Best Podcast in Baseball

CINCINNATI -- The Cardinals continue a stretch of 12 consecutive games against National League Central rivals, and all five division teams will reach their 50th game of the season with a record at .500 or better. At least four will have winning records as the first third of the season comes to an end. But is there a real NL Central race? Post-Dispatch editor Nathan Mills joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the division and what each team needs to do to win the title. The Cubs and Brewers stand out. The Reds have intriguing talent. The Pirates have a wicked pitching staff. The Cardinals ... must continue to win at the margins, and there's a word that Goold gives to that: "Zero Defect."  Besides, the real race in the division may not be on the field at all. It could be in the dugout. If the Cardinals continue to play beyond expectations, manager Oli Marmol may present the best challenger in the division to Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy's three-peat as National League Manager of the Year. Also discussed on this episode: The method behind the six-inning starts from the Cardinals rotation. How to update classic pitching metrics for a modern starter. The invention, in real-time of Skyline Chili poutine. You're welcome. More Post-Dispatch podcasts.  Please consider subscribing. In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold. 

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.  Please consider subscribing. Back from Orlando, Florida, and the annual Winter Meetings and into the chill of St. Louis, Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold shares with editor Nathan Mills what he learned about the Cardinals stoking the hot stove for a busy few weeks heading toward the holidays. The Cardinals gave a glimpse into their enhanced scouting staff and expanded view of the marketplace as well as revealed how they may look to add the same roles they've been looking to trade and what traits they're seeking in the pitchers they continue to collect. The Brendan Donovan market is so strong that other teams are wondering what they can get for their infielders. The Willson Contreras market is starting to take shape, but will it matter if he won't accept a trade? And the Nolan Arenado market is going to be slower to develop. All of that, plus Mills sternly rebukes Goold's suggestion that the Dodgers go ahead and get it over and just trade for Mr. and Mrs. Met already and complete the Edwin Diaz trumpet-blaring entry into the ninth inning. There is also an unexpected power ranking of mascots. In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.  Please consider subscribing. From the start of the offseason and the beginning for a new front officer leader, the Cardinals have signaled their priority this winter is to accumulate talent that will help them contend in the future. They began that process by trading Sonny Gray and $20 million to the Boston Red Sox for a pair of pitching prospects, Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke, and now the Cardinals' pursuit continues with the arrival of MLB's biggest gathering of the Hot Stove season. The Winter Meetings are coming. To discuss the Cardinals' to-do list for the Winter Meetings, KMOX/104.1 FM's Kevin Wheeler rejoins the Best Podcast in Baseball. He and BPIB host Derrick Goold discuss the Cardinals' search to trade Nolan Arenado and what happens if another winter passes without a deal; which of the players nearing free agency, such as Brendan Donovan and JoJo Romero, will help the Cardinals achieve their goal of accumulating young talent; and what does a contract extension look like for manager Oli Marmol. The significant National Baseball Hall of Fame vote set for Dec. 7 is also discussed. This is the first of two episodes because what started as a short conversation spilled into a heated debate about, oh, just the future economic structure of baseball. Look for that bonus BPIB shortly. In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.  Please consider subscribing.  Welcome to the great plains. When next Major League Baseball hosts a World Series it will have been a decade since any of thw 10 teams from the Midwest divisions have reached the Fall Classic. They've rarely had a club get as far as the championship series, and the National League Central hasn't won a game in the best-of-seven NLCS since 2018. Oh, and coming out of the pandemic the small-market teams that dot the NL and American League Central divisions have been rocked by revenue turbulence. All while the games star free agents gather at the coasts. With that as the background, Cincinnati Enquirer baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer suggested to Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold that they poll as many executives as possible at the General Manager Meetings to ask: Which team in the NL Central is most likely to be the next team to win a World Series? The answers were revealing -- not just for the task, but also for what executives view as the most likely traits a team needs to win. The "most resources," came up often as the big-city Cubs received the most votes. Here is the Post-Dispatch story that came from the poll. And here is the podcast that expands upon the poll to discuss the factors that got the divisions here, how one or more can escape the bind, and whether Major League Baseball is just going to keep soaring above fly-over country until the economic structure of the game changes. The two baseball writers dissect how the Pirates could augment a talented team with a different payroll formula, how the Brewers may lose their edge, how the Cardinals made regain theirs, how the Reds could make a push to the top, how the Cubs could financially squash the competition, and why they don't.  In the end, one of the writers makes his prediction for the NL Central team that will next win a World Series title. It's a team that just doesn't exist yet. In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43 Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5 When the World Series ends, the roster work begins, and the Cardinals have new staff and new leadership in place -- so will it mean new direction? On Oct. 31, the Best Podcast in Baseball drops, fittingly, the 31st episode of this season. And it's not meant to scare fans. Although, the two teams playing in the World Series might cause a shiver through Cardinals Nation about how far away the local club feels from the two tycoon clubs playing this Halloween for the championship.  Nathan Mills, an editor at the Post-Dispatch and co-host of the hockey podcast Net Front Presence, joins baseball writer Derrick Goold in a brand new BPIB to discuss how far away the Cardinals are from playing this late into October. Also discussed: What lessons can be taken from a World Series that features two of the top-five payrolls in the game, what pitchers fit the Cardinals needs, and what priorities the Cardinals should set for this winter when splurging and star-chasing seems unlikely. The butterfly effect of new positions and new hires for the front office is detailed, as it whether such moves reinvigorate a fanbase. Many words that begin with the prefix re- are used in the making of this podcast. In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.  

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43 Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5 It's been a minute since a brand-new Best Podcast in Baseball and there's a lot to catch up on. For the first time in 18 years, the Cardinals have a new president of baseball operations, and for the first time in even longer they're talking about a team-building plan that doesn't include promises of aiming to contend for a World Series championship. That will likely mean an active winter of trades. At the same time, two prominent former Cardinals, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, are throwing their names in the ring for manager vacancies elsewhere, with at least two teams (and likely a third soon) entertaining Pujols as a strong candidate for their open position. And, in the past week, a former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt retired from the position with San Diego, spurring conversation about why he left both jobs abruptly and resurfacing reasons reported in the Post-Dispatch and elsewhere after his sudden firing in 2021. Former players and old conversations all swirl together to invite the question on whether to truly move in a fresh direction did the Cardinals need a stretch like this that brings closure to the past and signals the new era. Kevin Wheeler, of KMOX/104.1 FM, joins Derrick Goold for a (long overdue) new episode of BPIB to discuss that and more. The "just hanging on" kitten plays a prominent role in the conversation. In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.  

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43 Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5 During a lengthy rain delay before the finale of the Cardinals' visit to Tampa Bay, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold and Tampa Bay Rays baseball writer Marc Topkin discuss transfers of power on their beats and how they contribute to a clouded forecast. In St. Louis, former Rays executive Chaim Bloom is positioned to take over as president of baseball operations in the coming month, and Topkin offers insight about the role Bloom had with the Rays, where to find his fingerprints on player development, and why he just might have the best resume possible to lead the Cardinals' front office. In Tampa Bay, the Rays are paying rent at the Yankees' spring training ballpark, George Steinbrenner Field, due to hurricana damage at Tropicana Park. The Rays feel like they're perpetually on the precipice teetertottering between having strong established roots in Tampa Bay or packing up and going to another city. New ownership may change that -- but they'll need a ballpark. They appear to have a fan base, one that owes some of its interest in baseball to the Cardinals and all the decades they spent calling St. Petersburg, Florida, home for spring training. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is its 13th season. BPIB is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43 Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5 As the Cardinals approach the onrushing July 31 trade deadline, what if the moves made (or not made) are just prelude to a larger overhaul of the organization in the opening months of Chaim Bloom's tenure leading baseball operations. A simple, direct, but essential question about whether the Cardinals four months into their "runway" season have identified the core of their next contending team prompts a lengthy discussion about what's still missing, what hasn't emerged, and what players have made their best case to be part of the foundation upon which Bloom is expected to build a contending team?  That is where the conversation between St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold and KMOX/104.1 FM host Kevin Wheeler  continues, and where it goes touches on future talents, the need for stars, and even the environment at the ballpark.  In its 13th season as one of the first and most popular Cardinals-related podcasts, the Best Podcast in Baseball in sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis. BPIB is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.