Flipping Bats and Winning Games

Inspired by the King, the Jedi, and the McRib, Flipping Bats & Winning Games has Returned! In this episode, Mitch and Ursula catch up and talk about the Mets' acquisition of Carlos Carrasco and Francisco Lindor, the Yankees' quiet offseason, and, y'know, everything else. We're glad to be back!

As a tumbleweed passes by, Ursula talks about COVID-19, baseball, and COVID-19's effect on baseball.

Mitch and Ursula, in this rollicking episode of Flipping Bats & Winning Games, break down the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal, the decimation of MLB's managerial ranks, Yoenis Cespedes' losing fight with a wild boar, and much more!

The season is over, so join Mitch and Ursula as they plunge headlong into the offseason. A smattering of everything gets talked about, including awards, Brandon Taubman and the Astros, a shoutout to our friends at Resting Pitchface, and much more!

Tyler Skaggs got some of his drugs from team officials, there might be an opioid epidemic in MLB, the league is messing with the balls again, the average salary is going down... There's a lot to deal with as baseball fans right now.

Content Warning: Discussion of domestic violence, sexual assault, and pedophilia. Mitch and Ursula tackle discussing Domingo German's domestic violence allegations, Felipe Vazquez's _horrifying_ pedophilia arrest, and some stuff that's actually good! The Yankees are a good team! Christian Yelich was in the Body Issue! Pete Alonso!

Mitch and Ursula get caught up on what's been going on since the last episode. The topics include the New York Injury Parade, various suspensions and fights, and much more!

Mitch and Ursula are joined by Travis Sawchik and Ben Lindbergh, bestselling writers of The MVP Machine, for a jam-packed conversation about their new book, Trevor Bauer, player development, the Grand Junction Humpback Chubs, the latest Mets clubhouse kerfuffle, and much more!

Mitch and Ursula banter about baseball's continuing domestic violence epidemic, Yoenis Cespedes' injury, their All-Star ballots, and much more!

Mitch and Ursula are joined by Frank Grouch, standup comedian, Phillies fan, and friend of the podcast! In this fun, wide-ranging conversation, we talk about Rhys Hoskins' baller home run trot, further Yankees injury woes, and much more!

Baseball is pain and the Yankees are dead. Other than that, things are pretty good! Mitch and Ursula discuss the surprisingly-good and very-fun Rays, the Yankees' worst-case scenario coming to life, the Mets' uneven season, and much more!

Mitch and Ursula are joined by Tim Ryder, who is a senior writer at MetsMerized and one of our favorite guests yet! This wide-ranging conversation touches on the Yankees' injury woes, Ozzie Albies' heinous extension, and much more!

Baseball is back! Yay! But along with baseball's return came something that triggered what might be Mitch's angriest rant yet...

Mitch and Ursula are finally joined by friend of the podcast and one of sportswriting's best and most important voices, Britni de la Cretaz! (@britnidlc on Twitter) This wide-ranging and fascinating conversation covers MLB's labor problems, the intersections of sports and gender, sports and queerness, and very much more! One of the best conversations we've had yet.

In this belatedly-delivered episode recorded on February 24th, Mitch and Ursula discuss Manny Machado's free agent deal with the Padres, the state of labor peace in MLB, the beginning of free agency, and much more!

In this jam-packed return to podcasting after a frozen-stove hiatus, Mitch and Ursula touch on everything that has happened and not happened since our last episode. Both of us are encouraged but also exasperated by moves the Yankees and Mets have made, Mitch gets unexpectedly emotional about the Hall of Fame, and Ursula tells us about the Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards Dinner she attended!

Mitch and Ursula catch up on all the stuff that's happened these last few weeks!

Ursula and Mitch are joined by Josh Kantor, Fenway Park organist since 2003! In a warm, wide-ranging conversation covering music, baseball, travel, and much more, some love is shared between New York and Boston.

Mitch and Ursula are joined by Sheryl Ring of Fangraphs, who has carved out a niche at the intersection of law and baseball, to talk about the Mets' hiring of Brodie Van Wagenen as GM, the inherent humanity of baseball, and much more!

In this episode, recorded mere hours before the Red Sox made it official and won the 2018 World Series, Mitch and Ursula discuss games 1-4, the Mets' GM search, Manny Machado's disappointing performance, and much more!

Episode 60: All Aboard the Brewers Bandwagon by Flipping Bats and Winning Games

Recorded shortly after Monday's tie-breaking Game 163s, Mitch and Ursula reflect on David Wright's career and last game, the upcoming playoff picture, the 2018 Yankees' record-breaking season, and much more!

In advance of David Wright's final game in MLB, Mitch and Ursula catch up on a world of baseball news and give their thoughts on Wright, Addison Russell, and much much more!

Rain in Washington, a brawl in Seattle, a choking in Detroit, and much more highlight this week's episode!

Mitch and Ursula are joined for a wide-ranging and very fun conversation by Roger Cormier, formerly of the Good Fundies podcast. Topics covered include Marc Carig's recent excellent article about David Wright's health woes, the Cubs' trade for Daniel Murphy, and much more!

In a long-awaited reunion show after a summer of vacations and the occasional guest, Mitch and Ursula catch up on a lot of things, offering their opinions on the Houston Astros' loathsome trade for Roberto Osuna, the wonderful return of Players' Weekend (and the brave new world of emoji jerseys), and for the first time, Mitch explicitly and openly gives his opinion of some moves from the perspective of a queer baseball fan.

While Mitch is in Wisconsin vacationing in the beautiful countryside, Ursula and Sydney of Resting Pitchface fame discuss the All-Star break, the Home Run Derby, Josh Hader's fall from grace, and Brandon Nimmo's NYC appeal.

Mitch and Ursula banter about the firing of Mike Matheny by the St. Louis Cardinals, discuss the Cardinals' apparent organizational dysfunction, run down the Home Run Derby bracket, and much more!

Our deepest apologies both for the lateness of this episode and for some technical difficulties contained in it. There were some hiccups in the editing process, so we present a full unedited conversation (with a couple of mistakes in it) about the All-Star selections, John Mozeliak's grossly unprofessional public slandering of Dexter Fowler, and much more!

In honor of the Yankees' Monday-night resumption of half of a game against the Washington Nationals, here's half of an episode of FBWG! Technical issues struck and rendered the first half of the episode unusable, but we still pack in plenty of discussion of the Mets' current strengths and weaknesses, and much more!

In our 50th episode, Mitch and Ursula discuss the first iteration of this year's Subway Series, Tim Lincecum's release from the Rangers, and we issue an impassioned plea to stop being dicks and just let people like things.

Mitch and Ursula discuss Giancarlo Stanton clowning on Mike Fiers, their all-star ballots, and much more!

In a slightly-truncated episode recorded live in person for the first time, Mitch is joined by friend of the podcast and repeat guest Asher to run down a slightly desolate (and drenched) week in Yankees baseball, and follow up on a couple of things from the last episode. Much fun ensues!

With Ursula in Norway, Mitch is joined by everyone's favorite history-podcasting baseball nerd, Mike Duncan! Mike and Mitch discuss Ichiro, Shohei Ohtani, and what it will take for the Mariners to find thus-elusive playoff success.

Joined by the great J. Keith Van Straaten of the excellent Go Fact Yourself podcast on the Maximum Fun network for the first half of the episode, Ursula and Mitch discuss Albert Pujols' 3000th hit, Ichiro Suzuki's emeritus position, and much more!

Mitch and Ursula discuss the week's happenings in baseball, starting with sending our best and sincerest wishes for a quick and full recovery by Danny Farquhar, then talking about the state of the Mets' rotation, the Yankees maybe turning things around, and much more!

Recording on Jackie Robinson Day, one of the most important days of the season, Mitch and Ursula reflect on MLB's continuing to fail the African-American community, in addition to discussing the current plague of weather-related cancellations of games and much more!

Mitch and Ursula provide their thoughts on how MLB keeps messing everything up. In this case, it's the Facebook-exclusive games. Also, Mitch mildly despairs over the Yankees and Ursula is shocked by how good the Mets are.

Spring Training is too long, Ursula doesn't trust Mickey Callaway, and Mitch ranted so intensely about the "Save America's Pastime Act" that he gave himself a headache. All that and more, on this week's episode!

After an unintentional hiatus, Mitch and Ursula return to discuss Spring Training, Mike Moustakas' travesty of a contract, Noah Syndergaard throwing 100+ in his first start back, and much more!

In today's episode, we discuss the Yu Darvish and Todd Frazier signings, the impending not-quite-demise of Chief Wahoo, and we talk prospects for a little bit. Well, Mitch does.

After a great time at the Queens Baseball Convention, Mitch and Ursula catch everyone up on the latest news during this cold, cold hot stove season. Then, inspired by Jeff Passan's recent article about baseball's broken economic system, Mitch unloads his rantiest rant yet at ownership and the Yankees' luxury tax plan.

New York is frozen, and so too, it seems, is Major League Baseball. In one of the slowest and quietest off-seasons on record, Mitch and Ursula still brave the tundra to bring you their thoughts on free agency, potential trades, and whatever scraps of actual news we can find.

In a week with rather little by way of actual news, there's still rant material! And, in a Christmas miracle, Mitch discovers just how much he actually cares about the Mets.

In this very special episode, Mitch and Ursula are joined by friend of the podcast Asher (@low_rax) to discuss, celebrate, and dissect the blockbuster trade that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees this weekend.

In this episode (recorded before the first round of teams were eliminated from the Ohtani sweepstakes), we run through the latest Ohtani and Stanton rumors, consider the outlooks for the Yankees and the Mets in 2018, and much more!

We run through our thoughts on the finalists for the big BBWAA awards, review the Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers, and much more!

In this episode, recorded mere hours before the start of World Series Game 5, Mitch makes a bold and accurate prediction! ...And then immediately walks it back for having been too bold. Hopefully this bodes well for our other discussion topics, like the Yankees' managerial search and much more!

To celebrate our podcastiversary, Ursula and Mitch bring you a lively discussion on the ALCS (and Mitch's sadness that the Yankees were eliminated), the upcoming World Series and how good it will be for baseball, and the spate of managerial/coaching staff changes that have been happening while the playoff teams have been busy, and much more!

For the first time, Mitch and Ursula are BOTH joined by a special guest! Mike Duncan, one of the deans of history podcasting, stops by to discuss the playoffs, replay reviews, his patriotic duty to hate the Yankees, the Mariners' future, and his new book The Storm Before the Storm! You can find Mike @mikeduncan on Twitter, or visit his websites at http://www.revolutionspodcast.com and http://thehistoryofrome.com

With Mitch away, the Mets fans will play! With the Mets-less playoffs underway, I recruited Roger from Good Fundies (pictured in our thumbnail)to discuss our respective bandwagons, salty fanbases, and the status of the Mets' dearly departed trade-ees.

We preview the wild card games and division series, talk about the Yankees' unexpectedly good season, and look at what the Mets will have to deal with over a sure-to-be-long offseason. (NB: There are some audio problems in this episode, and we sincerely apologize for that.)

We laud Oakland Athletics rookie Bruce Maxwell's decision to kneel for the National Anthem, discuss race in America and MLB, in addition to much else.

We discuss the end of Cleveland's historic winning streak, the need for Cleveland's baseball team to change their name, and much more!

With Ursula under the weather, Mitch flies solo to update y'all on the Yankees and rant about batting around.

We send our best wishes to Victor Martinez, discuss good and bad things that have happened to the Mets & Yankees, and discuss the recent David Wright injury news. (NB: The podcast was recorded before the announcement of Wright's upcoming rotator cuff surgery.)

In a jam-packed return to regular podcasting, Mitch and Ursula discuss Rich Hill's no-hitter that wasn't, Michael Conforto's tragic injury, and Mitch unloads his rantiest rant yet at the Detroit Tigers and MLB Umpiring Crew 2.

For the first time, Flipping Bats & Winning Games has a guest! Mitch hangs out with JT Terán of Rising Apple to talk trade deadline, Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, the absurdity of the 2017 Dodgers, and much more!

On what would have been José Fernández's 25th birthday, we discuss the impact his tragic death had on us, in addition to covering the impending trade deadline, Mitch's joy at seeing David Robertson come home to the Yankees, Mets Twitter's explosion over an unwisely-phrased comment by Yoenis Cespedes, and more!

We put a bow on All-Star Week by discussing the greatest Derby we've ever seen, offering suggestions for how it could get better, and trying to pick contestants for next year. In addition, we discuss the All-Star Game itself and a couple more recent events, namely Pablo Sandoval's time in Boston coming to an end.

Mitch unloads a double-barreled rant at the New York Daily News and New York Post, before we both dissect the Home Run Derby bracket and discuss general All-Star selections.

We discuss the Mets' seeming unfamiliarity with the 10-day disabled list, the "juiced ball" "controversy" and whether or not we should care, MLB transparency, and the impending Home Run Derby again, because everyone loves dingers.

Episode 18: The Perfect Derby? by Flipping Bats and Winning Games

We're back after a couple of unintended delays to talk about the mystery that is Masahiro Tanaka's 2017 season and a bevy of other baseball banter.

Terry Collins did some dumb shit, and we have some opinions about it. Also, Masahiro Tanaka might be back, Aaron Judge hit his first career grand slam, and yet again, pace of play comes up.

This week, we tackle the continuing wonderfulness of Aaron Judge, Kevin Pillar's homophobic slur, and the continuing problems with the Mets' medical staff.

A jam-packed extra-long episode in which we discuss Aaron Judge, All-Star voting, and the circus that is the 2017 Mets.

We recap the last couple of baseball-filled weeks, covering the Yankees' 7-game winning streak, the Mets' injury concerns, and our experiences at Pitch Talks and other baseball events with shout-outs to our friends at a bunch of other podcasts!

Mitch flies solo this week to give a brief update on when to expect the next episode, and to gush about the Yankee's home opener, particularly Michael Pineda's almost-perfect game.

The Yankees' Opening Day shellacking sends Mitch into a nihilistic downspin, but he recovers as we discuss small sample sizes, injuries, the WBC, 5th starter competitions, and close out the episode with some hot takes and bold predictions.

Mitch goes to bat for catch probability and other Statcast information, while we also cover the continuing awesomeness of the WBC, further sad information about Jose Fernandez, the painfulness of almost-great pitchers, and all kinds of other news as the season rapidly approaches.

Mitch and Ursula reunite to celebrate the continuance of spring training (with Mitch gushing about the Yankees' unsustainable Spring success) and complain about MLB's relentless pursuit of pointless pace of play and game time reforms.

Episode 8: Dumb Rule Ideas, Dumber Quotes by Flipping Bats and Winning Games

On a tragic day for baseball, Mitch and Ursula discuss the losses of Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte, the end of Tim Lincecum's career, and the elections to the Hall of Fame of Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez.

With Mitch's triumphant return, we catch up on some news and then Mitch rambles about the Hall of Fame.

With Mitch incapacitated by wisdom tooth extraction, Ursula brings you FBWG's first solo episode! The Eddie Matz article to which she refers: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18312236/the-new-york-mets-gonna-good-2017-just-ask-them

Episode 4: The New CBA by Flipping Bats and Winning Games

In ep 3, we talk BBWAA awards, angry Pirates fans (happy birthday Jeff Locke!), Nathan Eovaldi's fate, & Mark Feinsand's questionable judgment.

We talk about José Fernández, the World Series, Cubs on SNL, Bartolo "Big Sexy" Colon's move to Atlanta, and more in our long-awaited Episode 2!

Hello world! In our first episode, we discuss the end of Even Year Bullshit, the upcoming Cubs-Indians World Series, and more!