The Cincinnati Reds took down the A’s yesterday by the score of 6-5, in doing so wrapping up a series sweep at home. The win also dug them out of last place in the National League Central for the first time since the Republic of Sienna surrendered to the Florentine-Imperial army, and it clawed the club back to within 4.0 games of the final NL Wild Card spot.
They’ve won 5 of 6 series out of the gate after the All Star break. They have rediscovered the ridiculous form they had in 1-run games through
the first electric month of the season. Elly De La Cruz is playing at an MVP level, Sal Stewart simply cannot miss, and the duo of Brady Singer and Rhett Lowder have gone from the afterthought 5th starters they performed like earlier in the season to viable, if not dependable upper-tier starting pitching options again. Even Tyler Stephenson has emerged as a legitimate force in the lineup again, the veteran backstop shrugging off weeks of trade rumors to blast his way back into a deserving role in the middle of the order.
The Reds are, quite simply, on a roll. All this despite being moderate sellers during this week’s trade deadline and realizing they’ll likely be without starter Hunter Greene for an extended period once again.
It is still a very imperfect club, to be sure. They’re also about to head out on a 6-game road trip, one that will test the very resolve they’ve displayed in the season’s second half thusfar.
Still, that’s a road trip where they could well find themselves with the upper hand. The Washington Nationals are up first, and they’ve stumbled to just a 2-8 record over their last 10 games while dealing starter Foster Griffin away at the deadline earlier in the week. Then, they head west to face a Chicago White Sox club that’s nominally a first place club (albeit in a sluggish AL Central), one that saw deadline addition Joey Bart hurt immediately after being acquired and who has also stumbled to just a 4-6 record out of the gate.
The Reds, as currently constructed, still aren’t a fully put together team. Thing is, there are still a ton of teams out there who can be described the very same way, yet the Reds have found a way to simply play a lot better baseball than the rest of them for several weeks in a row now. The results have been good enough to drag them back into the periphery of The Discussion, something that’s a direct byproduct of the playoff system being so damn inclusive these days.
I don’t expect this Reds club to go hang a banner this year. Let’s make that point quite clear. But if you can find a way to sneak into the playoffs at all, well, you technically have a chance to make a miracle happen, and the Reds have inched their way back to within screaming distance of the chance to do just that.
It’s been admirable, if nothing more, but the Cincinnati Reds have reeled us in just enough to break our hearts again, something that didn’t even seem on the table when they rolled into the All Star break at 9 games under .500 and buried in every standings available.
