Best Podcast in Baseball

With City SC headed toward the MLS playoffs, SLU men's basketball set to host Mizzou, and the Mizzou football team about to face Texas, there's a lot of potential excitement for sports fans in St. Louis. At the same time, the Cardinals, committed to their rebuild, reach what could be a race to the lockout. In this landscape, what needs to happen for the Cardinals' Hot Stove to spark attention? Tamar Sher, sports anchor and reporter at KMOV/Channel 4, and Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman join Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the events in St. Louis and where Cardinals fit and whether they need to make a splashy move in this short window to invigorate the fan base. Hochman has a suggestion. He'd like the team to sign a specific free-agent third baseman, and that spurs the discussion that eventually leads to what happens when baseballn stops. Major League Baseball and the players' union appear unlikely to finalize a new Collective Bargaining Agreement before the current one expires at Dec. 1 and a lockout begins by the morning of Dec. 2. That will put a freeze on all major-league activities and interactions between teams and players.  The podcast discusses whether that also puts a chill in the vibe around the Cardinals, or if it just further focuses the conversation on where it has been during the rebuild -- on the rising, young talent in the minors and when those players will arrive. 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.  

The search for larger truths from a small-ball, smallest-market World Series is on, and it's possible that this year's Fall Classic, pitting two of the most innovative and shrewd clubs in the game against each other in the Brewers and Rays, does not buck recent trends as much as prove them. Best Podcast in Baseball host and Post-Dispatch Baseball writer Derrick Goold welomes recurring guest Kevin Wheeler, of KMOX/104.1 FM, to discuss this years World Series that will crown a new champion for the first time and what, if anything, the Cardinals can learn from it. Both the can-do Brew Crew and the Tampa Bay Rays have their roots in in the same place, sharing some of the same executives, but they've grown through nurture and opportunity in different directions to meet in this World Series. The Cardinals intend to follow that path with president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, who spent his formative years with the Rays, leading the way. But catching up to the division champion Brewers isn't the goal. Getting ahead of the game is, and Wheeler and Goold discuss where the Cardinals can do that and which organization has the brighter future as of right now. The backdrop to the World Series is the onrushing expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and imminent lockout. With two smaller-market, smaller-payroll teams playing for the championship, the Fall Classic has become an inkblot test. It can be whatever suits the argument for or against a salary cap, for or against restrictions that narrow the payroll disparity, for or against the structures said to be needed to spur competitive balance. In reality, this World Series only affirms the trends already in place and the edges that bigger-market, higher-spending teams already have and how the owners may need to explore significant adjustments on their end for that to change. A depth of talent to survive the postseason and be versatile for matchups is what wins, and the fatter the wallet the easier it is to acquire and maintain that depth. Wheeler and Goold outline the reasons why. 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.  

A World Series preview 44 years in the making: The Fall Classic returns to Milwaukee for the first time since the Cardinals were there in 1982 and upended the American League champion Brewers.  Forty-four years and one league change, and the Brewers are back in the World Series. And they sure look like a team that's only going to get better for a few years. To discuss what the Fall Classic in Milwaukee means in the history of the Brewers and for the future of the National League Central, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel beat writer Curt Hogg joins the Best Podcast in Baseball for a conversation with St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. They detail what the reaction in Wisconsin has been like for this team, when expectations are going to start applying pressure (if they haven't all ready), and how the Brewers built a juggernaut when it comes to developing pitchers. A recurring theme of the conversation is an edge the Brewers have often played: patience. Hogg also offers a scouting report on the two prospects the Cardinals received from the Brewers at the trade deadline in exchange for pitchers Dustin May and JoJo Romero. Both Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale are outfielders, and the Cardinals were thrilled to get two talents from a system that is among the best at spotting, acquiring, and developing talent. Just check the standings. 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. 

Two years into their overhaul of the minor-league system to modernize it, staff it, and reanimate it, the Cardinals are on the power play. By adjusting their scouting focus and expanding their avenues for acquiring talent (i.e., trading All-Stars during one whirlwind winter), the Cardinals have radically changed the potential within the system, especially when it comes to power. An example of this was a recent exercise by Baseball America that had hosts of the Prospect Podcast draft teams of power hitters and also power pitchers. The Cardinals had five hitters, including top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez and breakout talents Joshua Baez and Jose Baez, selected, four of them by one BA writer. The same BA writer chose several rising talents for his power pitching team. Geoff Pontes, a prospect writer at BA, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss his selections and the state of the Cardinals' farm system with Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. Pontes sees not only the Cardinals' answers at third base and for the middle of the order ascending (and fast) in the system, but for the possibilty of two pitchers arriving in 2027 who could be the left-right, Nos. 1-2 combo in Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin, respectively.  Prospects specifically discussed include: Jake Gurevitch, Doyle, Franklin, Rodriguez, Jesus Baez, Joshua Baez, Josiah Ragsdale, Sandro Santana, Daniel Eagen, Jack Martinez, Nate Dohm, Brandon Clarke, and more. During the conversation, both writers reference the 20 to 80 scale used by scouts to describe upside for various tools, such as 70 power or a 60 slider. Eighty is rarely given, but the higher the score the better. And this episide of the BPIB is an 80 conversation.  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. 

After a lengthy delay, the Best Podcast in Baseball is back and making up for lost time.  Or, well, going back in time. On the 100th anniversary -- to the date -- of the 1926 World Series and the Cardinals' first world championship, author Terry Lemons joins BPIB host and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the significance of that title and its role in creating St. Louis as the baseball city we know so well. Lemons' book, "The Year St. Louis Became a Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth, and the 1926 World Series" explores how that series was much more than a best-of-seven showdown. It pitted Ruth and the mighty Yankees against the furthest team west and furthest team south in the majors, and a Cardinals club that wasn't even in the most popular major-league team in its city. Lemons presents the idea that the series and the Cardinals' victory was the "lightning strike" that made baseball, already popular in St. Louis, part of the city's identity. And that goes right down to the practice of cheering for the opponent. And at the center of it was the Great Bambino and what Lemons called the "Ruthian" mistake that ended the series. Signed copies of his book is available at his website, 1926Baseball.com. Thank you listeners for the patience as BPIB took an unplanned break for a few months and will now resume a more regular and recurring schedule as it reinvents itself a bit. We appreciate the support. This podcast only exists (persists?) because of the listeners like you. 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. 

KANSAS CITY -- When it comes to the fragile, fleeting nature of contention, is a bird in hand worth two birds on a bat? That's the question that baseball writer Derrick Goold asks in a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball. St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor and frequent podcast contributor Nathan Mills joins the podcast to discuss which direction the Cardinals are going with their pitching, their offense, and their plans for the upcoming trade deadline. Goold has traveled west to Kansas City, where the World Cup has come for some of its games and the Cardinals have arrived for the conclusion of the I-70 Series.  The Cardinals revitalized their lineup with recent moves. The bullpen is undergoing renovation. And all of that happens with the August trade deadline as a backdrop. The Cardinals have close to 40 games remaining before having to make a call on whether they'll be buyers, sellers, or neither at the deadline. A lot as it stake with their decision. A seller keeps them true their plan to accumulate young talent to contend at a later date. Neither chooses not commit. And both directions could lead to fan frustration as the club is trying to lure them back to the ballpark and get them to buy into a refreshed franchise. The podcast closes with a cautionary tale about contention, the potential of which played out for the Royals in the first game of this series and is another in a series of reminders for the Cardinals from their recent opponents -- all of whom have talked about identifying a window to contend, a window to spend to contend, a window when the talent would all come together for an extended run of success. And all of whom have had those plans derailed, unable to take a spark of contention and turn it into a campfire all because they were so convinced the could become a blowtorch able to light at will. 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. 

One of the first true baseball dynasties in St. Louis history was the St. Louis Stars, who had the talent to back up the name. And, at their centrally located ballpark, the Stars and greats like Cool Papa Bell played such an entertaining, exciting brand of baseball that it not only enriched the game's popularity in St. Louis but also informed the style of play fans have expected and celebrated for generations since. Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball for a wide-ranging conversation with baseball writer and host Derrick Goold. They start with the Stars and the discussion grows from there to detail the NLBM's "Pitch for the Future" iniative to raise $50 million an expand the current footprint of the museum to a campus that will include more items to display, a hotel, and a larger research and academic space. The goal comes back to telling the story of the Negro Leagues and bringing those players and those games to the modern fan with such a strong connection that information becomes inspiration. And that's where this new episode ultimately leads -- to a spot where legends of the past influence the present and bring the game of baseball to the next generation of players and fans. More about the NLBM's "Pitch for the Future" can be found here.  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. 

It's become book week at the Best Podcast in Baseball. Long time baseball writer and columnist and former president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America Ken Davidoff joins the podcast to discuss with host Derrick Goold his new book, "101 Lessons from the Dugout." The book, written for young adults, is a merger of baseball, parenting, and life lessons that use the dugout, batter's box, basepaths, and mound to map how baseball is a window into larger affirmations and experiences. One chapter discusses baserunning on a sacrfice fly and amplifies tagging up to a larger idea of pausing, gathering one self, survey the situation, and then charge headlong toward your goal with knowledge and without hesitation. "Your mound (is your) high ground," the book describes as an image for standing tall with an opinion at the center of everything. Davidoff spent decades covering baseball for the New York Post and Newsday, and on his final day on the beat a small group of writers, including Goold, stayed late into the night to cover CBA negotiations between the players' union and owners at the Cardinals' complex in Jupiter, Florida. The negotiations blew right past one of the deadlines, leading to Davidoff staying on the beat a few hours longer. There are lessons from those events too, and the two baseball writers dive into what could be lost with a missing season, what the owners aim to gain with the salary cap, and if any of the 101 lessons from the dugout apply to the situation. The book, "101 Lessons from the Dugout," is available wherever you prefer to shop for books, including here. 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. 

What is it with St. Louis and fielding, what are the seams to tie the city, its fondness for baseball, and defense together? That's the question that comes at the conclusion of a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Author and historian Ed Wheatley joins baseball writer and host Derrick Goold to discuss his new book, "The Finest in the Field: A History of Baseball Through 50 Iconic Gloves." The book uses art-worthy photos of famous gloves, from Bill Doak's that launched the modern glove to Bob Gibson's beloved glove without a logo, to tell the story about individual players, their gloves, and ultimately baseball history. The game itself has changed because of the advances in gloves, from tossing pitches like horseshoes to firing 104-mph fastballs because the catcher's mitt can now handle that. Well, mostly. Most everyone remembers their first glove and their favorite glove, and some big leaguers go whole careers with only one glove, while others get a new glove every season. When Masyn Winn finally got a grip on his first career Rawlings Gold Glove Award, he won the 100th in Cardinals history. The Cardinals are the first big-league club to reach 100 Gold Gloves, and the team just behind them is the Baltimore Orioles, who of course used to be the St. Louis Browns. Four of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history have called St. Louis' hot corner home -- most recently Nolan Arenado and Scott Rolen -- but the all-time leader in Gold Glove Awards at the position played in Baltimore. The all-time leader at shorstop is a Cardinal, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina won three Platinum Glove Awards before anyone else won a second one. Stan Musial was the first to use a style of glove that he popularized and then, decades later, became even more popular for outfielders. Oh, and Rawlings is based in St. Louis. And, heck, the play that launched the Cardinals' World Series history was a tag at second, not a hit. And it was applied with a Bill Doak model glove made by Rawlings. Wheatley, one of the biggest champions of Browns history and a keeper of the St. Louis Browns' flame, considers that question about St. Louis and the deep roots of defense and comes to a compelling conclusion why.  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. 

As the longtime archrivals clash for the first time in 2026 with a weekend series at Busch Stadium, here is what the scuffling Cardinals and struggling Cubs share in common. They both got to this point thanks to the Brewers. The Cubs arrive in St. Louis fresh off ending a 10-game losing streak that yanked them from first place in the National League Central to last place, and the Cardinals slide home after being swept in Milwaukee. They've lost six of their past eight games against division foes. With both teams separated percentage points going into their first series of the season, this is a pivotal weekend for at least one of them. Patrick Mooney, longtime Cubs beat writer and senior writer at The Athletic, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss how the Cubs could go from the high highs of two 10-game winning streaks this season to the current questions at the end of a 10-game plummet. Along with BPIB host Derrick Goold, Monney discusses the Cubs' pitching injuries and limited depth, their center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, and the manager Craig Counsell and his sense of humor behind some stoic answers. For the Cardinals, this series is their first time back since "tarps off" and a chance to play in front of huge, lively crowds -- and sell them on returning. The writers also discuss what these longtime rivals, the Cubs and Cardinals, share in common. They're both chasing Milwaukee. 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.