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As Toronto prepares to host Game 1 of the 121st Fall Classic, Vanderbilt graduate Tyler Kepner joins Mizzou grad Derrick Goold preview the big game this weekend -- not not the one in Nashville. The one to the north. The World Series.

The two baseball writers discuss whether the Los Angeles Dodgers, who may not be ruining baseball, might just be ruining the National League. The Dodgers are playing for their ninth World Series championship -- a total that would tie them with the Boston Red Sox and Nomadic Athletics. It would also put them three titles shy of leapfrogging the Cardinals' historic trademark trait and overtaking them as the pre-eminent National League team when it comes to trophies.

Author of "The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series," Kepner offers perspective on the Dodgers' chances while also detailing what this World Series means to Don Mattingly and how the Blue Jays can overtake the favorites from Hollywood.

There is a story about an autographed baseball, too.

To quote Kepner: "Cue that jaunty music."

Kepner joins the Best Podcast in Baseball from Toronto, where he's covering the World Series as a senior writer for The Athletic and baseball writer for the New York Times.

In its 13th 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.