The StewPod: Baseball, pop culture & more

The next round of the MLB postseason is upon. We are one stage away from the World Series with four teams looking now to punch their tickets by winning either the ALCS or the NLCS. The Houston Astros and New York Yankees started Friday night, with the Astros taking an early series lead. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs begin their series Saturday. Here to talk about both of them is former MLB catcher and current Fox Sports analyst A.J. Pierzynski. Fox, as you know, is home of the...

The busiest part of baseball's postseason is upon us — all four division series will be going by Friday. Friday, in fact, is the best baseball day of the year, as all eight remaining postseason teams will be in action in their respective ALDS and NLDS. On a new StewPod, the Yahoo Sports' baseball podcast, we're talking to two men in the thick of it — one is Cody Bellinger, the Los Angeles Dodgers star rookie who will play his first postseason game Friday when the Dodgers open their series...

The most unique event of the Major League Baseball season is happening Sunday night, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals forego a standard big-league game and head to Williamsport, Pa., to play in the first ever Little League Classic. The idea: Take two big leagues and have them play in the heart of the Little League World Series. MLB renovated an old minor-league stadium — Historic Bowman Field, which is the second oldest minor-league stadium in the country, having opened in...

The Chicago Cubs are back. Since the All-Star break, the defending champs have shaken off that World Series hangover and taken control back in the NL Central. This week on the podcast, we're talking to a man who might be so happy you'd think he's still part of the team. Well, he kind of is. Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg — who is also an official team ambassador these days — is our guest. He's talking about what's behind the Cubs resurgence, offering his take on their trade-deadline additions and...

New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius is having another impressive season, getting even better at the plate than he was the last two seasons. His batting average is up, so is his on-base percentage and he's looking even more at home at Yankee Stadium, where even though he had the toughest of shoes to fill, he's become a fan favorite. On this week's Stewpod, the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, Gregorius joins us to talk about the adjustments that helped him succeed, what he seems from...

In a new episode of The StewPod, the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas joins us to talk about the upcoming All-Star game. In the podcast, we talked about: • Stanton vs. Judge in the Home Run Derby • How it's reminiscent of Thomas vs. Griffey • Frank Thomas' tips to win the derby • Can the Big Hurt still hit dingers? • Young stars to watch in the All-Star game • The Cubs get snubbed • The best part of the All-Star game for players • First-half surprises/disappointments...

With all the Unwritten Rules Theater we've seen around MLB this week, The StewPod imagines a world in which a new baseball league is starting and we have to decide which unwritten rules to keep and which ones to ditch. Mike Oz and Chris Cwik are joined by Bad News Ramen and Yahoo Sports' Nick Bromberg. We're also talking about Kyle Schwarber getting demoted, the 69-year-old baseball cards that sold $500K and we have a great question for you: Batman or Mario? Music: Cousin Stizz ft. Offset -...

With the MLB Draft right around the corner, Jordon Adell is waiting for his life to change forever. Adell, a top-ranked high-school player from Louisville, Ky., is expected to be drafted in Monday's first round. Depending on who listen to, he could be a top-10 pick or a top-20 pick. Regardless, scouts all believe he has a high upside. Adell has the " best all-around tools" in the draft, according to MLB.com. He backed that up with a mammoth senior season at Ballard High School in which he...

First a thing you know about Arizona Diamondbacks star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt: He's one of the best players in the league. And that's consistent, year in and year out. He's a big reason the D-backs are one of this year's most surprising teams in MLB. Now a thing you might not know about Goldschmidt: During the 2013 baseball season, when he was an MVP runner-up, he finished his college degree. Like, during the season. He divided up his days between baseball and school. He had an itch...

This week's StewPod is the stuff of legends — and that's mostly because St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith is joining us. On the Yahoo Sports baseball podcast, we're talking with Smith about baseball's changing rules, plus Chris Cwik and I are digging into the soon-to-be legendary Madison Bumgarner injury, which has all of baseball talking as we head into the weekend. It's a good listen, so pop us into your playlist while you're out dirt biking this weekend ... or maybe just doing your...

The Internet had never been happier for a Hall of Famer than it was for Tim Raines, who finally, in his final year on the ballot, got the word that he'd be immortalized in Cooperstown. The news is a few months past now. Baseball season is here. And every day we're inching a little bit closer to the end of a 10-year saga. Tim Raines is going to be a Hall of Famer. It's started to set in, he says, but the best it yet to come. He'll get on stage in July and make his speech and he'll go to the...

The amount of time the average baseball fan spends thinking about their fantasy team would likely terrify you. Trust us, we're speaking from experience. While your other league-mates are busy watching those other sports, you're creating 19 different spreadsheets, setting up Twitter alerts for every minor-league club and mapping out astrology projections to figure out how Scorpios will perform in April. It's a bit excessive, sure, but it's worth it. Winning your fantasy league not only fills...

The World Baseball Classic is upon us and baseball's international tournament finds itself in a very familiar place as far as its American participation is concerned: How do we get more U.S. stars to care? The WBC has proven in the past that the United States — where we call baseball our National Pastime — just doesn't care as much about winning on the world's stage as much as Japan or the Dominican Republic does. That goes for fans but also players. Sure, Team USA has put forth a team...

David Ross rode off into the sunset in the best way possible. In his 15th season in the big leagues, Ross helped the Chicago Cubs win the World Series and break their infamous curse. He had said early on that 2016 was going to be his last season, so how's that for an ending? Only Ross, 39, didn't slip quietly into retirement. His playing days are over, sure, but Ross is plenty busy. This week it was announced he'd taken an analyst job at ESPN. It's a perfect fit for Ross, who has always been...

Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves joins the show and we talk a lot about the Hall of Fame. Here's a rundown of the entire show: - Contrary to reports the StewPod is not moving to L.A. and getting a new logo - Dansby Swanson joins the show to talk about becoming a New Era ambassador, being the face of the franchise for Braves and lots more. - Bad News Ramens offers his take on the ENTIRE Hall of Fame ballot - Mike and Chris debate Manny Ramirez's HOF case.

It's Hall of Fame season in baseball, and with that comes all sorts of opinions and analysis. Including this: One projection says five new players could be voted in this year, the most by BBWAA voters since the historic 1936 class, which was the first. Nathaniel Rakich created a model for using public ballots to project what the final results will be and this year he says Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Trevor Hoffman, Ivan Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero will get in. You can read all about his...

Mike Trout is baseball’s drama-free superstar — the type of guy who still lives in his hometown, works out with his friends and still frequents the same haunts he did before he had two MVP awards. So when Trout agreed to come on this week’s StewPod, the Yahoo Sports’ baseball podcast, we quickly learned he was living another drama-free day: hunting in the morning, working out at night, spending the day doing a photoshoot in his hometown of Millville, N.J. (population 28,400) for Body Armor,...

Dexter Fowler finds himself in a fascinating place these days: He's still riding high off the Chicago Cubs' World Series win, but he's also a free agent and it's looking increasingly likely his time with the Cubs is over. The Cubs signed Jon Jay to a one-year deal on Tuesday, which many fans and people in the industry took to mean that the Cubs won't be resigning Fowler. But what better way to find out then ask the man himself, right? Fowler joined us on this week's StewPod to talk about...

Life still isn't back to normal for Addison Russell, the 22-year-old Chicago Cubs shortstop who helped break the curse and deliver the first World Series title to the North Side since 1908. Russell took part in the team's giant parade, got whisked off to Disney World and even was given the key to the city in Pensacola. You know what they say: To the victors, go the spoils. Russell joined the StewPod this week to talk about the World Series win, all that's came after it and getting back to...

Podcast: Joe Buck explains why he doesn’t actually hate your team The 2016 World Series is right around the corner. While we wait to figure out just who will be playing the Cleveland Indians we know for sure that Joe Buck will be there. As Fox Sports’ lead broadcaster, Buck is everywhere — MLB playoffs, Super Bowl, etc. He’s the soundtrack to modern sports experience for many people. So we had to have him on a brand new StewPod to talk about a number of things, starting with why he hates...