I definitely gave up on the Cincinnati Reds. I had seen this movie too many times. The offense was a combination of bad and unlucky.
The offense is still not very good but they hit a lot of home runs. The starting pitching, which was already great, got even down the stretch with a few key starts from relief pitcher Michael Lorenzen and Luis Castillo is in another world right now.
Another thing that changed that has the Reds back in contention for a playoff spot is the bullpen.
The arms in the bullpen got much better. And they got rid of guys who just couldn't get it done. I have full confidence in Rasiel Iglesias, Amir Garrett, Lucas Sims and Tejay Antone at this point. Those four guys will be vital to any playoff appearances or even playoff wins.
The Reds starters can go 6-8 innings every time out. Trevor Bauer is closing in on the Reds' first-ever Cy Young award.
The Milwaukee Brewers' loss to the St. Louis Cardinals dropped the idle Reds' magic number to clinch a playoff berth to 2.
The Reds open a series with the Twins on Friday. They will need at least one win to make the postseason. But if they win and any two of the Brewers, Phillies or Giants lose then the Reds are in. The Giants actually have to lose both games of their doubleheader but the other two can lose once and the Reds are in as long as they take down the Twins in the opener.
I would much rather be playing for positioning in the postseason after Friday then playing to get in the postseason after tomorrow.
The Reds will have Tyler Mahle, Castillo and possibly Bauer on short rest this weekend to lock up a playoff spot.
Hopefully the offense shows up for three more games and they can take care of business.
It's been a long time since the Reds were playing baseball in October. And now that they are this close, it would really suck if they fell short.
No comments:
Post a Comment