Suddenly the National League has turned into the Cincinnati Reds’ to lose. They now sit at the top of Central by 8 games. Their 78-55 record makes them the best in the NL. Now how did this become the Red’s year?
Well part of the reason is the St. Louis Cardinals kind of folded up. The Cards went on a 5-13 anti-tear changing the standing by 9 games. It was a bad streak that challenges the Mets for worst collapse in a long time. The Cardinals still have three games left with the Reds. If they sweep they may have a shot at the division but not much of a shot. The sweep would just keep the Cardinals in the Wild Card hunt. For all intents and purposes it looks like the Reds will get into the playoffs and the Cards won’t. I’d love to see the Cardinals make the wild card instead of the Phillies but that probably won’t happen. Instead of looking at what made the Cards choke I’d rather look at what makes the Reds so strong.
First at first is Joey Votto. Votto is having an MVP type year, .325 average, 32 homeruns, 97 RBI, .424 OBP a WPA of 5.47 which is tops in the NL. The Reds have a balanced attack with six guys with 15 or more homeruns. In fact they lead the NL in runs scored by 30 runs. Their pitching is not as strong they are ninth in NL ERA at 4.08. I guess Johnny Cueto and Bronson Arroyo would be their twin aces. Cueto can be tough and Arroyo is now a crafty vet. They still need a third big gun to really be a full blown playoff winner lock. The interesting thing is they have that big arm on the team in the form of Aroldis Chapman who right now is pitching in relief. I’m not sure if the Reds have the pitching to win it this year, but they are a good all around team. The scary thing is they should be better next year.
