Despite winning 96 games during an epic 1999 regular season, the Cincinnati Reds were pushed to a 163rd regular season game due to a tie in the standings (and a playoff system that hadn’t been expanded
to today’s standards).
Al Leiter, as those of us old enough to recall, slammed the damn door shut on the Reds that day, his New York Mets thumping Cincinnati 5-0 to eliminate them from any and all playoff scenarios.
That would be a blip on the radar for a lot of Major League Baseball franchises, but not in Cincinnati. Only three times in the 26 seasons since have the Reds so much as won 90+ games, and only in 2012 (97) did they manage to top that total. And, as everyone is well aware, any snippet of postseason success that may have come with those solid regular seasons has also completely eluded this franchise.
The 2025 Reds aren’t going to win 90 regular season games, but the postseason has expanded to allow them the chance to sneak in with significantly fewer wins if things continue to break their way. One of those things is a complete collapse by the Mets, something that they’ve been working on for weeks as the season winds down.
Last night’s loss by the Mets to the Miami Marlins paired with Cincinnati’s win over Milwaukee puts them into a tie in the standings with a pair of games left, with Cincinnati sporting the tiebreaker between the two clubs that would send them to the playoffs if both teams finish in similar fashion. The Mets, though, could throw the Reds one more lifeline today with another loss to the Marlins, meaning all the Reds would have to do to make the postseason is win just one of their remaining two games against the Brewers.
The Mets play first today, taking on Miami at 4:10 PM ET in south Florida. Clay Holmes will start for New York opposite Miami’s Eury Perez, and you can view that game on MLB.tv if you’ve got a subscription.
I’m not saying today has the chance to provide full retribution for the way the 1999 season ended, but I am saying there’s a chance it could make up for a lot of it if things go exactly the way the Reds hope. So, don your Marlins cap if you’ve got one and pray to the great Marlins dinger sculpture in the sky this afternoon.
