Battery Mates - the Podcast

Episode 129: Thirsty Thursdays with the Nuts Battery Mates Matthew and Toby are joined by Brent Colburn, Obama alum and VP for communications and public affairs at Princeton University, to go around the horn on Pittsburgh’s allergy to first base, the crackdown on Sticky Stuff™, MLB teams’ role as leaders in the community, and pitchers getting hurt being hitters.

Episode 128: Playing a Bit Rubbish Battery Mates Matthew and Toby are joined by Run For Something co-founder and Astros fan Ross Morales Rocketto, who dishes on his ballpark routine, why he hates the Rangers, and why he’s embracing being the haters this year. All three go around the horn on the Tomahawk Chop still being a thing in Atlanta, the Manfred-aided plot to strong-arm the city of Oakland o...

Episode 127: The Most Sarcastic of the Double Plays Battery Mates Matthew and Toby check in quickly on how things are going across the pond after the implosion of the Super League and go around the horn on fans being in the stands… players being vaxxed… hitters being historically bad… Angel Hernandez maybe being worse… the Astros getting sad about fans getting mad… and the rule that prevented John...

Episode 126: Soccer Is Actually an English Word Battery Mates Matthew and Toby turn to Chief Over-There Correspondent Matthew McGregor to explain what just happened with the proposal and rapid collapse of a European Super League, and then go around the horn on COVID outbreaks, players’ vaccine hesitancy, new rules being tested in the Atlantic League, and the latest political fallout from the reloc...

Episode 125: The Absence of the Feeling of Shame Battery Mates It’s the first actual breaking-news episode of Battery Mates, as Matthew and Toby react to the news that MLB will move the 2021 All-Star Game in response to Georgia’s new voter suppression law. Breaking News music from Fesliyan Studios (https://www. FesliyanStudios.com).

Episode 124: We're All Goddamn Winners (Even the Mets) Battery Mates Glory! Glory! It’s Opening Day! Matthew and Toby play back all of the submissions to the 2021 Preseason Predictions Contest and revel in the arrival of a new season.

A Special Announcement Battery Mates It's just three days until the baseball games start counting. That means the deadline for the annual Battery Mates Nation Preseason Predictions Contest is approaching fast. (That deadline is Wednesday, March, 31, at 9a ET). Here’s how to enter (it takes about a minute) — use your Voice Memo app to answer these six questions: 1. What's your name? 2. Who's your t...

Episode 123: You Have to Remember That Greg Abbott Is an Idiot Battery Mates With two weeks to go before Opening Day, Matthew and Toby are joined by Justin Barasky, celebrated fan of the Clevelands who spent 2020 taking back the Senate as a senior advisor at the DSCC. The horn is gone around on the Rangers’ plans to have a full house for their opener, Trevor Bauer’s latest exhausting behavior, the...

Episode 122: The Quiet Part Out Loud Battery Mates Matthew and Toby are joined by Faiz Shakir, chief political advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders and his 2020 presidential campaign manager. The ball gets whipped around the horn on the Tatis extension, the Mariners CEO’s remarks at a local rotary club, gambling’s creep into sports media, and the creep that is Mickey Callaway. Faiz shares stories from h...

Episode 121: You Are at Work After the First Pitch Battery Mates As pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Matthew and Toby launch Season Six with a visit from Mike Casca, Dodger fan and communications director for Sen. Bernie Sanders, for a wide-ranging discussion on MLB’s continued efforts to use the media to screw over the players in advance of the CBA expiring, juiced and unjuiced ba...

Episode 120: We Dont Have the Word Ornery Battery Mates Matthew and Toby get together for a wintry mix of conversations about Curt Schilling not getting enough votes, the Clevelands making Toby sad, other payroll-slashing owners, Rob Manfred’s latest gambits, Matthew’s new favorite baseball card, and where folks should and shouldn’t buy pillows.

Episode 119: It's Literally Christmas Eve Battery Mates Matthew and Toby catch up on news from the offseason, discuss the ways Rob Manfred keeps messing things up, and lay out what’s in their letters to Baseball Santa Claus.

Episode 118: This is Not a Breaking News Podcast Battery Mates Matthew and Toby do their best to remember the World Series, dive deep on Rob Manfred’s handling of the Justin Turner debacle, discuss what the offseason has in store, and reveal the anxiously awaited results of the 2020 Preseason Predictions Contest.

Episode 117: The Team Is Based in St Petersburg Anyway Battery Mates Matthew and Toby preview the World Series, if that’s what you want to call it, and make the case for the team everyone should root for. The Research Department pulls together some data on what this World Series could portend for the election, and way too much time is spent analyzing a Trump tweet about Fauci and his Nationals mas...

Episode 116: Gabrielesque Battery Mates As the Championship Series get under way, Matthew and Toby check in on the Clevelands’ early exit, the aggravating Astros, and other reasons people aren’t all that jazzed about the 2020 playoffs.

Episode 115: Million Dollar Mascot Battery Mates Matthew and Toby meet for one last “regular” season check-in to discuss how our teams have fared and go Three Up, Three Down on the Cy Young Award going through Ohio, Sean Doolittle’s (maybe) final games with the Nats, the wonder that is Jose Ramirez, Washington getting another high draft pick, Joe West being awful (surprise!), and the only plausibl...

Episode 114: Before the Me-Star Break Battery Mates Matthew and Toby touch base on the latest cases of COVID in the clubhouse, continued drama for the Clevelands, scams that involve Curt Schilling, and the final throes of baseball’s unwritten rules.

Episode 113: An Item of Some Controversy Battery Mates Matthew and Toby take a hard look at the Democratic ticket and the teams Joe and Kamala root for, and then go Three Up, Three Down on the A’s-Astros pandemic brawl, the Cleveland pitchers’ pandemic gall, incidents of maybe-accidental white supremacy, Tito’s TMI health issues, a troubling fantasy baseball pitcher profile, and criminal charges i...

Episode 112: A Second Run Batted In Battery Mates Matthew and Toby record a special episode on the heels of some big breaking news: A second team has players test positive for COVID-19, and the best in the game goes on the paternity list.

Episode 111: Decimate Means One in Ten and This Is Worse Than One in Ten Battery Mates Matthew and Toby get together for another bound-to-be-immediately-outdated chat about the new baseball season and try not to “get all political” about what the Marlins outbreak means for the entire enterprise.

Episode 110: Spring Training for Babytime Battery Mates It’s Opening Day! Matthew and Toby prepare for the first pitch of the 2020 MLB season and celebrate with the annual tradition of listening to YOUR Preseason Predictions. What a time to be alive!

Episode 109: Ready to Be Up Al Night Battery Mates Matthew and Toby touch base shortly before the abbreviated baseball season begins (and shortly before Matthew becomes a dad for the second time). Entries for the 2020 Preseason Prediction Contest are due by 3p ET on Wednesday, July 22nd. To enter, just fire up your Voice Memo app, and answer these six questions: 1. Who are you? 2. Who's your team?...

Episode 108: The Please Leave Bell Battery Mates Matthew and Toby discuss the apparent return of the baseball season, and all the ways it’ll be a weird one. But more excitingly, Matthew is joined by the Hon. Alex Norris MP—an actual real-life Member of Parliament representing the seat of Nottingham North who also happens to be a huge Orioles fan—for a Half-Hearted Attempt at Empathy.

Episode 107: I Had to Buy a DVD Player Battery Mates Matthew and Toby are joined again by Kate Stayman-London for a long-awaited discussion of the enduring film Major League , which is about the redemption of the Clevelands and therefore is forgiven for all of its flaws.

Episode 106: We Should Have Kept These Teams in Quarantine Battery Mates This is not your typical Battery Mates episode. Matthew and Toby play a round of coin-toss baseball and invite you to listen in. So you really have to ask yourself: Are you really that desperate for baseball? Do you like listening to grown men flipping coins (which Toby is somehow very bad at)? If you answered yes twice, this...