What do baseball and politics have in common? I have no idea, but Henry Olsen does. Actually, the kinds of data measurements we use in baseball can be applied to politics as well, and few do it better than Henry. So in this “classic format” episode, we talk about why President Biden is just biding his time in office, having squandered his election by mis-reading the public mood, and how this may very well tip the off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey to Republicans, as it did in 1993 and 2009, when, in what has become a recurring pattern, Democrats overreach.

Then we talk about baseball—in particular the decline of starting pitchers and .300 hitters, and the rise of the so-called “bullpen game.” Give me those old 20-game winners like Jim Palmer and .325 hitters like Rod Carew and Pete Rose, please.  But you’d expect this from a reactionary like me.

This week Steve Hayward hosts Henry Olsen going through the inside baseball of the unfolding Democratic presidential primary season, but also the inside baseball about . . . baseball! Did you know that the Houston Astros colluded with the Russians and Ukrainians to steal the 2017 World Series! So runs the allegation, with hearings no doubt to follow. In any case, Steve actually stumps Henry by recalling the slowest relief pitcher ever, Don “Full Pack” Stanhouse. (And when it comes to reforming baseball to make it great again, Henry has  a simple proposal: make the fielding gloves smaller. You’ll just have to listen to learn his reasons why—I’m not giving it away here.)

But the main event of this episode is the Democratic field, with new entrants Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg. Henry says to keep an eye on Patrick. We also preview the upcoming British election, which Henry will attend and report on for the Washington Post. The election is setting up as a proxy for Brexit, and Henry expect the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson to do very well. But we’re still almost a month off from the election, so stay tuned.

I’ve decided that “populism” is when the wrong person or party wins a democratic election. Certainly the way the media and liberal elites have reacted to the Liberal Party’s upset win in Australia bears this out (keep in mind that the Liberal Party in Australia is the conservative party, but what do you expect from a country in the southern hemisphere). The media horror over Australia has been short-lived however, because the populists look set for major gains in the European Parliament elections currently under way. The wipe out of the Brexit-fumbling Tory Party in Britain has at last cost Theresa May her job, and the prospect of Boris Johnson becoming the next prime minister is Freddy Kruger territory for the media, who are also upset that India’s voters decided to return the retrograde pro-American Prime Minister Modi to office by a landslide. What’s a liberal elitist to do?

Well, one thing a liberal elitist ought to do (but probably won’t) is listen in to Henry Olson as he explains what’s going on. No one knows the data better than Henry, and I got him to give us his expectations and predictions for what’s next, including why Jeremy Corbyn will never make it, but why Joe Biden just might. Plus there’s a little baseball and soccer banter at the end, to send us off into our Memorial Day weekend.

Steve Hayward catches up with Henry Olsen in London, ahead of the upcoming general election in Italy where populist parties are expected to do well, and where German politics remain in disarray because of the populist eruption in their last general election. Meanwhile, Brexit continues to be a non-stop agony for British PM Theresa May, while the best performing government in western Europe right now may well be (sit down for this) … France!