LOS ANGELES – Noelvi Marte leaned against the far rail of the visitors dugout at Dodger Stadium staring out at the field as the home team celebrated their two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in the first round this week.
Rookies Chase Burns and Sal Stewart watched from the rail several minutes after most of the rest of the older Reds had cleared out. Young middle infielders Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz lingered to steal glances at the defending champs while slowly gathering their stuff before heading in.
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Reds Dodgers NL wild card Cincinnati Reds’ thrill-ride season ends in first-round playoff sweep by Dodgers
They might have been the first ones out of the playoffs. But many of these youngest Reds were the last to leave the scene of the bitter ending of their season.
While most fans were sleeping off the disappointment in the wee hours back home, the Reds were soaking up a moment that might have more impact on their careers than they could know.
“It’s the best thing that can happen for them in their life,” said Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley, the former All-Star closer, who earned the save the last time the Reds beat the Dodgers in a playoff game at Dodger Stadium — 30 years ago this week.
The Reds young players, like Matt McLain (center), are sure to benefit from the experience of a pennant race and postseason competition, even if it was a two-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers.
That playoff experience, win or lose. That first taste.
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Sixteen members of the Reds 26-man playoff roster never played a game in the postseason until Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. That included all five of those chapped young players who were the last to leave the dugout.
“It just changes who you are, not just as a baseball players but as a person,” Brantley said. “When you’re 7 and 8 years old, standing in the back yard, and you’re saying, ‘Game 7…,’ that’s fantasy. Now you’re living it.
“And then you realize, ‘You know what, I can live my dream. I can do whatever I put my mind to.’ “
Nobody outside the organization expected the Reds to knock off the defending World Series champs in the first round this week. But when they got in on the last day of the season by winning eight of their final 11 games (with the help of a Mets collapse), the Reds reached a massive milestone on the road they envisioned when they hired Hall of Fame-bound manager Terry Francona a year ago.
Pitcher Chase Burns heads to the clubhouse after the final out of the ninth inning of the Reds’ 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 1. Burns was one of 16 Reds who got their first test of the postseason.
“This is important to take the next step,” general manager Brad Meador said. “We show up in spring training, and it’s different next year. This is what we needed to get. This is the first step to whatever’s next.”
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First baseman Spencer Steer already was talking about “making a statement” in 2026 in the raw moments after the Oct. 1 elimination game, based on this experience.
“Just getting the taste,” he said. “The feeling of clinching and popping bottles, that’s enough feel for me personally to keep me going every day and want to feel that again, because that’s an addicting feeling.”
“It’s obviously learning what postseason baseball feels like and understanding what it takes to get to the postseason and what it takes to win in the postseason,” he added. “That’s all valuable experience that we can use going forward. Hopefully, that’s the standard for this organization going forward.”
More tangibly, the value of this experience also impacts the roster building over the winter, team president Nick Krall said.
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His team emphasized “character guys” with playoff experience in recent offseasons to accelerate the growth of a talented young core.
The “character” priority won’t ever go away, Krall said. But that urgent need to add playoff veterans — especially as it existed last winter — isn’t as strong now that players from Elly De La Cruz to Stewart and Burns have this week’s experience seared into a bittersweet memory they’re not likely to forget.
“It’s invaluable across the board,” Krall said.
Those veterans who were brought in have already seen it.
“There’s something to be said for a group of young players to get their first taste of it,” said veteran closer Emilio Pagán, a pending free agent who is likely to at least discuss an extension before hitting the market.
Rookie Sal Stewart had two hits and three RBI in the Game 2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 1. Stewart also drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the Game 1 loss.
“While we’re not happy with just getting to the playoffs, if you look at some of the best teams, there’s a history of getting in, and you see what it feels like, what it tastes like to be in that atmosphere, and then you see a continued run of success. There’s absolutely no doubt about it that the guys in this clubhouse have a chance to do that. And take another step forward and then another step.
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“Hopefully, it all comes next year.”
Already, Burns retired all five batters he faced in his playoff debut in Game 2. Stewart drew a bases-loaded walk off the bench in Game 1, then started Game 2 and drove in the first two runs of the game with a two-out single in the first inning, and added an RBI single in the eighth – giving him four times the RBIs in two nights as Reds legend Joey Votto had in 11 career postseason games (one).
Rookie Connor Phillips pitched in Game 1. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Tyler Stephenson, TJ Friedl, Steer, De La Cruz, McLain, Will Benson, Graham Ashcraft, Marte – all of them got a first taste of October baseball.
“There’s a lot of fight in this clubhouse, a lot of guys that want to win,” said veteran pitcher Nick Martinez, a key clubhouse voice who’s now a free agent. “This is just the beginning for a lot of these guys. It’s just the beginning of a winning culture here.”
Said Francona, looking toward next season: “I think our better days are ahead of us.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Cincinnati Reds say playoff run ‘just the beginning’