love it. Also we open some packs of 1988 Score cards for another game of MODSOCs, Modern Stats on Old Cards. Thanks for listening!

Calvin and Dad bring you a super fresh Major League Baseball playoff preview recorded on the very last day of the regular season. So much happened! The Phillies stopped their skid and finally secured a Wild Card berth, the Astros and Rangers finally decided which team would represent the inept American League West, and strike out specialists Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer retired (well maybe, in Max’s case) even though the White Sox are right there, waiting to K in 35.5% of their at-bats. That’s a real number, and so is the amount of runs Dad predicts the Red Sox will score against the Yankees this week. Thanks for listening!

The Major League Baseball playoff picture is coming into focus, and Calvin is here to keep you and Dad informed on how it’s all shaking out. The Red Sox are in, but Calvin insists that there are other teams worth paying attention to as well. Huh! We also talk about Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 40/40 pursuit, Shohei Ohtani taking batting practice against a wall made of magic and wizardry, a 32.6 MPH HBP, and Payton Tolle’s immaculate grin. Plus we have coined an acronym for our returning game of MODern Stats on Old CardS - MODSOCS! Thanks for listening! 

Do baseball ghosts play in the rain? How many St. Louis Cardinals is the new owner of the Angels named after? How does one calculate cWPA, and what does it mean again? Calvin has answers to all of these questions and more from the dugout of his fantasy baseball championship series. Dad's here too, and we talk about how much we love Position Players Pitching - despite what you may hear on other podcasts we think they're pretty fun! We also talk about some teams clinching spots in the Major League Baseball playoffs, an Immaculate Inning, a new metric called Open Command, and rip into some 1988 Donruss cards in search of modern stat marvels. Thanks for listening!

Calvin takes a break from destroying Dad in their fantasy baseball playoff matchup to update us on the MLB wild card race, Adley Rutschman's successful return visit to Baltimore, and rookie Hancel Rincon's hat drama. That last one provides a perfect opportunity for us to walk you through some of the favorite hats in our (admittedly oversized) collection including the Wisconsin Frozen Pizzas and the retro Houston Astros. And for a treat we welcome two special guests from our house to collectively spoil our dinner by ranking some ridiculous Oreo flavors on the 20-80 MLB Scouting Grades system. How does a Chicken and Waffles Oreo compare to JJ Wetherholt's hitting ability? Tune in and find out!

Calvin and Dad return from a family trip to Chicago to share their firsthand accounts of MVPete Crow-Armstrong hitting three home runs in a rout of the Cincinnati Reds, as well as seeing Roman Anthony blast a home run of his own during his AAA rehab with the WooSox earlier in the week. So much pop! Tune in to hear us compare and debate Fenway Park versus Wrigley Field, help us welcome our new ghost of the week to our backyard Field of Dreams, and learn who Calvin will be facing in his first ever fantasy baseball playoff matchup. Here's a hint, he's currently writing this podcast blurb... Thanks for listening!

Calvin and Dad share their favorite custom gear worn by the pros during this MLB Players Weekend and run through some really great nicknames for current players including "The Iowa Meat Truck" Peyton Williams, "Grandson of Wind" Jung Hoo Lee, and "The Password" Jhostynxon Garcia. Tune in to see if Calvin can spell Jhostynxon (he can), catch up on the playoff race, and meet our baseball ghost of the week The Only Nolan. Oh, and we're taking e-mails from listeners now! Please contact our robot CatchCom2000 at gmail with your questions, comments, or favorite baseball nicknames. Thanks for listening!

Calvin and Dad break the wild 4-out play in last week's Red Sox-Blue Jays game, make some wild card predictions, celebrate Joshua Báez's prodigious debut, share some insights into Calvin's research techniques, and play a game of baseball card WAR, inspired by the Two Strike Noise baseball history podcast.