This time last year the Cincinnati Redswere headed toward the Pacific Ocean – where they got fed directly into the jaws of the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, who made a two-day meal out of them.
At least they don't have to spend any of Bob Castellini's money on charters and per diems to go through that again.
But that doesn't mean there aren't dozens of playoff plots and October storylines worth following for Cincinnati baseballsports fans – even more than just hate-watching the Brewers and Cubs, believe it or not.
In fact, we've got all the pertinent questions and even better answers for all things Cincinnati in this fall's 12-team race to Rob Manfred's
glorious piece of metal.
The best-of-three wild-card rounds kick off Tuesday (Sept. 29) with these openers: Phillies at Atlanta Braves (2 p.m.), White Sox at Houston Astros (5 p.m.), Red Sox at New York Yankees (8 p.m.), Cubs at San Diego Padres (10 p.m.).
The top two seeds in the American League (Tampa Bay, Cleveland) and National League (Milwaukee, Los Angeles) await the survivors in the Division Series.
Until then, here's all the Q & A you need to know going into the tournament:
Wait, the Cincinnati Reds aren't in the playoffs?
Hahahahahaha.
*Ouch*
Laughed so hard we pulled Geno Suárez's oblique again.
Next question.
Are any former Cincinnati Reds in the playoffs?
Yes! Lots of them.
As many as 18 former Reds are scattered across eight of the 12 potential postseason rosters, including former Reds ace Sonny Gray and triple-digit mph closer Aroldis Chapman with the Reds Sox, resurgent starter Tyler Mahle with the Braves (along with Moeller grad Brent Suter in the Braves' bullpen), old buddy Tommy Pham and former ace Luis Castillo with the White Sox (health and roster math pending on those two), Padres offensive force Ty France, first-time All-Star starter Nick Martinez of the Rays and Nathaniel (we hardly knew ye) Lowe with Cleveland.
The Yankees don't have any former Reds on the 26-man roster, but manager Aaron Boone is an old Reds favorite (and All-Star infielder).
What about other Cincinnati connections?
In fact, Suter's not the only local kid playing for all the marbles in baseball this fall.
Madeira High's Andrew Benintendi started contributing to White Sox success just in time to make the final year of his five-year, $75 million deal pay off on the way to the unlikeliest playoff bid among the 12 contestants (the White Sox were 100-game losers the last three years before this season).
Of course, everybody knows Middletown's Kyle Schwarber, who turned down the Reds' free agent offer to return to the Phillies and win his second straight home run title. Dude does nothing but win. In 12 years in the majors, he's missed the postseason only once. He's never finished on a losing team.
And Cubs left fielder Ian Happ, the pride of UC, is a switch-hitting Gold Glove winner in one of the best lineups in the field.
Hey, isn't Ian Happ a free agent, and good fit for Reds?
As a matter of fact, you might have read a brilliant piece of journalistic analysis on that topic right here.
So yes.
What about other fits for the Reds in the playoffs?
There's at least a few more, including Benintendi, for that matter, if you want to stay local.
The Reds are in the market for catching, and good-hitting Cubs catcher Carson Kelly is a free agent. Austin Wells of the Yankees and Joey Bart of the White Sox might become available in trade.
On the pitching side, maybe it's time to revisit old pal Nick Martinez if he and the Rays don't pick up their mutual option. His value was a regular topic of discussion inside the organization when the team realized just how much they missed him this year. The Reds would jump at the chance to bring him back.
Anybody gonna beat the damn Dodgers?
Maybe. But probably not.
Actually, the National League was especially tough all season, and there's enough strength in the field and potentially tough matchups for the Dodgers, but they're getting healthier at just the right time, like it seems they always do, with Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani looking ready.
But the Phillies have A LOT of frontline starting pitching and one of the top three or four closers in the field to throw at any team, along with dangerous, tested stars in Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the lineup. The Padres have the best bullpen in the field in either league, a surging lineup, and they're hottest team entering the playoffs (17-3 in their last 20).
The youthful Brewers were the best team in the majors all year, with dominant, triple-digit starter Jacob Misiorowski, a relentless lineup, stout fielding and one of the better bullpens in the field. And the Cubs have the best defensive and offensive team but the worst bullpen and a slumping rotation.
The talk among baseball people down the stretch was that this is the year somebody beat the Dodgers, but nobody seems to have a clear pick for who the team is that will do it.
No National League team has ever won three consecutive World Series titles, and the Dodgers are the only NL team to win back-to-back since the Big Red Machine 50 years ago.
So, yeah, they'll get beat this time. Right?
It's not like they're in the weakling-filled AL with a .500 division-champion Astros team that has the worst record for a postseason qualifier in MLB history and two more barely .500 clubs from the AL Central.
No wonder the Reds didn't have a chance to contend this year.
If the Reds were in the AL would they have contended?
Um, well, er. ... Maybe?
You can at least play enough with the numbers to make it look like it.
Believe it or not, the Reds won their series against every American League playoff team this year except the Cleveland Guardians. And the Reds' .604 winning percentage against AL teams overall (29-19) was higher than any AL team's overall winning percentage this year with the lone exception of the Tampa Bay Rays (.605).
Talk about being out of your league.
So the ALCS is sure to be an all-East affair?
Should be. And if not for MLB's seeding system that gifts the top three seeds to division winners no matter how crappy their divisions (looking at you, AL West and AL Central), it might well have played out that way.
Instead, two of the three best teams will face each other in the first round because they're wild cards (Yankees, Red Sox), and the winner of that series will advance to face – you guessed it – the top-seeded Rays. That means the top three teams in that league will cannibalize each other until one remains after two rounds – while one from the tepid trio of Cleveland, Chicago and Houston will be assured of advancing to the ALCS after they're done stumbling around each other for two rounds.
So bottom line: What's Joey Votto think?
Perhaps the former Reds great and current broadcast provocateur should have the final say.
He did, after all, weigh in with his picks on the eve of the playoff openers:
2026 First Round Predictions:
— Joey Votto (@JoeyVotto) September 28, 2026
Braves over Philly, 2-1
Padres over Cubs 2-1
White Sox over Astros 2-0
Red Sox over Yankees 2-1
Can I hear yours?
Let the games begin.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: MLB playoffs? Playoffs?! Cincinnati's must-read Q&A for October
