Best Podcast in Baseball

<p>Is it easier to get 400 baseball writers to all agree on who is a Hall of Famer or 30 Major League Baseball owners to agree on ways to address skyrocketing payroll disparity? That's the question that begins a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Esteemed baseball writer Tyler Kepner, of The Athletic and formerly with the New York Times, joins host Derrick Goold to discuss Ichiro Suzuki and his peers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2025. It's a robust class that includes a top left-handed starter CC Sabathia who got elected on his first ballot and a top left-handed reliever Billy Wagner who got elected on his final ballot. The class also includes Dick Allen and Dave Parker to further reveal the many numerous routes available to players to reach induction in Cooperstown. There is the expressway that Suzuki takes with near unanimous support. There is the state two-lane highway that will likely welcome switc-hitter Carlos Beltran to Cooperstown in 2026, and then there's the country roads that Wagner had to drive to ultimately reach immortality. All of which brings us to the crossroads currently facing baseball. With the Dodgers spending freely and collecting all of the talent, is the only way deep into October through Los Angeles? The two baseball writers discuss the widening gap in the game and explore one reason for the dramatic change (hint: shrinking small- and mid-market television revenues) -- and whether there will be a correction in a few years.</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. It appears weekly wherever you subscribe or listen to podcasts and is part of the newspaper's Constant Cardinals Coverage.</em></p>

<p>At the end of year press conference where the Cardinals announced a pivot toward youth and debuted their buzzword "reset" to describe a reduction in payroll and commitment to development, St. Louis' veteran sportscaster Randy Karraker asked what has changed for the club. It was just six years ago that ownership said a .500 team was acceptable in other markets, but just a winning record wasn't enough in St. Louis, where division titles were the goal and National League pennants fly high.</p> <p>Karraker's question prompted a discussion on whether the Cardinals are changing expectations and their brand.</p> <p>That is the launching point for a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball as host and baseball writer Derrick Goold asks Karraker what questions fans should ask at the team's annual "kickoff" to the season.</p> <p>The 28th annual Cardinals Care Winter Warm-up will be over the holiday weekend at Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium, and three times fans will have a chance to ask Cardinals leadership directly about this shift in direction and stagnant winter. Karraker and Goold outline the questions that could be asked, the answers they're likely to get, and what all of this means is at stake for the year ahead. Karraker put it bluntly: The current Cardinals leadership hatched the Golden Goose, nurtured and benefited from it for at least two decades, and now run the risk of losing it.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. It appears weekly wherever you subscribe or listen to podcasts and is part of the newspaper's Constant Cardinals Coverage. </p>

<p class="MsoNormal">"Empty seats are empty seats; no-shows are no-shows," says St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon. "When you’re just accepting reduced attendance and you’re pointing to that for reduced payroll, now you’re setting yourself up for a spiral."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yet to spend a cent this offseason on a major-league free agent, the Cardinals are banking big on breakthrough seasons from their young players and betting there will be buy-in -- literally -- from fans. The payoff could be sparking interest and ticket sales from fans interested in a new direction, but the risk is significant as the Cardinals could spin into a financial whirlpool that leads to more severe cuts or a complete overhaul once new leadership is in place.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball, host Derrick Goold is joined by Gordon to discuss what the Cardinals' actions tell us about their situation and their motives. The Cardinals went 3-for-6 on finalizing deals with arbitration-eligible players, leaving salaries for Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, and Andre Pallante undetermined for the coming season. They could go to hearings unless there is traction for a multi-year extension. But what does it say if the Cardinals don't pursue any of those? What if this spring is the first spring in awhile without an extension? Could that all be a setup to give Chaim Bloom maximum payroll flexibility when he takes over as president of baseball operations and move on from this roster and even its "next core" players to a deeper rebuild?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. Now entering its 13th year, find BPIB weekly throughout the 2025 season wherever you get your podcasts.</p>

<p>The 13th year of the Best Podcast in Baseball begins with a conversation about something new for the Cardinals and their fan base, something that hasn't been discussed around Busch Stadium in decades, and something some might argue was overdue.</p> <p>"For the first time in forever, (they're) trying to sell hope," says Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon.</p> <p>The first BPIB episode of 2025 welcomes Gordon, longtime author of Tipsheet at StlToday.com, as a regular contributor to the weekly baseball podcast and puts him right to work on cross-examination. Continuing what's become an annual feature on the podcast, host and baseball writer Derrick Goold reveals his ballot for the upcoming class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Ichiro Suzuki is eligible for the first time and brings more than 3,000 hits in the majors and 4,200 hits as a professional to his bid to become the first unanimously selected position player. </p> <p>Ichiro, five holdovers from last year's ballot, and four newcomers, all pitchers, appear on Goold's 10-full ballot.</p> <p>Gordon and Goold discuss the layup decisions and the other choices that forced a look at how the modern game uses starting pitchers and, thus, how voters should consider that when looking at this generation of starters for the Hall of Fame.</p> <p>After the Cooperstown conversation, the two Post-Dispatch staff writers discuss new year's resolution for the 2025 Cardinals, and that brings the discussion around to the team's messaging. How do they sell a fan base and tickets to that fan base without the stars that fan base is used to seeing, without the contending club the fan base is accustomed to the team promising? Gordon has some thoughts on who should deliver that message and soon.</p> <p>That brings the podcast around to its conclusion -- and a potential historic end for a Cardinals' continuity.</p> <p>For more than 100 years, the Cardinals have had an eventual Hall of Famer in uniform. From Roger Bresnahan to Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean to Bob Gibson, Lou Brock to Ozzie Gibson, and certainly through 2011 when Albert Pujols went west until returning in 2022. Carlos Beltran is currently on the ballot and is a candidate to extend that streak through 2012 and 2013, and Yadier Molina has a claim to take it all the way through 2022, when then Adam Wainwright, Paul Goldschmidt, and Nolan Arenado are potential Cooperstown inductees to keep it going. Wainwright is now retired. Goldschmidt is now a Yankee. And the Cardinals actively exploring trade talks for Arenado. If all three are gone, is that streak?</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. Find it weekly wherever you get your podcasts.</em></p>

<p>A revealing moment for the Cardinals and all who evaluate or rank their prospects came in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft. With the 18th pick, the Cardinals went straight back to their sweet spot and chose Michael McGreevy, a right-handed pitcher out of UC-Santa Barbara and straight from central casting. He fit the profile of the pitcher the Cardinals had taken many times before.</p> <p>McGreevy has elbowed his way into the Cardinals' plans for their starting rotation less than four years later.</p> <p>All around the pick, the game and how rivals evaluated pitching was changing.</p> <p>That's the description Baseball America prospects writer Geoff Pontes provides in a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball with host and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. Pontes is fresh off ranking the Cardinals' top 10 prospects for the industry's leading prospect magazine, and he joins the podcast hours after finishing the organization's top 30 prospects for Baseball America's Handbook. That indispensable rite of spring training is more of a guidebook this season for Cardinals' fans as it will show them where the Cardinals begin this reinvestment in player development -- and how far they have to go.</p> <p>Pontes discusses how chose between 2024 first-round pick JJ Wetherholt and 2024 BA Pitcher of the Year Quinn Mathews for the Cardinals' No. 1 prospect.</p> <p>He provides insight on two names to know, rising electric talent Yairo Padilla, a shortstop and one of the youngest players at his or any level, and catcher/slugger Rainiel Rodriguez, who had 10 home runs and a 1.145 OPS in 41 games this past summer for the Cardinals' academy team in the Dominican Republic.</p> <p>Pontes describes how the Cardinals fell behind on pitching development while staying ahead of other teams with how they approached hitters. The Cardinals have produced a steady stream of contributing hitters, either for them or other teams, but the podcast explores how they've been unable to launch one thing: a tent-pole hitter for the lineup. Within Pontes' top 10 from the Cardinals system, there are four hitters in the top eight, and could one of them (Wetherholt, Chase Davis) be that talent?</p> <p>Pontes offers his sleeper prospect within the organization and what Cardinals are likely to be top 100 talents in all of the minors, with Wetherholt likely headed for the top 30.</p> <p>Located in Massachusetts, Pontes saw how Chaim Bloom revived Boston's pitching pipeline, even if he's no longer there to benefit from it, and details how the Cardinals are ahead of the Red Sox and could see the same improvement under Bloom's leadership. Pontes gives details on where the Cardinals can improve, and toward the end of the podcast the conversation arrives at the crux of the Cardinals' "reset":</p> <p>How they got there. What was the tell in the 2021 draft.</p> <p>How they up to pace, and how fast.</p> <p>Two pitchers might offer early indications of the direction the Cardinals are headed and the improvements afoot: right-hander Tekoah Roby and lefty Cooper Hjerpe. They rank Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, in Pontes' top 10 for the Cardinals system. Both have upside, and Pontes is bullish on one of them -- especially as the Cardinals modernize their approach to pitching around him.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball is sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis and it's a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. It is available wherever you get your podcasts, from iTunes to Spotify, to right there on the StlToday.com web site. Happy holidays and here's to a healthy start to a new year.</p>

<p>"There should be three expectations in life," MLB Network Radio host and noted baseball pundit Mike Ferrin says in a brand new episode of the Best Pocast in Baseball. "Death, taxes, and the Cardinals competing evry year. That's National League baseball."</p> <p>That may be the Cardinals' brand, but that is not entirely their plan this coming season.</p> <p>At Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings in Dallas, Ferrin joins Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the direction the Cardinals are shifting and how they have a long way to go and a short time to get there. This isn't just about carrying on the torch of the Cardinals Way, but turning it into a more fuel efficient electric lighter. </p> <p>Several years ago as a guest on BPIB, Ferrin, who hosts Power Alley on Sirius XM's MLB Network Radio, introduced this podcast's listeners to the phrase "player dev," short for player development. The conversation that followed in that episode offered a glimpse into where the Cardinals had started to go astray from the modern system and how they can now catch up. Ferrin dives into what current, successful teams do to maximize player development and how the Cardinals are not alone in their attempt to restart after a stalled stretch.</p> <p>Ferrin and Goold also discuss the Cardinals rising to the fifth overall pick in the upcoming MLB draft, and they conclude with a discussion about the legacy of the Paul Goldschmidt-Nolan Arenado era in St. Louis as it likely comes to an end. The two infielders and potential Hall of Famers finished first and third for the 2022 National League MVP, respectively, and they helped the team to several postseason appearances. But Goldschmidt only advanced as far as the 2019 NLCS and they never won a playoff series together as Cardinals teammates.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>While discussing how Major League Baseball could proactively move to help smaller-market clubs remain competitive, KMOX/1120 AM host and frequent Best Podcast in Baseball guest Kevin Wheeler strikes upon a model the Cardinals could aspire to emulate during their self-imposed reset.</p> <p>"The Atlanta Braves," Wheeler suggests.</p> <p>A team that develops, acquires, and keeps young impact players, Atlanta is closer, Wheeler argues, to the Cardinals in operations than the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers, aggressive-spending Philadelphia Phillies, or some of the big-budget barons of the American League. That prompts a look, position by position, about how the Cardinals could mirror Atlanta, and how wide the gap is for them to close. The Cardinals can start by accumulating talent, and that is what they're looking to do via trade this winter and, potentially, through the next season.</p> <p>This leads to the question on whether the Cardinals have a homegrown, surefire, superstar hitter ready to take a "Golden At-Bat" -- which is all the talk this past week as the commissioner referenced a rule that would allow a team to choose its hitter for a pivotal moment in a game, disregarding the lineup and more than a century of estabslihed rule for the drama. </p> <p>The Cardinals' front office heads to Dallas for the annual Winter Meetings on Sunday (Dec. 8), and they're in trade-talk mode. This brand new episode of BPIB, hosted by baseball writer Derrick Goold, begins by looking at the dominos that must fall elsewhere in the market for teams to turn toward the Cardinals and begin some holiday shopping with St. Louis.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of Stltoday.com, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>During the past two decades in Major League Baseball, only the Houston Astros have won pennants and appeared in more World Series than the Cardinals and Boston. Two of baseball's most accomplished and celebrated franchises have won four pennants each and faced each other twice in the World Series, both of them won by the BoSox.</p> <p>The ties that bind go beyond shared Octobers these days as both clubs, perennial contenders for most of baseball's current era, are trying to find their footing and return to their postseason expectations.</p> <p>Rob Bradford captured the connection in a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball.</p> <p>"Both franchises are starving to find the certainty," he said.</p> <p>Bradford, the <a href="https://www.audacy.com/podcast/baseball-isnt-boring-50d1b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">host of the wildly popular podcast Baseball Isn't Boring</a>, joins the next-best baseball podcast to discuss the shared traits of the Cardinals and Red Sox — and the one link that is about to define the Cardinals future. Bradford, the Red Sox reporter at WEEI in Boston, covered Chaim Bloom's tenure atop Boston's baseball operations, and Bradford talks through how the pressures and decisions on Bloom look different in hindsight.</p> <p>With Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold, Bradford discusses how Bloom's time at Fenway Park gives a glimpse into how he'll do when he takes over baseball ops at Busch Stadium a year from now.</p> <p>Bradford, w<a href="https://x.com/BBisntBoring">ho co-authored a book with former Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly, also discusses the origin of their movement and his enthusiastic and entertaining podcast, Baseball Isn't Boring</a>.</p> <p>Which it isn't.</p> <p>And this lively conversation about it aims to show why, right down to a tattoo promise Bradford and Kelly made that has now come due.    </p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold.</em></p>

<p>After a brief discussion about a shared fondness for a recent, deeply moving and haunting collection of linked short stories, Sequioa Nagamatsu's 'How High We Got in the Dark,' two baseball writers focus on another work of speculative fiction.</p> <p>What to make of the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals.</p> <p>CBS Sports baseball writer Dayn Perry joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss his lifelong fondness and connection to the Cardinals, and his questions for what comes next. Along with St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold, Perry discusses if the Cardinals have reached a point where fans, like him, must "adjust their expectations."</p> <p>If so, the podcast explores, are the Cardinals still stuck in the middle, not committing to an all-the-way rebuild in the same way they came shy of an all-in contender.</p> <p>Perry makes the case that the future of the Cardinals may come down to Jordan Walker's bat. It is the tent pole around which a lineup and a contender could be built, Perry argues, and the young outfielder needs the opportunity to grow into that -- not seesaw between levels.<br>Perry counted up that he has 28 different Cardinals hats, and two of them he wrote in his Substack newsletter, Birdy Work, illustrate his connection to the Cardinals. One is the mesh hat worn by his father mowing the yard in the Mississippi heat, and the other is the winter cap Perry's son wears against the Chicago cold.</p> <p>As Perry recounts the story, his father became a fan of the Cardinals during the 1940s heyday, and his son latched onto the Cardinals during their 2010s run. Perry became a fan of those charismatic WhiteyBall clubs from the 1980s, the ones built around defense and speed and the time-tested, standings-approved art of stealing outs in the field and not making outs at the plate.</p> <p>That invites the question: As the Cardinals look toward the future and modernizing their farm system while financial titans load up with talent on the coasts, is the model for how the Cardinals succeed in the future actually from their past?</p> <p>Perry's newsletter can be found on Substack.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and it's also housed right here at StlToday.com with all of the Constant Cardinals Coverage.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold.  </p>

<p>While awaiting the parade's arrival at Dodger Stadium, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/people/dylan-hernandez" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez </a>veers into nostalgia as he wonders whether the Dodgers' run of success and appetite for more might spur the Cardinals to defend their place in the National League and re-spark one of his favorite rivalries.</p> <p>Hosting a parade in Los Angeles for the first time since 1988 -- COVID restrictions kept one from happening in 2020 -- the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed their eighth World Series championship, their seventh since moving from New York. That ties them with the San Francisco Giants for the second-most titles by a National League club. For 80 years, it has been the Cardinals' brand and their claim to fame that they have the most World Series titles of any National League club, and since 2006, the Cardinals have had the second-most World Series championships in MLB history.</p> <p>Yet, the gap between the Dodgers' eight titles and the Cardinals' cherished 11 feels a lot closer.</p> <p>Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/ben-frederickson/benfred-how-long-until-the-dodgers-catch-the-cardinals-in-rings-maybe-not-that-long/article_62ed1b18-979e-11ef-bdcf-43abfc667f66.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote about the Dodgers' blitz on the Cardinals' history in Friday's newspaper and online at StlToday.com</a>.</p> <p>That same question offers a thread around which <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/derrick-goold/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold </a>talks with Hernandez about the Dodgers, their formidable team, their outrageous ability to outspend any other team, the innovation machine they have behind the scenes, and the ambitious global superstar at the center of their world, Shohei Ohtani. During the champagne celebration<a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2024-10-31/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-world-series-champion" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium following the Dodgers' clinching victory in Game 5, Ohtani sprayed bubbles in executive Andrew Friedman's face and shouted his intention to win nine more World Series titles</a>.</p> <p>Believe him, Hernandez said.</p> <p>All of this comes just weeks after the Dodgers were on the brink of elimination in the division series. So, how real are the Dodgers' and Ohtani's ambitions to join the Cardinals and Yankees in the double-digit club, and what are the biggest threats to slow them down. Hernandez details how the Dodgers got here, how they intend to stay a contend, and what could undermine everything they've built. He also gives great insight in Ohtani's drive -- and the power of inspiration from comic books. Two former Cardinals, NLCS MVP Tommy Edman and Game 5 starter Jack Flaherty, were key contributors to the Dodgers' championship run, and within Edman's play specifically Hernandez saw something he has derided in the past.</p> <p>He saw what he believes is the Cardinal Way and it gave the Dodgers an edge the Yankees, like the baseball, lost their grip on. </p> <p>Hernandez also agrees to visit St. Louis and enjoy an excellent meal and walk to a neighborhood comic book shop.</p> <p>Bonus: no traffic.</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold.</em></p>

<p>As much as the standings and missteps of their player development system will shape the Cardinals' offseason, arguably the most significant factor in any of their decisions will be when the broadcast sports sinkhole reaches them, and how deep it goes.</p> <p>The consternation will be televised.</p> <p>This much is certain: <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/cardinals-plan-to-keep-cable-tv-add-streaming-in-their-revised-broadcast-model-media-views/article_af821770-8e62-11ef-a9ba-67e8b2bf9f8e.html">The Cardinals games will be available to cable subscribers in 2025 and also subscribers to a forthcoming streaming service. What happens next,</a> well ... stay tuned.</p> <p>To explain how Major League Baseball (and other sports), Bally Sports Midwest/FanDuel Sports Network Midwest (and its parent company), and the Cardinals (and almost every other baseball club), got into this bind, the Best Podcast in Baseball brings <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/users/profile/dcaesar/">Dan Caesar into the conversation. The Media Views columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch since 1988, Caesar</a> could only think of one bigger story on the sports broadcast beat in his four decades than the one currently playing out in a Texas bankruptcy court. Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of many of the regional sports networks, filed for bankruptcy protection in spring 2023, and since then the entire industry as convulsed with confusion and concern.</p> <p>Look no further than the Texas Rangers, who did not know where they would broadcast games for sure a year after winning the World Series and have had their ability to spend handcuffed by the uncertainty of their rights fees.</p> <p>The Cardinals have advertised that they intend to trim payroll this winter, and a driving reason for this isn't just a shift to spending more on the farm system and its infrastructure. The Cardinals cannot be sure how much of their $78 million they're owed to broadcast their games in 2025 they'll be paid. <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/what-it-means-for-cardinals-as-bally-sports-parent-company-moves-to-unplug-some-teams/article_5cb8e9b2-80e6-11ef-8db5-9fb70577139e.html">The Post-Dispatch previously reported that Diamond Sports Group has approached the Cardinals about renegotiating their $1.1-billion rights deal, and Diamond Sports has threatened in court to drop all of its contracts for 2025 except </a>for the Atlanta Braves.</p> <p>How did this happen? What's next? What does it mean for the Cardinals? And where will fans watch games in 2025?</p> <p>All of those questions are answered in this brand new Best Podcast in Baseball.</p> <p>Short answer: It's going to get better for fans, eventually. It's going to take awhile and it's going to cost fans more, but access to games and the control fans will have over how they watch games will get better. But first, it could get worse.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold. </p>

<p>Continuing <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/but-at-what-cost-auditing-cardinals-planned-payroll-trim-amidst-a-changing-brand-part-1/html_4f17beda-9245-11ef-ae41-0ff3d56beaae.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the conversation that began in the Best Podcast in Baseball episode 21, season 12</a>, KMOX/1120 AM's Kevin Wheeler considers the question on how the Cardinals can accumulate younger talent, draft picks, or both.</p> <p>The answer begins at first base.</p> <p>The questions continue from there in this brand new Best Podcast in Baseball that ultimately reaches a discussion about the World Series and whether a clash between high-spending baseball royalty, the Dodgers of Los Angeles and the Yankees of New York, is great for marketing the game, good for the fans, great for the history buffs, potentially grand for TV ratings, and yet is it a positive for the industry?</p> <p>The 2024 World Series is the culmination of several years with a consolidation of talents.</p> <p>On the field will be two handfuls of future Hall of Famers, two 50-homer players, and the favorites to win this year's MVPs in each league. In fact, no World Series has featured this many past MVP winners.</p> <p>And all of them have either been traded or, in the case of homegrown Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, reached free agency.</p> <p>The billion-dollar constellation of superstars in this World Series are all players who have hit the jackpot of free agency or extensions, with the exception of Juan Soto, who is days away from doing so. If such players collect on the same teams, like the Dodgers or primed-to-spend Mets, what does that mean for how other teams contend, especially those in the middle markets? That is something else to watch in the wake of this World Series.</p> <p>But the podcast resumes its discussion of the current Cardinals and how president of baseball operations is taking a franchise that is also part of baseball royalty and like a vintage muscle car sprucing it up before passing it along to a new owner, who is tasked with turning it into a lean, mean, more full-efficient machine.</p> <p>Within the next two weeks, Paul Goldschmidt will become a free agent for the first time in his career, and the Cardinals must decide whether to present him with a qualifying offer to secure a draft pick if he signs elsewhere. Such a move would give Goldschmidt the choice to accept a one-year, $21-million contract for 2025 or see if he could better in the marketplace. As the Cardinals look to cut costs, their decision seems clear -- but in this brand new podcast, Wheeler and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold discuss another motivation in play for the Cardinals and their "reset."</p> <p>Are they better creating an inventory of players to trade in 2025 or picks, and what does that mean for bringing back pitchers at the end of their contracts like Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, and Kyle Gibson, who has a team option for 2025.</p> <p>Could they be trade pieces?</p> <p>If so, when would be the best time to maximize the return on them -- the offseason or the trade deadline.</p> <p>BPIB discuss the benefits of setting an asking price and sticking to it versus the risk of injury and performance that comes with waiting for the urgent market of July.</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold.</em></p>

<p>The official changes to some Cardinals' leadership roles, from the front office to the dugout, as they approach their "reset" winter continued on the eve of the World Series with the first new addition to the front office, a new coach, and a new role for an all-time great.</p> <p>Kevin Wheeler, co-host of the drive-time show and baseball coverage at KMOX/1120 AM, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss with Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold the moves the Cardinals have made, the names involved -- and some of the motivations and goals driving them.</p> <p>From there the conversation expands into an audit of the Cardinals strategy and financial position.</p> <p>The team has advertised as cut in payroll as it bends young and reinvests in an eroded player development program, but there's more going on than just a shifting of dollars and sense. There is the potential for a huge cut in revenue that is driving some of their decisions, and is not their plan to increase spending on minor-league coaches and technology, nor the $100-million project to upgrade the Roger Dean Stadium complex in Jupter, Florida, with new player development facilities. Looming on the horizon is the possibility the Cardinals will not get some or all of the $78 million owed them from their broadcast partner for 2025 and the reality that the jackpot years ahead in their billion-dollar broadcast rights deal aren't going to come to fruition.</p> <p>That shift in revenue prompts the questions that direct this podcast -- how much must the Cardinals cut, and how soon?</p> <p>The answer may not be as simple as just shedding salaries.</p> <p>There is a way for the Cardinals to chase their goal of accumulating young talent, clearing opportunity for in-house talent, and still cleave dollars off the payroll. And that is where this brand new podcast ends with Part 1 and will continue with Part 2.</p> <p>Part 2 will drop Friday.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold. </p>

<p>Toward the end of his first professional season, not too long after he told a roommate Oliver Marmol about his personal and accelerated timetable to reach the majors, Matt Carpenter got a phone call that could have forever changed his career in baseball.</p> <p>He was approached about being a coach, and he was tempted to take it.</p> <p>The next summer his playing career took off.</p> <p>There are baseball cards galore and probably a Cardinals Hall of Fame red jacket in his future that tell how that story ended, but Carpenter shares with the Best Podcast in Baseball how close he came to moving to a role in the game that he might eventually also have. A three-time All-Star who returned to the Cardinals for the 2024 season, Carpenter joins the Best Podcast in Baseball and baseball writer Derrick Goold for a conversation many months in the making. The two spoke this past week near the batting cage at Coors Field, just ahead of the Cardinals' season finale in San Francisco.</p> <p>From his early days with the Cardinals as a spring-training standout and favorite of manager Tony La Russa, Carpenter's career had to constantly evolve.</p> <p>He became a second baseman. He became a leadoff hitter. He broke a doubles record long held by Stan Musial, and then his changed his swing and late in one season led the National League in homers and slugging on his way to MVP considerations. And through it all, a coach's kid out of Texas who judged his production by how high above .300 his average was had to learn in real time as the game shifted to take that away from him, quite literally. He had to embrace slugging. He had to reinvent his swing. He had to reclaim his career.</p> <p>And over the course of this season, Goold asked Carpenter if he would talke about all he learned about Major League Baseball's modern offense and how difficult it has become to be a hitter in a game when failure, already abundant, is increasing.</p> <p>Consider the math.</p> <p>As batting average has grown less important, hitters are being told they can do more with a .270 average and slugging than singling their way to a .330 average, and still that difference is six outs, six fewer times succeeding.</p> <p>Carpenter has some thoughts and offers lots of insight.</p> <p>This brand-new BPIB begins as all good stories do on a road trip with Matt Holliday and Carpenter and the trouble they encountered somewhere between Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Memphis, Tennessee. The conversation also touches on what went sideways for the Cardinals' offense during a season that will finish with a winning record but nowhere close to the team's stated goal of contending for the NL Central title and returning to the playoffs. Carpenter also discusses his immediate and longterm future, which brings up the story about the phone call he received while playing Class A baseball for the Cardinals with an offer he wasn't sure he could refuse.</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</em></p>

<p>A year after "pitching, pitching, pitching" dictated the Cardinals' approach to the offseason, the club faces a far broader challenge this winter.</p> <p>PR, PR, PR.</p> <p>Or, as Best Podcast in Baseball guest Brooke Grimsley, noted: "Change, change, change."</p> <p>The 2024 Cardinals' season comes to a close with the club trying ot break the hold of .500 and avoid a second losing season, what would be the first back-to-back losing seasons in a full schedule since Stan Musial played for the team in the late 1950s. Crowds, like wins and playoff appearances, have dwindled, and the one-off season the Cardinals promised after 2023 has become something more problematic for the club: a trend.</p> <p>Grimsley, co-host of The Opening Drive at ESPN 101.1 FM/WXOS in St. Louis, said the feedback they've received from listeners and fans suggest that fans are moving from anger to acceptance to something more alarming for any club -- apathy.</p> <p>With BPIB host and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold, Grimsley discusses what messages and actions the Cardinals could take in the coming weeks and months to reanimate and engage the fan base. They discuss not just player movement and moves but how important comments, direction, and transparency from the front office could be, and what the role media plays in gathering that info and relaying it to fans.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>Despite the smallest market in Major League Baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers have become a marvel of what it means to be a modern contender.</p> <p>The organization the Cardinals used to be and the Cubs wanted to be , the Brewers now are, complete with the 10-game lead in the division standings ahead of the former kings with a month of the season remaining. MLB.com's longtime Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to talk about Milwaukee's rise within the division and reign atop. McCalvy talks with Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold about the "culture" the Brewers have created, one that seems to benefit from the team's business model, strong development infrastructure, and something the Cardinals have not shown, and may not be able to show.</p> <p>Patience.</p> <p>The Brewers appear to have hit Yatzhee on almost every move. They waited out the market to land Christian Yelich from Miami via trade, ending up with the best fit of the three Marlins outfielders available at the time and an MVP-caliber player. While the Cardinals were also shopping for a catcher, they joined in a trade to help Atlanta land catcher Sean Murphy from the Oakland Athletics  and may have ended up with the  best catcher in the deal, William Contreras. They fended off interest in Corbin Burnes to watch him become a Cy Young Award ace, and then traded him ahead of him leaving for free agency to then nourish a roster that again is contending.</p> <p>McCalvy details the Brewers' business model and also how much they've invested in development, and how it continues successful at the major-league level, even as players move out or move out.</p> <p>The two baseball writers also share some thoughts on Wisconsin-accurate accents and wax nostalgic about legendary slugger Joey Meyer the 1990s Denver Zephyrs.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>Within the span of only a few hours, the Cardinals demoted two of their top prospects from the past decade, sending in separate moves their top left-handed slugging prospect and one of the top right-handed hitting prospects in all of the minors. What gives and what does it mean for the Cardinals ongoing, completely confounding "riddle" when it comes to developing young hitters? To explore this defining question for the current era of Cardinals baseball, the Best Podcast in Baseball turns to a Hall of Famer. BPIB co-founder and former Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bernie Miklasz joins podcast host Derrick Goold to discuss a week that featured Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker returning to Class AAA Memphis just a few months after they were supposed to emerge as the next core contributors in the Cardinals' lineup. Urgency rules as the Cardinals try to capture magic from a series win against Milwaukee and turn it into a last-gasp run for a playoff spot. But is that same urgency, that same pressure to produce and perform and contend every day also contributing to a cycle the Cardinals cannot escape? The opportunity gap persists and now two of the most highly prized young prospects the Cardinals have had in the past decade are caught in the conversation on whether they must go elsewhere to thrive. Young hitters arrive. Some young hitters struggle. Some young hitters are traded. Those young hitters thrive elsewhere. Miklasz describes the conversations he's had with MLB sources about where and how the Cardinals' infrastructure is lacking, and Goold details where the answers might come from the young hitters, like Masyn Winn or Alec Burleson, who have thrived after alterations to their approach or swing encouraged by the Cardinals. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>The proverbial turtle on a fencepost that clearly did not get there by itself is also an apt metaphor for the trouble a Major League Baseball club finds itself in when trying to balance between the hedge-fund tycoons and the heavy tankers. Stuck in the middle is a tough place to be as the Cardinals have shown -- and, as with the turtle, it can take looking beyond the shell for a way out of it. The Best Podcast in Baseball hosted by baseball writer Derrick Goold returns with guest Kevin Wheeler of KMOX/1120 AM to discuss the Cardinals as they emerge from a disastrous series in Cincinnati and begin the most grueling stretch of their season. They are, once again, balanced around .500 -- waiting for the wind of change to knock this turtle into one direction or the other. And that becomes the crux of the conversation. If the Cardinals are able to put together a 41-game sprint for October and a playoff berth, does such a run risk masking or misleading the direction the franchise is really headed. Look to the most recent World Series championship teams for examples. Will the 2024 Cardinals be like the surprise 83-win team of 2006 that won a World Series but prefaced a signficiant shift for the franchise when it tried to repeat that flawed roster in 2007, or are the 2024 Cardinals the Happy Flight-era 2011 Cardinals who buzzsawed to a World Series title and hinted at a successful run of pennant-contenders that even withstood the departure of a Hall of Fame manager and a three-time MVP and Hall of Fame player? One team gave off a false impression of the future. The other hinted at a future fueled by pitching development and some savvy outside additions. The '24 Cardinals have to overcome their run differential and an offensive deficit to contend, and even if they do what they had to overcome and how far they had to go should offer a lesson, even a reckoning, on where the franchise is going.</p> <p>Thanks to all the listeners of BPIB for the patience as the podcast experienced one planned break as the host took some time off and another unplanned pause as the host had a few episodes experience hiccups of various types. The BPIB is back, ready to regain some of those lost episodes and sprint to the finish of the regular season.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, brought to you by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.  </p>

<p>It's Flag Day? Have you checked the standings yet? Following closely behind the Cardinals' 3-0 victory against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and each team's 49th game this season decided by three or fewer runs, a question was presented to KMOX/1120 AM's Kevin Wheeler.</p> <p>What are the traits necessary for a team to do well in so many slim-margin games?</p> <p>As a guest on a brand-new edition of the Best Podcast in Baseball with Derrick Goold, Wheeler outlines two necessities for every team to thrive in close games and how doing one will help the other survive. It is vital Wheeler illustrates for a team to get more innings from the rotation so that it's asking less of the bullpen in close games, and that will help keep the bullpen fresh to turn those close games into victories. This is how teams can get friendly with the confines of close games.</p> <p>During a 4-3 home stand and again as they opened a Father's Day weekend series at Wrigley, the Cardinals showcased some of the developing depth in the bullpen that is helping them hold leads and secure slim victory. Ryan Fernandez has emerged with holds in consecutive games; Matthew Liberatore's return to the bullpen gives the Cardinals a third setup lefty and one with strikeout stuff at his best; and Chris Roycroft, only a few years removed from independent ball, has intrigued the Cardinals with his power stuff and movement. Or, as one teammate put it, "filth."</p> <p>The Cardinals returned to .500 with the victory and should they spillover for the first time in more than a year, they'll be one of the few teams in the National League with a winning record.</p> <p>Wheeler and Goold discuss if that's fallout from the consolidation of spending and power at only a few NL spots, such as Dodger Stadium and South Philadelphia. If those teams are collecting the highest-dollar stars in the NL what does that mean for the remainder of the standings and how do teams keep up as that spending gap grows into a standings gap. Wheeler suggests that a lot can be learned from NL Central-leader Milwaukee and how the Brewers have kept ahead without spending too much. It's an example of how the division, bunched-up and sometimes confusing mediocrity for parity, will be decided.</p> <p>What team gets its stars to shine the brightest the soonest?</p> <p>That list would include Cubs Dansby Swanson just as it could be asked of the Cardinals' cornerstones Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Willson Contreras, who is on the injured list with a fractured arm. That list would also include Cardinals starter Sonny Gray, whose bounce-back start helped Cardinals to a winning home stand. And all of that brings the conversation back around to one way for a team to thrive in so many close games.</p> <p>Play fewer of them.</p> <p>Score more runs to avoid them.</p> <p>Also discussed in this episode of BPIB is the Cardinals' visit to Rickwood Field later this month for the first National League regular-season game at the nation's oldest ballpark.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold. </p>

<p>When it comes to evaluating a farm system, few things offer a better glimpse of the external view than the trade deadline and nothing gives greater clarity on the internal view than when there's a need at the major-league level. </p> <p>Consider the Cardinals.</p> <p>St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero recently visited Memphis, Tennessee, to scout just that -- how actions at the big-league level relate to the production and development of top prospects at the higheset affiliate. Guerrero returned with stories for StlToday.com on Jordan Walker, Thomas Saggese, Victor Scott II, and several pitchers. And he joins the Best Podcast in Baseball and baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss if there's advancement coming from Memphis or just idling talent in Memphis. </p> <p>An injury to Steven Matz at the beginning of May opened a spot in the Cardinals' rotation, and as they await the lefty's return they have at least twice had a chance to promote a prospect from within to make those starts. They did not. Actions always speak louder than rankings, and for the Cardinals their actions at the big-league level have suggested they feel it's more important for some of their prospects to continue developing in Class AAA Memphis than have their routine upset with a spot start, or, in some cases, that they're not ready to contribute to the majors even in a spot start.</p> <p>It's a telling decision from the team that also strikes at their situation in the outfield.</p> <p>The Cardinals are going to need contributions from the the organization in both the outfield and on the mound, and how they utilize their top affiliate is a chance to scrutinize the prospect pipeline and player development.</p> <p>The two baseball writers conclude the episode by making their picks to represent the Cardinals in the Futures Game.</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</em></p>

<p>"That gets to the frustration of Cubs fans," says The Athletic senior writer Patrick Mooney. "Of like look at this division and why is the approach so measured and logical all the time to its extreme? ... That drives Cubs fans crazy with good reason."</p> <p>"It's where Cubs and Cardinals fans agree," continues Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold.</p> <p>As the Cubs and Cardinals face each other for the first time in 2024, a conversation about the direction the Cubs are going becomes a reflection of how similar the teams have become, right down to the approach when it comes to the National League Central. It was at that point in the conversation that the above comments are made in a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball, recorded outside of Busch Stadium on City Connect. Mooney, a longtime baseball writer covering the Cubs in Chicago and co-host of the new podcast Northside Territory (part of A. J. Pierzynski's growing Foul Territory universe), joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB host Goold for a conversation about the rivalry, right down to the designs on the field, designs in the front office, and the designs of their Nike-driven City Connect uniforms.</p> <p>Perhaps inspired by the Arizona Diamondbacks and their run for the National League pennant in 2023 with fewer than 86 wins, the Cubs have created that "measured, logical" model that does not go all-in at all cost because of an accommodating division, and that approach, as Mooney describes, has irritated Cubs fans.</p> <p>Sure sounds familiar.</p> <p>And so are the results.</p> <p>Neither the Cubs or Cardinals have overtaken the Brewers this season to lead the division despite Milwaukee allowing its manager to leave for Wrigley Field, its general manager to leave for Queens, and also trading away its ace not too long after trading away one of the best late-game relievers in baseball. Oh, and going most of this season with the winner of recent best-reliever awards, closer and St. Louis native Devin Williams. All of that and a smaller spending budget than either the Cubs and Cardinals, and the Brewers remain at the head of the class. And what a bunched-up class it is. The NL Central is the only division in baseball with all of the teams still within reach of both the division title and a league wild card berth. It's so close that it might not take many wins to claim the division crown and all of the teams could be within a 10-game bandwidth.</p> <p>In a division where even the slightest edge could be the separator, enter Friday night's rainout. The postponement of the series opener gave both teams a choice with their starting pitching.</p> <p>The Cardinals escaped another turn of the rotation without needed to name a fifth start. The Cubs, meanwhile, opted not to shift rising ace Shoto Imanaga's start a day, and instead will get the lefty additional rest. Imanaga, at 5-0, has the lowest ERA of any pitcher in his first nine major-league starts. The Cardinals will not see what has made him so successful and brought him to St. Louis with a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings. The Cardinals will not get to see how the split-finger fastball plays in the regular season after bruising his ERA during an exhibition game in Mesa, Arizona, a few months ago. What else the Cardinals won't see is a question that Mooney explores while detailing the signing of Imanaga, how the Cubs built the rotation, and what the Cardinals will face from the Cubs' rotation.</p> <p>Mooney also helps explore the difference between this Cubs rebuild, the Jed Hoyer Rebuild, and the Theo Epstein Rebuild that won the Cubs the 2016 World Series but did not create the perennial contender promised. It comes down to pitching. And there's a former Cardinals executive who is helping the Cubs stockpile pitchers to develop.</p> <p>Which only adds to the familiarity between the region's longest-running rivals.</p> <p>And that prompts the question, are the Cubs trying to be like the contemporary Dodgers or Atlanta or Philadelphia, or are they still chasing being like the Cardinals c. 2010s? And if both teams are chasing that standard, what does it mean that Milwaukee continues to finish ahead of them?</p> <p><em>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. This episode features a debut of a new, temporary co-host: a symphony of cicadas.</em></p>

<p>Since the Boston Red Sox last bested the Cardinals nearly 11 years ago in one of their recurring World Series appointments, the Red Sox have had three last-place finishes and the Cardinals have slowly faded and fallen, like the leaves, into a decadelong cold snap without a World Series appearance.</p> <p>For these two October rivals, once legends of fall now just legends after a fall, who is closer to a return to postseason prominence?</p> <p>With the Red Sox in St. Louis for the first time since 2017, the year before their most recent championship, The Boston Globe's baseball columnist Pete Abraham joins the Best Podcast in Baseball. In the stands late Friday night at Busch Stadium with the sounds of a winding-down ballpark all around them, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold and Abraham discuss the similarities between the two teams, the impatience of their respective fanbases, their shared history, and their shared challenge of returning to meet expectations as some of their peers widen the gap on spending and what it means to go all-in for a championship. Like, say, the Red Sox once did.</p> <p>Change is either the goal or the need -- for both clubs.</p> <p>And depending on how 2024 turns out for them, change could be forced upon them.</p> <p>But somethings that won't are the ties that bind Boston and the Cardinals.</p> <p>As the Cardinals look to regain an edge and rethink how they develop players (especially pitchers), they've hired former Boston general manager Chaim Bloom, and as Boston prepares for the possibility of manager Alex Cora's departure when his contract expires at the end of this season, it's possible a former Cardinal (or few) could emerge as candidates to replace him as the Red Sox have shifted to a new direction beneath Cora's feet. Abraham details the forces in play when it comes to Boston's new front office direction, new pitching coach, and how that all fits with the pre-existing manager who led them to their most recent World Series championship. The longtime baseball writer, who opined for the Globe throughout Bloom's tenure leading the Sox, also offers a viewpoint on what role he could best serve with the Cardinals going into a new era.</p> <p>The Red Sox, off to a strong and even surprising start, arrived in St. Louis with the lowest team ERA in the majors -- before, that is, the Cardinals scored 10 runs to win the first game of the series -- and behind that radical reduction in ERA is a shift in pitching approach. Abraham explains the change Boston made, the pushback it got from some pitchers, and ultimately the strong results that won games and won over pitchers even while upending convention and throwing fewer fastballs. It's an innovation and response to the talent they have on the pitching staff that the Cardinals, likewise, are looking to make. Yet another overlap for the organizations.</p> <p>The biggest connection, of course, could be the fan bases, which Abraham deftly describes by borrowing from another member of Major League Baseball's royal franchises: the Yankees. He quotes New York executive Brian Cashman's description of how the Yankees play 162 one-game series with all the pressure and attention and expectation that comes with everything being on the line that day. That fits for Boston and St. Louis, too. And pressure is building in both places.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. It is part of the constant Cardinals coverage at StlToday.com and in the pages of the morning Post-Dispatch. </p>

<p>With apologies to colleague and Post-Dispatch food critic Ian Froeb, we're talking about meatballs in this episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Meatballs and super-sizing. Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins the Best Podcast in Baseball, and using his column as a map he and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold explore the truths and falsehoods about the Cardinals' offensive problems. Statement: They're striking out too much. Response: False. Statement: They're swinging a lot. False: They're not swinging enough -- and they're not doing well against meatball pitches, the most delicious pitches to do damage on. Hence, the meatball factor. Statement: They need to stop "worrying" about home runs. Response: False. They need to hit more homers. The Cardinals are last in the majors in home runs and runs off homers, and that is an issue. Plus it goes deeper than just missing meatballs and not driving baseballs through or over the wall. There is the development question. That is where the podcast turns. In a sidebar that super-sizes the episode, Frederickson and Goold discuss on how maybe the focus has been all wrong. While the lens has been trained on the players who got away, the former Cardinals who have gone on to star and slug elsewhere, perhaps it's time to ask why the Cardinals haven't seen the same amplfication of the players they kept. When Tampa Bay acquired Richie Palacios from the Cardinals, the Rays suggested they saw more power in his swing and this season will show how they amplify that. The Cardinals know there is more power in Jordan Walker's swing and more consistent power in Nolan Gorman's swing -- they've seen the latter -- and yet haven't been able to harness that. Walker is back in Class AAA Memphis. Gorman is being passed over for key at-bats. The Cardinals have not been able to scale-up the talent they keep, and that development question is not isolated on the offense. The same can be asked on the pitching side. Where is the amplification? And that leads, finally, to where are the solutions? Which brings us back to Froeb. In his St. Louis 100 rankings of the top restaurants, he has The Gramophone's meatball sub as one of the area's top sandwiches. Maybe it's time to just roll out the feast. Before the Cardinals can crush some meatballs have them crush some meatballs. They've brought an ice cream wagon to spring training. What about a food truck at BP? Gramophone subs all around. And super-size them. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a weekly production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>Less than a month after two of the Cardinals' leading young position players started opening day side by side in outfield, bringing a glimpse of the future into the present, Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II are reunited this weekend at Class AAA Memphis. Early season offensive struggles have led to both outfieldres being optioned to the Cardinals' highest affiliate. Since the minor-leagues are in the headlines, who better to swing by for visit on the Best Podcast in Baseball than Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero, who covers the minors daily for StlToday.com and the Post-Dispatch. He details what the messaging and assignment was for Walker in his return to Memphis and offers some insight into what the Cardinals can still see in their future. For Scott, it will be his first time at the Triple-A level. He leapfrogged Memphis to debut in the majors, just as Walker did a year ago. That's not the only event that seems to be repeating. At almost the exact same point in the season that he was demoted a year ago, Walker returned to Class AAA with some of the same assignments. As in 2023, he was given a few days in the big-leagues to work on adjustments in the cage. That was prelude to going to Triple-A, where, again this year, he'll spend several days in the hitting lab before moving to the lineup. The Cardinals believe both outfielders are going to be impact contributors in the near future. Their more pressing need is production -- both to ignite some confidence at their April struggles, but also to see a return on the work they've been doing with their swings away from the game. Walker returns to Memphis with a .155/.239/.259 slash line, and he's got a 50% groundball rate to go with a 4.8% line-drive rate. He's not getting the lift out of his swing that he did to close last season with a .276/.342/.445 slash line and hint at what was ahead for his second season. Guerrero discusses with BPIB host and Post-Dispatch colleague Derrick Goold what specific adjustments the Cardinals are looking for Walker to make with his swing and Scott to make with his offensive approach. Guerrero also offers three prospects to watch, including a real-time update on Sem Robberse's latest blitz through a Class AAA opponent. He's been joined at Triple-A by four members of the Cardinals' opening day roster. The churn is real -- and it's just beginning. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. Next stop Detroit and some Vernor's ginger ale.</p>

<p>Whether it was the style of play still expected of the team, the restoration of championship expectations, or the devoted fans that filled the ballpark and informed and inspired generations to come, the 1980s teams of Whitey Herzog were a force multiplier for Cardinals history. They amplified the reach and the devotion of the fans. And Herzog was the exponent, doing more than just double, triple, or even tenfold the fans of the Cardinals for his decade as manager. This podcast built on remembrance and storytelling becomes a tribute. Herzog, a Hall of Fame manager, died this past week in St. Louis. He was 92. His legacy is large, his influence still ubiquitous at the ballpark. And who better to ask about Herzog's lasting impact on the organization and its fan base than a St. Louis native born in 1980 and born as a baseball fan during the era of Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and Herzog?  So here is the question presented to St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman: What was it like being born as a baseball fan into Whiteyball? Cue the synthesizer. Hochman talks with Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold about the teams captured his imagination as young fan and put thousands on the edge of their seats from the moment the leadoff hitter stepped it. Those teams and their gregaroius manager galvanized a city and there are friendships that Hochman still has from his youth that were at least strengthened by a shared love for the Whiteyball-era Cardinals. They played an innovative and charismatic brand of baseball. The modern team could benefit from both. This brand-new BPIB closes with a discussion what to make of the Cardinals offense as they finish their first division series of the season. With former MVP and an engine of production for the team, Paul Goldschmidt, struggling, the Cardinals have needed some innovation to spark the offense. Where can that come from, and do the traits of Whiteyball offer any hints at how to maximize a roster and conjure a contender even while the top producers are struggling? The season is young, but the offensive struggles of the team already feel old. Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck gets the last words with wisdom that applies to 1987 or 2024. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.  </p>

<p>As the Cardinals head west for the second time in the first month of the regular season, they do so lugging the baggage from one of the least productive lineups in the majors. The Cardinals' rank in the bottom five for many significant offensive categories. Four of the team's home runs have come from the catcher position, none from third baseman Nolan Arenado. He and Paul Goldschmidt, only one full season removed from finishing No. 1 and No. 3 in the MVP voting, have struggled to start the season. So, can it be easily dismissed as small sample sizes? Or, is it right to consider how last season ended and the struggles of spring to search for early warning signs for the Cardinals and their offensive production? KMOX/1120 AM's Kevin Wheeler joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discussion with Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold the difference between small sample sizes, track records, and warning signs. Consider the JoJo Romero question about the offense. The Cardinals' lefty reliever, off to an impressive start to the season along with the rest of the bullpen, had a strong finish to last season and a strong spring, and that amplifies the April success he's had in limited innings. If that's true for Romero, then isn't the opposite also true? Hitters who struggled toward the end of last season, struggled through spring, and are struggling now cannot be so easily dismissed as small sample sizes. Or can they? This episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball uses a discussion hinged on the lineup to also explore Lars Nootbaar's return from injury, Wheeler's question about the transaction that brings Nootbaar back, how long the Cardinals can run with Victor Scott II in center field, and the power of the left-handed bats on the Cardinals roster to limit what's asked of the pillars, Goldschmidt and Arenado. Also, a point is made about how it's not possible to embrace Dave Duncan's groundball approach for limiting hitters and not see that the pursuit of line drives and balls in the air for hitters is the same idea, just the opposite side of it for enhancing hitters. It's 13 games in and the Cardinals have reached the first true litmus test of their commitment to defense. BPIB is there to explore what comes next. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>A World Series champion, a two-time NL pennant-winner, and a two-time All-Star, Lance Lynn has done a bit of everything as a Cardinal and since he was a Cardinal. But on April 4, 2024, the burly, right-handed starter will do something he never has. He will start the home opener at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals. And that might mean doing something else for the first time: Fight back the emotions of sentimentality. In the visitors' dugout at Petco Park on the eve of his opening day start and return to St. Louis as a member of the Cardinals, Lynn spoke with baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold about the journey that took him away from the Cardinals and brought him back. Lynn discusses what he can tell young players about free agency, how he developed a confidence in his variety of fastballs, and what characteristic he shares with the Cardinals. They both had difficult seasons in 2023. They both have something to prove in 2024 that will shape what happens for them in 2025. Lynn says baseball has a sense of humor, and that's part of why he's back with the Cardinals on a one-year deal signed just before Thanksgiving. But he feels he's better suited to be the pitcher the Cardinals now need because he didn't stay with the team that drafted him, didn't become the heir apparent to the Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright lineage until he had gone elsewhere to learn more about himself. Known for his biting wit in interivews and and his volcanic vocabulary on the mound, Lynn gets candid in his answers about leaving the Cardinals, what he learned away from the Cardinals, and ultimately returning to the Cardinals. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p>

<p>From the back fields and press box at Sloan Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball Derrick Goold and Cincinnati Enquirer baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer survey the National League Central and discuss ballpark factors, dead zones, and whether any of these teams is actually going to win the division, or will it be won by default?</p> <p>A long-time baseball writer who has been on both the Cubs and Reds beat, Wittenmyer is skeptical of the Cardinals' pitching additions and the Cubs bringing back the same team, while he sees a wide bandwidth for possibilities with the upstart Reds.</p> <p>The volatility of talented youth could mean anywhere from 75 wins to 95 wins. And just how many wins will it take to claim the National League Central? Could it be 84 or less? The two baseball writers discuss building a team based on the home ballpark -- something both the Reds and Cardinals are doing this season from opposite directions.</p> <p>They also touch on the state of the game going into the 2024 season and if the quality of play has been enhanced by new rules. If the game is finally letting its talent play at full pace, is it possible that a division loaded with parity and no real big-spending juggernaut becomes ... dramatic.</p> <p>Talk a plot twist. What if, while all of the attention is on the coasts and the titans, the worst division in the National League is actually the most entertaining division in the National League? Wouldn't be the first time for fly-over country.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, brought to you by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>The 2023 Cardinals, on their way to 91 losses and a last-place finish, diagnosed the rotation, an inconsistent outfield, and a difficult schedule at the start of the season as reasons for the fist last place finish in more than 30 years. Well, deja vu. The Cardinals near the start of the 2024 regular season with injuries in the rotation, uncertainty in the outfield, and a difficult schedule that begins Thursday at Dodger Stadium. So, did lessons learned from 2023 influence changes to the choise of 2023 or are the Cardinals poised to have the same slow start, the same, familiar failings? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins the podcast to discuss what moves the Cardinals can make suggest that they learned from last years. One happened after the recording of this podcast as Sonny Gray, officially, began the season on the 15-day injured list and lefty Zack Thompson took his spot in the rotation. That was not clear at the time of the recording this episode, though what can be excpected of these players was definitely discussed. Frederickson also discusses why the Cardinal believe they are a "tougher" team and how how that might manifest in the decision they make this regular seaosn and the opening series they have at Dodger Stadium. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closet by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. You can find the Best Podcast in Baseball at StlToday.com or anywhere you get your podcasts, iuncluding iTunes.</p>

<p>Within the first 90 seconds of his camp-opening comments, Cardinals executive John Mozeliak said one of the "critical" questions of spring was whether the team could stay healthy. He noted that is something he has probably said in all 17 years of addressing the media on the first day of official workouts. Injuries, after all, are part of the game, and they're definitely a rite of spring. Consider the past week for the Cardinals. In order, the Cardinals had 30% of their planned opening day lineup deal with injuries that make them questionable or "doubtful" for March 28 at Dodger Stadium: Lars Nootbaar (fractured rib), Sonny Gray (hamstring), and Tommy Edman (wrist surgery). St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Lynn Worthy joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss the news of the week and the openings those injuries create in the roster and the lineup. Worthy, while talking with BPIB host and baseball writer Derrick Goold, brings up a key question for the Cardinals: Will they stick to their defensive-oriented plans and side with the best gloves available for two potential openings in the outfield, or will the need for offense be so much that they have to abandon that defense-first goal before the season even starts? Worthy and Goold also detail what young outfielders Michael Siani and Victor Scott II have done to force their way into the conversation at midspring and whether either of them could emerge as a starter in that first game against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is on the horizon. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, and in its 12th year as one of the top-rated baseball and Cardinals podcasts is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p>

<p>Ten prospects. Two minutes each. Start the clock. St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero, one of the few staff writers at a daily paper dedicated to covering minor-league affiliates of the city's major-league team, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss 10 prospects who are set to have a leap year in 2024. Building off of Guerrero's article in the Feb. 29, 2024, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Guerrero adds to the four players mentioned in the article with others who will leap in sample size, leap to the majors, leap to contribute, or leap into the conversation surrounding the team. Some of the prospects discussed include Won-Bin Cho, Ian Bedell, Pedro Pages, Chase Davis, Josh Baez, Thomas Saggese, Victor Scott II, and Edwin Nunez. One or two might even leap into prominent role with the major-league club. BPIB host and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold keeps the clock running and adds some addition background on each prospects and then, when time expires, runs a 2-minute drill on the prospect mostly likely to leap into being a factor for the big-league Cardinals by the end of 2024. Could a familiar history be about to repeat itself? The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>"See a Different Game" was the motto of The Sporting News for a long time, and for a long time The Sporting News was known as the Bible of Baseball. Like everything, The Sporting News has changed, baseball coverage has changed, but more and more the best coverage remains true to that directive, "See a Different Game." And the best season for telling those kind of stories? Well, it just might be spring training. Stan McNeal, veteran baseball writer and editor and a senior staff writer at Cardinals Magazine, joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to talk storytelling in a brand new BPIB. McNeal details the process of seeking stories for the club's official publication. He discusses going to Stephen Piscotty's hometown to see another side of the former Cardinals outfielder, about getting Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt in a room and see how it goes if the interviewer just listens to two infielders, and, for this year, what it was like tracking down the legend of Sonny Gray, the Cardinals' new leader of the rotation. McNeal spent nearly a decade covering baseball at The Sporting News and years in San Diego as an editor and sportswriter. He has seen the industry shift, baseball writing change -- but for the better? The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>On a windy day on the back fields of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Mike Claiborne, one of the radio voices of the Cardinals, joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss how maybe Flag Day is too late in the schedule to determine where the club is headed in 2024. So it's time for an earlier Claiborne appearnce.</p> <p>It's a Leap Year. It's after a losing season. It's after a last-place season. That date will come much earlier. Claiborne, a regular on the Best Podcast in Baseball around Flag Day, the day he has annually suggested it's time to check the standing, agrees with the premise that it could be Memorial Day this season, or even May Day.</p> <p>As spring training activities, Florida gusts, and one mower swirl around them, Claiborn and St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff writer Goold discuss pivotal years for Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and the Cardinals leadership.</p> <p>They also discuss what a lineup could look like with the left-handed options or if it's someday built around young sluggers Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker.</p> <p>Goold asks Claiborne three questions to close out the episode: Can a player be a Cardinal great without playoff success? What tone has he seen set in spring training to match the importance of the season? And, finally, what's at stake for the Cardinals this season that moves up the Flag Day reality check? </p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>As Cardinals prepare for the official opening of spring training, what tone must be set early and what lessons from last year's losing season and curious spring will inform this year's camp? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss how more than just the Cardinals' spring training facilities in Jupiter, Florida, need an overhaul. The roster received one. The club suggests the leadership in the clubhouse is next for a dash of retro restoration. In a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, the two writers detail the new look of the bullpen and four of the team leaders who will help shape what the team looks like and achieves during spring training. Is the certainty of some positions a better place to start than the competition advertised a year ago? Why does the Cardinals approach with the bullpen seem so similar to how they viewed the rotation a year ago -- and is a similar outcome inevitable? (This podcast was recorded before the Cardinals reached an agreement pending physical with right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton.) The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p>

<p>New Cardinals reliever Andrew Kittredge, less than 72 hours after the trade that brought him from Tampa Bay to St. Louis, talks with the Best Podcast in Baseball and host Derrick Goold about the move, and why it wasn't entirely unexpected. Kittredge also details the slider that got him to the majors, and how the Rays and their creative and collaborative pitching culture accelerated his career and gave him the opportunity to pitch in the majors, in high-leverage situations, in the playoffs, and in the All-Star Game. Kittredge details his approach to pitching and dives into some of the analytics behind his pitch use. During the podcast, the Cardinals readied to announce Chaim Bloom as a new advisor within the front office, and Kittredge discusses how Bloom played a big part in bringing him to the Rays. Kittredge joined the BPIB from Washington and while he did not sport the beard he often does on the mound, he did wear a Huskies cap as the NCAA national championship football game approached. So, of course, the hat and lack of a beard is discussed. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>It's the Best Podcast in Baseball Holiday Episode: Part 2. Comedian Greg Warren, an All-American wrestler at Mizzou, considers a question posed by Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson: What current Cardinal would make the best wrestler? The physical skills and mental strength necessary propels the discussion in this is second part of the holiday BPIB, recorded at Sunday Best, a restaurant in St. Louis' Central West End. BPIB host and baseball writer Derrick Goold poses the question about holiday shopping for Cardinals fans and whether the timing of the Cardinals' moves have as much to do with their criticism as the actual moves themselves. Warren's new special, The Salesman, is available on YouTube, and he will appear at the Funny Bone in St. Charles in April. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>It's the Best Podcast in Baseball Holiday Episode: Part 1. Comedian Greg Warren, a St. Louis native and devoted Cardinals fan, took over as entertainment for his friends at ballgames this past year when the results on the field were hardly a laughing matter. If that meant waving off the t-shirt slingshot or spiking his hat in frustration when the ball wasn't under the cap he guessed, then so be it. Warren, whose new special 'The Salesman' is available on YouTube, joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson and baseball writer Derrick Goold at Sunday Best, a restaurant in St. Louis' Central West End, to discuss his beloved Cardinals, what it's like being a fan this winter after a 91-loss season, and much much more, including the nightmare of seeing an actual can of corn hurtling toward you in right field. Part 2 of the discussion will appear shortly after this one drops. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>The Cardinals have 11 World Series titles, most in the National League. Just ask them. But the Dodgers are coming for that crown the Cardinals cling to -- only four behind with 10 years of Shohei Ohtani ahead. "That's the mission statement," says Los Angeles Times baseball writer Bill Shaikin as he joins the Best Podcast in Baseball from the epicenter of Major League Baseball's biggest news of the offseason. Ohtani, the best player in baseball and a two-way superstar unlike any before him, agreed to a radical, record-setting contract that both made him the highest-paid professional athlete ever and also deferred so much money that he will be one of the lowest-paid players on the Dodgers. How is this possible? When is $700 million not really $700 million? Shaikin, who covers the business of baseball for the LA Times and has covered MLB for decades, discusses this with BPIB host and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>The Cardinals entered the offseason with optimism they could make American League Cy Young Award runnerup Sonny Gray a compelling offer to come to St. Louis and lead, from the mound and clubhouse, a revamped rotation. In the span of 3 minutes, 9 seconds -- which you'll hear in this brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball -- Gray revealed what the Cardinals saw in him and what he saw in the Cardinals that forged a three-year, $75-million guarantee that gives the veteran right-hander a chance to become the team's first $100-million free agent pitcher. KMOX/1120 AM's Kevin Wheeler pinch-hits as the host for this episode and joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss whether Gray is an ace, whether Gray is enough, and whether the Cardinals have earned a sunnier outlook already for 2024. Also discussed: The need for two relievers to really retool the pitching staff and the art of one-knee-down catching. It radically changed a young prospects place within the Cardinals' organization and put him on the brink of the majors. What does that mean for the defensive ability of the three catchers -- starter Willson Contreras, backup Ivan Herrera, and prospect Pedro Pages -- currently on the Cardinals' 40-man roster after Andrew Knizner was permitted to become a free agent. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>When it comes to the Cardinals' needs for pitching, this is not the offseason to fixate on one name or one solutions, argues St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson. This is the winter to deal in volume -- most Costco, less Hublot. Frederickson takes over hosting duties for a brand new BPIB featuring Derrick Goold, the usual host and usual Post-Dispatch baseball writer.</p> <p>The two writers discuss the pitching options for the Cardinals, the pitching approaches, and just what Cardinals officials mean when they talk about adding "2 1/2 pitchers." What's a half pitcher? Why is it taking so long for the market to move?</p> <p>Goold offers the view of the Cardinals from the GM Meetings, where the industry noted how motivated the Cardinals and executive John Mozeliak appear to be and how the Cardinals and ownership must still prove they're willing to back that motivation with the finances necessary to be a player in the free-agent marketplace for pitchers.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold, who is gradually getting his voice back.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>What has to happen for the 2023 World Series to put an exclamation point on a remarkable year for Major League Baseball and its new rules to invigorate (and shorten!) the game? Well, it starts with Arizona. Texas Monthly contributor and longtime baseball writer Richard Justice joins the Best Podcast in Baseball and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the two teams headed to face each other in the World Series: Does the Texas Rangers and their mighty (expensive) lineup have staying power? Are the surprise Arizona Diamondbacks the produce of the new rules? Justice details how D-Backs rookie Corbin Carroll has the ability to become a World Series star due to his knack for disrupting teams -- and, yes, MLB's new rules make that more possible than in recent Octobers. Justice and Goold also discuss two of the oldest pitching coaches in the game leading their staffs to pennants and what that says about the importance of trust in an industry driven by cold, hard analytics. And, speaking of trust, has the vibrancy of the game and enjoyable postseason meant Commission Rob Manfred, who championed and orchestrated the new rules, has earned some? Or, are Arizona and Texas still just playing for a "piece of metal." The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of StlToday.com, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies are putting the PH in fun once again this October, right down to his Phanatic cleats, a teammate's foul mouth, and a fun-filled, phenomenal atmosphere at home games.</p> <p>If more players in 2024 don't use walk-up songs that invite crowd participation, that's not A-Oh, A-OK. How can the Cardinals capture what the Phillies have on the field -- and is there something they can take away from another October run by the Phillies?</p> <p>Even literally? New York Times bestselling author Tyler Kepner, now a national baseball writer for The Athletic, rejoins the podcast to discuss his recent article that is an appreciation of Phillies' right-hander Aaron Nola, a free-agent this winter.</p> <p>Kepner and BPIB host Derrick Goold also discuss a trend in pitching and whether or not it should be concerning, and just how far the Cardinals must go to close the gap on NL standouts.</p> <p>Kepner makes the point that the Cardinals may be squandering the peaks of two all-time greats in the same way some haloed American League club did.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, brought to you by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of StlToday.com, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and baseball writer Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>News team, assemble! The Post-Dispatch's baseball writing team gathers to discuss what moves the Cardinals can make quickly and need to make assuredly to race away from the results of 2023 and toward a better 2024.</p> <p>Lynn Worthy explores his first year on the baseball beat at StlToday.com and the Post-Dispatch, and Daniel Guerrero relies on his expertise about the minor-league system to first detail a statistics change and then map where prospects can help, and how soon.</p> <p>Worthy and Guerrero gathered with colleague and baseball writer Derrick Goold, host of the Best Podcast in Baseball, to discuss how the Cardinals got stuck in the muck of a 91-loss season, but more importantly -- how and how quickly they can move out of it once the offseason begins.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>Entering September, the Cardinals had an offense that ranked in the top eight in the majors, was producing runs 7% better than the average lineup, and that was with two of its centerpieces struggling. They had the bats to carry a contender. Their arms let them down. The solution is obvious, to quote an executive: "Pitching. Pitching. Pitching." That does not make easy. Frequent contributor Kevin Wheeler, part of the The Dave Glover Show on KMOX/1120 AM, joins the BPIB to discuss the fallout from the 2023 season and the pitching plans that will create a quick turnaround for 2024. He also discusses the defensive spectrum and tries to stay one step ahead of BPIB host, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. Welcome to the offseason.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>As the minor-league season nears its end -- some Cardinals affiliates are in the postseason, others are completing their schedule -- a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball discusses the performances at every level and "leapers" who have bounded into the conversation for top-prospect rankings with their production in 2023. Daniel Guerrero, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer and beat writer for the minor-league system, details what players have made an impression on him and where significant strides must still be made within the system. Prospects discussed include Thomas Saggese, Victor Scott II, Tekoah Roby, Ian Bedell, Chase Davis, Won-Bin Cho, Edwin Nunez, Gordon Graceffo, and several more. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Lous Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and its host, Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>As they meander to their first losing season since 2007, the Cardinals have identified a shopping list for the 2023-24 offseason. To quote the executive who will lead the spree: "Pitching. Pitching. Pitching." John Mozeliak said it thrice on purpose. They intend to add three pitchers from the outside. Will that be enough? Who better to ask than Gordon Wittenmyer, the longtime baseball writer and first-year Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer. He covered the Cubs at the start of the season and now is on the daily beat as the Reds make a push for a playoff berth. Both teams are ahead of the Cardinals in the standings. Is there one move that the Cardinals can make to retake control of the NL Central, and what is the move that could give the other teams, like Milwaukee, a longer rain. Is the answer for each team the same -- pitching, pitching, pitching? A brand new Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is produced by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>So, how did the Cardinals do at the deadline with their acquisition of handfuls of minor-league pitchers? Smart, wrong, or lucky? Maybe a bit of all three.</p> <p>MLB Pipeline prospect guru Jonathan Mayo joins a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss the Cardinals new additions and his new book, 'Smart, Wrong, and Lucky: The Origin Stories of Baseball's Unexpected Stars.' He details which one the Cardinals were when they selected Albert Pujols in the 13th round.</p> <p>Mayo shares stories about teams scouting Pujols as a Missouri high schooler and for a Kansas City-area junior college, and how at least one team forever changed how it runs a draft because it missed on Pujols.</p> <p>The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>What happens when a team that prides itself on always been a contender turns the final two months of the regular season into extended spring training? That's what the Cardinals are going to find out. After the Cardinals' latest drubbing by the New York Mets at Busch Stadium, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson takes over a brand new BPIB and talks with host and baseball writer Derrick Goold about the trouble with trying to have it both ways -- keeping the sense of urgency to win while also auditioning young players for future roles and accepting their growing pains. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>On the same night Matthew Liberatore makes his first start against Tampa Bay, the team that identified his talent and drafted him 16th overall in the 2018 draft, the Best Podcast in Baseball visits with Tampa Bay Times' baseball writer Marc Topkin, the longtime baseball writer who covered big-league baseball in this area before there was a big-league team. With BPIB host Derrick Goold, Topkin details how the Rays have rebuilt, replenished, and retooled a pitching staff each year to contend in the robust American League East. Can the Cardinals as they revamp their rotation learn anything from the Rays' commitment to pitching and willingness to experiment? The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>In this bonus episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, we bring you PlayBacks, an audio series that brings to life the archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p> <p>In a game that started on Sept. 11, 1974, the Cardinals beat the Mets 4-3 in the longest non-tie game in Major League history. Here is our original report from that game.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>