Episode 522: Kim is Back!

One by one, the Asians in Baseball have been eliminated from the postseason, leaving Christian Yelich's grandfather's DNA as the only Asian representation in the World Series. We shout out the heroics of Kwan, Matsui, Sasaki, and Mune, and we lament the fall of the mighty Dodgers. One happy moment from Ohtani was all we had in the NLCS, and then...poof. Congrats to the Brewers and Rays. Whoever wins will bring a World Series home to their respective city for the first time ever. Enjoy the series, y'all. We may not have baseball for a while with the looming lockout. But we'll keep the conversation going this offseason. Stay tuned.

This week we recap the Wild Card matchups and get into the Division Series matchups. There are still plenty of Asians in baseball to root for. Will Ohtani break out? Yamamoto continues to add to his legendary postseason greatness, Yellich is...stealing bases? Ha Seong Kim is solid defensively. Who will make it to the League Championship Series? And of course we talk about handbags, fashion, and the racist Chop in Atlanta. There's something for everyone.

Announcement! We recorded this episode here for you earholes AND on video for you eyeholes! That's right. You can watch Kim, Naomi, and Scott make faces, roll eyes, and scowl at the IL list. So the 2026 season is in the bag, but we still have a lot of Asians in baseball to follow. We give our last thoughts on surprises and disappointments of the season before jumping into prognostications for the postseason.This week in the Wild Card series we have the Braves v Phillies, Cubs v Padres, the Yankees v Red Sox, and White Sox v Astros. The Dodgers, Brewers, Rays, and Guardians are waiting for the winners of these series for the Division series this coming weekend.

Kim makes her return from the ML (maternity list) to lead the crew through the week's highlights. Scott talks about driving to Sacramento to see Bateman and Okamoto (no relation) play the A's, and we discuss what to do with Ohtani now and in the future.

This week we talk about some hot hitters like Steven Kwan and Brett Bateman, who is also lighting up social media with his play on the field and his smile and charisma off the field. In a dark year for Toronto, the Asians are the bright spots.Naomi has a potentially controversial take on how to handle Ohtani for the rest of the season, and we give the bump to the pitchers not named Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Naomi and Scott continue holding it down as Kim settles into her new family life. We talk about Hao Yu Lee, Kumar Rocker, and we ask why the hell isn't Jahmai Jones getting more at-bats? He is beyond hot right now. Then we put Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto head to head to compare their epic rookie seasons. In the final segment we go deep into racial identity and talk about the issues of being a mixed-race Asian in the MLB. Some players openly talk about their Asian cultures, while others shy away from it. It's really just the start of a conversation that we feel is necessary as we continue to celebrate our guys as both fully AAPI, and mixed-race.

We were off for a couple of weeks because Kim had a baby. That's right. For the past few months, she has powered through gestating a human inside of her and gave her all to you, our beloved listeners. Kim and Jon are home with the baby now, and all is well. Congrats to the family!This week we give some love to the new Womens Professional Baseball League, we welcome Brett Bateman and clear up his identity, and we discuss how the Dodgers should use Roki Sasaki in the postseason.As always we recap some of the highlights from the past two weeks, and try to carry on without our fearless leader, Kim.

The weather isn't the only thing that's hot right now, and we've got the latest on the heat wave!First up, the As get a boost from Park Chan Ho's investment group Team61 as Ken Jeong and Daniel Dae Kim are added to the team.In position player news, Tsung Che Cheng gets sent down and (potential Dodger?!) Kyle Higashioka is on the IL, Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami send big homers and are rewarded with breaking a record (Kaz) and a cursed sushi push pop (Mune), and Hao Yu Lee's simple confidence extends his historic hit streak.Ohtani is "slumping" due to his wonky knee, but he's still contributing and working on returning to pitching.In pitcher news, Sasaki vs Manaea ends in an ideal outcome, Tomoyuki Sugano has returned to peak Tommy Sugar form, Joey Cantillo gets the bump, and Go Woo Suk is sent to the minors in a very confusing move. Which brings us to our hot topic of the week: are Korean-born players held to a higher standard than Japanese-born players in MLB??

Welcome back from the All-Star Break! First, we chat our late All-Star adds Riley O'Brien and Munetaka Murakami, Rintaro Sasaki and Kenny Ishikawa are drafted, and the Dodgers are going back to the White House (ugh).In position player news, Jahmai Jones is off to the red hot Red Sox and JJ Wetherholt signs a massive extension, Masataka Yoshida and Hao Yu Lee have big games, and Steven Kwan is back to his rightful throne in the leadoff spot.The Ohtani report shows he's still hitting as well as ever...but what's going on with Ohtani the pitcher??In pitching news, we have the Good (Yamamoto, Imanaga, Woo, Go), the Bad (the Mets and with them Senga and Manaea), and the Weird (Roki Sasaki and his gigantic yellow glove). And finally, our hot take for the week: Have the Yankees actually...done right by Volpe?

While Naomi and Kim are out conquering the world, Scott and Daren talk Home Run Derby, Roki Sasaki, and the decision to go to Trump's White House. Squadcast was Squadcasting and cut off the session abruptly, but luckily it was at the end.