As the Cardinals head west for the second time in the first month of the regular season, they do so lugging the baggage from one of the least productive lineups in the majors. The Cardinals' rank in the bottom five for many significant offensive categories. Four of the team's home runs have come from the catcher position, none from third baseman Nolan Arenado. He and Paul Goldschmidt, only one full season removed from finishing No. 1 and No. 3 in the MVP voting, have struggled to start the season. So, can it be easily dismissed as small sample sizes? Or, is it right to consider how last season ended and the struggles of spring to search for early warning signs for the Cardinals and their offensive production? KMOX/1120 AM's Kevin Wheeler joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discussion with Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold the difference between small sample sizes, track records, and warning signs. Consider the JoJo Romero question about the offense. The Cardinals' lefty reliever, off to an impressive start to the season along with the rest of the bullpen, had a strong finish to last season and a strong spring, and that amplifies the April success he's had in limited innings. If that's true for Romero, then isn't the opposite also true? Hitters who struggled toward the end of last season, struggled through spring, and are struggling now cannot be so easily dismissed as small sample sizes. Or can they? This episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball uses a discussion hinged on the lineup to also explore Lars Nootbaar's return from injury, Wheeler's question about the transaction that brings Nootbaar back, how long the Cardinals can run with Victor Scott II in center field, and the power of the left-handed bats on the Cardinals roster to limit what's asked of the pillars, Goldschmidt and Arenado. Also, a point is made about how it's not possible to embrace Dave Duncan's groundball approach for limiting hitters and not see that the pursuit of line drives and balls in the air for hitters is the same idea, just the opposite side of it for enhancing hitters. It's 13 games in and the Cardinals have reached the first true litmus test of their commitment to defense. BPIB is there to explore what comes next. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

A World Series champion, a two-time NL pennant-winner, and a two-time All-Star, Lance Lynn has done a bit of everything as a Cardinal and since he was a Cardinal. But on April 4, 2024, the burly, right-handed starter will do something he never has. He will start the home opener at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals. And that might mean doing something else for the first time: Fight back the emotions of sentimentality. In the visitors' dugout at Petco Park on the eve of his opening day start and return to St. Louis as a member of the Cardinals, Lynn spoke with baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold about the journey that took him away from the Cardinals and brought him back. Lynn discusses what he can tell young players about free agency, how he developed a confidence in his variety of fastballs, and what characteristic he shares with the Cardinals. They both had difficult seasons in 2023. They both have something to prove in 2024 that will shape what happens for them in 2025. Lynn says baseball has a sense of humor, and that's part of why he's back with the Cardinals on a one-year deal signed just before Thanksgiving. But he feels he's better suited to be the pitcher the Cardinals now need because he didn't stay with the team that drafted him, didn't become the heir apparent to the Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright lineage until he had gone elsewhere to learn more about himself. Known for his biting wit in interivews and and his volcanic vocabulary on the mound, Lynn gets candid in his answers about leaving the Cardinals, what he learned away from the Cardinals, and ultimately returning to the Cardinals. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. 

From the back fields and press box at Sloan Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball Derrick Goold and Cincinnati Enquirer baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer survey the National League Central and discuss ballpark factors, dead zones, and whether any of these teams is actually going to win the division, or will it be won by default? A long-time baseball writer who has been on both the Cubs and Reds beat, Wittenmyer is skeptical of the Cardinals' pitching additions and the Cubs bringing back the same team, while he sees a wide bandwidth for possibilities with the upstart Reds. The volatility of talented youth could mean anywhere from 75 wins to 95 wins. And just how many wins will it take to claim the National League Central? Could it be 84 or less? The two baseball writers discuss building a team based on the home ballpark -- something both the Reds and Cardinals are doing this season from opposite directions. They also touch on the state of the game going into the 2024 season and if the quality of play has been enhanced by new rules. If the game is finally letting its talent play at full pace, is it possible that a division loaded with parity and no real big-spending juggernaut becomes ... dramatic. Talk a plot twist. What if, while all of the attention is on the coasts and the titans, the worst division in the National League is actually the most entertaining division in the National League? Wouldn't be the first time for fly-over country. The Best Podcast in Baseball, brought to you by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

The 2023 Cardinals, on their way to 91 losses and a last-place finish, diagnosed the rotation, an inconsistent outfield, and a difficult schedule at the start of the season as reasons for the fist last place finish in more than 30 years. Well, deja vu. The Cardinals near the start of the 2024 regular season with injuries in the rotation, uncertainty in the outfield, and a difficult schedule that begins Thursday at Dodger Stadium. So, did lessons learned from 2023 influence changes to the choise of 2023 or are the Cardinals poised to have the same slow start, the same, familiar failings? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins the podcast to discuss what moves the Cardinals can make suggest that they learned from last years. One happened after the recording of this podcast as Sonny Gray, officially, began the season on the 15-day injured list and lefty Zack Thompson took his spot in the rotation. That was not clear at the time of the recording this episode, though what can be excpected of these players was definitely discussed. Frederickson also discusses why the Cardinal believe they are a "tougher" team and how how that might manifest in the decision they make this regular seaosn and the opening series they have at Dodger Stadium. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closet by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. You can find the Best Podcast in Baseball at StlToday.com or anywhere you get your podcasts, iuncluding iTunes.

Within the first 90 seconds of his camp-opening comments, Cardinals executive John Mozeliak said one of the "critical" questions of spring was whether the team could stay healthy. He noted that is something he has probably said in all 17 years of addressing the media on the first day of official workouts. Injuries, after all, are part of the game, and they're definitely a rite of spring. Consider the past week for the Cardinals. In order, the Cardinals had 30% of their planned opening day lineup deal with injuries that make them questionable or "doubtful" for March 28 at Dodger Stadium: Lars Nootbaar (fractured rib), Sonny Gray (hamstring), and Tommy Edman (wrist surgery). St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Lynn Worthy joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss the news of the week and the openings those injuries create in the roster and the lineup. Worthy, while talking with BPIB host and baseball writer Derrick Goold, brings up a key question for the Cardinals: Will they stick to their defensive-oriented plans and side with the best gloves available for two potential openings in the outfield, or will the need for offense be so much that they have to abandon that defense-first goal before the season even starts? Worthy and Goold also detail what young outfielders Michael Siani and Victor Scott II have done to force their way into the conversation at midspring and whether either of them could emerge as a starter in that first game against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is on the horizon. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, and in its 12th year as one of the top-rated baseball and Cardinals podcasts is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold. 

Ten prospects. Two minutes each. Start the clock. St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero, one of the few staff writers at a daily paper dedicated to covering minor-league affiliates of the city's major-league team, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball to discuss 10 prospects who are set to have a leap year in 2024. Building off of Guerrero's article in the Feb. 29, 2024, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Guerrero adds to the four players mentioned in the article with others who will leap in sample size, leap to the majors, leap to contribute, or leap into the conversation surrounding the team. Some of the prospects discussed include Won-Bin Cho, Ian Bedell, Pedro Pages, Chase Davis, Josh Baez, Thomas Saggese, Victor Scott II, and Edwin Nunez. One or two might even leap into prominent role with the major-league club. BPIB host and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold keeps the clock running and adds some addition background on each prospects and then, when time expires, runs a 2-minute drill on the prospect mostly likely to leap into being a factor for the big-league Cardinals by the end of 2024. Could a familiar history be about to repeat itself? The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

"See a Different Game" was the motto of The Sporting News for a long time, and for a long time The Sporting News was known as the Bible of Baseball. Like everything, The Sporting News has changed, baseball coverage has changed, but more and more the best coverage remains true to that directive, "See a Different Game." And the best season for telling those kind of stories? Well, it just might be spring training. Stan McNeal, veteran baseball writer and editor and a senior staff writer at Cardinals Magazine, joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold to talk storytelling in a brand new BPIB. McNeal details the process of seeking stories for the club's official publication. He discusses going to Stephen Piscotty's hometown to see another side of the former Cardinals outfielder, about getting Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt in a room and see how it goes if the interviewer just listens to two infielders, and, for this year, what it was like tracking down the legend of Sonny Gray, the Cardinals' new leader of the rotation. McNeal spent nearly a decade covering baseball at The Sporting News and years in San Diego as an editor and sportswriter. He has seen the industry shift, baseball writing change -- but for the better? The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

On a windy day on the back fields of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., Mike Claiborne, one of the radio voices of the Cardinals, joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss how maybe Flag Day is too late in the schedule to determine where the club is headed in 2024. So it's time for an earlier Claiborne appearnce. It's a Leap Year. It's after a losing season. It's after a last-place season. That date will come much earlier. Claiborne, a regular on the Best Podcast in Baseball around Flag Day, the day he has annually suggested it's time to check the standing, agrees with the premise that it could be Memorial Day this season, or even May Day. As spring training activities, Florida gusts, and one mower swirl around them, Claiborn and St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff writer Goold discuss pivotal years for Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and the Cardinals leadership. They also discuss what a lineup could look like with the left-handed options or if it's someday built around young sluggers Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker. Goold asks Claiborne three questions to close out the episode: Can a player be a Cardinal great without playoff success? What tone has he seen set in spring training to match the importance of the season? And, finally, what's at stake for the Cardinals this season that moves up the Flag Day reality check?  The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

As Cardinals prepare for the official opening of spring training, what tone must be set early and what lessons from last year's losing season and curious spring will inform this year's camp? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson joins baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss how more than just the Cardinals' spring training facilities in Jupiter, Florida, need an overhaul. The roster received one. The club suggests the leadership in the clubhouse is next for a dash of retro restoration. In a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball, the two writers detail the new look of the bullpen and four of the team leaders who will help shape what the team looks like and achieves during spring training. Is the certainty of some positions a better place to start than the competition advertised a year ago? Why does the Cardinals approach with the bullpen seem so similar to how they viewed the rotation a year ago -- and is a similar outcome inevitable? (This podcast was recorded before the Cardinals reached an agreement pending physical with right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton.) The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

New Cardinals reliever Andrew Kittredge, less than 72 hours after the trade that brought him from Tampa Bay to St. Louis, talks with the Best Podcast in Baseball and host Derrick Goold about the move, and why it wasn't entirely unexpected. Kittredge also details the slider that got him to the majors, and how the Rays and their creative and collaborative pitching culture accelerated his career and gave him the opportunity to pitch in the majors, in high-leverage situations, in the playoffs, and in the All-Star Game. Kittredge details his approach to pitching and dives into some of the analytics behind his pitch use. During the podcast, the Cardinals readied to announce Chaim Bloom as a new advisor within the front office, and Kittredge discusses how Bloom played a big part in bringing him to the Rays. Kittredge joined the BPIB from Washington and while he did not sport the beard he often does on the mound, he did wear a Huskies cap as the NCAA national championship football game approached. So, of course, the hat and lack of a beard is discussed. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and baseball writer Derrick Goold. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.