Written by: Kenta Hagiwara
Reds August Update:
(Pre-8/24/23)
NL Central Standings:
Milwaukee (70-57, .537)
Chicago (66-60, .517) – 3.5 GB
CINCINNATI (67-61, .516) – 3.5 GB
Pittsburgh (57-70, .446) – 9.5 GB
St. Louis (56-72, .446) – 11.0 GB
NL Wild Card Standings:
Philadelphia (69-58, .543) – +2.5 WCGB
Chicago (66-60, .524) – 0 WCGB
CINCINNATI (67-61, .523) – 0 WCGB
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Arizona (66-61, .520) – 0.5 WCGB
San Francisco (66-61, .520) – 0.5 WCGB
Miami (65-63, .508) – 2.0 WCGB
Current Team Leaders (Pre-8/24 @ ARI):
BA: Friedl (.280)
HR: Steer (18)
RBI: Steer (70)
OBP: Steer (.357)
SLG: Steer (.464)
OPS: Steer (.821)
ERA: Ashcraft (4.84)
SO: Greene (104)
WHIP: Ashcraft (1.38)
Upcoming Week:
8/24-27 @ ARI
8/24 PP: Brandon Williamson (4-3, 4.47 ERA) vs Merrill Kelly (10-5, 3.13 ERA)
8/25 PP: Brett Kennedy (1-0, 2.00 ERA) vs Brandon Pfaadt (0-6, 6.13 ERA)
8/26 PP: Hunter Greene (2-5, 4.72 ERA) vs Zach Davies (1-5, 7.38 ERA)
8/27 PP: Graham Ashcraft (7-8, 4.84 ERA) vs Slade Cecconi (0-0, 2.93 ERA)
8/28-30 @ SF
This week is a make or break week for the Reds. Win these upcoming series, heck sweep the teams you face, your playoff chances are high. Lose (or god forbid, get swept) and your playoff chances are slim to none.
First, a four game set vs Arizona. ROTY frontrunners Matt McLain and Corbin Carroll face off in the desert. The Reds currently have a half game up on the D-Backs in the wild card race, so a series split would keep the distance between the two teams the same.
Then, a trip to the Bay Area to face San Francisco in a three game series. Truly, a must win series with the Reds only a half game up on the Giants at the time of writing this.
If the Reds win their series against these two teams, we’ll be talking about a good chance to make the playoffs. Lose them, and the talks of the front office not trading for this or that will be all over X. Guaranteed.
The Reds need to be in a wild card spot, heck even a game out on the division, when the Cubs come to town. Have some momentum, get hot.