Yes, you may tap the adjustment button (two uneven dotted lines and is located in the top right-hand corner of your episode page) and enable the “Trim Silence” feature.

This feature will help reduce the length of episodes by cutting out pauses and other gaps at the beginning/end. The setting is available for all podcasts, no matter they are being streamed online or have already been downloaded on the device.

*For now, this setting is universal not podcast specific.