Whether they’re willing to admit it or not, every baseball fan has a favourite baseball player. Maybe it’s their favourite team’s current ace, the random right fielder whose jersey they received as a Christmas gift when they were eight years old, or a promising prospect whose career was cut short by injury. In this new series, we’ll be asking British baseball fans to tell us how their favourite player came to be their favourite player and a whole lot more. We spoke to Bat Flips and Nerds San Francisco Giants writer Ash Day (@AshDay29) about his love for their legendary shortstop Brandon Crawfo ..read more

Welcome to the ballpark, the cathedral of summer where the Major League Baseball (MLB) saga unfolds with all the twists and turns of a classic novel. Here, the grass is always green, the hot dogs are perpetually hot, and the roar of the crowd melds with the crack of the bat to compose the most American of symphonies.  This is the domain where MLB odds are pored over by hopeful fans, where fantasy baseball leagues spark camaraderie and rivalry in equal measure, and where statistics are as sacred as the unwritten rules of the game.  Curses are whispered about with earnest solemnity (un ..read more

Whether they’re willing to admit it or not, every baseball fan has a favourite baseball player. Maybe it’s their favourite team’s current ace, the random right fielder whose jersey they received as a Christmas gift when they were eight years old, or a promising prospect whose career was cut short by injury. In this new series, we’ll be asking British baseball fans to tell us how their favourite player came to be their favourite player and a whole lot more. To kick things off, we spoke to BatFlips and Nerds editor Charlie Deeks (aka @Omashaft) about his love of former Atlanta Braves shortstop A ..read more

In this edition of MLB Rivalries, we’ll be looking at another geographic rivalry; the Citrus Series between the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays. Fresh off both teams being knocked out of the playoffs in their respective Wildcard Series last season, Bat Flips & Nerds’ Miami Marlins team contributor Tomi Korkeamäki, along with Rays fan and Bat Flips & Nerds podcast co-host Rob Noverraz, each give their perspective on the rivalry at a time when both teams’ on-field fortunes have started to improve. Miami Marlins Even though the Marlins have a few years more under their belt ..read more

The Oakland Athletics’ long-expected move to Las Vegas took another step closer last week with the owners of all MLB teams voting unanimously in favour of the A’s relocation to Sin City.  In addition to our A’s contributor Brett Walker’s thoughts in an article published earlier today, we’ve also gathered another roundtable of several Bat Flips & Nerds contributors, along with father-son A’s fans from the Oakland area, to give their thoughts on only the second MLB team to relocate this century following the Montreal Expos moving to DC to become the Washington Nationals in 2005.  G ..read more

Finally, the inevitable has been confirmed – last Thursday (16 November), MLB announced that its owners have voted unanimously in favour of the Oakland A’s relocation to Las Vegas.  I would say that this brings to a close an issue that has rumbled on for years, with my very first article for Bat Flips & Nerds addressing the issue, among others.  However, so much is still to be resolved, and I’ve no doubt there will be further twists and turns in the tale before the matter is over and we finally see the A’s (or whatever name they will go by) playing in Sin City.  I have admit ..read more

The concept of this competition was beautifully simple. Pick five hitters who would combine for the most WAR in 2023. However, the list of available players were all worth less than 1.0 fWAR in 2022 but had previously enjoyed 2.0+ fWAR seasons. Hence, the Comeback Kids. The winner was the entrant whose quintet combined for the most fWAR at the end of the 2023 season. MOST POPULAR CHOICES Almost one-third of the entries picked former Rookie of the Year Jonathan India as one of their choices. The Reds second baseman did indeed bounce back from a disappointing, injury-plagued sophomore season to ..read more

In this edition of MLB Rivalries, we’re looking at another cross-city rivalry; The Crosstown Classic between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. This time, we’re really opening a can of worms too, as Cubs fan and Bat Flips and Nerds team contributor Sean Guest and his younger brother Gary, a White Sox fan, will look at what the rivalry means to each team and to the city. Sean and Gary Guest at the 2019 London Series games (image credit: Sean Guest) Just how important is it to not only be the Pride of the Second City, but to have bragging rights in the Guest family? First, given their f ..read more

This is the trickiest of all of the leagues that we ran this year. The strategy starts way before the first-round pick, and the pressure doesn’t let up until your 30th pick. The idea is incredibly simple to understand but extraordinarily tough to execute. Draft a team of 30 players, but you must have one from each of the 30 MLB teams. Do you take the best possible players in the first rounds or do you select players from the lesser teams? Who had the right strategy? Rob Noverraz, who took Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz in the second round or James Holden, who left his Oakland pick until the final roun ..read more

Trying to select a championship-winning team in January is a task that requires either a lot of skill or a lot of luck. This year, Nick Wilson-Smith @nick_dws proved that he had more than enough of both to defeat a competitive field of 14 other participants. You’ve got to remember that when this league was drafted at the end of January, many sage baseball minds thought the Mets were on the brink of a dynasty. The dust was just settling on the Luis Arraez for Pablo López trade; no one was suggesting a Rangers v Diamondbacks World Series, and Spring Training was still a few weeks away. Here are ..read more