Hunter Greene is THE REASON To Believe In a Cincinnati Reds WIN Over the Los Angeles Dodgers TONIGHT

Hunter Greene is THE REASON To Believe In a Cincinnati Reds WIN Over the Los Angeles Dodgers TONIGHT

Today is the day. It’s playoff baseball. Hunter Green is on the mound in his hometown at Dodger Stadium. We’re breaking it down. Let’s go. [Music] You are Locked on Reds. Your daily Cincinnati Reds podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Lockdown Reds podcast. My name is Jeff Carr. His name is Steve Hoffenbaker. And we are lifelong Cincinnati Reds fans. We’ve been podcasting about this team for a combined 14 seasons. And we’re glad that you’re alongside us here today on what is the first playoff game in a full season since we have been podcasting about this team. And it’s really exciting. We’re here. We’re ready to go. And Hunter Green is on the mound. We’ll talk about him in just a moment as we begin today’s show. Later on in the show, we will discuss what the playoff roster should look like. That final announcement will be made a little bit before the first game begins, but it has not been made yet as of recording. And so, we’re going to go through the scenarios and why the key figure, Santiago Espanol. Yeah, we’re still here. Also, in a few minutes, we’re going to break down the Red’s best lineup as we get into Chavez Ravine because this wild card series, buddy, it’s going to be tough. That’s all coming up on today’s Lockdown Reds podcast that is brought to you by FanDuel. New users can get $300 in bonus bets with your first winning $5 bet to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. All right, Steve. We are going to begin with where it all began this season. Hunter Green took the rubber for the first time on the opening day and he’s going to take the rubber here at the beginning of the Wildard series in LA. He loves pitching in LA. He loves the big moment. He has really come up big when the Reds have needed him to and he has been healthy enough to do it. And now is his biggest moment because quite frankly, Steve, ain’t nobody giving the Reds a shot in this series. If anybody’s looking at this series, they’re saying Dodgers all the way. Why are the Reds even here? Yeah, it it’s hard to it’s hard to argue that the Reds are being disrespected. I don’t think you can say that, right? You can’t say that the oddsmakers are disrespected. were one and five against the Dodgers. But there but listen, this Reds team has been scrappy. They have been as their their mantra is hard to kill. You can’t kill them. And I I feel like this is what we’ve been waiting for. We’ve said all year long that this this rotation, this pitching staff, this team was built for a short series playoff burst. Here it is. You’re going up against the Titan. You’re going up against the Los Angeles deferrals in their $5 billion payroll. And here are those scrappy reds with the rotation and a rested hunter green ready to go. This is what we were waiting for. This is what we were asking for on brand. They’re here in the most frustrating way possible, but they are here. I joked about that to somebody the other day. I was just like, “Yeah, this has been the exact way that I thought they would get into the playoffs.” And that was we had to wait until after their last game of the season was over to know whether or not they were going to make it into the playoffs. They did not control their destiny there. We needed the Marlins to help them out. But hey, here we are. And I’m happy that the Reds got themselves in a position to be in this series. And with Hunter Green on the mound, I feel confident. In fact, I feel confident enough to say that this chip on their shoulder of nobody’s going to pick them. They’re just happy to be here. All this other stuff. They’re going to play loose. They’re going to play well. And they’re going to win this first game. And it’s going to be because of Hunter Green. Hunter Green has pitched phenomenally well this year, albeit not as much as we hoped. And that’s going to be his big question into next year. But we’ll worry about that a little bit later on because here we are. This the season doesn’t matter. The future doesn’t matter. Tonight is what matters. And this year it’s been all about the fact that Hunter Green has three, not two and and and maybe a third, but three dominant pitches that he can call upon. And that’s really why he has taken the huge step forward as a pitcher between that and his command and and his arm is is rested and healthy and ready to throw those pitches. Here here’s the thing. He made 19 starts in the regular season because of the injury in the middle. So he’s the most rested of this Red starting pitcher group. He he looks at you can see him doing the part. You can tell that that arm still has a lot of life in it. He’s thrown 107 innings. He’s nowhere near what he did last year. Last year, he made 26 starts through 150 innings. There’s a lot left in this tank. He’s going to be able to go out and mix his pitches. He’s going to be sharp. I think that gives him an advantage over anybody else that he’s going to face or anybody else even in this red rotation. Uh, you’re right. Those three pitches, his ability this year to mix those pitches to be much more of an ace starting pitcher versus the flamethrower, hard blow it by you guy, uh, has really made the difference. That’s the difference. Hunter Green has evolved into an ace pitcher. He was always kind of an ace thrower, right? He was throwing hard. He was bringing the heat. He was keeping guys off balance because the ball was just all over the place. He’s got control. He’s got baseball smarts. He’s got the ability to put all those things together and be an ace pitcher. Well, and that’s the thing, too. Like, he can still do that. He can still reach back and throw over 100 miles an hour and blow somebody away. But that used to be his only move. He’s no longer a one-trick pitcher here. He’s got so many more opportunities. What did we see in his last start? 102 on the 107th pitch, something like that, right? Yeah. He he was looking phenomenal in that in that start. Well, that was in the start the game against the Cubs. Yeah, two starts ago. Um, but I I I think it’s interesting here and here’s the other part of this. I do want to put a caveat on all of this and say he’s going to do phenomenally well in this game. It’s likely like I I would be shocked if he throws more than six innings. It’s going to be five innings. I think it’s going to be six at best because playoff baseball is different. the hook is much quicker and it has to be for for many different reasons because at this point in the year and thankfully to to your point he is more fresh than most of the guys on this pitching staff because of the amount of pitching he hasn’t done. But even still, I would say that if the Red’s got somebody fresh and ready in the pin, which everybody’s had an off day to kind of at least see their arms stop glowing red, maybe they’re just orange now. Uh then they could be able to go to that pin and get somebody in here who’s fresh. That’s what playoff baseball turns into. You don’t see guys throw complete games very often. And then what do we’ve got? Santon, Pagan, and Ashcraft. Did Ash pitch on Sunday? No, but did he pitch on Sunday? So, Pagan’s had two days off in a row. Uh, Santon’s had two days off in a row. Blanky. I I really I really feel like at least the back two arms of this bullpin have had multiple days off in a row now. Uh, much needed for Pagan who pitched four in a row. So I your your agroup bullpin guys are in fact ready to go in game one. Looking at who got into that game. Yeah. Yeah. They they that was the one thing about even though they did lose they did not throw Santion, they did not throw Pagan. They did not throw Ashgraph. So those guys are good. So yeah confirmed on that. So that could work for your theory that if and I think it all depends too on pitch counts, right? If Hunter Green gets through six on 60 pitches, they’ll let him go more. But it’s going to be it’s going to be about how pitch efficient he is versus uh you know, the Dodgers lineup is the Dodgers lineup. He’s going to have to work for it. I would be stoked if that happened. I’m not expecting it. I’m expecting him to be a little bit over amped. There’s going to be early on he’s going to be going for strikeouts and not like the old Hunter Green used to go for strikeouts where he would just really try to hit the corners and try to paint the corners and and really just nibble too much as a pitcher. I think that he’s going to be better about it, but we’re still going to see some foul balls. This Dodgers lineup is a tough out. Um I think he’s not going to get through six with 60. I’d say six with like 85. Okay, that’s fair. You talk about it’s not like the old Hunter Green. This was his This was his third best strikeouts per nine. Um, up from last year, but his third best. The difference is his walks per nine is a career best. His walks per nine dropped to 2.2 this season. Uh, his career his career high was 3.9. So, he’s down to 2.2 walks per nine while maintaining a strikeout per nine of 11. Um, that’s the new Hunter Green. That’s the ace pitcher Hunter Green. And that’s the guy we’re gonna see on the mount at Dodger Stadium tonight. That’s what what’s that like a five to one strikeout to walk ratio. That’s insane. And that’s the kind of stuff that you can really trust. And that’s the reason we keep saying he’s the ace. I know people want to make the point of like, well, Andrew Abbott was healthier. Niclola was healthier. And yeah, there’s an argument to be had there, but when they’re all healthy, you take that out of the equation, it’s clear that it’s Hunter Green is the ace. And I’m excited to see him pitch tonight. Well, listen, Jeeoff, we’ve talked about Hunter Green on the mound tonight, but what is this Cincinnati Red’s lineup going to look like? Coming up here in just a minute, we’re going to tell you what we think the best lineup the Reds could put on the field tonight would look like. We’ve got that next. You’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, “Sure, like that actually works.” There’s so many products out there and it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. But that’s why you need to give Neutrifall a closer look. Neutrifall is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand and it’s trusted by over one and a half million people. Now it’s even the official hair growth partner of Major League Baseball. 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Jeffrey and I are going to be with you here on Locked on Reds all through this postseason run and then on into the offseason whenever it finally does come to an end, hopefully after a World Series win. And bonus, you’re going to get bonus Reds postcast because Tim Daniel is going to carry on the Reds postcast after each and every one of these Reds playoff games until we reach the end. Subscribe today. All right, Jeff. The Reds lineup. Um, it’s been a challenge all year long. Um, there’s been some real head scratchers all along the way, but here we are. It’s playoff baseball. This is where Terry Francona needs to shine. This is where we have some questions, but it’s time to look at what the best possible version of this lineup could look like heading into game one of the wild card round. Yeah, it’s interesting because if you if you look at what he has been doing, especially to end the season in Milwaukee, it’s clear his strategy his strategy is run prevention over run production. Now, there’s going to be somebody sarcastic and say, “Well, yes, he has prevented plenty of Red’s runs.” But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about he’s he’s prioritizing guys with gloves over guys with bats. And that’s why we keep seeing Matt Mlan. That’s definitely why we keep seeing Key Brian Hayes because there’s no better glove on the field. And and that’s why those guys keep getting at bats despite how horrible they’ve been. I mean, Matt Mlan in the month of September, I saw a stat that in all the month of September has a total of 15 hits. Like, he’s just not been good. And as much as I think that he will get better next year, a lot of it happen to be with an off seasonason to kind of chill and work out and getting himself ready for the next year, what he is right now is a big question mark in the lineup. But it still feels like that Terry Franona is going to buy into him. So I think that we got to start before we start laying out this lineup. Do we agree? like is is it better to just go all in on preventing the runs and getting your best possible defensive lineup out there or should they chance that for even just the slightest edge in scoring one or two more runs? I think you got to score more runs, Jeff, because this Dodger lineup can score them in bunches. You know, you you can’t go into a game trying to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers one to nothing. It’s just not a smart approach to the game. So, when we look at that, I I think you have to go offensive production over defensive greatness. And the first question we’ve got to answer is, are they going to be facing a right-handed pitcher or are they going to be facing a left-handed pitcher? Now, you and I talked about this before we hit record. The site as we’re recording still officially says TBD for the Dodger starter. They have not officially released it, but you think it’s going to be Blake Snell? Yeah, I did see it was reported that the the order is going to be Blake Snell for game one. It’s going to be Yamamoto for game two and it’s going to be Otani for game three, which means they’re facing a lefty out of the gate. So, you you look at Blake Snell, this is a powerhouse of a pitcher. You mentioned it. He’s a lefty. So, we’re going to have to go with the the right-handed heavy lineup. So, first and foremost, uh we’re going to get offensive production, right? That’s that’s where we’re going to go. So, you look at this Red’s team, and I think of I still think you go T.J. Fredel. He’s been hot. He’s been he’s been he’s been on he homered off a lefty in game 16. He’s your leadoff guy playing center field. I think you and I can both agree on that. Now the ever the ever evolving what do we do with the two-hole? What are you doing there? Man, that’s a tough one because I don’t know that he can just pencil in Marte. I think he will, but I don’t think he should. And I think we’re going for the optimal lineup here. Like there’s a difference between what I think the optimal lineup is and what Tito’s lineup is, which is unfortunate because he should be going for the optimal lineup. But I think TJ is really the only guy that you really got set here. And I think it’s because of his resurgence. I understand he’s gone through a dry spell in August and September, but there at the end of September, we saw a second wind. Give me Ellie batting second. Ellie batting second. All right. Well, then of course you go Noel LV batting third. I think those guys, one follows the other. Whatever order you put them in. I I think for playoff baseball, I think I think Ellie’s out of his funk. Two, three, whichever one. But Fredo, I I we’ll fine. We’ll go Ellie. Let’s go Marte. Who’s your cleanup guy? Andrew Hart. He kills left 100%. 100%. Designated hitter. Uh you go with Miguel Anduhar as the as the cleanup spot in the five hole. Now you’re looking at probably Austin Hayes. I think he’s going to be back in the lineup and starting in left field for the Reds. I think you bat him fifth in this lineup tonight. So that brings up the interesting. So okay, so Haz is fifth. So then sixth is Spencer Steer and playing first base, which then means seventh is our third baseman, Sal Stewart. I agree. As much as I love Key Brian Hayes’s defense and and look, he’ll be in the game. He, if anything, a defensive replacement late, but he’ll be in the game. But I like St. Sal Stewart at third base. And now I and I hear I can I can the keyboards. I can hear the clattering of keys in my headset. Jeff, everybody’s going, “But can’t he play second base? Don’t you sit Matt Mlan against a left-handed pitcher? Don’t you sit him down and put South Stewart at second base and still keep Krian Hayes at third?” What say you? I don’t think so. I think that you’ve you cannot completely yourself because I just don’t think anybody else is as good defensively at second base like because you’re looking at okay then maybe you could put Spencer Steer there and then you have to play Sal Stewart at first and then Key Brian Hayes does play. So you’re either playing Hayes or Mlan. one of those two guys has to start. And so I’m starting Mlan in this regard and just just hoping and praying and closing my eyes and crossing my fingers and really hoping that he gets out of his funk and has some sort of postseason resurgence like we never seen. But he’s going to hit ninth, which means hitting eighth. I got Tyler Stevenson. Tyler Stevenson. Yeah. as as good as José Trevino has been defensively and managing this pitching staff, I’m going with with Ty Steve’s ability to run into one and hit for some pop and and hit some gap shots. Uh, every bit of offense you can squeeze out of this team right now is what you’ve got to do. So, yeah, I’m with you. I’m batting South Stewart seventh. I’m batting Tyler Stevenson eighth and I’m batting Matt Mlan ninth. Uh, playing second base. I don’t understand because we keep seeing Joseé Trevvinho and and I I understood the point that okay it’s because he’s singing’s personal catcher and all this other stuff but like at the same time like has he really been that much better defensively? Like he’s better at framing but his outs above average are actually low or they’re actually below zero. And then when you look at Stephvenson behind the plate, Stephvenson not as great framing, but he’s really good at blocking the plate. He’s above average when or still a little bit below feeling. So they’re both kind of 61 half dozen the other there. So you got to put the better bat in. So you put in the better bat 100%. And and I don’t think there’s really much question about that. Um and as we’ll get into here in a little bit, uh personal catchers don’t matter uh in the postseason with the the playoff roster. So, I I I look at I look at that lineup, Jeff. I think that’s the best lineup knowing Tito’s tendencies. I think that’s the best lineup we could get on the field with the best structure, the best batting order. Um, that’s the way I would do it. And then obviously you’ll have your your left-handed hitters available off the bench later in the game if you could get into the Dodgers bullpit. Yeah, because I could see this being one of those where Blake Snow probably same as Hunter Green probably goes five or six. I really would like because he’s going to fill up the zone. He’s not a guy that walks a lot of people. So, I’d really like the Redsitterers to just make sure that they fill up the base pads. This is going to be one of those games that I’m not going to go too crazy if they fill up the base pads and then fail to get people in because they are just still putting the pressure on Snell. The goal in this series in all three games is get to the bullpen. The Dodgers bullpen is stinky. Real stinky. like I’m got like burst pipe Indian food that’s like a week old something stinky. So just get there, force those starters out of the ball game, however you can do it and get into that pin and make them use those guys because they’re bad. And so when you get to that point, that’s when you can really start going. So they’ve got to have pesky at bats early and then they have productive at bats late. Yeah. And and think about the guys that you have available. You’ll have Gavin Lux off the bench uh when the opportunity arises who’s really just been he’s been Yeah, Gavin Lux has really been just finding finding grass. He’s been finding ways to get the ball to drop for him. Um you know, he’s not been hitting for a lot of power. It’s not been pretty, but you know, he’s going to have a little extra oomph in him returning to Dodger Stadium. You know that he’s gonna in a playoff atmosphere. And then your guy Will Benson, you know, you look at Will Benson. Uh I there’s still some of the some of the love for Will Benson. I still don’t get I I just I’m not a card carrying member of the fan club uh like you are, Jeff, but he was a foot away from a three-run homer two days ago. I do I do love his ability to run into one. That’s exactly what I was going to say. So um you know, that’s valuable off the off the bench. So I think we’ve come up with what the Reds need to do. Now, the question is, there’s one guy that’s got to decide to agree with us, and that’s Terry Francona. Uh, I can’t wait to see what he does with this Red’s lineup as we get started in game one of the wild card round tonight. And part of that is who’s going to be available to him on the bench. Is it going to be more about the pitching staff or about the bench? Because the roster shrinks back down to 26 players. So, the Reds have some decisions to make and really the decision hinges on, is Santiago Esenol going to be a part of this wildard roster? Oh boy, the baseball playoffs are here and your Cincinnati Reds are in it. The NFL, the season is in full swing and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets back if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Now listen, baseball playoffs, the the oddsmakers, they’re not respecting your Cincinnati Reds very much. In fact, they have the longest odds of any of the wildard playoff games today. Reds plus 164. Now, the overunder in this game is 7 and a half. Throw a little money the Reds way because when the Reds win big, you’re going to win big over at FanDuel at that plus 164. So, just get in on the action. What are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com right now and download the FanDuel app today and get started to win your $300 in bonus bets. When you’re done with today’s Lockdown Rads episode, make sure you check out Locked on MLB. They got Lockdown MLB game night covering every game every night all throughout the World Series. So, make sure you check them out over on the Locked On MLB YouTube page and on the Locked On MLB audio feed. And also don’t forget a little bit later today folks in your feeds following this episode a special bonus crossover locked on reds locked on Dodgers Jeff’s going to be sitting down with one of the locked on dodgers guys I I forget Harry with Harry Ruiz Harry Harry’s joining from locked on Dodgers that’ll be a great preview too to kind of get some insight from the locked on Dodgers experts about what to expect in tonight’s game it’s going to be it’s going to be fun because I’m going to tell them why I think the Reds win in three and they’re probably going to laugh because nobody’s picking the Reds. Nobody is giving the Reds a shot in this series. They’re all just like, “Look at them. They beat out the Mets and why are they here? Oh, what what’s going on here? The Dodgers are about to go win another World Series just like we all thought they would. So, they can just move on out the way and just let the Dodgers keep on moving through?” Not so fast, my friend. It’s going to be all about Hunter Green here tonight on this first game. And I think they’re going to get the win. But what’s the roster going to look like around them? Because they got to get rid of two guys going down to 26. And there’s a little bit of a question going around because when it comes to playoff rosters and especially in a three-game series, you don’t need five starting pitchers, you need three. And so you can get rid of two of those starting pitchers and you either fill them with bullpen spots or you fill them with bench bats. So really the the decider, the the player that everything kind of hinges on here is do you really want Santiago Espanol on this roster? And I think Tito would give us a different answer that none of us are expecting and that none of us know because for some reason he really seems to like this guy. He’s gotten over 300 at bats in the season and we still have no idea why. But do you keep him and you put a pitcher on the taxi roster so that you go 14 and 12 or do you go 13 pitchers, 13 position players? Well, let’s let’s just use the real names. Let’s talk about what’s in play here. The easy one is this. Brady Sanger is going to be on the T Brady Brady SP on the taxi squad. He’s not going to be on the playoff roster. He pitched the final game of the season. He’s not available. There’s no reason for him to be on the roster. He’s your first one. It’s easy. The second one comes down to this. It is a choice between Santiago Espanol as your utility last guy on the bench or Zack Big Sugar Maxwell as your last guy out of the bullpin innings eater bridge guy. Th those are the choices. And for me, in a three-game series, Dodgers lineup, I think I would rather have one more guy that you can throw into the field that gives you a little defense that maybe on occasion can get you a base hit off the bench, uh, versus Zack Maxwell, who you may or may not ever get to in this series. So, for me, I’m going 1412. I’m going to put Maxwell on the taxi squad, Brady Singer on the taxi squad. That gets him down to 26. I’m keeping Santiago Espanol as a end of the bench guy. If he starts a freaking playoff game for the Cincinnati Reds, I am going to lose my mind. I I might storm Great American Ballpark at some point in time if Santiago Espanol starts a game for this team in the wildard round against the Dodgers. What is it we would do like something funny that we would have to do if he runs into one, hits a home run in in a playoff game? Like if Santiago Espanol hit a home run in a playoff game, I don’t know. Like it’d have to be something funny because Lord knows there’s no odds on it because FanDuel would be like, “Well, thank you for the money because he’s not going to hit a home run, but you just gave us $5 anyway.” Uh because the odds are probably be like plus like a hundred gajillion thousand. Uh so when I look at having him on the roster, we know who he is. But I think I agree with you. And it’s more so because if you get the Zack Maxwell on the Reds bullpen like list in one of these games, that means something’s gone horribly wrong with a bunch of other guys. And that means that this game is probably way out of reach. And so at that point, you just throw somebody. It doesn’t matter who. So you don’t need a guy for that situation. because I love Big Sugar and I think that he could be a really good part of the bullpen next year, but I don’t think that means he needs to be getting meaningful innings in this playoff space. So, I think he got to go with a little bit with the with the uh major league experience and um bunting ability. Um what is the resume of Santiago Espanol? It’s, you know, he occasionally, I mean, he’s had some timely hitting. It’s hard to not say he’s had some timely hitting. He puts the bat on the ball and he plays decent defense, so I’m okay with that. The other piece of this that makes it easy to make this decision, Jeff, is that Zack Latell is going to be moving into the bullpin, right? Big give you a lot of innings out of the bullpen. This is a guy that’s had full seasons in the in the bullpen. This the the bullpen is not new to him. This is not like taking, you know, Nic Lolo and saying, “Okay, you’re going to pitch in relief today.” We saw how that kind of went. Uh, right. This is a guy that knows how to do it, that knows the differences between starting and pitching out of the bullpen. Uh, so I I I think that gives you extra coverage. You don’t need that other arm. You don’t need that 13th arm because Latell can give you enough innings as two relievers would. Yeah. You’ve got Zack Martinez or Zack Martinez. You got Zack Latell and Nick Martinez. They’re not one name Zack Zack. Zack Cruz is going to do some things in this game. A he’s a megazord. Zack Martinez or Nick Latell. Anyway, um yeah, when it comes to these two guys, they both have a lot of experience. Like Zack Latell, I’m making sure that I’m saying his first name, not Nick Latell. Zack Latell, I’m too confused. Anyway, Zack Latell has far more games out of the bullpen than he does out of the rotation. So, he’s he had five full seasons of experience coming out of the bullpen, mostly for Minnesota, some for the Giants before he moved into the rotation in 2023 part-time between Boston and Tampa Bay. So, there’s a little bit of this that it’s going to be old hat for him. And I think that’s why you’re kind of excited to have him. That’s why that Nick Crawl got him for this. I think Nick Crawl got him to really help out the bullpen for the rest of the season. but also knowing if the Reds got to their ultimate goal of the postseason, this dude’s got experience being that guy that can be a go-between between the bullpen and the starting rotation just like Nick Martinez can. And that’s going to give you so much value in this three-game series. It’s big that you’ve got you think about this now heading into this three-game series. If something We’ve seen it before, we’ve seen it where a starting pitcher something’s not quite right in a playoff game and it’s all downhill from there. You’ve got now two guys in this Red’s bullpen that can come out and pitch four or five innings in a pinch and you’ve got Sudter who can give you like two or three. Yeah. And and Sudter can do the same thing on a little bit smaller level. So there are lots of innings available to this Red’s bullpit. Our hope is we don’t need those innings that the starting pitchers do their thing and then it’s a group a group a group uh to get the wins. But you have that option. you have you have to less worry about well what do we do if something happens you you’ve got the answer to that it gives you the flexibility to carry an extra you know offensive position player I’d almost love it if they caught up Reese Hines but can’t remember if he’s still on the 40man or not I don’t think so but anyway I I I know this you got to check out the crossover that’s coming up here in a little bit because I’m going to be telling the Dodgers guys why the Reds are going to win this in three games it’s going to be I’m just tired of picking against them. Like I I keep doubting them all year long. They make the playoffs. Here we are. I ain’t picking against them. I think they’re going to do something. Like the stats are against them. They’re kind of do, right? But we also said that about them against going into Milwaukee and what they do with that. So hopefully they do the same thing here in LA. It’s going to be fun and we’re going to be with you every step of the way right here on Lockdown Reds. Thank you so much for checking out today’s edition of the Lockown Reds podcast. Like we said, we’ll be back with you here. We got the crossover coming up. Tim Daniels is going to be live with the postcast after the game. We’re going to be back with you tomorrow morning. Red’s content all the time around the clock right here on the Lockdown Reds YouTube page or on your favorite audio app because we are free and available everywhere you get your podcast. Now, make sure you go check out Lockdown MLB between Sully and his takes every single day about the league and Lockdown MLB game night with every game every night all throughout the World Series. They’ve got you covered about the league at large. Go check them out there today. But you know, as for Steve and myself, we will be locked on Reds every single day. Jack to the tents, baby. Can’t believe we’re doing postseason baseball.

The Cincinnati Reds’ take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Wild Card Series beginning tonight. Hunter Greene gives the Reds a shot to beat the Dodgers. Greene’s dominance is due to his improved command and he will draw on his previous experience pitching at Dodger Stadium to bring him plenty of confidence against Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. The optimal lineup against Blake Snell is debated, with particular focus on whether to include Sal Stewart, Tyler Stephenson, and Matt McLain.

Jeff and Steve examine key roster decisions, weighing Santiago Espinal’s defensive versatility against Zach Maxwell’s potential impact out of the bullpen. They acknowledge the Reds as underdogs but express optimism about their chances, especially if they can exploit the Dodgers’ bullpen weakness.

The hosts emphasize the importance of the Reds’ aggressive baserunning and how it could pressure the Dodgers’ defense. They also discuss the potential impact of the Reds’ young talent and how their energy might give them an edge in the series.

Overall, the episode provides in-depth analysis of the Reds’ strategy and personnel decisions heading into this crucial playoff matchup against the favored Dodgers.

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