Best Podcast in Baseball

In the Season 5 preview of the Best Podcast in Baseball, StlToday.com and St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold bids farewell to StlToday.com columnist Benjamin Hochman from Florida and welcomes in a guest appearance from KMOV.com lead baseball writer J.J. Bailey. With less than three weeks remaining before the end of spring training, the trio discuss the revelations of spring and the creeping concerns about the 2017 Cardinals that are starting to surface. Although Mark Ellis and Pete Kozma are long gone from the Cardinals' clubhouse, the lessons from their presence persist. No player knows that better than Kolten Wong, who may have to be a Kozma to avoid an Ellis. Laced throughout this episode is the discussion of stats, including what spring stats really mean and what stats really matter for each individual Cardinals starter. There is also a bigly -- we mean huge -- announcement at the end of the episode. (This episode features minimal singing.)

What can we make of the Cardinals strong showing so far in exhibition games? Come along for the ride though Muck City and other locales along State Highway 80 in Florida as St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman sift through the past two weeks of Cardinals spring training, from the injuries that have emerged, to wins that have stacked up, and to the prospects who have shined. While their rental car zips through a hotbed of Florida football, the co-hosts predict the ERAs of the Cardinals' five starters, touch again on clubhouse culture (is the vibe that good? why?), and offer a warning of some pothole ahead for the Cardinals. Hint: They usually need it at the end of any journey. Enjoy the Year 4 finale of the BPIB because season five is just around the corner.

On March 9, 2005, on the same day he was supposed to start a B-game in Jupiter, Fla., Rick Ankiel instead walked into manager Tony La Russa's office and abruptly retired. What happened next became baseball lore. In this special BPIB -- a companion piece to an article that appears in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- baseball writer Derrick Goold talks with Ankiel and Yahoo! Sports baseball writer Tim Brown about their forthcoming book, "The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life." In it, Ankiel recounts his story, how he reached the majors as a comet, burning bright as a teen and then coming undone during a playoff appearance in 2000. Sitting outside the Cardinals clubhouse Ankiel once called home, he and Brown talk about the process of writing the book, why it feels like two separate lives that Ankiel lived, and of course that period of time, back in 2005, when Ankiel retired his "snapdragon" curve ... and picked up a bat.

Recorded in Jupiter, Fla., before a live studio audience of birds, ballplayers, mowers, and other spring training noises, Post-Dispatch baseball writers Rick Hummel and Derrick Goold map where the Cardinals go after losing their top prospect before he throws a pitch. Alex Reyes' Tommy John surgery and absence from the 2017 season sets the stage for a series of questions that the Cardinals must answer here in Jupiter. Pinch-hitting as co-host Hummel offers a surprise pick for a sleeper impact player, and BPIB regular Goold quizzes him on this, his 40th spring training covering the Cardinals for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Forts and Ports are discussed. Well, negotiated.

In the span of four days, two major news events greeted the Cardinals and will shape them for years to come. One by addition, the other by subtraction. St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers Derrick Goold and Ben Frederickson, a clutch BPIB pinch hitter, detail the week that was, from Major League Baseball's commissioner imposing unprecedented fines on the Cardinals for a former executive's illegal hacking of Houston internal database to the team signing Carlos Martinez to record $51-million extension. The penalty will sap the Cardinals of two picks in the upcoming draft and limit their access to amateur talent for a year. The promise to Martinez could keep him with the team for seven years, counting on him to blossom in the ace. The true impact of both events won't be clear for several years, but one thing is: For the Cardinals to overcome the bruise of the hacking scandal they must, as Mizzou basketball player Kim English once said, 'reconcile by winning.' That starts now. Spring training is nigh.

A simple question -- Who should the Cardinals start on Opening Night, Carlos Martinez or Adam Wainwright? -- leads to the sharpest, heated and most-personal debate yet as BPIB co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman, both of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, argue the repercussions of the decision. What follows is an exploration of the mental strength necessary to be a pitcher, to be a pro, and whether a high-performing athlete is really just one setback away from complete crumble. The debate highlights the first BPIB episode of 2017 and also explains the delay in posting one. The topic was so fertile, so personal that it lasted longer than planned -- and even continued after the podcast. Also explored: Whether first baseman Matt Adams could play well enough in spring to force the Cardinals to rethink third base, and Goold's Hall of Fame ballot. A request is made to help Hochman build a case to cross-examine Goold on his voting process and, of course, the 10 names he checked for Cooperstown. Find more Post-Dispatch podcasts at StlToday.com.

Some of the best writing on deadline ever for the podcast was not done by either of its hosts but two fans of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Annalyse Crowdus and Rob Krosley delivered on the Christmas Carol challenge, and their work, 'Baby, It's Podcast Time,' warms a year-end edition of the BPIB that involves three deep dives into rankings: Prospects, Hall of Fame candidates, and Holiday Songs. St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold details the Cardinals' Top 10 prospects and how he ranked each of the rising talents in the system. StlToday.com and Post-Dispatch columnist Benjamin Hochman challenges how Goold works on his Hall of Fame ballot, and then it's Hochman's turn to face the heat. He and BPIB listeners rank the holiday tunes before Goold reveals his new No. 1. A special thanks to all who contributed to this episode -- and the fourth year of BPIB. Onward to 2017.

The Dexter Fowler Era beings for the Cardinals. In need of an outfielder and in want of a leadoff hitter, the Cardinals committed five years and $82.5 million to the best OBP monster available in the market. St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman explore the many ways Fowler fits the Cardinals -- and whether or not he fixes them. Also discussed in the center field prospect in the Cardinals organization you don't know but could be zooming toward the majors soon, and a dream job for Hochman is created. There is also a Christmas song contest. Who can deck the hosts with a BPIB carol? Over the river and through the woods, this podcast will be great holiday companion for your trips ahead.

Major League Baseball descends on Washington, D.C., for the annual winter meetings, so cue the cliches. General manager John Mozeliak is looking to Make the Cardinals Great Again. #MCGA. There's Hope in these hallways. And so. An eventful week for baseball that saw a new CBA agreed upon and, locally, saw lefty Jaime Garcia traded to Atlanta brings the Cardinals and the Best Podcast in Baseball to eve of the baseball's annual swap meet. Co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman, both of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, explore the real moves the Cardinals could make, the surprise similarities between a high-priced free agent and a rarely talked about center fielder, and more, all setting the stage for what will be a busy fortnight before the holidays. One host requests veto power.

StlToday.com and Post-Dispatch columnist Ben Frederickson pinch-hits as co-host and comes out swinging on two topics that tend to ignite Twitter with debate when it comes to baseball and, specifically, the Cardinals: award-voting and payroll. With Frederickson asking the questions, Post-Dispatch baseball writer and BPIB co-host Derrick Goold explores the real way voting for awards is done, who votes, when, and how much time is spent on the ballots, and the value of having the Baseball Writers' Association of American to oversee the major awards. The two also plunge deep into the criticism of the Cardinals' spending and why the next few seasons offer the club an economic edge that it's not clear how or if they'll use. Urban legends are unwound. Payroll presumptions are explored. And Kate Upton is mentioned. A lot.