MIAMI -- Fresh off a sweep of the Astros in Houston, the Cardinals visit the Marlins with a tailwind of five consecutive wins and a fast start to their rebuild season. Does their early success suggest they'll outperform expectations in 2026, and if so should they accelerate their rebuild plans?

That's the question that begins a conversation between 101 ESPN/WXOS host Brandon Kiley, of BK and Ferrario and the Redbird Report, and Best Podcast in Baseball host and baseball writer Derrick Goold.

The Cardinals' rush to five games better than .500 this season is buoyed by defying some trends, such as their negative run differential and their undefeated record (5-0) in extra innings. Both indicate that the Cardinals will experience a correction. Still, they've played a crisp, opportunistic brand of baseball that can claim wins in April, and if they continue to outplay their projections how will that challenge the team's stated plan to focus on the longterm. Will the Cardinals keep their eye on the ball and make future-focused trades even if the club orbits .500?

What message will they send fans if this team draws support for how it's playing, for how well it's playing?

There are messages and actions that the Cardinals could in the months ahead that would find the balance between responding to the way the team has played now while not straying from their longer-range goals. Kiley and Goold discuss what that looks if the Cardinals just move their timeline up and what those moves look like.

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In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

WASHINGTON -- In a recent social media post, baseball broadcaster and reporter Dani Wexelman shared a photo of her interviewing Matthew Liberatore when he was a high schooler and juxtaposed it with a photo of her interviewing him this year as the Cardinals' opening day starter.

That is a great illustration of the arc of Wexelman's career telling baseball stories, from the backfields of Jupiter, Florida, covering amateur baseball and rising talents to front and center now with Cardinals.TV to capture what the club hopes is a rising team.

Wexelman joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold while both of them are in Washington, D.C., covering the Cardinals to discuss the start to the 2026 season as well as the path that brought Wexelman to Mizzou and the back this year as a prominent part of the Cardinals' broadcasts. They also discuss how Wexelman's experience covering amateur baseball for many years and being a national pundit looking at Major League Baseball through a broader lens informs what she plans to bring to telling stories during these Cardinals' "new era."

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.

Please consider subscribing.

In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

What do the roster decisions made by the Cardinals ahead of opening day tell fans about their timetable to contend?

Probably more than their letting on.

The Best Podcast in Baseball returns from spring training and to its weekly format with a preview of the 2026 Cardinals season told through one position and how so many revealing aspects of the team radiate from it. Editor Nathan Mills joins baseball writer and BPIB host Derrick Goold on the even of opening day to discuss the many tendrils that extend from left field -- from the Cardinals' roster choices to the Cadinals' style of offense, from the Cardinals' need for power and plans for Lars Nootbaar to their debut of JJ Wetherholt and what that says about their next window to contend. It all extends from left field.

Just in time for the civic holiday known as opening day it's a brand new BPIB.

Happy New Year, as we say in the press box.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.

Please consider subscribing.

In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.