Best Podcast in Baseball

From Foley's Pub, a baseball writer's home away from home in Manhattan, BPIB co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman, two St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers, convene a round table -- literally, a round table -- to discuss how this little baseball bar in the shadow of the Empire State Building has become home to St. Louis Cardinals fans throughout the area. A community that started years ago strengthened with the 2011 World Series and has grown to include regulars, some of whom joined this first-of-its-kind recording, and some celebrities, like Jon Hamm. The two BPIB hosts talk with listeners, take questions from the small crowd that gathered for the recording, and dive headlong into the Chapman Question now facing the Cubs, and just where is the line where winning excuses too much. There is also a healthy helping of toasted ravioli. Dig in.

In a brand new, fuller-length episode, co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman, two sportswriters at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, recap a news-jammed week for the Cardinals and find the tie that binds the hacking scandal with the team's trade deadline plans. A former Cardinals executive is sentenced to 46 months for illegally accessing Houston's database, and with that baseball is dragged by the lapels into the Information Age and corporate espionage. With MLB now investigating the scandal and penalties imminent, the Cardinals face tiers of decisions on the annual trade deadline: Is this a team one or two fixes away from being an October challenger and is the talent cost worth it when MLB's punishment could limit the Cardinals' future access to prospects. Puns are kept to a minimum. And there is an unexpected compliment. Or two.

SPECIAL: BPIB at the All-Star Game: 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.

Those Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals' archrivals, have stormed to the best record in baseball and, at the time of this recording, a 10 1/2-game lead in the National League Central. Is this the new norm for the Cubs -- or are there speed traps ahead that will slow their runaway summer? With the sounds of Wrigley Field all around them, BPIB co-host Derrick Goold and Chicago Sun-Times baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) discuss how Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer tore it all down before breaking through. The Wait 'Till Next Year team is now a club that intends to contend like this every year. But it's not the given that everyone thinks. The latest Best Podcast in Baseball short explores.

In a brand new BPIB, co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman discuss Kolten Wong's detour back to the majors -- rerouting him through center field. Could Wong's resurgence at Class AAA Memphis be a model the Cardinals go to again for other, struggling young players? The Cardinals made headlines with their first draft pick, Delvin Perez, and the two St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers explore the risk and rewards beyond just the 23rd overall. Finally, Hochman captures the essence of the 2011 World Series and why that Game 6 still resonates -- and probably always will -- with this baseball-mad town. At the least, fast-forward to the end to hear Hochman's description as the Rangers return to St. Louis.

Major League Baseball wants to raise the strike zone and eliminate the four pitches in an intentional walk, but what's really behind the pace of play problem? Co-hosts Benjamin Hochman and Derrick Goold explore (really, debate) baseball's chase for the football crowd and how it's drawing baseball down a path that misses the game's best selling points. The two St. Louis Post-Dispatch writers also offer a solution. And, no, they don't forget about the Cardinals. In a game of "real" or "fleeting," sports columnist Hochman offers his view on whether Aledmys Diaz, Matt Holliday, Stephen Piscotty, starting pitching, Alex Reyes, Harrison Bader and more have staying power. Plans are also hatched for a live BPIB show.

Before a Hall of Fame career as a broadcaster, Tim McCarver was a World Series-champion catcher for the Cardinals. After 28 consecutive years of calling postseason baseball, McCarver is back with the Cardinals -- doing what he described as final tour behind the microphone. In this BPIB short, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold talks with McCarver about why he went local after being global, how John Mozeliak helped his return, and whether there is still a place in this hyper-media, Twitterized sports media world for good old, fashioned storytelling and what will happen to baseball if we stop telling stories.

The most expensive skill in baseball is also the most misunderstood -- and the most risky. Why? That was the question Yahoo! Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan sought explore in his new book, 'The Arm: The Billion Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports.' In this BPIB short, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold talks with Passan about the inspiration for the book, the implications of the book, and the ethics of baseball's next frontier -- medical data and competitive advantage within medical advancement. Passan also takes a bird's-eye view of the Cardinals and their place in the new National League Central.

Cardinals All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta is off on his rehab assignment and set to play at least positions (third, short) as he prepares for his return. In the latest BPIB episode, co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, discuss what Peralta's presence does for the team and how the Cardinals rearrange the infield to make room. Short answer: Pizza is for Producers. As Hochman has to head to cover hockey, StlToday.com columnist Ben Frederickson steps in to discuss his new verb -- "to college" -- and the jolt top prospect Alex Reyes could bring to the Cardinals' pitch staff. The episode is low on puns, high on fractions.

In the 50th edition of the BPIB since its relaunch, co-hosts Derrick Goold and Benjamin Hochman discuss the middling and meandering first month of the season for the Cardinals, and how they have firmly established themselves as a mediocre team so far. The two writers for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch explore how the Cardinals can get better against the best teams in baseball -- and if they must. There is also an explanation on the currency rate of quotes and grading performances on a curve. Ben Frederickson makes a cameo appearance to stake his claim to future country music stardom.