Poll and discussion: Home Field Advantage or Rest the Starters?

[Vottomatic]

Heard Lance talking about this on the radio, so I thought it would make interesting conversation.

Would you rather have the best record in the NL and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, or would you rather rest our starting position players and align our starting rotation for the postseason?

We're pretty banged up and seem tired, so I'd rather rest up and get healthy.

[RedsLvr]

I don't see why you would try and go for homefield advantage at the risk of injuries and tiring your players. It's likely we'll be at home for the first series anyway and the series if we get there. I don't see why we would do anything besides giving our key starters a rest after clinching.

[R_Webb18]

I think for a team like the Reds home feild is huge. Since we don't really have an ace and our park is a hitters park. So we will prob have to score a few runs. Now im not saying don't rest at all just not forever. I could see a game or 2 but thats rly it. Lets say we rest and end up playing the Phillies I would hate that. Or play it out and play the padres at home. Which would be good imo. Also I could be wrong but don't you get a day off every 2 games?

[gedred69]

This team is one of the best on the road. As long as it doesn't involve having to play that Colorado team in the 1st round, I'm good.

[krm1580]

I think you keep the pedal to the metal. If you are worried about the rotation slide things around so your #4 & #5 starters are pitching games 161 &162, but don't pull up to rest people. Its seems like teams that shut it down early have a tough time cranking it back up for the short series in round 1 of the playoffs.

[The Snow Chief]

I would work on aligning the rotation correctly and then keep them pitching on 4 days rest to keep them sharp and in a routine. I would limit pitches to 80-90 per game until the playoffs.

For the position players, I would get them familiar with the routine of playing two days and then having a day off. You can juggle this so you do not have an entire lineup of subs every third day. If people are wearing down or fighting injuries (like Rolen), I might rest them more than every third day.

[Jefferson24]

Remember how good this team was when BP and Rolen were producing? Remember the great starting pitching and the solid pen? The Reds scale things back a bit give some guys some rest and they will be a tough playoff team. I'm not saying shut everybody down but some extra days of rest here and there would go a long ways. The rosters have expanded for a reason, use those guys.

[redsfan_12]

I just hope we get hot going in. Sure were gonna be dogs, but I am one of those people that think once you get there, anything can happen. We know how good these guys can be.

[New York Red]

This team is one of the best on the road. As long as it doesn't involve having to play that Colorado team in the 1st round, I'm good.
My thoughts exactly. We have several guys who need rest between now and the postseason. That seems to be an issue that needs addressed. And as long as we don't have to go to Coors Field, we're very good on the road. So I vote "rest".

[gmt]

The record versus the playoffs potentials is not very good if those games are on the road. Considering that the wildcard will come from either the east or west, just having the 2nd best record may be good enough for a first round home field advantage if the best record team also has the wildcard in the same division.

I don't think it is worth resting the regulars too much, certainly not as a wholesale change in any given day. Maybe it has been more of the lack of a true pennant race that has the team in the doldrums. Playing most of the remaining schedule without the urgency to win and against teams not in the playoff hunt can have a bad effect on performance.

[Stray]

This is a good poll, and tough one to answer. We haven't been great against upper-tier teams at all this year, but even worse on the road. On the other hand we have some guys who are tired and banged up, and we need them to be right for the playoffs.

I say rest the guys who need it...we're good enough to win a lot of games with a few backups out there. Especially Rolen, he really needs a good rest to get him ready.

[TheBigLebowski]

I think you can do both....I think Dusty has been cognizant of the fact that he needs to give certain players a little more time off than others and that 162 games is taxing on anyone. It's just that he has the tendency to rest them all at once - hence the "Sunday Special" phenomenon.

It'll be interesting to see how he plays things if and when we clinch or it seems otherwise inevitable that we will. My guess is that Dusty will take his foot off the proverbial gas.

Also, it needs to be considered that sometimes well-intentioned rest can lead to unintended consequences, which is why NFL coaches that have teams with guaranteed spots in the playoffs have trouble deciding whether or not to rest their starters in weeks 16/17. I don't have the answer.

[Captain13]

I think you need to try to win EVERY game until homefield is clenched, but at the same time you need to set up the rotation. Arroyo needs to start on Friday, Oct. 1 followed by our #2 and #3 as determined by Dusty. That sets them up to pitch on "normal" rest in the playoffs.

[CrosleyField]

Give some of the guys some extra rest. But don't shut down completely. Just look at the Colts last year.

[AintlifeGrande]

The way our hitting and lack of run support has been lately,they should be resting some key players.

[Hustleman]

of course i'd love homefield advantage but we have one of the better road records in the league.

i'd like to see rolen, phillips, votto, etc get some rest