Recorded while rain delays opening day: Can how '25 Cardinals open delay the rebuild?

Best Podcast in Baseball

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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When the rain clears on opening day, the Cyldesdales, red jackets, and 2025 Cardinals will take center stage in St. Louis for what's become a civic holiday. And yet, outside of the pomp of the opener, the real circumstance facing the Cardinals entering the regular season is how they've faded from relevance in the National League and NL Central.

ESPN baseball writer Jesse Rogers, in town to cover the Cardinals' opener against the Minnesota Twins, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball and host Derrick Goold to discuss a national perspective on the Cardinals and the curious case of their "transition." For a youth movement, the Cardinals don't have a rookie on their opening roster for the first time since 2007. For a "reset," the roster is more of a copy -- with 25 of the 26 players on the active roster returning from 2024.

The duality of the Cardinals' dilemma is as clear as the rain delaying the opener.

Rogers also discusses what it will take for the Cardinals to elbow their way into the NL Central race. The two writers pick their division champ for the NL Central. And Roger gets a peek into how rivals see Cardinals executive John Mozeliak as he arrives at his final opening day in charge of baseball operations in St. Louis.

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. The podcast is in its 13th season and welcomes feedback on why you listen and what you'd like to hear next.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The best podcast in baseball is brought to you by Closets by Design.
0:05.6	Update your closet, garage, office, pantry, and more.
0:09.0	Imagine your home totally organized with closets by design.
0:12.6	Call 1-800 by design.
0:14.4	That's 1-800-by-design.
0:16.8	I'm not going to rag on the Cardinals.
0:18.6	They've been so good for so long.
0:20.7	They've never done a true rebuild.
0:22.3	If this is their version of it, so be it.
0:24.4	In this division, it doesn't mean it has to take five years to get back on top.
0:28.4	I know fans aren't thrilled with it, but look at every other team.
0:32.6	Big market or small.
0:33.7	A lot of them go through full-on rebuilds.
0:36.2	The Cardinals haven't done that in the time I've covered baseball.
0:39.2	That is the voice of Jesse Rogers, ESPN
0:41.4	baseball writer, and here in St. Louis,
0:44.4	covering opening day at Bush Day.
0:46.6	That's right. This is a brand new best podcast in baseball
0:49.2	where we talk about the National League Central,
0:51.5	the Cardinals direction, the duality
0:53.4	of their roster, and much, much more,
0:56.7	including how the division, through Jesse's eyes and his conversations with the Cubs,
	...

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