Late hot streak propels Reds to postseason

CINCINNATI -- The Reds making the postseason was part of the plan all along when baseball operations president Dick Williams and general manager Nick Krall invested $166 million on five free agents -- including hitters Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas and Shogo Akiyama.

After six straight losing seasons, with a stalled rebuilding effort mixed in that stretch, it was time to start winning again. Although that proved to be not so straightforward.

Cincinnati underperformed for much of the first five weeks of this season and was a season-high six games under .500 as recently as Sept. 12. But the club got hot when it needed to, storming its way to a postseason berth for the first time since 2013.

“If you look at it like in a real 162-game season, you’re like six games back, you’re like 'realistically ‘we can do this,’ you know what I mean?” Reds reliever Amir Garrett said. “Baseball is crazy. You never know what can happen, man. … You have to keep continuing to have a positive mindset like we’ve always had, and everything will work itself out. “

Now that they’re in, the Reds will pursue winning their first World Series championship since 1990.

How they were built:
Amateur Draft: Tejay Antone, Tucker Barnhart, Amir Garrett, Michael Lorenzen, Tyler Mahle, Sal Romano, Nick Senzel, Robert Stephenson, Tyler Stephenson, Joey Votto, Jesse Winker

International signings: Aristides Aquino, José Garcia, Raisel Iglesias

Free agents: Shogo Akiyama, Nick Castellanos, Nate Jones, Wade Miley, Mike Moustakas. (Pedro Strop was also signed Feb. 5, but released Aug. 31)

Trades: Trevor Bauer, Archie Bradley, Curt Casali, Luis Castillo, José De León, Anthony DeSclafani, Kyle Farmer, Brian Goodwin, Sonny Gray, Lucas Sims, Eugenio Suárez

Waivers: Freddy Galvis

Key offseason acquisition: The three hitters signed during the 2019 offseason each brought something to the table this year. Although he’s slumped heavily the past month, Castellanos hit .382 with a 1.373 OPS, five home runs and 12 RBIs over the first 10 games of the season.

Moustakas brought clubhouse leadership and veteran credentials. In part because of injuries, it’s been a down year for him overall, but his postseason experience and uniting presence has been beneficial to the club.

Akiyama started off poorly -- and was batting .196 with a .299 on-base percentage on Sept. 6 -- but turned things around over the final three weeks and led the team in batting average and on-base percentage in September. The offense began producing more once Akiyama hit his way back to the leadoff spot.

“I love that he’s playing with confidence and comfort,” Reds manager David Bell said on Sept. 15. “It’s really showing up. He’s definitely swinging the bat and getting big hits. You can just see that he is seeing the ball better. It’s difficult to hit your way on base enough to hit at the top of a Major League order.”

Managerial decision: Bell resisted making significant changes when the lineup had anemic results or the bullpen struggled, and was rewarded for it. But one key decision that departed from the usual came when Bell benched Joey Votto for three games when he was batting a season-low .191 on Aug. 25.

Votto returned from the time off and batted .367 (11-for-30) with three home runs over the next nine games, becoming a more frequent contributor going forward.

“Maybe you get put in a position where you feel like your career is threatened, or the opportunity to be a part of a winning team is threatened, the opportunity to do something you’ve done since you were a little boy is threatened, perhaps,” Votto said after his walk-off RBI single beat the Cardinals on Sept. 2. “Not playing was an awfully humbling experience, for sure.”

Defining season stretch: On Sept. 13 at Busch Stadium, the Reds trailed three times but rallied on each occasion to notch a 10-5 win over the Cardinals to take two of three games and snap a streak of nine straight losing series, beginning against Milwaukee Aug. 7-9.

Bell called it his favorite game of the year and the Reds finally started clicking. It turned out to be the first victory in a season-high six-game winning streak. That included a doubleheader sweep of Pittsburgh and an important win over the White Sox, which had the best record in the American League at the time. More importantly, the streak and subsequent strong play that followed propelled Cincinnati back into postseason contention.

Breakout player: Even if he is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati’s No. 23 prospect, rookie right-handed pitcher Tejay Antone was not originally on the preseason radar to make big contributions. Over 12 games in two big league stints, Antone became a valuable swing man with a 3.86 ERA in four starts and a 2.08 ERA over eight relief appearances while impressing with his hard stuff, his poise and tenacity during tense games on the mound.

If the Reds lose Trevor Bauer and Anthony DeSclafani as free agents after the season, they can feel good about the chance to have Antone -- or Tyler Mahle -- step into the 2021 rotation full time.

Calling card: For most of the Reds’ shortened season, the outcome to many of their games depended on the long ball. If the lineup produced home runs, Cincinnati often won -- especially with its strong rotation. But if the power was missing, there were plenty of hard-luck losses. The Reds led the Majors by scoring 61.7% of their runs in 2020 on homers.

Memorable moment: On Sept. 14, during Game 1 of a doubleheader vs. the Pirates at Great American Ball Park, the Reds earned a 3-1 walk-off win from an unlikely hero. Pinch-hitting in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 1-1 game, catching prospect Tyler Stephenson hit the second pitch he saw from reliever Sam Howard for a two-run home run to left-center field. Earlier in the season during his Major League debut on July 27 vs. the Cubs, Stephenson hit a home run in his first at-bat -- one of only three Cincinnati players to ever achieve such a feat.

“I can’t imagine everything that’s happened, really,” Stephenson said after his walk-off helped keep the Reds in the chase.