Best Podcast in Baseball

The first STL Sports on Tap, on Wednesday at the Schlafly Tap Room, drew a crowd of sports enthusiasts to listen to Post-Dispatch sportswriters and columnists tell stories and answer questions.

For the first time since 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the National League pennant, and with it ousted the reigning champs, the Chicago Cubs, from October. The Cubs find themselves similar to the Cardinals, just a few weeks later: Out of the postseason and in need of a closer. Let the race begin to see how these two rivals finish games. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Benjamin Hochman rejoins the conversation with baseball writer Derrick Goold and explores what options are really available to the Cardinals for the ninth inning and whether or not they'll be elbowing and jockeying with the Cubs for the best of the best relievers on the market. This full-length BPIB also reviews the play-by-play calls on Kirk Gibson's stunning walk-off homer in the 1988 World Series, the last one to feature the Dodgers. Who called it the best? Jack Buck. Vin Scully. Or, the sleeper pick, Don Drysdale.

A special crossover episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold joins Tim McKernan, a local radio legend and founder of InsideSTL.com, to discuss all things Cardinals, a few things baseball, several things Cubs, and just what is the story behind the red hats on the road and the Han Solo headset. McKernan has launched 'The Tim McKernan Show' podcast, and here he's allowed the interview to be repackaged for the BPIB audience. This longform interview peeks into many corners of the Cardinals' concerns, but strikes at something that maybe the fan base is missing, besides playoff baseball for the second consecutive year. It's magic.

BPIB is back, belatedly, but back. Ben Frederickson, the host of such podcasts as Eye on the Tigers, joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the inevitable end of the Cardinals' 2017 season. The cliff is coming. The chasm between the Cardinals and their rival Cubs is widening. How to bridge the gap? Or, should the Cardinals take seven steps back, yield the division for another year or two, and then snap back to contention -- just as the Cubs did? That's the backbone of the latest episode of BPIB, which mines the differences between the Cardinals and Cubs rosters and looks at the solutions for the Cardinals, and whether any of them can ignite a flagging enthusiasm in the club.

Is there such a thing as a 'good loss'? That's the question St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Benjamin Hochman posits as he returns to the co-pilot chair for a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Short answer: Not in baseball. The Cardinals have dropped consecutive series against losing teams and increasingly in danger of becoming one themselves. Along with BPIB host and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold, Hochman audits the three facets of the Cardinals' game and whether any are sharp enough for a contender. Also discussed: Mark McGwire, Ray Lankford, Players' Weekend, and the best slides in Cardinals history. Pepper Martin, get in line.

HALL OF FAMER, REVISITED: From 2004 to 2012, Chris Carpenter embodied what it means to be a modern ace. But that came at a cost. In this Best Podcast in Baseball short, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and StlToday.com baseball writer Derrick Goold talks with Carpenter about his return to the Cardinals organization -- and that 2011 postseason run that may have sped him toward retirement. Sitting in a dugout before a Grapefruit League this spring, Carpenter and Goold discuss the righthander's famed competitiveness, Carlos Martinez, his friend Adam Wainwright, and much more. The Cardinals hope that Carpenter will accept an invitation to be an annual presence in spring training, and after this cameo the righthander said he's more ready for that role than ever before.

As both a civic icon and one of St. Louis' ambassadors to the world, are the Cardinals starting to find their voice on social and political issues? Should they? St. Louis Post-Dispatch metro columnist Tony Messenger, an award-winning reporter and opinion-shaper, joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss the Cardinals' place in a changing, hyper-political climate, and whether the Cardinals brand, so deeply rooted and strong in history, gives them a foundation to take a stance on issues -- and if their place in the city as a public trust gives them the responsibility. Two Colorado kids also talk about baseball in the rockies, baseball in general, and the crisscross paths they took out of the Front Range and into Mound City. A definitive opinion on Dinger, the head-spinning dino, is also issued.

When the Cardinals traded Jon Jay to San Diego to land Jedd Gyorko they got a second baseman (which they already had), an infielder under control (which they were soon to have), and power (which they always need). What they actually got was something far more, something even Gyorko didn't expect. A year after leading the team in home runs, Gyorko has become the team's cornerstone at third base and its cleanup hitter. In a brand new BPIB short, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold joins Gyorko in the Cardinals' dugout for a conversation about the nuances of third, the Cardinals' curious season, the rise of Paul DeJong to Gyorko's left, and much more. The Best Podcast in Baseball can be found on StlToday.com along with a galaxy of baseball coverage that includes breaking news, chats, podcasts, and in-depth articles from The Post-Dispatch staff.

In advance of All-Star Week 2017, a special look back at the 2016 Futures Game and the two standout prospects the Cardinals sent to San Diego: "This week Alex Reyes wowed baseball with his 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball and his 101-mph fastball at the annual Futures Game. All Carson Kelly did was provide one of the highlights that will define the game for a few years -- just by providing the would-be home run that was robbed by one of the hometown Padres prospects. But before all of that the two Cardinals prospects spoke with Best Podcast in Baseball co-host Derrick Goold about their seasons, about being picked for the annual showcase of the game's best young talent, and about the things they have to accomplish before reaching the majors. Kelly, who leads off this BPIB special, describes how at Class AA Springfield he's putting his defensive game and offensive growth together. Reyes describes the advice he's received from Carlos Martinez. Both take a moment to describe what each other is like as a prospect."

"Need to eat." That's one of the pregame catchphrases -- or mottos, as Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham says -- that teammates shout during their handshake, clap-slap, high five drills in the dugout. It's a reminder to stay hungry. Or, as Tony La Russa used to say, "Stay greedy." That's the launchpad for a brand new full-length Best Podcast in Baseball, hosted by St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold. Joined by Ben Frederickson, Post-Dispatch and StlToday.com columnist, and Mark Saxon, a longtime baseball writer and local radio personality, Goold keeps them from lunch long enough to talk about Pham's tone-setting role with the team and all of the roster jolts that have happened -- and the ones ahead. The front office is trying to create an urgency within the clubhouse through transactions, and does that mean it's time for John Mozeliak 3.0. The model was change. Forget the need to eat, the Cardinals need to produce.