PODCAST · sports
Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball
by Bret Sayre
Mike Gianella and Jon Hegglund of Baseball Prospectus take a deep dive into current fantasy baseball topics.
Episodes
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Episode 345: Trade Deadline Postmortem
We are back to being a fantasy baseball podcast! Mike and Jon discuss the fallout from the 2026 trade deadline, looking at the general shift that the additional wild cards have made to the timing if deal-making, as well as the specific weirdness of a Monday deadline when many leagues run their...
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Episode 344: It's a Soccer Podcast (with Sam Hale)
This one's for the old heads. We have good friend and erstwhile producer Sam(uel) Hale on to chat about the beautiful game. Sam, as executive producer and host for FC Dallas Radio, talks about his up-close World Cup experience in Dallas, what it's like talking soccer on TV, and why you should…
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Episode 343: A Very Average Podcast
We're back for a discussion of one single category: yes, the famously tricky...batting average (though Jon thinks you should switch to OBP like a modern person of taste and intellect). We talk about AVG vs. OBP, how to approach a team that is last in the category, and we go through a little...
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Episode 342: It's Alright, Ma (It's Only Early May)
After sitting out April, your fearless Flags duo return to check in on the State of Things in early May. We largely cover two topics, each based on a recent piece by Mike at Baseball Prospectus. The saves landscape: is it different in 2026? or just variations on a theme that has been with us for...
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Episode 341: Draft Retrospective and Season Preview
Alas, the real baseball is here! We chat about the misfire of Netflix's opening night before going through some topics related to both the draft season that has just ended and the real season just underway. Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball information,...
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Episode 340: Mike's Tout Wars Draft + Starting Pitching Road Map
If you looked at the Tout Wars Mixed Draft, which took place on Tuesday, March 3rd, you may have noticed that your friendly neighborhood co-host avoided starting pitchers like they were germ-ridden toddlers, in effect conceding two of the ten roto categories. Why did he do this? What were his...
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Episode 339: Outfield Positional Preview
You think life is long, with endless opportunities that can always be postponed to a later date. And then you feel the cold breath of mortality on your neck and you find yourself drafting Dom Canzone as your third outfielder. Carpe diem, friends! Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus…
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Episode 338: Some Thoughts on Draft Strategy and the Closer Pool
Rather than go through the tiers of relief pitchers (yawn), we offer you a little intermezzo within our positional previews. We talk about the first 8 rounds of an NFBC Draft Champions league they are co-managing, highlighting the decisions they've made from the 15 spot (the notorious "wheel")....
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Episode 337: Shortstop Positional Preview
We talk about the top-heavy talent pool at the six this week. If you don't grab one of the top six shortstops, you're probably OK. But if you wait until after pick 200, there's not nearly the depth that there is at second base. So be careful out there! Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus...
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Episode 336: Third Base Positional Preview
Tricky draft pool at third base this year. Beyond your obvious superstars (Ramírez, Caminero) it gets dicey, but there are a surprising number of players that give you more than just power. But, if it's power you want, we are both big Eugenio Suarez fans, particularly since he is going back to...
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Episode 335: Second Base Positional Preview
Second base looks pretty barren at the top--only three players being drafted in the top 100!--but turns out to be a deep and diverse pool once you get beyond the first six or seven rounds. We look at players we are variously hot and cold on for 2026, and we talk strategy--particularly the…
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Episode 334: Catcher Positional Preview
Catcher? Is interesting? For fantasy? Yes, it's true--it is a more interesting and varied position than in recent years, largely because the position has gotten much younger. Mike and Jon discuss whether (and which of) these young backstops are reason for excitement or caution. Also, a mild...
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Episode 333: First Base Positional Preview
We are off and running with our 2026 positional previews, starting at first base. We talk about most of the cold corner performers that you are likely to draft this season, and we mostly (but not always!) agree. First base looks different than it did a decade or two ago (a 30-steal guy? really?)...
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Episode 332: 2025 Outfield Review
We review outfielders from the 2025 season. You think this position is deep? Well, it's ~complicated~. We refer to Mike's positional retrospective article, which you can find here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/article/103300/fantasy-retrospective-2025-outfield/ Flags Fly Forever is…
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Episode 331: 2025 Middle Infielders Review
We review middle infielders from the 2025 season, looking at the landscape at each position. We refer to Mike's positional retrospective articles, which you can find here: Second Basemen: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/article/102736/fantasy-retrospective-2025-second-base/ Shortstops:...
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Episode 330: 2025 Catchers and Corners Review
After a summer sabbatical, Flags is back for the offseason! We review catchers, third basemen, and first basemen from the 2025 season, looking at the landscape at each position. We refer to Mike's positional retrospective articles, which you can find here: Catchers:...
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Episode 329: The My Bloody Valentine of Fantasy Baseball Podcasts
Hello strangers! After a two-month hiatus, Flags is back. I'm sure the anticipation was not nearly at the level of the follow-up to My Bloody Valentine's epochal 1991 release, Loveless, but Jon tortures that analogy anyway. We do a general check-in of things at the thirdway point of the season,...
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Episode 328: Starting Pitching Overview and Strategy
Instead of a granular, detailed look at the starting pitching tiers, we take a 50,000-foot view of the landscape, identifying three large "chunks" of the draft: the early rounds (1-6), the middle rounds (7-18), and the late rounds (19-end). We tackle some strategic questions, based on the latest...
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Episode 327: LABR, WERF, and Outfield Preview, Chapter 2
Mike and Jon talk about two recent drafts they were in: Mike in the LABR Mixed Draft, and Jon in the WERF draft (one of the leagues in the overal EARTH competition). We make some observations about starters, relievers, and drafting speed. Then we get to the second half of our outfield preview,...
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Episode 326: Outfield Preview, Chapter 1
We get through the top 2.5 tiers of Mike's outfield rankings, spending a bit of time on the Ronald Acuña Dilemma. Elsewhere, we weigh in on the robust group of promising young outfielders in the five- and four-star tiers (Chourio! Duran! Merrill! Langford! Wood! Butler!), are back in again on...
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Episode 325: Shortstop Preview
Finally, a position with some truly elite players! We discuss the relative merits of Gunnar and Elly in the first round, why Francisco Lindor and Trea Turner might be more similar than you think, if CJ Abrams has another level, and other topics du jour at the six. Plenty of flawed but intriguing...
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Episode 324: Third Base Preview
Like a fresh-baked pizza left in the snow, the corner known as third base starts pretty hot but cools down quickly. Do you like cold pizza? Then stick around to hear why we're concerned about Rafael Devers and Royce Lewis, and we're not buying any Nolan Arenado bounceback hype. Mike convinces Jon...
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Episode 323: Second Base Preview
Mike and Jon would never police your keystone decisions (get it? Keystone Cops?) but we do take a deep dive into Mike's tiers at a position that is best described as "globular." Many of the top players are on downward-descending aging curves, and there's a pretty thick middle where you can find...
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Episode 322: Catcher Preview
After some Very Important Weather Talk we dive into a position with both promise and disappointment (often embodied in the same player). We compare and contrast early-round young bucks Adley Rutschman and Yainer Díaz, debate what might be left in the tank for Sal Perez and J.T. Realmuto, identify...
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Episode 321: First Base (and DH) Preview
Welcome to preview season 2025! We begin our positional previews with a corner that is not just cold, but downright Arctic (at least before cliimate change melted all of the sea ice) past a certain point. We have mild disagreements about Matt Olson and Josh Naylor, and I beef with Fangraphs over...
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Episode 320: 2024 Starting Pitcher Review
At last, we have gone through our positional reviews for 2024 (yeah, we skipped relievers, sorry), finishing up with starting pitchers. If aces didn't always ace, they at least held serve (Spencer Strider being the exception, sob). Some nice innings consumers in the next tier down, and the lower...
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Episode 319: 2024 Catcher and Corner Infield Review
We continue with our positional group reviews from 2024, this time focusing on catchers and corner infielders. Jon had some occasional mic trouble but Mike mostly says the smart stuff, anyway--so no big loss there! Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy baseball...
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Episode 318: 2024 Middle Infield Review
We continue with our positional group reviews from 2024, this time focusing on middle infielders. Shorstops were great! Second basemen, not as much. Also, listen to Mike beoming audibly disturbed when Jon whispers the words "Wenceel Perez." Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For...
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Episode 317: 2024 Outfield Review
We're back! Mike and Jon revisit Mike's preseason tiers to see just how the OF position stacked up in 2024. From the first round (what happened to Julio?) to those waiver-wire gems (Brenton, Jurickson, and Lawrence...hello). Flags Fly Forever is a Baseball Prospectus podcast. For more fantasy...
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Episode 316: Main Event Victory Lap
We did it! In our very first try at the NFBC Main Event, we finished 121st out of 855 entries, which sounds mildly impressive at best. But more to the point, we won our league, completing a dramatic reversal of our early-season misfortunes (well documented in earlier episodes). After briefly...
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Episode 315: Reviewing 2024 Draft Strategy
Everyone is already drafting (whether mock or real) for 2025, but we at Flags decide to look back at the board from 2024 and ponder some questions about the first round, about what happened to the elite starting pitchers (spoiler: they were pretty good, Spencer Strider aside, womp womp), about...
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Episode 314: Trade Deadline Fallout
Since the last podcast, a lot has happened in the world. One of things that hasn't happened is the White Sox winning a single game. Today we avoid current events to discuss some fallout from the trade deadline, with quite a bit of attention to the closer landscape for the rest of the season.…
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Episode 313: More Patience than Axl Rose
Hey, it's (just past) the middle of the season, so Mike and Jon talk a bit about how patience with slow starters and consistent FAABing have worked wonders for their suddenly-halfway-decent Main Event squad. Then we dive into Mike's midseason valuations, which you can find here:...
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Episode 312: History Lesson (with Larry Schechter)
We have a conversation with Larry Schechter, fantasy legend and author of the new book, The History of Fantasy Sports. We talk about how the history of fantasy baseball is more complex than you might think, some of the people and personalities that led us to where the game is today, and where it...
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Episode 311: Midseason and Midlife Conversations (with Jeff Erickson)
Mike and Jon welcome Rotowire's Jeff Erickson for a free-range conversation centering on our midseason process, specifically as it relates to player evaluation, the timing of cuts and adds, roster management, FAAB strategy, and how we balance our time spent on baseball with, you know, living our...
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Episode 310: Valuing Players At The End of May
Mike and Jon talk about the tragicomic Mets, the utility of rolling three-week samples, not holding too tightly to fast starters who slow down, and then we conclude with a little game where we discuss players whose rest-of-season value has changed the most, for better or worse. Sorry, Bo…
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Episode 309: Talking about Texts about Baseball
What to talk about as the MLB season rounds the first-month post? Well, Mike and Jon text regularly about many things--and a good portion of those are baseball-related. So we looked at a few text exchanges we've had over the last couple of weeks and continued the conversation "in person," as it...
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Episode 308: Three Men in Action Park (with Grey Albright)
We kick the ass of April doldrums with the help of our Very Special Guest, the one and only Grey Albright of Razzball and ostentatious eyewear fame. After some desultory baseball discussion we talk about New Jersey's favorite defunct libertarian tourist attraction and torture park--I speak, of...
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Episode 307: The Cruelest Month
We're getting all T.S. Eliot on you, because for us, and for fantasy basebal content, April is kind of a dead zone. Rather than overreact to fast and slow starts, we discuss some process points in evaluating your early-season roster and negotiating FAAB at this time of year. We do this through…
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Episode 306: The Gang Does A Main Event
Hey, it's actual baseball season! After the whirlwind of positional previews and draft discussion, we put a cap on the 2024 draft season by discussing the NFBC Main Event team that Mike and Jon drafted. It was the first time either of us had participated in a Main Event, and we talk about our...
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Episode 305: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Auctions (But Were Afraid to Ask)
We take the occasion of the recent Tout Wars auction weekend to do a deep dive on auctions--what we prefer, how we prepare, and some strategies and advice for those new to the format. We love auctions! In this episode we discuss: Why in-person auctions are so fun and rewarding How preparation and...
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Episode 304: Tout Mixed Review + SP Strategy + Using Bid Limits
Bit of a mixed bag this week: We review Mike's Tout Wars Mixed League draft from earlier in the week. (You can see the draft board here: https://www.fantrax.com/fantasy/league/1ojcq64zltc8i9la/draft-results) We talk (again) about your strategy for drafting starting pitchers, and why Mike…
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Episode 303: Outfield Positional Preview
We talk outfielders this week, and given the size of the position, we did more of a strategy overview than deep dives on indivdual players. It's an interesting year at the position--great, five-category options up top but a fairly long tail of useful players deep into the 200s, and beyond. Flags...
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Episode 302: Reviewing the LABR Mixed Draft
We step away from our positional previews to discuss the LABR Mixed League draft, which Mike took part in on Tuesday, February 20. We talk about the difference between stand-alone leagues and larger multi-league competitions, strategies for the first four rounds, how to respond to early spring...
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Episode 301: Shortstop Preview + Draft Strategy
We continue our march through the positions, spending this episode on the somewhat top-heavy position of shortstop. We go through our ADP tiers, discoursing on the following players: Bobby Witt Jr. Trea Turner Francisco Lindor Corey Seager Elly De La Cruz Gunnar Henderson Bo Bichette CJ Abrams...
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Episode 300: Third Base Positional Preview
Our corners, we like them hot. Mike and Jon discuss just about every third baseman under the sun as we motor along with our positional previews. Featuring: José Ramírez Austin Riley Rafael Devers Royce Lewis Manny Machado Alex Bregman Nolan Arenado Josh Jung (with appropriately bad puns) Spencer...
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Episode 299: Second Base Positional Preview
Hey friends, it's keystone time, and also stick around to find out why Mike utters the sentence, "second base is our kids." Before we go full Dadcast, however, we do discuss the following players: Mookie Betts Ozzie Albies Marcus Semien José Altuve Nico Hoerner (and the Problem of Stolen Bases)...
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Episode 298: First Base Positional Preview
New year, new producer, but your same old hosts are back. Mike and Jon talk first basemen for the upcoming 2024 season. We go through tiers of NFBC average draft position, and discuss the following players: Freddie Freeman Shohei Ohtani (UT) Bryce Harper Matt Olson Pete Alonso Vladimir Guerrero,...
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Episode 297: World Series Reaction Special
The season is over, long live the season. Or something. Anyway the lads recorded what ended up being their final episode of the regular season during Game 5 of the World Series. Hear them react to a new champion being crowned. Before that, Mike and Samuel went back and forth on what they feel…
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Episode 296: Now With 100% More Baseball
Oh hi there. How have you been? We've been fine, thanks for asking. If you want to hear about baseball, this is the episode for you. There's a lot of discussion about fantasy off the top, specifically evaluation in hindsight. Real nitty gritty stuff if you're into that. If you're not, fear not!…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Mike Gianella and Jon Hegglund of Baseball Prospectus take a deep dive into current fantasy baseball topics.
HOSTED BY
Bret Sayre
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball have?
Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball currently has 345 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball about?
Mike Gianella and Jon Hegglund of Baseball Prospectus take a deep dive into current fantasy baseball topics.
How often does Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball release new episodes?
Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball publishes regularly with 345 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball?
You can listen to Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball?
Flags Fly Forever Fantasy Baseball is created and hosted by Bret Sayre.
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