…of the regular season. They’ve already hosted their last postseason game.
The Cincinnati Reds welcome the Atlanta Braves to town this evening for the first game of a quick three-game series, one that will be followed by a visit from the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. Together, those mark the final six games that will played in Great American Ball Park this year since, y’know, the Reds aren’t going to make the playoffs (again).
On the mound for tonight’s 6:40 PM ET start will be Brandon Williamson, who’s making a pretty decent case that he should be part of the team’s Opening Day starting rotation next year. He’s allowed just 3 ER in 13.0 IP so far since his return from a shoulder issue, throwing strikes and limiting baserunners to the tuny of a tidy 0.77 WHIP so far in an extremely small sample.
Someone’s going to have to slot in behind Hunter Greene and Rhett Lowder in said rotation next year. Given the injury histories of Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft, Williamson, and even Greene, there’s a whole lot to sort out for the front office on that front this winter. Williamson sure could go a long way towards making that more difficult by spinning a gem against the Braves tonight, a club that’s been spinning its own injured wheels while trying to climb back into one of the National League’s Wild Card spots.
Photo by Aaron Doster/Getty Images
Currently, Atlanta sits 1 game back of the New York Mets for the final playoff spot. They’ll be sending reliever Grant Holmes to the mound with Reynaldo Lopez out injured, so there’s a likelihood this ends up a full-on bullpen game if the Reds can get the offense rolling early.
Let’s do some baseball GABP style for one final week this year.
Lineups below!