Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43

Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5

Throngs of Cardinals fans got accustomed to seeing successful baseball.

The Cardinals got accumstomed to seeing throngs of fans.

Now both are facing the prospects of neither.

That's how St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon puts it when he joins baseball writer Derrick Goold for this brand new Best Podcast in Baseball. The two staff writers for StlToday.com discuss the stunning lack of attendance for a four-game visit from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and how the Pirates sure do have plenty of power pitching, but they also present a cautionary tale for the Cardinals about the gravitational pull of the perpetual rebuild's black hole. There are ways for the Cardinals to pull out of that outcome.

Goold likens the situation to a space launch. Sure, the Cardinals can spend time engineering and building a homegrown shuttle, but eventually it's going to take the booster rockets from spending on outside help to get it off the ground and out of low-hovering orbit.

In its 13th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43

Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5

During a lengthy rain delay before the finale of the Cardinals' visit to Tampa Bay, St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold and Tampa Bay Rays baseball writer Marc Topkin discuss transfers of power on their beats and how they contribute to a clouded forecast. In St. Louis, former Rays executive Chaim Bloom is positioned to take over as president of baseball operations in the coming month, and Topkin offers insight about the role Bloom had with the Rays, where to find his fingerprints on player development, and why he just might have the best resume possible to lead the Cardinals' front office. In Tampa Bay, the Rays are paying rent at the Yankees' spring training ballpark, George Steinbrenner Field, due to hurricana damage at Tropicana Park. The Rays feel like they're perpetually on the precipice teetertottering between having strong established roots in Tampa Bay or packing up and going to another city. New ownership may change that -- but they'll need a ballpark. They appear to have a fan base, one that owes some of its interest in baseball to the Cardinals and all the decades they spent calling St. Petersburg, Florida, home for spring training.

The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is its 13th season. BPIB is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43

Please consider subscribing: https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5

The Cardinals' begin their final three-series home stand of the season with a reunion. Yadier Molina returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2023 and will be in uniform for the first time since 2022 as he joins Oliver Marmol's staff for two games against the Cubs at the invitation of the manaer. Molina is the first of seven things to watch during the home stand that welcomes the Cubs, Rockies, and Yankees for nine games in 10 days. St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon and baseball writer Derrick Goold list the other three things each they are looking for in the next week at Busch Stadium. Attendance is on the list, especially with two brand-name opponnents. But so is the bullpen, Jordan Walker's swing, Nolan Gorman's playing time, and in the coming weeks what appetite the Cardinals have to discuss contract extensions with any of the young players.

In its 13th season as one of the first and most popular Cardinals-related podcasts, the Best Podcast in Baseball in sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis. BPIB is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.