Bat Flips And Nerds

John, Darius and Ben team up to rather excitedly preview the return of Major League Baseball across the pond! We talk weather, Trafalgar Square, workout day, pitching matchups, players to watch, donut burgers, mung beans and more. Want to meet us for a beer? Send us a message on Twitter or Instagram, or meet us at Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick after the Sunday game for some joyous celebration of t...

John, Rob and Ben join forces to look at some of the overperforming (Orioles, Rangers, Diamondbacks) and underperforming (Mets, Cardinals, Royals) teams so far this season and whether their surprise starts are legit. They then discuss the A's reverse boycott and impending move to Las Vegas, the staff departures at The Athletic and the unsavoury nature of some Pride Month comments within baseball....

Tom is joined by Baseball Softball UK PR/Broadcaster and unstoppable force, Chris Knoblock to talk all things BSUK, London Series 2019 legacy programs, the upcoming 2023 legacy programs and the meetups open to all right here in the UK.

The crew are back to discuss the news that the BBC are showing a game this week. The London Series is right around the corner so they contemplate the bizarre goings-on in St Louis and the state of the Cubs. They briefly talk about the A's before Russell gets on his soap box and calls into question the purpose and existence of the ejection. Finally, they go through 2 Good 2 Bad.

John, Rob and Ben talk about two of the biggest stories of the week: the Oakland A's long-awaited announcement of their departure for Las Vegas and Madison Bumgarner's release from the Diamondbacks. They then dive into some early season overreactions and two good, two bad to finish up, featuring Liam Hendriks, Max Scherzer and... Tom Pringle?!

The team is back to discuss the first week and a bit of the new MLB season. How good are the Rays? Have the new rules impacted our viewing expeierence? We also have the reutrn of 2 Good 2 Bad, the totally unique idea for this show. All while being distracted by Star Wars and a Neilsen metric called QIMV (Quality Index Media Value) Russell host with Tom and Rob ready to lead him astray but in the e...

We 'The B-Team' know you weren't satisfied with those four rambling on about their preseason predictions. So, we have given you over 2 hours of Rob, Gav and Russell prognosticating on MLB in 2023. They've brought back their joker system where one over rulees the other and it was used interestingly. Come for them discussing the brilliance of the Padres stay for the discussion on the Angels

John, Tom, Darius and Ben get together for their annual predictions show, assigning win totals to all 30 MLB teams and checking the maths to make sure it all adds up. How low are they willing to go on the A's? Is it another 95-win prediction for the Angels? Is this the year for the Mets? All that and more...

John and Russell got through the week that GB Baseball had at the World Baseball Classic. They talk about each of the games and their highlights of them.

High off the emotion of GB's first ever win in the World Baseball Classic, Gav and Russell struggle to put together coherent thoughts on the game and what it felt like to be there. Also there is post match chats from Drew Spencer, Chavez Young and Tyler Viza.

Russell and Gav, talk throught the amazing game two from GB v Canada. They talk through the highs and lows of the game and the experience from Chase Field. The big moments of the stolen base replay call, the yips that 10 pitchers had and other stuff.

Russell and Gav, talk throught the amazing game one from GB v USA. They talk through the highs and lows of the game and the experience from Chase Field. 'Amazing Trayce', Daniel 'Hermetically Sealed Elbow' Cooper and MIcheal 'British Gas' Petersen are all mentioned. There's also a quick interview with Vance Worley on his thoughts from last night.

Here is another WBC minipod, with this one dicussing the two warm up match GB have played. Russell gives his thoughts on the two games. He also had a chat with GB Manager Drew Spencer before game 2 on his thouights from game 1 and what they wanted from game 2.

Russell made is way down to the GB traiing camp in Phoenix and had some quick chats with the GB squad as they prepare for the World Baseball Classic. He chats with Justin Wylie, Anfernee Seymour, Harry Ford, Alex Crosby, Daniel Cooper and Jake Esch.

We know it's coming at some point in the future so, this week the BFAN team try and get ahead of it by creating their own MLB expansion team. Part 2 of the series takes our two expansion teams one chosen by us, one chosen you and perform the draft. Can Rob and Ben out think Darius and Russell? Only you can decide.

Russell sits down with the Jared and Caleb from Baseball Beyond to chat with GB rostered Justin Wylie about what playing for GB has meant for him and how he and team are looking to go forward.

We know it's coming at some point in the future so, this week the BFAN team try and get ahead of it by creating their own MLB expansion team. Part 1 of the series looks into where the team should be located and what the team namew should be. The team then also decides which players from the 30 MLB team should be protected from this expansion draft,with just 3 players being protected by each of the...

The Bat Flips boys are back to talk about the WBC, this is alittle mini guide to the rules, the pools and the players we will be seeing over the course of the tournament. Russell and Gav you the lowdown on the pitching limits, roster limitations and the designated pitcher pool so you can master like Drew Spencer and his team did in Regensburg.

Russell, Darius, Ben and Gav continue their review of the offseason but this time for the National League teams. Giving each team a grade based on the traditional 80-20 baseball grading scale.

GB Baseball Head Coach Drew Spencer joins John to look back on his squad's historic qualification for the 2023 World Baseball Classic in Regensburg last Autumn, and ahead to the big dance in March. They get into how a programme like GB builds a roster, how they planned for every pitch in Germany and even how Drew *really* felt as a Bay Area boy facing off against Bruce Bochy. This one really whets...

John and the gang are back from thier temporary hiatus to talk you through the offseason for American League teams. Giving each team a grade based on the traditional 80-20 baseball grading scale.

Russell and our erstwhile site editor Gav talk throw the two completed Championship Series. Waxing lyrical about the excitement and entertainment of the NLCS and how the ALCS was actually much closer than the 4-0 and the New York media landscape would tell you. They then look forward to World Series and complete the curse of the Houston Astros by once again predicting them to win it.

Russell chats with GB talisman Anfernee Seymour about his baseball career. They reminisce about the recent exploits of the GB baseball team in the WBC qualifier in Regensberg, the growth and development of baseball in the Bahamas and how the changing landscape of baseball coaching and analytics impacted his career in the minors.

Russell, Rob and Ben get together to review an entertaining set of wildcard and division series that threw up some upsets and extra-inning marathons. They end with a quick look ahead to the Championship Series and Great Britain's confirmed WBC pool in March. 2:04 - Playoff format chat 9:43 - Rays-Guardians 16:52 - Mariners-Blue Jays 20:45 - Cardinals-Phillies 25:55 - Mets-Padres 33:25 - Mariners-A...

Russell, Darius, Ben and Rachel join forces to briefly discuss the frustrating news about postseason blackouts internationally before diving into a full playoffs preview. 70 minutes of thought-provoking discussion eventually ends with them deciding the best teams are probably the ones that won the most games. Send in your postseason brackets and tell us why we're wrong!