Bat Flips And Nerds

The postseason is here and that can only mean one thing: ill-advised predictions. John, Russell, Rob and Darius fill out the official BF&N playoff bracket live on the pod. Is it finally the Dodgers' year? Did the White Sox peak too soon? Why not Miami?

As the regular season approaches its conclusion, Rob, Russell, Ben and Darius talk about the race for the final NL playoff spots, the lack of race for the AL playoff spots, the new postseason format, and the leading MVP and Cy Young candidates.

Russell Carleton, Baseball Prospectus analyst and author of The Shift, joins Russell and Darius to talk about whether teams are shifting too much, the next frontiers of baseball analysis, and the intersection of sabermetrics & psychology.

John, Darius, Russell and Ben reflect on the first half of the 2020 MLB season, whether the baseball feels normal and whether that matters at all as long as it's fun? Fernando Tatis Jr gets a ton of love, and we discuss whether he is leading a new era of charismatic baseball players and signalling the death of the 'unwritten rules'. There's also time for some chat about fun and obscure relievers (...

Guest hosts Sarah and Helen from the UK Yankees podcast, the Empire Strikes Back, are joined the the brilliant Annika Orrock to discuss her fabulous new book The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. You can find it on Amazon right here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Incredible-All-American-Professional-Baseball-League/dp/1452173648 And you can find The Empire Strikes...

Rachel, Rob, Russell and Darius chat about their favourite things from the season so far, debate the runner on second base in extra innings, and recap a whole lot more from the first week of the 2020 season.

Tom, Russ and John are joined by Miami Marlins UK's Pete Pratt to discuss a dramatic day in MLB following a classic Opening Weekend for the 2020 season. Will three days in July be all the MLB musters this year?

Ben, Darius, Tom and John preview the 60 game wild card season in trademark BFN fashion - by inputting win totals into a spreadsheet you can't see. Listen in to hear which basket your team falls into: - Teams we hate because they suck - Teams we hate because they are amazing - Teams we hate due to their abject banality

Twins lefty Mitch Horacek joins to chat about the plight of minor league baseball players during COVID. During a candid conversation he discusses the need for union representation in the minors, goes into the moral conundrum of 'staying ready' for a spot on a COVID hit team, and talks about his own diversification into the world of web development to get by. This is a fascinating, and pretty heart...

MLBPA certified agent Joshua Kusnick joins to offer his perspective on whether the season should/will go ahead, the stagnation of the free agent market, the impact on his client Carlos Asuaje and the systemic racism across baseball as a sport, viewed from his perspective having represented high-profile black players such as Michael Brantley, Lorenzo Cain and Jeremy Jeffress.

In the first of a series profiling those in key baseball roles ahead of a season unlike any other, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic Cincinnati joins us to talk about how the job of reporting might be changed forever by COVID-19 and the MLB's approach to baseball in 2020. In a wide-ranging, and thoughtful chat he considers the parallels between open access clubhouses in MLB and the Premier League...

Play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti joins Russell and Darius to talk about the role of the broadcaster, calling KBO games from his living room, the prospects of the White Sox and a 2020 MLB season, and how a tuba got him into broadcasting.

Darius, John and Rob attempt to untangle the moral conundrum that will be the 2020 MLB season. Will it even happen? Does anyone care? What happens if a key player pulls out? Who'll spring surprises? And most importantly - should they have done Baseball Big Brother instead?

Veteran of over 150 Big League games with six clubs, and current KBO ace with the Lotte Giants, Dan Straily joins John and Russ to chat about his career - including the impact of coaches and front office figures such as Gil Paterson, Brent Strom and Dick Williams - and his decision to head to the KBO. Dan shares awesome insights on sharing the clubhouse with Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Christian...

Former Padres pitcher and coach, and current pitching coach for the Adelaide Giants of ABL, Josh Spence joins us to chat about the opportunities of college baseball, winning the College World Series with Arizona State, turning down a $1m signing bonus and getting out his idol - Chipper Jones - on MLB debut.

Alex Fast of Pitcher List joins Russell and Darius to discuss the site's recent PitchCon event, diversity in fantasy baseball, how to analyse pitching, shifting attention to the KBO, and much more.

Current Melbourne Aces coach and LA Dodgers scouting co-ordinator joins Russell to chat about his time helming Team Australia to Olympic silver, the cultural differences between US and Japanese baseball and signing Daisuke to the Red Sox.

Former Miami Marlin, St Louis Cardinal and NC Dino Xavier Scruggs joins John to chat about the Cardinals Way, playing on a Marlins roster up close to Ichiro, Bonds, Yelich, Stanton and Jose Fernandez, and the impact of GB coach Liam Carroll on his pro career. They also discuss his new venture, Xtraordinary Athletes, which taps into the hidden skills and knowledge of his fellow pros and discuss an...

John is joined by Dutch baseball icon Rick van den Hurk to talk about his journey from the streets of Eindhoven to sharing a clubhouse with Miguel Cabrera and Aaron Boone; his unlikely chaperone as a displaced European kid in Fort Lauderdale, how Asian baseball helped cure his bitterness at a year on the waiver wire and his elevation from 'Jong Orange' team reject to WBC ace.

Rachel gets Rob, Russell, Ben and Darius to draft the aspects of baseball they'd most want if starting a brand-new franchise.

Guest hosts Helen Atkinson and Sarah Briggs chat to former Miami Marlin and current Rakuten Monkey Justin Nicolino about life in Taiwan and his career in the bigs.

John is joined by Darius, Rob, Russell and Tom to talk through their baseball bucket list. There were five categories to stop them going way off-topic, they were: - Item To Own - Player To Meet - Experience - Collection - Baseball Skill Well, the categories were supposed to keep everyone on-topic, however it got weird quickly. Thanks to Russell Baseball Facial Hair Museum, Tom's Bartram Bum Platfo...

Brad Balukjian, author of 'The Wax Pack', joins Rob to talk about how the book came together, his epic 11,000 mile journey to find all the players, and his elaborate scheme to meet Carlton Fisk.

Eric Hacker spent six seasons in the KBO with the Dinos and the Heroes - there's really no better guy to introduce the culture of baseball in the country and some of the top players he played with over his time out there. He also goes deep on the impact of tech on his game, and his love/hate relationship with legendary KBO prankster Oh Jae-Won. This is a belter.

Former Detroit Tiger and Houston Astro Darin Downs, a man who has won baseball championships on three continents with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, the Melbourne Aces in the ABL and the Monkeys in Taiwan's CPBL, joins John to chat about his storied career, give further insight into one of the only pro leagues currently running worldwide and to hint at the next chapter in his baseba...