Williams: Don't just be happy the Reds made the postseason. Expect more, Cincinnati. You've waited a long time for it. The window is now.
This is it, Cincinnati. This is what the Cincinnati Reds have been telling everyone about.
Just wait. And wait. And keep waiting some more. Hunter and Elly are the future. All those pitching prospects the Reds got in trades and early rounds of the draft will get them to the playoffs someday.
That day has arrived.
Reds and Dodgers, Tuesday night under the lights in Chavez Ravine. The Southern California air will be crisp and perfect. Playoff baseball at last. Believe it.
The storied Cincinnati franchise is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013. (Sorry, it’s hard to count the pandemic-shortened season playoff appearance in 2020).
Next: Go win a playoff series for the first time since 1995. The Reds’ last postseason series victory came against the Dodgers. Maybe it’ll happen again, even amid a way different economic climate in baseball than 30 years ago.
Win? The Dodgers have a $350 million payroll and home field advantage in this best-of-three wild card series, don’t you know?
Oh, were you just happy the Reds made the postseason after barely finishing above .500, losing on Sunday in Milwaukee and having to rely on the New York Mets to collapse?
Let’s hope not. Expect better, Cincinnati. Expect victory in Los Angeles. Expect the Reds to get past the wild card series and gift you October baseball again at Great American Ball Park in the division series.
You deserve it. You're owed it. You’ve waited way too long for championship baseball to return to Cincinnati to just be happy the Reds narrowly got in. You’ve been beaten down too much by disappointment and despair from the Reds in the 21st century to just be happy they made the playoffs.
The window is now.
It’s not too much to expect the Reds to beat the Dodgers. The Reds signaled a win-now approach when they hired future hall of fame manager Terry Francona almost a year ago. Reds owner Bob Castellini set the expectation to bring championship baseball back to Cincinnati when took ownership of the club in 2006.
Tito Francona isn’t a “just happy to be here” kind of guy.
We’ve heard for years “just get in.” So many wild card teams in recent years have shown that’s all it takes. Two years ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers both made the World Series as wild card entrants.
That Diamondbacks team is a model for the Reds. Arizona won 84 games in the regular season and barely eked in, nudging out the Chicago Cubs by one game for the final wild card spot. Arizona was an up-and-down team all that season, just like the 2025 Reds.
The Diamondbacks were maddening one day, exciting the next. They looked like the worst team in baseball for a series. They looked like the National League champions they ended up being in the next series.
We can sit here and dwell on all the Reds’ flaws and come up with a bunch of reasons why they could get swept in Los Angeles.
It’s pointless.
Look at what could push the Reds past the Dodgers and maybe further into October.
They have championship-caliber pitching. It gives them a shot to make a deep run. In fact, the Reds may have some of the deepest pitching any Cincinnati postseason team has had in franchise history.
This is what the Reds front office and ownership promised when they dismantled the roster before the 2022 season and started stockpiling prospects.
This is the moment the Reds talked about on the day they drafted Hunter Greene to be their future ace with the No. 2 overall pick in 2017.
This is the moment the Reds dreamed about when they signed some uber-talented kid out of the Dominican Republic named Elly De La Cruz in 2018. They did that a few weeks after taking Matt McLain in the first-round of the draft.
And then the Reds got lefty Nick Lodolo in the first round in 2019.
Those guys are still developing big leaguers. But they’re no longer talked about as being part of some future that never seemed to come.
It is hard to comprehend that future has arrived. Especially after an 83-win regular season and all those infuriating one-run losses where the Reds couldn’t get a clutch hit and all the recent struggles against bad teams like the Athletics and Pirates.
How many Reds fans told themselves and their buddies for six frustrating and fun months: I’ll believe it when I see it.
The Reds got in. You’ve seen it. Now believe it.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds hired Terry Francona to win now in MLB postseason
Category: General Sports
