As if Cincinnati was not already struggling enough, the Reds now have to face not only the team that leads their division, but arguably the hottest team in baseball; the Cardinals.
St. Louis currently leads the NL central by six games, and leads Cincinnati by twenty-three.
Obviously the Reds are not looking to gain grown on St. Louis so much as they are trying not to lose ground to Pittsburgh, whom they sit two and a half games ahead of for last place in the division, but also Washington who they lead by just eight games for last place in the league.
Now I know what your thinking, ‘come on Colin, eight games? Even the Reds could never’ and you might be right, if not for the Cardinals.
Like I said, St. Louis is all caps HOT.
Just in the month of August, in no particular order, the Cardinals have swept the Yankees, Cubs, Rockies, and Diamondbacks, as well as won series against the Braves, Cubs, and Brewers. In fact, the only series they lost was another to Colorado, and even in that series they took one of three.
Just for reference, the Yankees lead the AL east, the Braves are just three games back of the NL East lead, and the Brewers are six back of St. Louis in the NL Central mostly due to dropping that series this month two games to one. Also worth noting that because of their third wild card team this postseason, all three teams, Braves, Yankees, and Brewers, more than likely make the playoffs; or at least the Braves and Yankees.
Now yes beating up on the Cubs, Rockies, and Diamondbacks certainly pads their stats, but it also keeps other teams, even great ones who might also be winning, from catching them.
Not to mention all that momentum and playing inferior competition promotes consistency against the stiffer competition and has led to Adam Wainwright and Albert Pujols playing as if its five, seven, or even ten years ago. Then you add in Paul Goldschmidt reminding everyone why he has twice finished second in NL MVP voting and this might be the year he wins it. Then the Yankees go and trade the Cardinals Jordan Montgomery and all he has done is go 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA as a Cardinal.
The Reds have more than their hands full. Not to say they cannot surprise people with young talent like Jonathan India and Nick Senzel among a host of others anything is possible, but far from likely in the slightest.
Looks to me like the Cardinals are making up for the fact that St. Louis fans just had to watch the Rams win a super bowl in LA and the Reds are content to just get out of the Bengals, who lost the super bowl to LA, way.