My cats kept fucking with me during this one but we stayed on track and talked about baseball pretty much the whole time, except the part where we talked about Hitler.

Stephen, Lauren, and guest co-host Rachel Cholst of Rainbow Rodeo interview Bryan Ruby, a singer-songwriter in Nashville who, in 2021, became the first professional baseball player to come out of the closet while still in the game. Bryan Ruby https://hyperfollow.com/bryanruby Instagram: @bryanrubyofficial Proud to be in Baseball https://www.proudtobeinbaseball.org/ Twitter: @ProudBaseball Instagram: @proudtobeinbaseball Rachel Cholst Twitter: @adobeteardrops Instagram: @adobeandteardrops Rainbow Rodeo Magazine https://www.rainbowrodeozine.com/ Twitter & Instagram: @Rainbowrodeomag Also be sure to check out www.Patreon.com/BattingAround to support the show and get monthly bonuses when you sign up at the five dollar or above level.

Lauren's back, regular season baseball is back, and most importantly we are so back. We catch up with Lauren for some takes she's had bottled up, then we talk about opening day, Bryce Harper's romance novel habit, Jack Flaherty being a Joker Guy, and a bunch of other stuff that's NOT the pitch clock and rule changes.

Lauren is still out for another week but filling in for her is legal podcasting legend Charles Star (@ugarles). We all finally cancel each other in this one but Stephen gets it the worst.

Jane and Stephen recap the WBC and all the discourse around it. Spoilers: they liked it (the WBC, not the discourse).

Yahoo! Sports writer and Hittin' Season host Liz Roscher is back and filling in for Lauren as we talk about everything that's happened in the WBC so far including the upsets and let downs, UK's jerseys and celebrations, appropriating Italian culture, Team Israel's twitter account being the biggest baby in the world, and all the cute stuff with the Czech and Japanese teams. Go to www.Patreon.com/BattingAround to hear upcoming bonus episodes on European baseball and a new Couching Around on Brockmire, and also to join us in watching the WBC final on the patrons-only section of our discord server.

Filling in for Lauren this week are returning favorites Richard Staff and Sean Doolittle. Don't need to say much more, they're all-timers.

Mellie is back and filling in for Lauren this week. We're talking spring training, John Middleton, baseball anarchy, regional water use policies, and mormon conspiracy theories. Sorry for the audio issues, new hardware will be here before the next episode.

Stephen's trip to Ireland. Jacob deGrom's NPC-style answers to basic questions. Another Terry Francona food nightmare. A minor leaguer comes out. Big Boss is back. Then we power rank all the WBC countries' hats and Lauren gives us some insight into the DR national team. This is the last free episode Lauren is going to be on for a few weeks because she'll be out recovering from surgery. If you want more Lauren sign up at Patreon.com/BattingAround because she'll be on our episode coming out next Monday on Eastbound and Down. While she's gone we'll have a few guest hosts fill in for her that you'll love or at least tolerate.

We keep remarkably on track even though spring training hasn't technically started yet. We talk Joe West's internet war, Joey Votto's local chess tournament fits, Bally's bankruptcy, and then Lauren does a deep dive on Japan's WBC roster. Keep an eye out on Patreon.com/BattingAround for a Couching Around on Eastbound and Down season one next week.