Nine Innings In: A Podcast That Hits Home

Nobody falls in love with baseball because of a box score.

It starts somewhere else—on a long drive with a cooler in the backseat, on a plastic-covered table where the game hums in the background, in a kitchen where someone keeps saying “ya casi empieza” while the food stretches the conversation just a little longer. That’s the space Nine Innings In lives in—a podcast that understands the game isn’t just played on the field. It’s carried home.

Some gloves tell the whole story before you say a word. Picture created with AI.

Hosted by Vincent Samperio, Nine Innings In is the first original podcast from Sideline Sports, and it sets the tone from the first inning: this isn’t about stats or hot takes. It’s about why people care—and how that love gets passed down, built up, and sometimes rebuilt again.

Because before the highlights, there’s always a story.

Nine Innings In Starts Where the Game Really Lives

Nine Innings In doesn’t open with analysis. It opens with memory.

The format is simple—nine questions, nine innings, one fan—but what unfolds feels closer to a sobremesa than an interview. Stories take their time. Details matter. You can hear where someone comes from, not just who they root for.

Samperio brings a lived-in perspective to the mic. His own connection to baseball traces back to where his parents met—at a field, of course. That kind of origin story doesn’t need explaining. It tells you everything you need to know about why this show exists.

A road trip toward a baseball stadium evoking Dan Sarmiento’s Field of Dreams journey. Picture created with AI.

Because fandom isn’t just learned. It’s inherited. It’s the game on in the background while something’s been simmering all day. It’s the rhythm of conversations that pause mid-sentence when something big might happen.

That’s the lane Nine Innings In claims—where the game meets real life.

A Road Trip, a Reset, and the Making of a Fan

For its first episode, Nine Innings In sits down with Dan Sarmiento—DSARM—a creator whose voice carries across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. He’s been everywhere the game is: covering international series, training with MLB players, building a youth travel team that reflects where baseball culture is headed.

But the story that anchors this episode isn’t about access. It’s about loss—and what comes after.

At 11 years old, Dan got cut from his All-Star team.

No long talk followed. No overcorrection. His dad chose something else: a road trip. Six MLB stadiums across the Midwest, ending at the Field of Dreams in Iowa—the one surrounded by corn, the one that feels more like memory than place.

That kind of trip hits different. It’s not about fixing a swing or chasing improvement. It’s about remembering why the game mattered before it got complicated.

You can feel the details: snacks passed across the car, stops that weren’t planned, maybe something packed from home because you never travel without bringing a little bit of your kitchen with you. The kind of food that tastes better on the road.

Dan shares what sits at the center of it all—his grandfather, from Cuba, who saw baseball not as a pastime, but as part of who you are.

That trip didn’t just bring him back to the game. It rooted him in it.

Ten years later, they ran it back. Same route. Same stops. Different perspective. That kind of full-circle moment is exactly what Nine Innings In was built to hold onto.

Nine Innings In and the Moment Kids Walk Away

There’s a point—around 12 years old—where the game shifts.

The field gets bigger. The wins get harder. The instant gratification fades. And for a lot of kids, that’s when baseball starts to lose its grip.

Nine Innings In doesn’t avoid that conversation—it leans into it.

Adult and child hands on a baseball representing the father-son bond at the heart of the podcast. Picture created with AI.

Dan puts it plainly: other sports start calling. Faster, louder, easier to stay excited about. And baseball, if it doesn’t evolve with the moment, risks losing a generation that grew up loving it.

The answer isn’t complicated, but it requires attention. Meet kids where they are. Lean into the gear, the visuals, the culture that lives online. Make baseball feel like something that belongs in their world—not something they have to reach for.

Because nobody falls in love with a sport in isolation. It happens in the in-between moments—in group chats, on social feeds, in conversations that start with the game but don’t end there.

That’s where Nine Innings In finds its purpose: not just documenting fandom, but understanding how it survives.

When the Game Sees You Back

There’s a moment in the episode that feels like a quiet turning point.

During MLB All-Star Week, Dan interviewed Ken Griffey Jr. at a Nike event. No script, no guardrails—just conversation. The kind that only works when there’s trust.

The next day, on the field, Griffey sees him from across the way. Walks over. Daps him up like it’s nothing.

A lone figure standing at a baseball diamond at dusk representing the culture around the sport.. Picture created with AI.

But it’s not nothing.

If you’ve ever been the one trying to find your place in a space that doesn’t always feel built for you, that kind of recognition lands deep. It’s not about status. It’s about being seen.

Moments like that signal something bigger. The culture is shifting. The walls are softer. New voices aren’t just outside looking in—they’re part of the conversation now.

And Nine Innings In lives right there, in that shift.

Why Nine Innings In Feels Different

There are plenty of places to hear about baseball. Scores, breakdowns, predictions—they’re everywhere.

Nine Innings In chooses something else.

It chooses the stories that happen around the game. The ones that unfold at the table, in the car, in the quiet moments that don’t make it to highlight reels but shape everything anyway.

It understands that fandom doesn’t look the same for everyone. For some, it’s tied to family. For others, it’s something they built on their own. Sometimes it’s both.

And through Samperio’s lens, those stories don’t need translation. They just need space.

That’s what makes Nine Innings In feel lived-in. Familiar. Like something you’ve been part of, even if you’re hearing it for the first time.

Nine Innings In Is Just Getting Started

The first episode of Nine Innings In sets the tone: this is a show about people, not just the game they love.

It’s about a kid who got cut and found his way back. A father who chose a road trip over a lecture. A grandfather who carried the sport across generations. A creator who turned passion into access—and never lost the reason it started.

A podcast mic with a baseball cap representing Nine Innings In on Sideline Sports. Picture created with AI.

And it’s about what happens when those stories are given the space they deserve.

Because the game might wrap after nine innings.

But the conversations? The memories? The way it shows up at the table, in the car, in the middle of everything else?

That doesn’t end.

That’s Nine Innings In.

Listen to the Inaugural Episode

Nine Innings In With Vincent Samperio is available now on Sideline Sports and everywhere you get your podcasts. The inaugural episode features Dan Sarmiento (DSARM) on fandom, Field of Dreams, Ken Griffey Jr., and why MLB needs to win over the 12-year-old before lacrosse does.

Find Dan at @DSARM on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Find Vince at @vincesince91.