This week, for our surprise return - the first episode of season 2, which is a preview for season 3?? - the thing Jordan and Nick love about baseball is Kim Ng! Also no we don't think recording an episode a month after the season ended after not recording any episodes during the regular season is weird at all, why do you ask? We also do a very brief free agent roundup - because there isn't much to talk about because it's a #ColeWorld - discuss whether we think the COVID-shortened plague season worked, and throw virtual tomatoes at Robinson Canó.Our non-baseball things were:- Nick: Nick's mother-in-law Cynthia for holding it down for Thanksgiving- Jordan: Sliding into your DMs likeThanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 11/27/20)

Leadoff Grand Slam

#31: The Fifth Guy Who Looks like Macklemore: Kim Ng, Steve Cohen, and a Giant KBO Sword

This week, for our second offseason episode, the thing Jordan and Nick love about baseball is basketball! Because being a baseball fan this offseason was rather depressing, and mostly Jordan and Nick prefer to enjoy basketball rather than behold the objective awfulness of Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball.Fun fact though, we recorded the afternoon of Tuesday the 4th, and on Tuesday evening they announced the Brusdar Graterol trade - aka the Mookie Betts trade if you're pedestrian like that. Which isn't much less depressing but is more fun? If that makes sense. So they recorded a lil' supplement on Thursday the 6th.We also talk about the Florence Y'all's, Derek Jeter, and the big story with Minor League baseball which is definitely not just dogs.Our non-baseball things wereThanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Video of Mike Clevinger getting a tattoo (???) and explaining why the Astros suck buttsSheryl Ring's story about Alex Verdugo's uninvestigated involvement in a sexual assaultWhere you can buy silipint glasses from Duluth Trading Company (Nick's non-baseball thing)A bunch of stuff related to the great thriller writer Megan Abbott (Jordan's non-baseball thing)- Dare Me on USA Network - based on Abbott's book; she's a writer for the show too- You Will Know Me, the book Jordan read that was so good he couldn't read it at night because he would just not sleep and read all nightWhere you can watch the steroid documentary Screwball on Netflix (tbh I can't remember if we talked about this, but we talked about it before we started recording and it's great and you should watch it)Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 2/4/20 and 2/6/20)Screwball

#30 | Spatula Wrist: Basketball, The Blockbuster BRUSDAR GRATEROL Trade, and Bookie Mets

This week, for their first offseason episode, the thing Jordan and Nick love about baseball is Blake Snell's Twitch Stream! We also talk about bad photoshopping, how deepfaking is the future of baseball, and why Rob Manfred is bad this week. He's bad every week, but there's a new reason this week. We also spend a good five minutes complimenting each other.(Also, Jordan here: I realized I said I took Rachel to see her favorite band but never said what the band is. it's Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Check out them doing "S.O.B." live on the great British music show Later with Jools Holland.)Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Peter Lerangis - aka Nick's dad - NYT-bestselling author of the Seven Wonders and Max Tilt seriesBlake Snell's Twitch streamJordan's friend Watson's Twitch streamThat YouTube video Jordan watched about how to shave his beardA Vox video about voguing for dumb white guys like JordanNative actor/activist Dallas Goldtooth's daughter's 7th grade social studies assignmentLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 12/14/19)

#29 | The Astros are a Deepfake: Blake Snell's Twitch Stream, MLBeards, and Rob Manfred is a Cartoon Villain

This week, for their final episode of the 2019 season *sob* the thing Jordan and Nick love about baseball is bandwagons! We spend the first part of the ep gushing about the Nats, the bandwagon we jumped on for the World Series. (Except we found out just after we recorded the episode that the Nats are MAGA hat-ers, which completely yucked our yum. So the Nats are actually cancelled, but we didn't know that when we recorded most of this episode. Woof.)The rest of the show is devoted to our LoGS End of Year Awards, aka our Senior Superlatives, a word that Nick is physiologically unable to say: we've got ump butts, butterfly gloves, perfect slides, and cotton candy fatwas. It's a blast.Our other baseball podcast is the Fangraphs Baseball Podcast - not to be confused with Effectively Wild, one of the other great Fangraphs pods. (There are more! We'll probably feature them in future episodes.) It's hosted by Meg Rowley, and like everything else associated with Fangraphs, it's great. Follow Meg and Fangraphs on Twitter - WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE THIS ALREADY - and subscribe to the show.Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Thicc umps‘Sometimes baseball can be brutal’: After a spectacular September run, the Brewers’ season ends in October heartbreak (The Athletic)Sheryl Ring's flame emoji Alex Bregman tweetMolly Knight's tweet of the series about Daniel Hudson/R*****o O***aCarGo hugsLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 11/4/19)

#28 | Senior Soup Latives: Bandwagons, LoGS End of Year Awards, and the Nats are Cancelled

This week, the thing Jordan loves about baseball is federal baseball! Baseball in Washington, D.C. (This is a solo ep for Jordan, as everybody else was busy. Accordingly, it's a shortie aka a Leadoff Grand Slam Short Porch, which is something we're determined to make happen.)In addition to giving you a brief history of baseball in our nation's capital, I'll also thoroughly meh the ALCS, get very mad about that dickhead Yankees fan, and talk about robots, Frankenstein, and Jesus. It's a Jordan solo, so it's a weird one.Our other baseball podcast is actually an other baseball *thing.* It's the Foolish Baseball YouTube channel! FB does deep dive statistical analysis on subjects like Clayton Kershaw at his peak and why Tim Locastro should be your favorite weird baseball player, all wrapped in a delightful 16-bit video game aesthetic, complete with pixel art and music from Final Fantasy VI on the Super Nintendo. It's a perfect Venn diagram of Jordan's interest. Follow Foolish Baseball on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Roger Ebert's review of Andrew Dice Clay's Dice RulesJordan’s piece on tender sports for MEL MagazineAssemble with Care on the App Store (available via Apple Arcade)Monument Valley on the App Store (not available via Apple Arcade)Billy's Tweet about Frankenstein and JesusPedro Capó - "Calma"Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 10/18/19)

#27 | Calma: Federal Baseball, Arguing with Robots, and Frankenstein & Jesus

This week, the thing Nick and Jordan love about baseball is pitch tinkering! You'd think we'd love the various CSes but nope, ALL our teams got knocked out, so we love something evergreen and theoretical rather than timely. (Though Kyle Boddy got hired by the Reds a few weeks ago so it's sorta timely.) We also talk a bit about the Braves tomahawk thing and why that organization so richly deserved to lose after engaing in the most perfunctory kind of course correction that actually did more harm than good. And finally, y'all get to hear Nick go gloriously papa bear about David P Samson's dumb dumb dumb tweet about Daniel Hudson wanting to be there for his wife and his child. It's beautiful and stirring.Our other baseball podcast is the Productive Outs Prodcast! It's the podcast corollary to the great great twitter account from Riley Breckinridge and Tim Miller of PUIG DESTROYER, Jordan's favorite baseball-centric semi-parodic grindcore band. (Riley was also in Thrice, which is deeply cool for certain people.) Follow Productive Outs and Riley on Twitter, and subscribe! AND FOR GOD'S SAKE LISTEN TO PUIG DESTROYER.Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Preludes by Olivier MessiaenAwful Announcing's piece on why David P Samson is a dumb fucking sexist prickRoger Ebert's review of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Jordan's pick for greatest western of all timeAn excerpt from Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik's The MVP MachinePuig Destroyer's Bandcamp page (PUT OUT A NEW ALBUM PLSSSS)Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 10/14/19)

#26 | Eck "Pitch" Tinkering: Pitch Tinkering, We Hate Baseball (Again), and Nick goes Papa Bear

Happy Belated Birthday, Jordan! We got you a podcast episode! On this week's, our 25th, episode of Leadoff Grand Slam, we have a long-awaited Threedoff Grand Slam! The thing we love about baseball is the nebulous concept of players being "healthy," especially when compared with our own civilan relative good health. We get grossed out by a picture of Anthony Rizzo's destroyed ankle (it looks like a bag of grapes thrown against a wall), talk about Max Scherzer's shoulder, and gripe about how easy it must be for MLB players to get flu shots.We also talk Pete Alonso smashing things on Colbert, the Cy Young predictor that doesn't know about Jacob deGrom, the Acuña hustle BS, the Ross Dobnak "Uber" heckle, Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation pouring 5 beers all over himself on purpose, and we check in on Coach Dave's plants. We also discover Mets players wholesome old tweets.Thanks as always to the great @drawawalkfor our artwork.Stuff we talked about:The Jeff Passan/Brett Taylor challengePete Alonso smashing thingsWholesome old tweets Glenlivet PodsAnthony Rizzo's Ankle (grossout warning)Alex Bregman LOVES October 5thLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 10/5/19)

#25 | The MLB's Pacific Rim: Being Healthy, Pete Alonso's Wholesome Tweets, and some Yoff Analysis

Today, on this solo episode, the thing Nick loves about baseball is depth. Who is the 5th best player on your favorite team? He dug a bit into the WAR leaderboards and analyzed the differences between teams like the Astros and Dodgers, the A’s, and baseball’s least deep team, the LA Angels. Sorry. Nick might like it if Joe Maddon ended up managing the Mets. Not sure. In the season’s second to last game, Pete Alonso hit dong number 53, placing him in the top spot in baseball’s history for rookie home runs. It’s a wonderful thing, and a guy on Twitter got super Philly about it. Pete Alonso also rebranded Right Field. Leadoff Grand Slam picks the Nats over the Brewers and the Rays over the A’s. Zack Grienke has the Noble Failure of the Leake, and Sonia Sotomayor is an asset to any bench. Oh also Hyun-Jin Ryu hit a HOME RUN!Dedicated to Joe. Shana Tova!Also Nick's brother Joe made up the "This is Howie Kendrick" jingle.Our other baseball podcast was also Nick's non-baseball thing of the week aka our other audio content of the week. It's the new EP from Cannon & deVaron [Spotify | Apple Music]!!!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Korean call of Babe Ryu’s HRSpanish call of Bartolo’s HRPete Alonso cries because he’s a sweet little bearPete Alonso rebrands Right Field, is a published poetSonia Sotomayor throws a strikeNick’s new EPLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 9/30/19)

#24 | This is Howie Kendrick: Depth, Pete Alonso’s 53rd HR, and Soto(menor) y Sotomayor

This week, the thing Nick, Jordan, and Bill love about baseball is second half stars! This is a serious one, y'all! We talk a lot about Felipe Vazquez, Domingo German, and Joe Torre sputtering moronic, incoherent banalities about why MLB wouldn't let the Mets honor 9/11 first responders - banalities that turn out, we decide, to be cynical in a deeply depressing way.Eventually we climb our way out of the darkness and have some fun: Amir Garrett sprinting away from Kyle Schwarber - our Beef of the Week - the end of September roster expansion, and Ronald Acuña approaching the 40-40 club - not the Jay-Z one. But we're not going to pretend all this bad stuff didn't happen. So it's a serious show!Our other baseball podcast is The Lead from The Athletic and Wondery! (Because it's a co-production, it's the rare Athletic podcast that is not behind a paywall.) It's a general sports podcast hosted by Anders Kelto and Kavitha A. Davidson, who Nick went to high school with! It's a great show, so please subscribe and if you like the show, PLEASE give them five stars, because butthurt white guys are review bombing it and we just can't have that. Subscribe and follow Kavitha and Anders on Twitter!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Agadmator covers the FIDE Chess World Cup (Bill's non-baseball thing)Kendrys Morales injures himself leaping onto home plateA writeup of Jordan's sketch show Goddamn, Mitt in the Columbia Chronicle from 2012 holy crap he cannot believe he found thisThe website for Jay-Z's 40-40 ClubLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 9/20/19)

#23 | Pepé Le Pew at the Dish: Second Half Stars, CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, and Horrible, Horrible Men

This week, the thing Nick and Jordan love about baseball is...nothing? We love nothing about baseball? That can't be right, can it? Yes, our theme for this week is *nothing,* because both Nick and Jordan are of the opinion that despite the on-paper chances for the Mets and the Cubs, it's just not going to happen for them. (Just listen, it'll make sense.)We also do an injury update, we talk about Mike Fiers' G Beard, and we mehhhhh our way through a discussion of the single-season home run record being broken.Our "Of the Week" Of the Week is "Stick a Fork in It" Of the Week: Our definitive scientific analysis of who, despite still having an ostensible chance elimination-number wise, is done for the season.  Our other baseball podcast is Talking Chop, the Braves podcast from the SB Nation fansite of the same name. (We do not condone the chop, but we might condone the wordplay.) It's a great show! Subscribe to the show and follow its host Brad Rowland on Twitter!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:That review of Black Leopard, Red Wolf that Jordan mentioned (NPR)Howie Rose ripping the MLB for not letting the Mets players wear 9/11 tribute cleats (The Yardbarker)The butterfly landing on Yankees reliever Zack Britton's glove (Cut4)Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 9/15/19)

#22 | The Next Bad Boy of the Chicagoland Organ Scene: *Nothing*, The G Beard, and Howie Rose is a god

This week, the thing Nick and Jordan love about baseball is no-hitters! Because come on, Justin Verlander. (Coach Dave is off this week.)We also talk about the firing of Dave Dombrowski, we do an old player check-in - did you know Justin Turner is 34??? - and we come to the unanimous and thoroughly scientific conclusion that Enemy of the Pod™️ Gerardo Parra is responsible for the resurgence of the Washington Nationals.  Our other baseball podcast is The Drew Goodman Podcast with Julie Browman. Drew is the play-by-play commentator for the Rockies on AT&T Rocky Mountain Sportsnet, and Julie is a former sportscaster who's now the public information officer for the Adams County Fire Rescue! (Jordan here: this is the most deeply Denver thing and I love it.) The Rockies have had a TERRIBLE season, but that doesn't mean you can't support Julie and Drew. Subscribe and follow Drew and Julie on Twitter!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:An explainer for Marvel's crazyballs "House of X" X-Men event (Jordan's non-baseball thing)Fine wooden chopsticks at Williams-Sonoma (Nick's non-baseball thing)Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 9/9/19)

#21 | Justin Verlander's Third Birthday Party: No-Hitters, An Old Player Check-in, and PARRAAAAAA

This week, the thing Nick and Coach Dave love about baseball is September Callups! They're the pumpkin spice of callups. They're not Pete Alonso. They're not Vladdy Jr. They're not even Aristedes Aquino. But they're fun, sometimes. We talk about the amazing NYT profile of Altagracia Alvino, the woman who begat both Vlads Guerrero and cooks for hundreds of Latin ballplayers. We are sad that nobody is Jamie Moyer, and nobody will be until Steven Matz goes to Korea, develops a slurve, and pitches until 2030. Our Noble Failure of the week is a high-five gone wrong. Our other baseball podcast is Starkville, the Athletic podcast with Doug Glanville (himself a September callup of yore) and Jayson Stark. They kind of also get into what they love about baseball so they're close to our heart.  Stuff we talked about: Altagracia Alvino is worth a ton of WAR and Luis Severino forgot to clean his Tupperware Aristedes Aquino is very good, better than Greg VaughnThe Cardinals, ugh, are winning a lot Pete Alonso got the cold shoulder, or hand, from Jacob DeGromSheldon Neuse is the beneficiary of Khrush's paternity leaveMatt Harvey is still in the headlines Links:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 8/30/19)

#20 | Where Have All The Jamie Moyers Gone: September Callups, Altagracia Alvino, and Dave has a conspiracy theory

This week, the thing Jordan and guest host Bill Porter love about baseball is "the switch!" (Coach Dave and Nick Lerangis are off this week.) "The switch" is moment in August when we go from the doldrums of summer baseball to the excitement of the stretch before the playoffs. (Don't worry if you haven't heard of the switch before; Bill made it up.)We also talk about Derek Holland's noble and most likely misguided butthurtedness on Twitter, why PECOTA is always right and you should never be excited about anything, and the umpteenth rise of the Dark Knight, Matt Harvey.Our Other Baseball Podcast of the Week is The Ringer MLB Show! Michael Baumann hosts, and Zach Kram and Ben Lindbergh are his most frequent guests. It's a wonderful, insightful show and they're some of our favorite baseball people. Follow Michael, Zach, Ben, and the Ringer on Twitter, and subscribe!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.(Btw, I said Billy Hamilton had 12 stolen bases this season; he actually had 18.)Stuff we talked about:Seong-Jin Cho performing a piece from Debussy's Children's Corner suiteFleabag on Amazon PrimeA great piece about Billy Hamilton for The AthleticLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 8/18/19)

#19 | It’s Important Not to Get Too Excited About Things: "The Switch," Derek Holland, and September Predictions

This week, the thing Nick and Coach Dave love about baseball is defensive highlights! Jordan is off this week, and sorely missed. Nick and Dave agree that home run highlights are boring. Who wants a two-camera-angle-needing dinger highlight that needs much context when you could have a silky smooth barehanded catch and throw across the diamond?We talk about the crazyballs NL Wild Card, decide that position player pitching is broke and pitcher position play is woke, and recap the Beef of the Week, which is Orioles Beef! Dave shares his Negative Nancy takes on everything, and we talk about Norway. We also sing quite a bit. Nick is the ASMR Mets fan.Our other baseball podcast is The Show Before The Show, a podcast about minor league baseball (!!!) hosted by Sam Dykstra and Tyler Maun - who also hosts the Purple Dinosaur Podcast, our OBP for Episode 3! Follow Sam and Tyler on Twitter and subscribe!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Javy Baez's lefty swing Chris Davis and Brandon Hyde get into it Citi Field finally is a fun place to watch baseball Luis Guillorme catching a flying bat Vince Velazquez plays a mean left field Michael Lorenzen plays a mean right fieldLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 8/9/19)

#18 | ASMR Mets Fan: Defensive Highlights, NL Wild Card Madness, and The Orioles Got Beef

This week, the thing Jordan (yes, valiant, solo Jordan) loves about baseball is the Cubs radio broadcast team. He does an incredible improvised version of Pat Hughes' ad lead-in, and waxes poetical about Hughes and Rons Coomer and Santo. We/Jordan also do/does a Trade Deadline Recap (tl;dr: the "big" trades broke late but were big, holy crap the Astros are tight, the Mets are confusing, the Reds are that pathetic person who starts dating the toxic ex of a friend, the "medium" trades were medium).The Pirates and Reds are getting to a really rough place in their relationship, friends. They had a real slobberknocker of a fight.Our other baseball podcast of the week was Tipping Pitches. Subscribe!Thanks as always to the great @drawawalk for our artwork.Stuff we talked about:Pat Hughes is awesome at his jobThe Trade DeadlineThe Dodgers will serve Park's BBQ at Dodgers Stadium The Pirates/Reds Punishment MenuJack Kirby's Fourth WorldLinks:Leadoff Grand Slam on TwitterLeadoff Grand Slam on Apple PodcastsLeadoff Grand Slam's Website(Recorded 8/2/19)

#17 | Until The Wilpons Trade Themselves into The Sun: The Cubs Radio Booth, The Trade Deadline, The Reds and Pirates’ Slobberknocker

A podcast about what we love about baseball. Hosted by Jordan Ryan Pedersen and Nick Lerangis - and sometimes Bill Porter or Coach Dave. Theme song by Nick Lerangis. Art by the great @drawawalk.

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Leadoff Grand Slam

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