Cincinnati Reds 2025 Season A SUCCESS Despite Postseason FAILURE

Cincinnati Reds 2025 Season A SUCCESS Despite Postseason FAILURE

All right, Cincinnati eliminated last night 8 to4 and uh you know the big decision going into the game was oh Tito Franka is going with Zack Latell and we speculated here at the show that it would kind of be a borderline opener situation and I was I kind of wanted to just be a direct opener but I don’t know about Latell facing Otani for a second time. Obviously he worked more than three innings so he was out there a lot longer than most of us thought. thought he did a tremendous job early on, right? Um, you know, I think part of the reason he was able to have success early on is because he’s such a different pitcher than that of Hunter Green, right? Hunter Green obviously has got that hard slider that he throws, but he’s throwing that fast ball and it’s coming at you hard. But, you know, if you can’t locate very well, you’re going to get beat, especially against that lineup that the Dodgers have, and you saw that in game one. But, a totally change of uh speeds when you’re looking at Latel, right? He throws that split finger. He’s not going to blow you away with a fast ball. was going to try to live on the outside and he missed by the way in that uh the first couple of innings he missed on several pitches and the Dodgers weren’t able to make him pay like they were able to make Hunter Green pay the previous night. His uh stuff has a lot of movement to it and I think that certainly helped him. But let’s be clear, Zack Latell missed with a lot of pitches early on and the Dodgers weren’t able uh to fully make him pay for that. And you know, it just felt like if you take him out after three, you’re in a spot game two on the road against the defending world champions, you are in the game. And that would have just felt like a massive win. You look at Zack Latell and you say, “Good work. Good work for keeping us in the game. You did your job.” I think we would all be fired up about it. And honestly, we’d all be fired up for Zack Latell and we’d be sitting here saying, “Yeah, Tito Franka pushing all the right buttons. Great job, you know, going with him as that guy to set the tone, keep us in the game. Now, let’s go to the pen.” He kept him in too long. Obviously, um you could argue that, you know, uh Cincinnati should have taken him out after the second. Dodgers hadn’t scored a run yet, but even after the third where you still had the lead, that was just a perfect spot to take him out. Three innings of work, give up the one run and um you know, you’re in a spot where you’re in a great spot um as a team at that point. But obviously that is not what ended up transpiring. And they go with Lollo late, right? I would have liked to see Nick Ledo earlier than when they saw him. And um look, I thought Lollo was solid in the game. He only threw 14 pitches. And if you’re in a spot where you’re Terry Franka, I understand, you know, you had to win game 162 or you went in with the mindset that you needed to win game 162. But to have Nick Lollo throw 14 pitches and for Andrew Abbott not to pitch in this postseason series, it’s really tough to swallow. It’s really, really tough to swallow. The fact that they pulled Ledo when he was doing fine um and they pull him for Nick Martinez, that’s tough, right? I mean, you’re in a spot, I get it, you know, lefty, righty, whatever. But you want to go with your dogs in the biggest moments. And we talked about that on the show yesterday. Your best players have to show up in the biggest moments when you’re in the postseason. And I don’t care what sport you’re talking about, baseball, basketball, football, your stars have to show up in the biggest moments. Nicolo, you can say what you want about his injury history and his availability. He is one of your foundational pieces on this team. He is one of those guys. He’s one of those guys that we came into the year saying the Reds can pitch because they got Nick Liddo as one of their guys. Obviously, he had to pitch in one game six in game 162 out of the pen, but I think he could have given you more than 14 pitches in the game last night and you opted to move off him and you put Nick Martinez in the game and obviously that is a a serious issue because Martinez I believe only able to get one out and it was just kind of a disaster um there at that point. So, it was a good start for Tito, right? you know, he went with Latell, was aggressive, borderline aggressive. It worked, but then he stuck with him for far too long and then he put Martinez in the game too early. Um, you know, kind of going back to game one, like I get, you know, you were kind of behind the eightball there immediately and, you know, when Hunter had the bad start, it was like, yeah, you’re probably not going to win the game anyway, but pulling Scott Barlo, I get he typically is only going to go one inning and you ask more of that from him, but he was pitching great. He was pitching great in the game and you pulled him, right? Ledo, he was doing his job. he was just fine, right? And then you pulled and you put Martinez in and obviously it’s kind of wraps there at that point. But also that’s just kind of from a pitching perspective what happened with Tito Franka in the game, but there’s the the hitting perspective as well in the lineup and what he put out there. I get wanting South Stewart’s bat in the lineup. I get it. And the Reds aren’t even in this game without without South Stewart. I totally get it. But when you have him out there playing first base, clearly not comfortable at first base, right? And you have Austin Hayes getting the start in right field when he hasn’t played right field since 2023 with the Baltimore Orioles, right? Think about that. Do or die game. We’re going to put a guy out there in a position where he hasn’t played since 2023. Doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. Steer, he can play everywhere, but he’s not a left fielder, right? And we’re going to throw him out in left field. All of those pieces and all of those moves were made just to ensure that you could have the glove of Keith Brian Hayes in the ball game. Now, I’m not going to sit and say that’s a bad decision, right? You trade it for the guy. He’s the best there is at fielding the baseball down at third base, but he’s also an automatic out at the dish. So, you got to kind of try to balance that. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say, “Oh, Tito’s a complete idiot for the lineup.” No. Like, he doesn’t he doesn’t have the guys that Dave Roberts has, right? Or a lot of these other teams have, right? and you look at this roster from a position player perspective, Neo, that doesn’t really look like a playoff roster. So, I I I give Tito a little bit of grace in that regard, but putting Hayes out there when he hasn’t played there, putting S at first, right? And then putting Key Bryan out there at third, but he can’t hit. Steering left, I mean, there’s just there’s question marks that come with that decision. Now, S Stewart, he’s 21 years old, which is really hard to believe. 21-year-old kid out there in the postseason Dodger Stadium, win or go home game. And I thought at the plate, particularly early on, that first at bat was awesome. It it really was incredible what he was able to do. That first at bat, you know, going back to that inning, you’re sitting here, you know, you got Yamamoto and you’re like, “Oh boy, here we go.” And then you’re able to get some traffic on the base pass in that first inning, right? Remember Tito talking about that after game one. Let’s get some traffic out on the base pass. You do that in the first inning. He catched the break there from Tay Oscar Hernandez who drops the fly ball and you know you I thought you know a big story line in the game after that first inning was Gavin Lux doesn’t score on that fly ball and that that just can’t happen in the playoffs. You have to be hustling at all times. There is no reason why Gavin Lux should not score on uh you know that that play there in the first inning where Hernandez was not able to catch the baseball. He has to be able to score. But then the rookie, 21-y old South Stewart, bails him out, works the count, beautiful swing backside past the diving glove of Freddy Freeman into right field and you have a two-run lead and it’s like, “Oh boy, here we go. We got a chance right now.” South Stewart after that moment, did he struggle a little bit? Yeah. But you threw him down at first base as a 21-year-old that hasn’t played a ton of first base and he made the error. By the way, he made a couple of good plays down there as well, but the error obviously was incredibly costly. incredibly costly. First Al Stewart at first base, right? And the at bat obviously later in the game in the sixth inning, bases loaded, nobody out, a real opportunity to get back in the ball game, right? And at at that time, the Dodgers didn’t have their big big inning yet. So, you were in a spot where you were only down one run, one run. It was 3-2, top of the sixth, and you got the bases loaded and the core of your lineup up. And I want to stop this conversation for a second just to acknowledge how stinking good Mookie Betts is. Stinks he was on the opposite side, but he might be my favorite player to watch in baseball because that guy is unstoppable. You cannot stop him. What he can do with the bat in his hands any count. All right. Power to all fields, contact guy, extra base guy, continuously comes up in the clutch. And this is a guy defensively as well that plays the outfield, has played the outfield his whole life, and they’re like, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll throw him at shortstop and he’ll be one of the best defensive shorts stops in the game of baseball as well.” And the play that he made with the bases loaded, I mean, it doesn’t seem like much in the moment, but just the poise that he had to field the baseball, understand they weren’t going to turn two, all right, and then fire to the plate and get that out. It’s a huge out. Huge out for the Dodgers in that situation. And you kind of knew when he made that play, uh-oh, this could be a serious issue for us. Now the bases are loaded with one out. And obviously we have a rookie um at the dish. And that obviously was a big problem. South Stewart in that at bat, he was overly anxious, right? He was overly jumpy and we understand that. And you know, he was great early on in the game. Um, you know, but striking out, swinging in that spot. Yamamoto was just he was throwing him just garbage and he was chasing after I don’t even remember how many strikes that were actually thrown in that at bat. But Stewart was overly aggressive and kind of similar to what you saw from some of the abs from the rest of the guys in game one. And unfortunately, a 21-year-old in that spot, yeah, he delivered in the first inning, but maybe the brights were a little bit too bright for South Stewart in that at bat. Now you have two outs and you’re like, “Oh boy. still run. Hasn’t come home to score, but they got Ellie up. And Ellie is a guy that I think we all have a ton of belief in. Ellie de la Cruz is a phenomenal baseball player and he will be and I believe that he will be a Hall of Famer when he hangs it up years from now. Obviously, he’s got a lot of work to do in order to get to that point, but he’s got all the traits and at some point he’s got to be able to break through in the big moments. The knock on Ellie, there’s several knocks on Ellie at this point. Defensively, certainly one of them, but another one that he doesn’t have the clutch gene and he had an opportunity there. base is loaded, two outs, your team down a run, you’re batting from the uh the left-handed side, by the way, the side you feel more comfortable with, and he strikes out. And then you’re sitting there going, “Oh, against this team with the guys that we have in the situation that we’re in late in the ball game, not super late, but late in the ball game in a sixth inning, and you’re not able to get a singular run on the board, bases loaded, no outs, it kind of felt deflating.” And then obviously you roll back out there defensively and boom, four runs from Los Angeles and you’re like, “Oh no, we’re getting we’re getting our you know what handed to us again.” And that’s just kind of the spot that you’re in. Great play by Mookie Bets. Nobody’s going to talk about that play, but you know the play to go for there. um you know with Austin Hayes cuz think about it if he doesn’t go for I think he recognized they weren’t going to be able to turn the double play but obviously he could have gotten it out at second or first base and he goes no we’re going to save the run here and save this lead if he doesn’t go four with that baseball and the Reds tie it at three even if they don’t score the rest of the inning it’s a totally different feel because you’re like all right we got back in the game we tied it let’s go you know they answered us and we just answered them does that you know the fourrun bottom of the six still happen for LA I don’t know Maybe. All right. You know, if you’re going to make the decision to go with Martinez, probably, right? But still, it feels totally different if Mookie Bets does not make that play. Just an unbelievable baseball play from him. He is so good at the game. Just absolutely insane at the game of baseball. Mookie Bets, it’s unbelievable to watch and he’s been doing it for quite some time. And then you had another opportunity in the eighth, right? Very eerily similar, by the way, to what you had in game one. uh the deficit was a little bit less obviously at that point and you know it’s just tough right because you’re able to get one run with um Tyler Stevenson and then you’re making an eight to4 ball game but it’s just like dang like if that’s a you know if that’s hit a little bit if he pulls it a little bit more he hit it well he really did and it was crucial to you know get the sack fly but you’re just like dang if he can find a way to get a hit and not a sacrifice fly there you really feel like you’re back in the game at that point but And um you know obviously um you have the the situation that transpired with Will Benson after that. So you have the one out, the run comes home and then you see these managers play a little chess, Dave Roberts and Tito Franka and Roberts goes out there and pulls this pitcher with a one-two count with Will Benson at the dish, right? And then he goes in and puts a lefty in. And Tito obviously then has the opportunity to put a different batter up. And he chose to do it with Miguel Anduhar. And it was it’s just a tough spot to put a guy. If it’s a 2-1 count or a one-1 count, I get it. But to put a guy in off the bench in a do or die game and sit there and say, “All right, you got two strikes on you. Good luck. That’s a tough spot to be in. And you knew Andar was going to be hacking on the first pitch. It was too high. It was too hard high upstairs. It was a ball, but he was hacking. He came up to empty and he strikes out. Now, does Benson do the same thing? We’ll never know, right? It would have been weird for Benson, too, because he would have sat there and been, you know, in a spot where he just sat there in the middle of account. He sees this guy getting warm and all that time goes by and he’s got to jump back into account. That would have been tough for him as well. But, you know, I guess credit to David Dave Roberts for doing it. To me, that’s not necessarily saying it’s Bush League, but I mean, come on. What are we doing? You know, to be honest with you, what are you doing? And then Tito tried to answer his credit. Nobody in this league is better against lefties than Andar, but putting him in a spot where he’s got two strikes. It’s tough. It’s really, really tough. So, I’m not going to bang Tito too much for that. Again, who knows what Will Benson does in that situation against a lefty throughout his career. Obviously, has really struggled against left-handed pitching. All right. But, you know, tough scene. Tough scene for a guy to go in with a one-two count and really expect anything. Now you’re sitting there again with two outs. So you had the bases loaded, nobody out in the sixth, not able to score. Then you had bases loaded, nobody out in the eighth, you get the one run, but then you look up and there’s two outs. You’re like, golly, if only we could get some more runs. Then Mlan walks and you’re like, okay, we had a chance here. Bases are loaded once again and then TJ Fredel the tying run up at the plate. And it felt like the game obviously at that point. And obviously only had one more um inning after that um in the ninth, but you know, Fredo was a solid at bat and it was a really good pitch that he took and um ultimately he gets rung up. Not going to bang on Fredo too much for that. The the Reds needed him to be super clutch in that moment. He was unable to deliver. If he gets a knock um you know, obviously everybody’s thinking like, oh, if he puts one over and we’re tied like holy cow, how crazy would that be? But just a knock there gives you gives you some life. not able to come up with it. You leave the bases loaded in the ninth. You weren’t really able to do much and you dropped the game eight to four. So, biggest takeaway from the game, he left in too long. He didn’t give Lolo enough. I’m not going to bang on him for not getting Abbott in the game. That’s just the chips fell as they did. That’s unfortunate that Andrew Abbott was not able to throw in this series. Very, very unfortunate because I remain convicted that he is going to be a really good postseason pitcher. Andrew Abbott. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity. here. Some question marks about, you know, putting guys in weird spots. Hayes throwing him out there and you’re going to throw Steer out in the outfield, having to trust S um and his glove. Putting Key Brian still in the lineup. Matt Mlan, by the way, made outstanding play early, but there was two plays, hard baseball plays, very, very hard plays. But if you’re going to be a guy that sits in there and doesn’t really hit the baseball like Matt Mlan, they’re plays that you needed to make. remember he tried the glove flip there on the bunt, wasn’t able to execute that. Had another diving play going to his left, wasn’t able to get. So, really hard plays, plays that elite second baseman in this league make. He was unable to do it. Had a nice run uh play early in the game though, as I mentioned. But when you have those opportunities and you don’t execute, bases loaded, nobody out twice, and you only score one run, that’s not good enough. you have the mistakes in the field and you have a a manager that stuck with his starter too long and wasn’t pushing the right buttons and um you know pulled his other guy too early. That’s too many mistakes to overcome against this Dodger team and you’re just not going to be able to win. Now that Dodger team is really really good. They are really stinking good. Um I think they’re the best team in the na in the National League right now. Their bullpen is obviously horrible and that’s what’s held them back to this point. And that’s the only reason that they don’t have a buy here and that they were even playing in this round because their bullpen and if you go into the postseason with a bad bullpen, that’s usually a massive issue. So, I’m not going to sit here and say the Dodgers are going to win at all, but like with that lineup and that starting rotation, my goodness, that is a really, really good baseball team. And um you ran into a buzzsaw. You ran into a buzzsaw there. And unfortunately, um you get swept and you lose two games to nothing against Los Angeles. Now, that was the negativity um as it relates to the Cincinnati Reds and what transpired last night, but I think there are a lot of positives that you can take away. And there are some people that say, “Oh, if you’re just celebrating making the postseason and that’s good enough for you, that’s a losers mentality.” But let’s be very clear, this isn’t the Cincinnati Bengals with the healthy Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. It’s not the case. If the Bengals make the postseason with all those guys healthy and lose right away, that’s a complete and utter failure. All right, they’re in a position with the guys that they have. Obviously, I understand what’s going on right now with the Bengals, but going into this year, the expectation is Super Bowl. And if you come short of that, it’s a disappointment. Guys get hurt, your franchise gets hurt, that kind of gets completely spoiled. But my point is that wasn’t the expectation here for the Cincinnati Reds. I said all throughout the year, I said going into the year, I said on this show as we went down the stretch over the course of the last few series, it was a success to get in. It was a failure to not. They got in. It’s a success. A total success for the Cincinnati Reds. Is 83 wins going to be enough in the future? No. Did they get a gift from the New York Mets who just absolutely crumbled? Yes, they did. But they deserve a lot of credit for fighting to the end. Their season could have been dead 15 times. They get swept against a bad A’s team on the road late in the season. Really late. They respond in a huge way. They sweep the Cubs at home. Cubs, by the way, are still playing. Have an opportunity to advance to the NLDS today. It’s a good baseball team. The Milwaukee Brewers have been the boogeyman for you for as long as you can remember. Best record in baseball. You go to their place, a team that has absolutely owned you, and take two out of three to get to the playoffs. It’s big time. That’s big time. guys came up in clutch moments at the end of the year. Were there plenty of clutch moments where guys did not rise to the occasion this year? Yes, absolutely. But overall, this was been a tremendous success of a season. Now, here’s where you have to be able to turn the page and understand, you can’t just run it back with this group. It can’t be if you’re Nick Crawl, if you’re Brad Meet, if you’re the guys calling the shots here, oh, we made the playoffs. Yeah. So, all these guys are just going to develop and they’re all going to be better next year than they were this year and we’re going to run it back and we’ll be back in the playoffs. Doesn’t work like that. Number one, you have to be in an aggressive pursuit of trying to take that next step. Was this team good enough to get in the playoffs? Barely. Yes. But was this team a real threat to win a world championship? No. Did they have a chance cuz they were in? Yes. Is baseball totally different than football and the underdogs seemingly have a better chance? Yes. Absolutely. All right. But really, when you look at what they’re up against in the National League, did they really have a chance to get to the World Series and win it? Probably not. There are things that they can do this off seasonason to give them a better chance. Clearly, you have a solid core. Clearly, that rotation is going to be good and should be good for a long time. If they stay healthy, you can lean on them. They’re going to put you in a spot to win some games. But this should be a team that their goal is to win 90 plus games next year. And then you feel a little bit more comfortable. Then you’re not waiting till 162 to get in. then maybe you can mess around and try to win a division. Shoot, if you win a ton of games, imagine this Red’s team with a buy, not having to play in the wild card round. That opens up some more opportunities for you there as well. So, there are things that need to be done this off season to show that they are in pursuit of trying to get better. Clearly, they need to add a bat. We talked about it on off the bench. Is it two bats? Maybe that’s too much to ask for, but you need a veteran bat that has the ability to put the ball over the fence. As the weeks and months progress, we’ll throw around some of those names. Kyle Tucker obviously is a name at the top of that list. People talking about Kyle Schwarber. All these guys are going to make a ton of money. So, probably not super realistic, but there’s got to be somebody preferably that plays the outfield that can come in here and play on a consistent basis against both lefties and righties. Not be a platoon guy, by the way, and have the ability to put the ball over the fence and have the ability to potentially carry an offense when needed. All right. Teams that have the ability to hit home runs, they just have more answers than everybody else. They have more outs essentially. They have more opportunity to hang in games, to extend leads when they have them, and to come back when they’re trailing. The Reds don’t really have that. Yeah, they hit some home runs this year. Yeah, there were some teams that did even less than the Reds did, but they just don’t really have that threat. When you’re in the postseason facing elite pitching, you need to have the threat of the long ball because it’s hard against these pitchers here in the postseason to string together a bunch of hits and come up in big spots. It’s tough. It’s really nice when you’re a team like the Dodgers who in game one, one swing at the bat, there’s two guys on, boom, there’s three runs. That was quick. Reds didn’t have that and they don’t have that and they need to be able to improve upon that. And it starts with the guys at the top. They got to figure out ways to acquire guys that can help this team. Obviously, you don’t blow it up. You got a lot of foundational pieces here. I’m going to continue to believe in Ellie Daily Cruz. Everybody should. You’re crazy if you don’t. Spencer Steer is a capable ball player. Is he going to be one of those guys that is the face of your offense on a championship team? No. But to me, he looked comfortable and he looked like a championship player. Again, not going to lead your offense, but he is a starter on a championship team. He is. You’ve got a lot of youth. People are excited about South Stewart. He’s 21 years old. He’s got a lot to improve on. He’s got to find a position that he looks comfortable in obviously and he’s got to, you know, mature a little bit with his approach. He’s 21 years old. He’s a kid and just played in a huge baseball game. Clearly has a lot of talent. We’ll see what he can be able to do. Fredo, was he an all world center fielder? No, but solid player. Is there a point where maybe you hope that someone else can be your leadoff guy? Maybe. But you can win with TJ Freed. You can absolutely win with TJ Freedel. You have questions there with Mlan. Obviously, he’s shown he can hit in the past. Clearly could not hit well enough this year and was flat out a liability on offense for the most part. Hayes Kebran’s going to be here for a while. You’ve got that team control. You got to find out a way to make him hit the baseball a little bit better. All right. But he’s going to be around. You got some pieces. The rotation obviously is is the best part. Green, Lolo, Abbott, those guys will be back and that’s tremendously exciting. But you have to find a way to add because if you do this again next year, back your way into the playoffs and get blown out immediately. Then it’s not a success. Let’s be very clear. You have to show improvement in the right direction. But to sit here and think, “Oh, the Reds should win the World Championship this year. If they don’t compete for a World Series, it’s a failure.” No, you got to be realistic with your expectations. They hadn’t been here since 20. Nobody really counts the 20 season. So, they hadn’t really been here since 2013. That’s over a decade. They got here, they ran into a buzzsaw. Was it the three seed and the Dodgers? Yeah. But I think a lot of people say probably the best team. Probably the best team. Certainly the best lineup. So, lots to be positive about, but the organization has to aggressively pursue getting better and not just rely on, oh, all the guys that we have are going to be better next year because hopefully that’s true, but that’s not going to be good enough. They’re going to have to add more than that. But I think there’s reason to be optimistic about the Cincinnati Reds. And candidly, I can’t remember the last time we’ve had this much of a reason to be optimistic about the Reds. And I think that’s worth celebrating as it was a successful season for Cincinnati. 83 and 79 record. They get into the playoffs. They get swept by the Dodgers. But I think a lot of teams probably get swept by the Dodgers in that situation there as

In a gut-wrenching conclusion to their improbable playoff run, the Cincinnati Reds fell 8-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 1, 2025, at Dodger Stadium, marking a clean sweep in the NL Wild Card Series. The loss capped a season of tantalizing promise and familiar frustration for the Queen City’s squad.

Enjoy this video from @ChatterboxSports ? LIKE today’s show!

The 2025 season, under new manager Terry Francona, was a revelation. Finishing 83-79, third in the NL Central, Cincinnati clinched their first playoff berth since 2020 on September 28—a gritty surge from midseason doldrums. Young stars dazzled: De La Cruz swiped 67 bases and slugged 22 homers, while Hunter Greene fanned 198 in 178 innings, anchoring a rotation bolstered by trade deadline adds like Zack Littell. Veterans like Spencer Steer and Stephenson (18 HRs) provided stability, and the team honored late legend Pete Rose with #14 patches all year.

#Reds #CincinnatiReds #RedsDodgers