Terry Francona’s Cincinnati Reds are – to be polite – one of the worst teams to ever make the post-season.
No other club can lay claim to being in the playoffs without a qualifying hitter with a .270 average, a 25-homer hitter, a 15-game winner or a pitcher with 200 strikeouts. Ever. Not in a non-shortened season, at least.
Truth is, the Reds are a reminder that even in these cold-hearted times you can still count on the charity of others – in this case, the New York Mets, who coughed up a six-game lead in the wild-card race with three weeks left.
“We’re like cockroaches,” Elly De La Cruz told reporters in the Reds clubhouse on Sunday. “You can’t kill us.”
Outside of the 2020 pandemic season, the Reds haven’t been in the playoffs since 2013, last winning a series in 1995 when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers before being crushed by the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series. But the post-season is old hat to Francona, the Reds’ 66-year-old manager who came out of retirement (again!) to reach the playoffs (again!) He’s gone to the World Series three times in 12 post-seasons, winning two. He is the fifth Reds manager to guide the team to the post-season in his first year at the helm, joining Lou Piniella (1990), John McNamara (1979), Sparky Anderson (1970) and Patrick Moran (1919.)
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The road to the World Series begins Tuesday with Game 1 of all four wild-card series. Catch the action on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+.
Francona’s opposite number in the best of three NL wild-card series will be Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who had a significant role in one of Francona’s shining moments. It was Roberts’ ninth-inning steal of second base with Boston down 3-0 to the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL Championship Series that helped spur the Red Sox’s historic comeback en route to Francona’s first title with the curse-busters.
The Dodgers and Reds start their series Tuesday night (Sportsnet / Sportsnet+, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT). The other NL wild-card series this year will see the Chicago Cubs play host to the San Diego Padres, with Game 1 Tuesday afternoon (Sportsnet ONE / Sportsnet+, 3 p.m. ET / noon PT).
Here, then, are six to watch in the best-of-three National League Wild Card Round
Matthew Boyd/Shota Imanaga, SPs, Cubs
Given the loss of Cade Horton to a fractured rib, the Padres’ issues against left-handed pitching and health issues, the Cubs’ two left-handed starters will be tested after so-so Septembers. Imanaga was an All-Star but has been anything but down the stretch, giving up 10 home runs in September and posting a 6.51 ERA. Game 1 starter Boyd, whose low-velocity offerings are offset by inordinate movement, had a 22 2/3-inning scoreless streak this season but pitched to a 5.31 ERA and has allowed homers in each of his last four outings. Tough to see the Cubs winning this series without one of them stepping up.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs
PCA’s personality arrived on centre stage out of the womb but this will be his first post-season appearance after becoming the first player in Cubs history to hit 30 home runs, 30 doubles and steal 30 bases. The Cubs need first-half, All-Star PCA, though: he had a frightening offensive drop-off in the second half, posting a .634 OPS that was the worst among all qualified hitters and hit just six home runs after pounding out 25 in the first half.
His defence remained elite, however – statistically, he was the third-best defender in baseball at any position – and outfield defence could be a determinant at Wrigley. Padres manager Mike Shildt acknowledged Monday that getting his team acclimated was a reason he scheduled his team’s workout to coincide with the start time of Tuesday’s Game 1.
Hunter Greene, SP, Reds
You really need to look hard to find an area where the Reds have an edge in this series, but pitching – especially starting pitching – isn’t a bad place to start in a short series. You could do worse than having Greene on the mound for Game 1. Greene is an L.A. kid with elite stuff who beat the Toronto Blue Jays this month. He also fired a complete-game one-hitter with nine strikeouts against the Cubs and authored a one-hit, 12-strikeout game against the Mets.
Mason Miller, RP, Padres
Not every trade-deadline relief acquisition worked out this year … but Miller’s sure did. Miller will carry an MLB-best 21 1/3-inning scoreless streak and 10-inning hitless streak into his post-season debut, tied for the longest in the majors. Miller has allowed just two earned runs and a .096 opponents average, with 45 strikeouts and 10 walks, since coming over from the Athletics.
He’s not the closer in what is one of the majors’ best bullpens – even with Jason Adams’ injury, the Padres have four arms comfortable working on back-to-back days while throwing multiple innings – but Miller has the best fastball: ranked in the 100th percentile in velocity and whiffs. He has eight of the 10 fastest pitches thrown in the majors in 2025, which stands out even in a bullpen like the Padres’ with six pitchers who have thrown 98 m.p.h. this month.
Roki Sasaki, RP, Dodgers
It’s been tough to escape the notion that the defending World Series champions have been, well, kind of bored this season while they’ve gone about the business of shredding arms. They were down five wins from last year and will face the ignominy of slumming it in the wild-card playoffs with the rest of the NL bums. A world doesn’t exist, you’d think, where Shohei and Mookie and Freddie don’t steamroll the Reds but … have you seen the Dodgers bullpen? They have the fourth-most blown saves in baseball and had the fourth-worst relief ERA in the majors this month. Still, Roberts knows a thing or two about throwing bullpen arms against the wall in the post-season and seeing what sticks. Conventional wisdom is the now-healthy Sasaki gets as much leverage as he can handle this October.
Fernando Tatis, Jr., RF, Padres
Ramon Laureano was a savvy trade-deadline addition because the Padres had shown themselves to be susceptible to left-handed pitching. But he went on the injured list after fracturing his right index finger this week, so the focus shifts to Padres standbys such as Manny Machado and Tatis Jr., the latter of whom homered in three of his last four games, including a grand slam in his first game back from a bout with COVID-19. The Padres hit the third-fewest home runs in the majors, and it wasn’t all Petco Park: they were down at the bottom in homers on the road, too. Tatis’ 2024 post-season was terrific, though, and he is a transcendent player. It’s easy to see him writing himself large all over these playoffs.
Predictions
Dodgers def. Reds 2-0
Padres def. Cubs 2-1
