Reds MLB playoffs locker room celebration
Red players, coaches and staff pop bottles in the visitors clubhouse at American Family Field after clinching a 2025 National League wild card berth.
LOS ANGELES — It’s already back to business for the Cincinnati Reds, who were last seen pouring and spraying the night away in Milwaukee with champagne and beer after clinching their first full-season playoff berth in 12 years on the final day of the 2025 season.
Now they’ve got to beat the juggernaut, built-for-October defending champs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where every game of the best-of-three Wild Card Series round will be played.
Game 1 is at 9:08 p.m. (ET) on Sept. 30.
Here’s what they’re up against. Specifically, five reasons why they won’t get past the Dodgers and five reasons why they’ll beat them:
Top 5 reasons Reds won’t beat Dodgers
1. Starting pitching. The Dodgers struggled to keep their staff healthy all season, but Games 1 and 3 starters Blake Snell (a two-time Cy Young winner) and Shohei Ohtani (a three-time MVP) look exceptional after returning from injuries. It’s a clear late-season and postseason strength of a club that also was able to strengthen its shaky-of-late bullpen by moving big-armed starter Emmet Sheehan to the pen. And for those scratching their heads wondering why they swear they’ve seen that guy, Snell, at GABP before, that’s because he was the guy wearing a Giants uniform last year who no-hit the Reds on a damp night in August.
2. Recent history. That Reds futility against the Dodgers this season included getting outscored 18-4 in a three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium barely a month ago. The Reds say they’re a different team. But did we mention the Dodgers starting pitching is even better than it was a month ago? The Reds haven’t even seen Snell yet this season. Welcome back to Dodger Stadium.
3. The 2025 Mets. Not to stick a cork back in anybody’s party bubbly, but the only reason the Reds are in the postseason (at 83-79) is because a Mets team that had the best record in baseball in June nosedived in the second half all the way out of the playoff field on the final day of the season. The Mets lost 14 of their last 21, including failing to score against the Marlins in a Game 162 that could have secured a berth over the Reds. The Reds had a losing record (16-17) over the final 5 1/2 weeks of the season and spent just five days in playoff position after April — including the final three days of the season.
4. Inexperience. Not only are the Reds inexperienced, they’re especially inexperienced against the Dodgers, who have had more recent playoff games and success than anyone in baseball, including 2020 and 2025 World Series titles, trips to the World Series in 2017 and ’18. While the Reds were spending the last dozen years trying to get back to the playoffs, the Dodgers were there every year. This is their 13th straight appearance.
5. Elly De La Cruz. The Reds’ biggest star has struggled much of the second half since earning his second All-Star selection in as many full seasons in the majors. Along the way he dealt with hamstring and quad injuries while playing all 162 games as he appeared to fatigue in the final weeks. To beat a team like the Dodgers the Reds need their speed-power unicorn, who has taken over games and series for stretches in his career. But he’s been missing for months.
Top 5 reasons Reds will beat Dodgers
1. Starting pitching. The Reds ranked second in the majors in starting pitching almost the entire season, just behind the Phillies. And that was with Game 1 starter, Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.76) missing almost half the season because of a groin injury. He has pitched like an All-Star down the stretch, and lefty Nick Lodolo got through his own groin injury scare from his last start to pitch two innings Sunday and be prepared for a playoff start. And lefty Andrew Abbott, an All-Star this year, could be in line for one, too.
2. Recent history. The last team to make the National League field each of the past three seasons has made a deep run in October, including the 2022 Phillies and 2023 Diamondbacks reaching the World Series. Last year’s Mets squeaked in with 83 wins, then knocked off the Brewers and Phillies in the first two rounds before eventually losing in the National League Championship Series.
3. The 2015 Mets. Sweating over the Reds’ 1-5 season series against the Dodgers? Then consider the Jacob deGrom-Matt Harvey Mets of 10 years ago. They were winless during the season against two teams, including 0-7 against the Chicago Cubs, scoring just 11 runs in the seven games. But in the NLCS that October, they swept the Cubs in four games to reach the World Series (limiting the Cubs to eight total runs).
4. Inexperience. Don’t have a chance against the Dodgers? Good luck getting any of these guys to understand that. They don’t know any better. Seventeen members of the Reds’ active roster on the final day of the season have never played in the postseason. And nobody on the roster knew enough to understand their season was over after falling six back of the field with a 3-11 stretch that culminated with a crushing loss on Sept. 5 and then a week later getting swept by the Athletics. “When you haven’t done something before, I’m not sure how you speak to it because you haven’t done it,” manager Terry Francona said. “Doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.”
5. Elly De La Cruz. The Reds biggest star has shown signs of stirring to life since getting dropped out of the third spot in the order for the first time all season with 11 games left in the season. Until then he had one home run since June 23, but has hit three since as the Reds won eight of those games. And he has said more than much how much he loves playing in Los Angeles, where he has two four-hit games. “That’s my city,” he said on the eve of his first playoff game. “My city.”