Not that two sportswriters would know anything about missing a deadline, so St. Louis Post-dispatch sports columnist Ben Frederickson and baseball writer Derrick Goold do their best to make sense of the Cardinals' inactivity for a fourth consecutive trade deadline. When the clock struck 3 p.m. St. Louis time and all of the trades had to be finalized -- including a whopper that sent Zack Greinke to Houston -- the Cardinals found themselves without the starter they chased. They had a hold on first place, but did little to strength it but add to their lefty depth with a waiver claim and ship Jedd Gyorko to the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the ballpark, later that evening, a brand new Best Podcast in Baseball -- an extended version, if you will -- aims to understand how the Cardinals got into this predicament where potential carries so much more weight than production, where algorithms have them frozen and their minor-league system is no longer deep enough to make deals. Is this the day that determines whether they are a playoff team -- or barred from October for the fourth consecutive season? This seems to be a pivot point in the season, and BPIB is there to map the direction the Cardinals go from here. The Best Podcast in Baseball, brought you by Closets by Design! of St. Louis, is a production of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, stltoday.com, and Derrick Goold. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.