Baseball Podcasts

Living in the UK tends to greatly reduce your exposure to baseball, although this is improving with services like MLB.TV and the growing number of available podcasts. Podcasts are a fantastic way to keep abreast of baseball news, and with the number of shows to choose from, there is bound to be something there you like and want to listen to.

Two weeks ago, if you'd have put a gun to my head and told me I could only keep one podcast, I would have taken ESPN's 'Baseball Today' show. Hosted by Eric Karabell, the show also featured Keith Law and Mark Simon who co-hosted on alternate weeks, as well as frequent guests like David Schoenfield and Jayson Stark. Karabell's style was inoffensive, with years of podcast hosting under his belt he had an easy style that kept the show flowing and avoided awkward moments. The real genius of the show lay in the hands of Keith Law who is simply the finest writer in baseball. The podcast made me laugh, made me think and at the end made me a lot more knowledgeable. Of course, it ended up being too good to last when ESPN inexplicably axed the show a fortnight ago in favour of 'Baseball Tonight' with Buster Olney. As a result I began listening to other pods more frequently, and thought I'd write a piece in which I detail what each show has to offer...

ESPN: Baseball Tonight. Buster Olney hosts this podcast that is a basic spin-off of the nightly TV show. Olney is likeable and knowledgeable, but his speaking style is a bit awkward. This tends to be compounded by the fact he is forced to host by himself, and so has to fill the gaps between pre-recorded interviews with facts and news that could be found online or indeed on TV. If you want a 30 minute round-up of the news then Baseball Tonight is probably perfect, but it lacks charisma and personality and doesn't leave you wanting more. Whereas Baseball Today showed an openness or indeed a preference towards sabermetrics and other types of advances thinking, Baseball Tonight has a greater emphasis on traditional metrics and straight reporting.

Fangraphs Baseball. Much like it's website, the Fangraphs podcast is professional and interesting. Carson Cistulli's style takes a bit of getting used to, as his stop-start manner of speaking can sometimes mask his genuinely quick wit. The pod meanders a lot, but there is a stronger focus on sabermetrics and it's an intelligent view at news and stats. Probably not the best pod to jump straight into without any baseball knowledge, but it's got a lot to offer for the baseball fan.

Baseball America Podcast. Tends to be pretty hit and miss. Some of their shows have me gripped and enthralled, but a lot of them focus more on college baseball which doesn't interest me so much. They focus more on prospects than news and activities, but baseball fans who want to learn more will find this is a podcast that knows what it's talking about.

The Baseball Show with Rany & Joe. On the recommendation of other writers I gave this show a listen despite the fact it hasn't aired for four months now. The two hosts have a good deal of chemistry, and that is often the most important thing in a podcast. More simple view of baseball than the two pods listed above, but an easy listen and plenty of substance to keep you interested. Probably the strongest replacement for Baseball Today that I've found so far.

ESPN: Fantasy Focus Baseball. A guilty pleasure, if you will. The pod focuses solely on fantasy baseball, but is a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Matthew Berry knows his stuff, but has a tendency to ramble and I can see why some people find him annoying. Nate Ravitz is the underrated host who does a good job reigning Berry in and keeping the show on track. Full of cliquey jokes and probably takes a couple of episodes to get used to, but it makes me giggle.

CBSSports.com Fantasy Baseball Today. Another fantasy pod, this time from the boys at CBS. A dizzying number of people on the pod, some of whom don't have particularly pleasant voices, but they're interesting and knowledgeable on the whole. Chemistry between them isn't superb, but is good enough to keep you entertained whilst maybe teaching you a bit about fantasy players.

The Bases Loaded Podcast. A baseball pod produces by Brits?! I was a little wary when I first downloaded the podcast that it would be underwhelming but found myself pleasantly surprised. They've only produced one show so far, and whilst it battled severe sound quality issues (I genuinely couldn't hear half of the guests - and not just because of the Glaswegian accents!) it contained enough analysis and substance to keep me interested. If they can sort the sound issues out then this could be a successful show, which would be fantastic given it's produced by a bunch of fans living in the UK.


There are of course, a number of other podcasts available on iTunes or indeed by searching online. I suggest you download as many as possible, give them a listen and decide which ones you like and which ones you don't as my tastes will likely vary wildly from yours. In the mean time, I hope ESPN is able to come back to it's senses and resurrect the Baseball Today podcast, if only so I can get my daily fix of Keith Law!