Welcome to the mosh pit of parity: Some team (by rule) must win the NL Central, so how?

Best Podcast in Baseball

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sports, Baseball

4.8 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:17.2	Do you think, and I can tell by the look on your face, do you think that going old school and older with the rotation and saying, all right, we're going to like have our ballpark be a factor?
0:30.8	Do you think that could work for the Cardinals?
0:35.3	No.
0:37.0	Look, man, it's the same as the Cubs trying to run the same damn team back out there again.
0:43.0	Go get better players.
0:45.1	You know, get good players.
0:47.4	No, I think they sold their fans of Bill of Goods by promising three pitchers and getting the guys they did.
0:51.8	Sonny Gray was the one good slam dunk signing.
0:55.0	I'll give them credit for.
0:55.7	I won't give them credit for the other two.
1:01.9	Hello, everybody, and welcome to the best podcast in baseball,
1:04.1	brought to you by closet by design of St. Louis.
1:06.0	I'm St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derek Gould, joined here at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, by the rider who used to call this home, but now has been wooed to the side of Skyline, Chili.
1:19.8	And how far away are all these, of course, it's Cincinnati Inquirer baseball rider.
1:25.3	Skyline Chili.
1:26.2	Because I have to.
1:27.1	This stuff sucks. No, it's great. No, it's awful. It's a delicacy, and it's wonderful Inquirer baseball rider. Skyline chili. Because I have to. This stuff sucks.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of St. Louis Post-Dispatch and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.