Dear Reds: An open letter to the team

[HDBoy]

Dear Reds:

You can't win a pennant by defeating the cellar dwellers and losing to the top-tier teams.

You can't win a pennant by spectacularly defeating the top-tier teams and then barely competing while losing to the cellar dwellers.

You can't win a pennant by coasting and backing into the wild card spot -- your opponents won't fear you.

To win a pennant, you now have to defeat all comers. So please, start another final run, win the rest of your games, and pray the Cardinals stumble. Enough with the lethargy.

Get it together.

Sincerely,

A loyal fan since 1960.

[bob jones]

1961 was a good year

[PTjvs]

Cincinnati is 15-18 vs the 3 division leaders. That is hardly a disaster.

I honestly think people will complain no matter what the Reds do.

jvs

[PTjvs]

Just in case you are curious, St Louis has a losing record against Atlanta, Los Angeles & Pittsburgh. And yes, you certainly CAN win a World Series even if you back into a wild card.

jvs

[GotHeeeeem]

I'm sure you just told them a whole lot of stuff they didn't already know.........

[SporkLover]

Just in case you are curious, St Louis has a losing record against Atlanta, Los Angeles & Pittsburgh. And yes, you certainly CAN win a World Series even if you back into a wild card.

jvs

Yeah but I don't feel so strong about those losing records. Against ATL, they are just one game down and one run down. Against LAD they are one game down and three runs down. Against PIT they are one game down one run ahead.

My point.... I bet in a post season head to head the overall series odds will be even.

[markymark69]

Just in case you are curious, St Louis has a losing record against Atlanta, Los Angeles & Pittsburgh. And yes, you certainly CAN win a World Series even if you back into a wild card.

jvs

Hey don't confuse people with the facts, PTjvs.

[bcmachine]

Just in case you are curious, St Louis has a losing record against Atlanta, Los Angeles & Pittsburgh. And yes, you certainly CAN win a World Series even if you back into a wild card.

jvs

That's why while I prefer winning the division outright (of course), if we can host the wild card game, win that and then play Atlanta, with St Louis playing the Dodgers, I think the Dodgers will beat them but if we can get past Atlanta we've played well against the Dodgers this season, so I'd fancy our chances. And we might do better without the pressure of having been division winners this time. It might lower expectations enough so that they can just go out and play baseball, rather than be "expected" to win.