[Johnny Footstool]

That said, a quick review of the 1990 Reds tells us that a pennant can be won in the early goings. A 13-3 April set the tone for the team that season and helped them outlast a 30-30 record in August and September.

I'm a fan of putting the best team you can on the field in April, then watching carefully to determine where problems are so you can avoid a second-half collapse. The Reds seem to have early success down pat, but apparently fail to correctly identify the smoke-and-mirrors parts of the act, and that failure ends up biting them in July and August.