The Cincinnati Reds return to action on Monday evening at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates at 6:40 PM ET, and they’ll do so at 80-76 and clinging to a playoff spot in the National League Wild Card chase.
They’re currently tied with the New York Mets (yet hold the tiebreaker), and sit a game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot.
They’ll be up against Pirates starter Johan Oviedo, a 27 year old who’s back in action at the big league level in 2025 after requiring Tommy John surgery in December of 2023. He’s started 7 games so far in his return and been effectively wild (5.0 BB/9, 3.52 ERA, 4.71 FIP), so hopefully the Reds patience can see him pitch his way into jams. Brady Singer will go for the Reds, meanwhile, and believe it or not a win would give him 15 on the season and vault him into 2nd place in that stat in the NL this year behind only Wandy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers.
(For the record, I never look at pitcher wins because it’s a stupid stat, and I honestly didn’t notice that once this year until today. Congrats to Brady, though, as it’s the kind of stat that will boost his salary for next year due to the arcane statistics used in the arbitration modeling.)
Reds/Pirates is far from the only game on tonight’s ledger with playoff implications. The Mets will be on the road in Wrigley against a (hopefully) angry Cubs team that was just swept by the Reds in a 4-game series over the weekend. Cade Horton will look to shut down the Mets, who’ll send David Peterson to the bump. That game starts at 7:40 PM ET and will be live nationally on TBS.
The Diamonbacks, meanwhile, will play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers at 9:40 PM ET. Brandon Pfaadt will start for the Snakes opposite Shohei Ohtani, and it’s worth pointing out that while the Dodgers lead the NL West by 2.5 games over San Diego, they haven’t yet clinched. They’re also chasing the Philadelphia Phillies in the win column to determine seeding, so there’s a lot on the line down in the Land of the Endless Strip Mall tonight.
Over in the American League, the reeling Detroit Tigers will be in Cleveland to take on the surging Guardians in a battle for the AL Central (and Wild Card positions) at 6:40 PM ET. Cleveland is just a game back of Detroit after trailing them by a mile earlier this summer, and with Cleveland tied with the Houston Astros for the final AL Wild Card spot there’s a very realistic chance that one of Detroit/Cleveland misses the playoffs altogether should they not win the Central.
Houston is way out west in Sacramento to take on the A’s in the latest game on the Tuesday docket, with first pitch there set for 10:05 PM ET.
Finally, the AL East sees the Boston Red Sox on the road in Toronto to take on the division leading Blue Jays. The Jays have a 2 game lead on the New York Yankees in the race for the division, though the Red Sox are clinging to just a 1-game lead over Cleveland and Houston AL Wild Card race, so both clubs there have a ton on the line this evening, too. That game will start at 7:07 PM ET.
Quite the slate of action on this Tuesday. If only they’d scheduled any day games!
