The St. Louis Cardinals made their first notable signing of the offseason this week, inking right-hander Kyle Gibson to a one-year deal. Gibson, who went to school at Missouri, only lives 40 minutes from Busch Stadium and has the chance to be at home a lot more. That was one of the factors in his signing with the Cards, but being able to win was another.

“It’s only 40 minutes, door to door, to Busch Stadium,” Kyle Gibson said Wednesday afternoon in a phone interview. “That was a big part of it — being able to be home, help the kids get to school, be there for bedtime sometimes. Baseball practice is on the weekend in the morning. All the different things I’ve been missing out a lot on. Gives me a chance to do that.”

“Just where I’m in my career, and I have no idea how many more years I’m going to play, so I want to have a chance to win in each of them,” Gibson said. “I want to have a chance to get to the playoffs and push to get back to the World Series. That was a whole lot of fun doing that with Philly (in 2022) and having a season like we did last year in Baltimore. Getting back to the playoffs and winning the division — that’s what I want to do again. St. Louis is a team with ownership and a front office and a fan base that expects that type of culture and that type of a season every single year.”