With the St. Louis Cardinals speeding toward opening day and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's 2020 Baseball Preview section about to drop its 26-page extravaganza, including a poster-ready cover of Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, the podcast takes a brief detour to the other side of the state and a visit with Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger. The Kansas City Royals will visit Busch Stadium for an exhibition game on July 22 -- the Cardinals' first game against an opposing team in 133 games. It's the Cardinals first chance to catch 22, Royals manager Mike Matheny, and his first appearance in uniform at Busch since the Cardinals fired him midway through the 2018 season. The Royals are a team in the middle of a reinvention, and what they're trying do will some familiar to Cardinals fans. They want to draft and debut pitching, pitching, pitching. Development is where the Cardinals have found their edge. Can KC? Mellinger and Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold discuss that -- and navigate a few tangents about covering baseball during a pandemic. The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a weekly production of The Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.

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