Coming out of MLB's All-Star break, the Cincinnati Reds wanted to get hot − "make it weird," as closer Emilio Pagán phrased it − and try to prevent a trade deadline sell-off.
By the time the final transactions were processed shortly after the Aug. 3 deadline at 6 p.m., the Reds roster had been mostly left intact, although Nathaniel Lowe and Caleb Ferguson were both dealt.
Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall might have done more dealing, but didn't as there wasn't sufficient interest in some of his players.
One thing Krall did do was acknowledge that Cincinnati's 10-6 record since the All-Star break was some of the best baseball the club had played in 2026. Given that acknowledgement, plus the fact that the Reds' core remained intact
at the deadline, the team can proceed with "making it weird" and attempting to make a late charge back into contention.
The 10-6 mark since the break brought Cincinnati to 53-58 entering play Aug. 4. The National League Central division is almost certainly out of reach with the Milwaukee Brewers 16 games ahead of the Reds. But in the era of three wild card teams for both leagues? Cincinnati is 5.5 games back of the third NL wild card, which is currently held by the Philadelphia Phillies.
"I think we've played our best baseball over the last two, three weeks," Krall said. "We've got a good group of starting pitching. The bullpen's been pretty good since the All-Star break. Our offense is starting to pick it up.
"Yeah, I do. I think that anything can happen."
And if you don't think the third wild card spot is worth the trouble? Well, the team in that position won the NL pennant and advanced to the World Series in 2022 (Phillies) and 2023 (Arizona Diamondbacks).
In 2023, the Diamondbacks faced the eventual-champion Texas Rangers in the World Series. Texas was the No. 2 wild card in the American League.
The Reds certainly have the horses to get hot and go on a run. Rookie of the Year frontrunner and NL All-Star Sal Stewart is one of the game's top run-producers this season. Elly De La Cruz is still one of the most electric players in the game, and a pitching staff featuring three past All-Star honorees (Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Chase Burns) has the ability to be lights-out.
The question now for optimists like Pagán and others is: Can the Reds get hot enough with the very limited amount of time remaining this season? You can call that a weird proposition, to say the least.
In the four years since MLB introduced three wild card spots in both leagues, the NL's No. 3 wild card team has averaged about 86 wins. That postseason position has been had for for as few as 83 wins last year (by Cincinnati) and as many as 89 wins.
For the Reds, reaching the 86-win threshold would mean going 33-18 the rest of the way. That's a winning percentage well above .600.
No one said contending at this point in 2026 would be easy, least of all Krall.
Reaching the postseason after posting a 53-58 record at the trade deadline is not the way most teams go about contending. But again, the proposition here is, well, weird.
Coming from a team that rallied around referring to itself last season as "cockroaches," maybe what's weird is attainable.
"I think the next quote I said after 'let's make it weird' was 'we're behind the eight-ball and that's our fault,'" Pagán said. "It feels like the core of this team is probably still gonna be the core of this team. And so, this core is what has made baseball fans and people involved in this organization excited about this team. I think as long as the core of this team is here, fans, ownership, front office, teammates, players − we're gonna be excited about the chances we have to play good baseball.
"We played good baseball for the last two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks. There's no reason it can't keep going past (the trade deadline) and we can continue to play good baseball."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds still have chance to 'make it weird' with core intact
