Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Reds fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The 2025 season was something of a success for the Cincinnati Reds, at least by the modern standards set by the franchise and its current ownership group.
The club managed to coax future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona out of his temporary hiatus and into their dugout. The team
on the field put together the most cromulent set of starting pitchers since their 2012 NL Central title. As the race for the final playoff spot in the National League intensified, they managed to get the job done, sneaking into the postseason with a final regular season record of 83-79.
Their faint championship hopes faded immediately at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, eventual World Series champs, but the reality is that 2025 featured more good news than bad. Still, they finished a distant 3rd in their own division.
The Milwaukee Brewers paced all of Major League Baseball with their 97 regular season victories, and the Chicago Cubs surged into the playoffs with 92. The Reds, who made the playoffs slightly ahead of the New York Mets, finished 14 games back of their division leaders, while the Mets finished only 13 games back in their own NL Central.
Cincinnati, to its credit, went out and signed slugger Eugenio Suárez over the winter to bolster their offense, and they are banking on improvements across the board from their emerging corps of position players. Hunter Greene is once again sidelined for quite awhile, though, and it’s not as if the Brewers and Cubs haven’t made their own moves to get better this winter, too. The Pittsburgh Pirates, too, are even looming after an offseason of spending that’s unprecedented for that club.
That begs the question – just how high in the NL Central standings can the Reds finish in 2026? Have they done enough to climb the ladder to the top, or is the ladder simply not tall enough?
Let us know where you think the Reds can finish this season!
