The StewPod: Baseball, pop culture & more

The next round of the MLB postseason is upon. We are one stage away from the World Series with four teams looking now to punch their tickets by winning either the ALCS or the NLCS. 

The Houston Astros and New York Yankees started Friday night, with the Astros taking an early series lead. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs begin their series Saturday. Here to talk about both of them is former MLB catcher and current Fox Sports analyst A.J. Pierzynski.

Fox, as you know, is home of the ALCS and will be broadcasting the World Series for the 18th straight year.

Pierzynski was part of the the FS1 broadcast team in the ALDS that called the Astros games, so he talks about what makes them dangerous and he talks about what makes the Yankees dangerous in the ALCS. He also gives us his take on two Dodgers pitchers — Alex Wood and Yu Darvish — that he caught in his playing days.

The busiest part of baseball's postseason is upon us — all four division series will be going by Friday. Friday, in fact, is the best baseball day of the year, as all eight remaining postseason teams will be in action in their respective ALDS and NLDS.

On a new StewPod, the Yahoo Sports' baseball podcast, we're talking to two men in the thick of it — one is Cody Bellinger, the Los Angeles Dodgers star rookie who will play his first postseason game Friday when the Dodgers open their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The other is Yahoo Sports' MLB columnist Jeff Passan, who joined us from Houston and will be stadiums across this land throughout October.

We delve into every series — particularly talking about if the Indians should fear the Yankees, if we might be underrating the Cubs and who might come out on top in the Red Sox-Astros series.

Bellinger joined us on behalf of sports nutrition MET-Rx, for whom he just starred in this new postseason hype video. With Bellinger, we talk about what it's like going into his first postseason, how the Dodgers' losing streak affected the team and what it would mean for the Dodgers to finally win another World Series.

[Music: "Come on Baby" - Saigon]

The most unique event of the Major League Baseball season is happening Sunday night, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals forego a standard big-league game and head to Williamsport, Pa., to play in the first ever Little League Classic.

The idea: Take two big leagues and have them play in the heart of the Little League World Series. MLB renovated an old minor-league stadium — Historic Bowman Field, which is the second oldest minor-league stadium in the country, having opened in 1926 — and it will host the game. But it won't like many baseball games you see.

Capacity at Bowman Field isn't even 2,500. And for this game, all the tickets are going to Little Leaguers. The Little Leaguers will get to meet the big-league players earlier in the day and interact with them. It's sort of a sequel to last year's Fort Bragg game, an effort by MLB to take its product to different settings for one night per year.

To talk more about this, the StewPod's Mike Oz and Liz Roscher got on the phone with ESPN baseball analyst Jessica Mendoza, who will be calling the game. She also has a unique job Sunday. She'll be calling Little League World Series games in the afternoon for ABC's coverage, then take her normal post as an analyst on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball with Dan Shulman, Aaron Boone and Tim Kurkjian to call the Little League Classic.

We talked a lot about why the Little League Classic idea is so cool, and one of the Mendoza's reasons was:

"The intimacy of the event, you gotta understand these guys play in front of 40,000, 50,000 fans that are really removed from where they are. This is going to be, not just a small crowd, but they’re right there with them. And having spent the day with them and interacting — and how cool it’s going to look because all the kids are wearing their uniforms, so you’re going to see these bright colors. It’s just going, to me, bring this youthful, joyful feel to what can be a very serious game. But I think it’s important. I think we all remember when we first picked up a ball and played the game. And I think this game will give a reminder to not just the people watching but those playing in the game, which is going to show."

She also talked to us about MLB's upcoming Players Weekend — which you can get a preview of Sunday night, as the Pirates and Cardinals will wear their Players Weekend uniforms — her own experience playing Little League and about the growing interest for young girls to play baseball instead of softball.

[Music: Glass Animals - "Youth"]

The Chicago Cubs are back. Since the All-Star break, the defending champs have shaken off that World Series hangover and taken control back in the NL Central.

This week on the podcast, we're talking to a man who might be so happy you'd think he's still part of the team. Well, he kind of is.

Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg — who is also an official team ambassador these days — is our guest. He's talking about what's behind the Cubs resurgence, offering his take on their trade-deadline additions and talking about his love for Chicago. That could be seen this week, as he worked with Subway to break ground on a renovation for a Chicago-area Little League field.

Elsewhere on the show this week, we're talking about Pete Rose, an alternative world in which Donald Trump owned the Giants and we take an unexpected turn into soundtracks of '90s sports movies.

[Music: Camp Lo — "Swing"]

New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius is having another impressive season, getting even better at the plate than he was the last two seasons. His batting average is up, so is his on-base percentage and he's looking even more at home at Yankee Stadium, where even though he had the toughest of shoes to fill, he's become a fan favorite.

On this week's Stewpod, the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, Gregorius joins us to talk about the adjustments that helped him succeed, what he seems from Aaron Judge that impresses him and whether he thinks the balls are juiced this year.

Gregorius joined us on behalf of the Delta Dugout program, which gives fans the chance to win memorable baseball experiences, like watching the Yankees play on the road next season. In his latest spot, Gregorius is even being a funny guy.

Here are some of the other things Gregorius talked about on this week's StewPod.

On how he’s more prepared this season:

“It’s more adjustments. I came from National League and it was different. I think personally they pitch different in the American League. You gotta make adjustments, get to know the pitchers and see what they try to do with you … The hardest part of the game is staying consistent with your plan when you go out there and play the game. I ask guys questions, how they approach this guy and try to put that in my plan too.”

On how Aaron Judge impressed him:

“It’s all-around game. He wasn’t the way he wanted to be when he came up last year. I like that he went home and made some adjustments and look what he’s doing now. It’s actually really great. I’m all for it. If he keeps making adjustments, he’ll be ever better. I think there’s a lot more in there.”

On whether the balls are juiced:

“No. Not at all. I haven’t seen anything to be honest.”

In a new episode of The StewPod, the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas joins us to talk about the upcoming All-Star game.

In the podcast, we talked about:

• Stanton vs. Judge in the Home Run Derby

• How it's reminiscent of Thomas vs. Griffey

• Frank Thomas' tips to win the derby

• Can the Big Hurt still hit dingers?

• Young stars to watch in the All-Star game

• The Cubs get snubbed

• The best part of the All-Star game for players

• First-half surprises/disappointments

• Thomas' current World Series pick

Catch Frank Thomas on Fox Sports' All-Star coverage, including the pregame show alongside Kevin Burkhardt & Alex Rodriguez at 7:30pm ET on Tuesday on FOX. He's also on the two-hour All-Star preview show airing on FS1 Monday at 3 p.m. ET with Burkhardt, Pete Rose and Tom Verducci.

With all the Unwritten Rules Theater we've seen around MLB this week, The StewPod imagines a world in which a new baseball league is starting and we have to decide which unwritten rules to keep and which ones to ditch.

Mike Oz and Chris Cwik are joined by Bad News Ramen and Yahoo Sports' Nick Bromberg.

We're also talking about Kyle Schwarber getting demoted, the 69-year-old baseball cards that sold $500K and we have a great question for you: Batman or Mario?

Music: Cousin Stizz ft. Offset - "Headlock"

With the MLB Draft right around the corner, Jordon Adell is waiting for his life to change forever.

Adell, a top-ranked high-school player from Louisville, Ky., is expected to be drafted in Monday's first round. Depending on who listen to, he could be a top-10 pick or a top-20 pick. Regardless, scouts all believe he has a high upside. Adell has the " best all-around tools" in the draft, according to MLB.com. He backed that up with a mammoth senior season at Ballard High School in which he hit 25 homers with 62 RBIs and a .562 batting average.

In our interview with Adell, he said he has an idea which teams are interested in him (he wasn't revealing it) and talked about wanting to find a team that truly thought he was a future franchise player.

"You want to be somewhere where they're all in for now. If a team is [No. 15] and they're like 'Yo, this is our guy. We're going to work him and we're going to get him where he's going to play for us and he's going to be our dude.' That's exactly what you want. You don't want to be just a discount .. You want to be the man and that's exactly what I want to be."

We also talked about how he's getting ready for the draft, what he'll be wearing and we threw some rapid-fire questions at him so you can get to know him better. The MLB Draft begins at 7 p.m. ET Monday. TV coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network.

Elsewhere on this week's show, we're talking about David Price's battle with the Boston media, whether it was right for MLB to auction off Hunter Strickland's brawl jersey, Scooter Gennett's four-homer game and the domestic abuse allegations involving Derek Norris and Addison Russell that surfaced on Instagram.

Give it a listen and if you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe on iTunes or Soundcloud and leave us a nice review.

[Music: Vince Staples ft. Ty Dolla $ign - "Rain Came Down"]

First a thing you know about Arizona Diamondbacks star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt: He's one of the best players in the league. And that's consistent, year in and year out. He's a big reason the D-backs are one of this year's most surprising teams in MLB.

Now a thing you might not know about Goldschmidt: During the 2013 baseball season, when he was an MVP runner-up, he finished his college degree. Like, during the season. He divided up his days between baseball and school. He had an itch to finish his degree after being drafted out of Texas State University a year shy of graduation.

"I actually learned it was easier during the baseball season than the offseason," Goldschmidt told the StewPod. "Just because of our schedule and having a routine every day. Especially on the plane flights when we were going cross country. I’d put my headphones in, I’d have my laptop or my iPad and just get after it and read and write my papers and everything. I really didn’t get to hang around with my teammates as much as I can now because when they’d go to breakfast or dinner, a lot of times I’d stay back and have to finish up schoolwork. I missed out on movies for two years, but it was definitely worth it."

Goldschmidt obviously see the value of education, which is one of the reasons he's partnered with the University of Phoenix for a scholarship program to help people pursue their dreams of graduating. Whether it's to finish a degree or start fresh, Goldschmidt and University of Phoenix are offering five full-tuition scholarships.

On this week's installment of the StewPod, the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, Goldschmidt joined us to talk about his college journey, baseball players seeking education, plus such as his stolen-base prowess and why the D-backs are exceeding expectations.

Elsewhere on the show, we're examining a number of hot topics from around MLB:

• Is MLB doing enough to prevent brawls?

• Are brawls good for baseball?

• All-Star voting: Which player is getting too much love?

• Who should Jeter team up with to buy the Marlins?

• Can Mike Trout still win the MVP after being out two months?

• Do you have a three-year-old (or older!) beef you want to settle? Who did you wrong!?

[Music: "Chase Me" by Danger Mouse ft. Run the Jewels and Big Boi]

This week's StewPod is the stuff of legends — and that's mostly because St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith is joining us.

On the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, we're talking with Smith about baseball's changing rules, plus Chris Cwik and I are digging into the soon-to-be legendary Madison Bumgarner injury, which has all of baseball talking as we head into the weekend. It's a good listen, so pop us into your playlist while you're out dirt biking this weekend ... or maybe just doing your errands.

Ozzie Smith joined us on behalf of Kingsford Charcoal, whom he's working with on the #BestOfBaseball campaign in which one fan will win a trip to the All-Star Game. We asked for Smith's opinions about many of the rule changes and proposed rule changes in the game, plus we talked about the talented young crop of shortstops in the game right now.

We've also got a lot to say about the Bumgarner injury, including how it will impact the Giants this season, how people will view Bumgarner getting hurt on his day off and how people might view it differently if he got in trouble doing something else.

[Music: Cam'ron — "Bubble Music"]