{"id":590495,"date":"2026-02-24T17:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/590495\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:00:17","slug":"2026-cubs-know-your-enemy-cincinnati-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/590495\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Cubs: Know your enemy, Cincinnati Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Reds made the postseason in 2025. Did you notice? They were dispatched quickly by the Dodgers. And, they had the worst record of any of the postseason teams at 83-79.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Still, that\u2019s something to build on, and the Reds are indeed building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Key departures: Zack Littell, Nick Martinez, Austin Hays, Brent Suter, Yosver Zululeta, Gavin Lux<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Key arrivals: Nathaniel Lowe, Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, JJ Bleday, Ben Rortvedt, Pierce Johnson, Brock Burke,<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Eugenio Su\u00e1rez is the active MLB leader in home runs against the Cubs with 36. So it made me very happy when he was traded to the Mariners last summer \u2014 had he stayed there, the Cubs would have had to face him only one series a year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Now Su\u00e1rez will come back and torture Cubs pitching again. As you\u2019ll recall, he had a four-homer series against the Cubs last April in Arizona, then hit another in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/boxes\/CHN\/CHN202504180.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">that wacky 13-11 Cubs comeback win<\/a> at Wrigley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Granted, Su\u00e1rez is now 34, but I do not look forward to seeing him play 13 games against the Cubs this year. He\u2019ll be mostly a DH with Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes now a Reds fixture at third base.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Otherwise the Reds return most of their 83-win team from last year. Former Cub Pierce Johnson joins a strong bullpen, and Hunter Greene has become one of the better pitchers in the league. Another starter to watch is Chase Burns, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 Draft out of Wake Forest. He struggled at times in his debut season, but can throw 100-plus just as Greene can.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Reds might be tougher competition for the Cubs in the NL Central than the Brewers in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At Wrigley Field: May 4-5-6-7 and Aug. 28-29-30<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At Cincinnati: July 10-11-12 and Sept. 18-19-20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reds made the postseason in 2025. Did you notice? They were dispatched quickly by the Dodgers. And,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,76782,535,50,4259,4,536],"class_list":{"0":"post-590495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago-cubs-opponents","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-reds","12":"tag-cincinnatireds","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-reds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116126680915730831","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}