At this point, would ya take....

[bigfunguy]

being the second wild card or prefer to play out the season and see what happens??

[medford]

play out the season and see what happens; how much fun would the next 3 months be if you already knew the destination?

[alwaysawarrior]

Play it out and see what happens. The reds are only 3.5 games out of first place in the division. That's not totally out of it with 2 weeks to go let alone half the season.

[cumberlandreds]

Still 81+ games to go. Lets see what happens.

[NCCardfan]

When there is over half a season left, it's too early for that IMO. CIN, PIT & STL have the 3 best records in baseball so it's easy enough to say 1 will win the division and the other 2 are the wild cards but no fan of any of the 9-10 NL teams the really have a legitimate chance of a playoff berth should 'settle' for the 2nd WC - yet.

Good question for the middle of August but not the end of June. The Reds & Cards are playing +/- .500 ball for June, the Bucs are on a real impressive hot streak, going 14-9 so far this month.

[oneupper]

Deal or No Deal? OK, I'll play.

At this point, BP is giving the REDS a 66% WC chance and an 18% Div winner prob.
I think that's pretty accurate (wish it were low, but...).

So with those odds, you probably still want to play it out. Assuming a 50-50 chance of winning the play-in as a WC, you're looking at a 51% chance (18+66/2) of making the NLDS.
If you are assured a WC, under those same assumptions you have a 50% chance of making the NLDS. The advantage being that the uncertainty of making or not the playoffs has been eliminated.

So, at this point, I'd play it out, but slip a bit further or if some other team roars into WC contention, it would make sense to "take" this ultra-hypothetical deal.

[RedsManRick]

1st wildcard and 2nd wildcard aren't all that different. If it meant we were a lock of the playoffs, I'd take it.

[REDREAD]

Deal or No Deal? OK, I'll play.

At this point, BP is giving the REDS a 66% WC chance and an 18% Div winner prob.
I think that's pretty accurate (wish it were low, but...).

So with those odds, you probably still want to play it out. Assuming a 50-50 chance of winning the play-in as a WC, you're looking at a 51% chance (18+66/2) of making the NLDS.
If you are assured a WC, under those same assumptions you have a 50% chance of making the NLDS. The advantage being that the uncertainty of making or not the playoffs has been eliminated.

So, at this point, I'd play it out, but slip a bit further or if some other team roars into WC contention, it would make sense to "take" this ultra-hypothetical deal.

I do agree with your point though.. It seems unlikely the Reds will collapse and lose a spot in the playoffs (barring catastrophic injuries)

Honestly, this has been a fun season for me, even with Ludwick being out, the bullpen going through a cold spell, etc. I still feel that we have a chance to win every game. I would hate to miss out on 1/2 season of baseball watching just to be guaranteed the WC.

[RadfordVA]

Would play it out.

I feel they have as good a chance as any as winning the division. I don't see the Cards or Pirates finishing the year at their current win pct. To me it is all about the division, means so much more to me than Wild Card. Most people only care about the World Series so just making it and having a chance makes sense to them, but I prefer winning the 162 game race.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Why is the choice this? 4 games out of FIRST and over half a season left to go. At this point, I fully expect us to retake first place and put considerable distance between us and the rest of the division.

[Trajinous]

Why is the choice this? 4 games out of FIRST and over half a season left to go. At this point, I fully expect us to retake first place and put considerable distance between us and the rest of the division.

I'm with you!

The Yankees, Baltimore, San Francisco are all 3.5 games back. Do you think their division championship chances are dead? It's not even the All-Star break.

[muethibp]

Play it out, for sure. There's a lot of upside in winning the central. Don't have to play the wild card game and we'd likely have home field through the NL playoffs (likely that NL Central winner has best record in NL).

[joshua]

I'd let it play out...

If I were a Pirates fan, I'd take the 2nd wildcard without hesitation.

[westofyou]

At this point I see 90 plus games in the season, prefer to see them played out

[Gainesville Red]

Play it out.

If you end it today, what am I supposed to do with my evenings for the next 3 months?