Tipping Pitches

[From Feb. 19, 2018] On this episode, Alex and Bobby banter a bit about baseball’s resident dad Mike Scioscia, the return of The Freak, and Hunter Pence’s board game/video game/comic book/live streaming/podcasting café in Houston (a.k.a our new recording studio). Then they bring on writer and prolific tweeter Eireann Dolan to talk about activism in baseball, a painfully slow offseason, baseball re...

[From March 12, 2018] Inspired by an article by Zach Kram at the Ringer last year, Bobby and Alex take a deep dive into the history of “Backyard Baseball,” the kids-video-game-turned-cult-classic that they grew up with. They bring on Nick Mirkovich, one of the game’s co-creators, to talk about the game’s inception and its evolution through the years, and speculate on why the game remains so firmly...

Hi everyone, We'll be taking a small hiatus from the show. In the meantime, we'll be running old classics and hidden gems from before many of you were subscribed. Thanks for your understanding, we look forward to being back with new episodes soon! —Alex and Bobby

Please enjoy this 'Moneyball' watchalong commentary track, unlocked from the Tipping Pitches Patreon , while Alex and Bobby take the week off from the feed to recover from the chaos of Billionaire Hunting. 'Moneyball' is currently streaming on Netflix in the United States.

Bobby and Alex discuss the sale of the Baltimore Orioles to billionaire hedge fund manager David Rubenstein. Then, in one of their most unhinged efforts ever, they run through the Forbes list of the 100 richest people in America to try and find a new owner for the Oakland Athletics. Links: Michael Baumann on the sale of the Orioles ⁠Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠Tipping Pitches merchandis...

Bobby and Alex banter about a World Series between the most likable teams, then discuss the bubbling age fraud story in the Dominican Republic and its fallout, run through a grab bag of listener topics, and float an idea for how to raise the stakes of the Hall of Fame selections. Links: Age fraud in the Dominican Republic  Adrian Beltre gets the call to the Hall   Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon...

Alex and Bobby try and parse Amazon’s rescue of Diamond Sports Group and what it means for the future of broadcasts, then discuss Jerry Reinsdorf’s quest to make his mark on the South Side with a new stadium, and dive into what Sports Illustrated’s untimely demise means for the future of the media landscape (it’s not great!). Links: Amazon investing in Diamond Sports Group White Sox in “serious ta...

You know him, you love him. It's FanGraphs writer Michael Baumann's fifth time appearing to assess the state of labor in baseball, which this year features a macro-analysis of the minor league CBA, a final consensus on whether deferred money in player contracts matters all that much, and predictions over whether streaming's collapse will have adverse effects on labor in the future. Sub...

New year, same Tipping Pitches. Alex and Bobby ring in 2024 by running through some REAL baseball news (the contents of Jeff Passan’s Twitter account) over the last few weeks, including a pair of moves from the Red Sox, even more rule changes, and Harrison Bader (that’s right). They also make some New Year’s resolutions, field some listener questions, and start planning out Alex Rodriguez’s presid...

Unlocked from the Patreon feed, Alex and Bobby give you a podcasters' commentary of the seminal coming-of-age baseball flick The Sandlot. Come for the Green Onions lore, stay for the Stevie barks, maybe leave for when they eat s'mores. TO GET MORE PATREON CONTENT, SIGN UP AT: patreon.com/tippingpitches Links: ⁠Tipping Pitches merchandise⁠ Songs featured in this episode: Counting Crows — &q...

Bobby and Alex banter about colds and cold opens before delving into the disastrous discourse that is Shohei Ohtani's whopping $680 million of salary deferral and what it means for the Dodgers competitive balance tax bill. To close, they tell you everything you could possibly ever want to know about the Mariners and ROOT Sports and why you might actually not need to know any of it. Links: Shoh...

Alex and Bobby discuss Shohei Ohtani’s free agency and the resulting media frenzy, Juan Soto’s heel turn, and a prospective Orioles sale, then bring on Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman of Céspedes Family BBQ for a game of Overrated/Underrated that includes MLB.tv, Jumbotrons, ballpark flyovers, Jackie Robinson, and more.  Links: John Angelos says the Orioles aren’t for sale   The doomed search for...

Bobby and Alex open with a dramatic reading of the New York Yankees statement on the death of Henry Kissinger and try to parse why the hell a baseball team would feel the need to release it. Then, they speed round (lol) some news items from the last couple weeks, including Ohtani and Soto rumors, Steve Cohen’s casino, and more. Finally, they open the mailbag to allow a bevy of listeners to yell at...

Bobby and Alex are joined by Christine Goodwyne and Andy Anaya of Pool Kids to recount the band's hilarious connection to Pete Alonso, give an update the Pete/Pool Kids saga, talk about their last year of touring, writing new music, creative influences, meeting Hayley Williams, and more. Links: Pool Kids' website Pool Kids Pete Alonso tweet ⁠⁠Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon⁠⁠   ⁠⁠Tipping...

Bobby and Alex give some quick reactions to the owners’ unanimous vote to relocate the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas, then bring on recently-retired reliever Trevor May to talk about his second career as a content creator, how his rant against A’s owner John Fisher went viral, what Fisher’s motivations for selling the team might be, the end-of-season gift the notoriously penny-pinching A’s owner got al...

Reprising their roles as the arbiters of all things Dumb in the baseball world, Stephen, Lauren, and Jane from Batting Around join Alex and Bobby to do their incredibly on-brand yearly drafting duties. Links: ⁠⁠Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon⁠⁠   ⁠⁠Tipping Pitches merchandise ⁠⁠ Songs featured in this episode: Smut — "After Silver Leaves” • Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”

Bobby and Alex come together to recap a dominant Texas Rangers run that ultimately ended in a somewhat pedestrian World Series. Then, they expand the scope of the conversation to include some retrospective thoughts on the 2023 season at large, including how pitcher usage is affecting our relationship to watching the sport, what we learned about what "all in" means for teams, and more. Al...

Bobby and Alex ideate some outside-the-box baseball Halloween costumes, then dig into some surprises from the World Series thus far, including the Dbacks’ apparent non-fraudulence(?), Tommy Pham’s intensity, critical analysis of the Global South, and drone technology. Plus: predictions for Scherzer vs. Pfaadt, the announcement of a Game 5 watchalong, and a lot of hot yoga talk.  Links: Join the Ti...

Alex and Bobby reflect on some main takeaways from the ALCS and NLCS, including why you don’t start beef in the middle of a series, the arrival of Adolis García, the podcast’s hand in the Phillies’ elimination, the Rangers’ need for a karaoke machine, and more. Then they give some predictions for the World Series and share what they’re looking forward to, including a pivotal moment for Chris Young...

Bobby and Alex build out a concept for a World Series documentary on the heels of Taylor Swift’s box office success, then look back on the various Division Series and ensuing eliminations, including a desperate string of narratives in Atlanta, Sonny Gray’s One Bad Start, some legitimate scheduling gripes, and powerhouse teams going silently into the night, before answering some listener questions...

Alex and Bobby check in on Bob Nightengale’s recent predictions record, then take stock of the playoff picture thus far, including whether the “right” teams made it to the division series, the most compelling matchups to watch this round, which teams are poised to come back after losing their first game, Kershaw and Verlander in October, and more. They also give Jerry Dipoto some PR lessons, make...

Alex and Bobby assess the 2023 playoff field and which teams have the most compelling narrative cases to win the World Series. Plus, they assign two teams, respectively, as the hero and villain of this year’s October. Links: Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon  Tipping Pitches merchandise   Songs featured in this episode: Olivia Rodrigo — “bad idea right?” • Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”

Alex and Bobby run through a grab bag of topics from the last couple weeks, including David Stearns as the prodigal son, meet the new Trop (same as the old Trop), some certifiably Bad Vibes in San Diego, the end of The Chaim Bloom Era in Boston, the finer points of uniform typography, Yusei Kikuchi’s sleep habits, James Cameron’s “Titanic,” and more. They also talk to Allison McCague from A Pod of...

It had to be something special for the 300th episode: Alex and Bobby do a “power hour” while answering your questions, ranging from cities they’d want to live in, a fictional A-Rod and Taylor romance, eggplant parmesan vs. lasagna, and much more. Plus, they finally deliver on the long-promised two hour episode. Strap in! Links: Join the Tipping Pitches Patreon  Tipping Pitches merchandise  Songs f...

Alex and Bobby discuss some mediocre yelling at clouds before moving on to talk about the Nationals’ mishandling of the Stephen Strasburg retirement situation. Then, they check in on a pair of lawsuits against MLB, before finishing with their favorite topic: the Nevada state legislature! Submit questions for a Tipping Pitches milestone Links: David Wells’ comments at Old Timers’ Day Two lawsuits a...