“Trouncing” may sound a bit much, but they’ve thwarted the Cubs every which way from Sunday all season.
TJ Friedl smoked a 2-run homer, walked, stole a bag, and drove in a trio of runs for the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, fueling them to their seventh consecutive victory in the process. The Reds outlasted the Chicago Cubs by the tune of 4-3, doing so on the backs of Friedl, former Cub Jeimer Candelario (who socked a solo homer), and an all-around effort by the team’s pitching staff.
Yes, this win was nice, but these wins are what we’re here to discuss. The Reds have surged forward in the muddied National League Central mess, vaulting all the way up to second place in the division in this surge and owning the fifth best run differential in the NL along the way. They are, I’ll remind us all, still a game under the .500 mark, but in the Rob Manfred Age of Participation Trophies™ they now sit in a virtual tie for the final Wild Card spot.
That’s right – the Cincinnati Reds you have watched play baseball 65 times so far this season have somehow found their way into the real, actual postseason mix. Some of you are completely giddy at that factual remark. Others are groaning inside and out as it’s indicative of a broken playoff system in which teams who don’t look like ‘playoff’ teams more often than not still get rewarded with ‘postseason play,’ thereby enabling cheap owners to remain cheap since the path to ‘postseason play’ becomes an easier and easier sell to fans by the year.
None of you are wrong. That a 32-33 Cincinnati Reds club even makes you feel kinda funny like when you used to watch Garth talk about climbing the rope in gym class is even more of an indictment of what this team and its woeful ownership groups over the years has done to you. I digress.
The Reds are on a heater again. Fire one up with ‘em while it lasts!