Baseball Back on the BBC
Set yourself a reminder for 6:30pm Sunday 26 July as we welcome back Bases Covered Live to our screens.
The dream team of Melanie Newman, Xavier Scruggs, and Felix White are reunited to offer their unrivalled coverage of Prime Time Sunday Night Baseball structured for both newbies and nerds alike.
The matchup features MLB’s two biggest spenders whose 2026 results have spiralled in opposite directions. The 67-38 Los Angeles Dodgers have all but secured the NL West… and we’re still in July. While the 43-65 New York Mets are firmly bottom of the NL East.
Surely a change of fortunes is imminent for the Mets, who have Freddy Peralta on the mound to face Emmet Sheehan.
Catch it on BBC iPlayer and get your questions and comments into the show.
What Else is Happening in Baseball?
So Many Injuries:
With Juan Soto landing on the IL with a calf strain and Shohei Ohtani indefinitely sidelined from pitching, it feels like 2026 is the worst year for injuries to elite players.
Although Jose Ramirez rejoined the Guardians, we now have Bobby Witt Jr. on the IL, joining Aaron Judge and Ronald Acuña Jr. as three generational talents who are banged up.
The injury bug has also hit the early-20-somethings with Nick Kurtz, Roman Anthony, and Konnor Griffin out of action.
With IL-stints for Elly De La Cruz, Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, and Corbin Carroll, I really don’t know who is the best hitter in baseball who hasn’t missed time this season… oh yes, I do ?
MVP incoming for Yordan Alvarez?
The Houston Astros designated hitter is one of the most underappreciated players in the game. Only once has the slugger received enough votes to finish in the top five of MVP, but perhaps that will change in 2026.
For the five years from 2022-2026, the only three qualifier hitters have a wOBA above .400 (or 160+ wRC+): four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, three-time MVP Aaron Judge, and “Air Yordan”
The Cuban superstar – who is still only 29 – leads MLB this season in homers, OPS, and RBI, and is the AL runs and hits leader.
Drake is Back:
Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin finished June mired in a 1-for-40 slump – the worst of his major-league career. Since the calendar flipped to July, the 25-year-old has hit six homers within a 1.024 OPS while hitting .333 AVG.
National League All Over Bar the Shouting?
With just 10 days until the trade deadline, the three leaders of the NL divisions enjoy commanding leads – Braves 5 games, Brewers 6 games, Dodgers 11 games.
Whether you love or hate the new expanded playoffs – 6 teams from each league – you can’t deny that the three Wild Card spots that are up for grabs will keep interest in the NL far longer than the old format.
Catching up with GB Baseball
It was a tough July for the GB teams in the European Championships, with the U12 finishing bottom (8th) in Évry, France, while the U18 finished 7th in Trieste, Italy.
It was a challenging introduction at the helm for the two new head coaches of Matt Moran (who took over from Erick Henson at U18) and Lee Manning (who replaced Chris Ward for the U12) – sometimes, like Spurs managers or UK prime ministers, a change is not always conducive with success.
Softball World Cup
Jasmine Francik’s no-hitter and Georgina Corrick’s 14 strikeouts across two starts were among the many highlights of GB Women’s World Cup campaign in Lima, Peru. The team finished fourth but still have their eyes firmly fixed on securing a spot for the LA Olympics.
Women’s Baseball World Cup gets underway
The tournament is split into two groups – one in Rockford, USA and the other (GB’s group) in Tainan, Taiwan. The Rockford pool has commenced with Canada and the USA currently sitting atop the group at 3-0.
Great Britain kick off their campaign in Taiwan on 23 August, in a group that pits captain Dani Briggs and her team against Japan, Venezuela, Philippines, Cuba, and the hosts Taiwan.
Check out our much-acclaimed article on the Hollywood story that is the GB Women’s Team.
Lockout Latest:
MLB and the Players Association have opened early CBA negotiations, setting up a major labour battle. With owners demanding a salary cap and players resisting, storm clouds gather over 2027.
The smart money is on a disrupted start to the season – maybe a couple of weeks, maybe longer. What am I talking about? The smart money stays in the billionaire owner’s pockets accumulating more wealth.
Bat Flips & Nerds published a piece about MLB owners hypocritically demanding a socialist salary cap under the guise of competitive balance. In reality, it is misdirection designed to suppress wages and maximise profits. – check out the article
Hot take alert! The 2027 NL Cy Young Award winner is…:
Despite only being 21 at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Roki Sasaki was the standout pitcher for Japan’s gold medal winning team. The high-profile move to the Dodgers has not gone to plan, but while injury and inconsistency have dogged the right-hander, his talent has remained undeniable.
His splitter has returned to being unhittable and the 24-year-old is piling on dominant start after dominant start – 19 strikeouts across 18 2/3 innings for 1.93 ERA. When he wins the 2027 Cy Young, remember you heard it first from Bat Flips & Nerds.
Nats Swoop Early in the Trade Window …:
If you Google Early Mead, you will probably find articles about honey-based liquor from 20,000 years ago… unless your algorithm is solely baseball, in which case you will know that the Washington Nationals have traded Curtis Mead for Red Sox LHP Connelly Early.
Boston has too many left-handed pitchers. They are on target to record the third or fourth most starts by southpaws in a single season, yet trading from surplus seldom happens in baseball these days. The return for a former Top 100 prospect who has a 3.44 ERA over 21 starts this season feels light. Not that Australia’s WBC star Curtis Mead isn’t a useful player, it’s just that he was DFA’d by the White Sox earlier in the year, and the trade rumours suggested a more high profile target like Zach Neto or CJ Abrams would be heading to Boston.
New Podcast Incoming:
Life has a habit of getting in the way. Between family, relocations, funerals, new jobs, holidays, forest fires (yes, really), and just about everything else, it’s been a busy few months at Bat Flips & Nerds HQ.
The good news? We’ll be back with a Trade Deadline show and a brand-new run of podcasts landing in your feed very soon.
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