Can Cubs-Cardinals rivalry still spark fireworks in time for Fourth of July series?

Best Podcast in Baseball

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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After his barehanded play on a slow-rolling grounder ended Tuesday night's game against the Cubs with a stirring, 8-7 Cardinals victory, third baseman Nolan Arenado talked about how much it meant to play meaningful, tense, important games against an archrival. He said he woke up excited, and hadn't been this eager to get to the ballpark in almost two years.

A day early, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said he wouldn't be the "hype man" for the series.

The oldest rivalry in Major League Baseball between two teams that have not left their cities, Cubs-Cardinals was long defined by one team's brand as champion and the other as lovable losers, but that's so Y2K, man. Now the rivalry happens in cycles, and for the first time in several years the Cardinals and Cubs were snug in the standings when they played this past week at Busch Stadium. Does that give the rivalry renewed verve, or does the change in schedule make it just another division series?

Chicago Tribune baseball writer and Cubs beat writer Meghan Montemurro joins the Best Podcast in Baseball for a conversation at Busch Stadium (listen to that determined A/C) about the current state of the rivalry and if it has the same heat in Chicago that it experienced from the St. Louis side this past week.

The pressure is on the Cardinals to chase down the Cubs, and the pressure on the Cubs, with only one guaranteed year of standout player Kyle Tucker, appears to be on winning and advancing in October now.

How should that shape their trade deadline decisions?

How can they shape the Cardinals' trade deadline decisions?

Cubs president Jed Hoyer is in the final year of his contract, and Cardinals president John Mozeliak is in the final year of his tenure leading the Cardinals' baseball operations. Change is coming, potentially to both teams, adding another twist to the rivalry. Plus, BPIB host Derrick Goold, asks Montemurro about his theory that maybe instead of the National League Central rivals spurring the Cubs to spend like a bigger market it will be their neighborhoods on the South Side as the White Sox welcome in a new investor.

A split four-game series at Busch Stadium between the Cardinals and Cubs left nothing settled between the two teams, and the final game of the series (a 3-0 victory and second consecutive shutout by the Cubs) ended with both teams emptying their dugouts to almost confront each on the field. Tempers cooled quickly, but the stage is set for their next week within two weeks for Fourth of July at Wrigley Field.

Will there be fireworks?

The Best Podcast in Baseball, in its 13th year as one of the leading baseball podcasts, is sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis. It is a production of StlToday.com, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Derrick Goold.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to a brand new best podcast in baseball.
0:02.9	It's Cubs Card Season, seven games in the span of about a little less than two weeks,
0:08.7	and it's their first meetings of the season.
0:10.7	To get all the information on the Cubs and to talk a lot about where the rivalry is
0:15.6	and what a fascinating this year for how the rivalry might change.
0:20.5	I go to Chicago Tribune baseball writer and Cubs beat writer Megan Montemiro.
0:24.8	We talk about a quote from Nolan Aronado that I'm about to share right now
0:28.9	and whether or not the Cubs feel the same way.
0:32.9	Cue the quote, then cue the music.
0:35.7	I like playing baseball like this, you know, against the Cubs, games matter, you know?
0:39.3	Like, I mean, as you get older, that's what you want to play for.
0:41.3	You don't want to play games, just to play games.
0:43.3	You know, I, you know, individually I've accomplished some things in this game,
0:47.3	and I just want to accomplish something team-oriented, special in one of World Series.
0:52.3	So, like, games like this, this you know it's easy to wake up
0:54.3	you know this is the most excited i've come to the ballpark um for this series in about two years
1:00.5	so you know it's just fun playing games like this against the cups
1:03.1	hello everybody and welcome to the best podcast in baseball brought to you you by Closzis by Design of St. Louis.
1:14.0	I'm St. Louis Post Dispatch. Baseball writer Derek Gould joined today, and I'm thrilled to do so by the Chicago Tribune's baseball writer, Cubs beat writer, Megan Montemiro.
1:23.6	How long have you been, you were with the Phillies covering the Phillies there in Philadelphia.
1:29.9	And now is it four years on the Cubs?
1:30.7	Do I have that right? Yeah.
	...

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