The Reds, who were 38-43 at Great American Ball Park this season, would also become just the fourth team to make the postseason with a losing home record, following the 1981 Kansas City Royals, the 2001 Atlanta Braves and the 2020 Marlins.
The possibility of the Reds achieving either of those feats is slim, however. The Major League Baseball regular season ends Sunday, the first day of October. Here’s where the Reds, who were off Thursday, stand in the postseason picture through Wednesday.
Last game: The Reds (81-78) lost 4-3 to the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday. Andrew Abbott gave up three earned runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings in his final start of the regular season. He was 8-6 with a 3.87 ERA in 21 starts in his rookie season.
“I didn’t have it tonight,” Abbott told reporters in Cleveland after the game, “but the team was almost enough to pick me back up. We’ve still got three games left, and we can still make some moves with some other situations going on. We’ve just got to focus and move one game at a time.”
Wild-card race: The Philadelphia Phillies (89-69) have clinched the first wild card.
Four teams are still competing for the second and third wild cards. The Arizona Diamondbacks (84-74) had a two-game lead over the Chicago Cubs (82-76) and the Miami Marlins (82-76) through Wednesday. All three of those teams played Thursday. The Reds trail the Cubs and Marlins by 1½ games.
If the season ended today: The Braves and Dodgers would earn the top two seeds and first-round byes.
In best-of-three wild card series, the Marlins would earn the No. 6 seed and play the No. 3 Brewers in Milwaukee, and the No. 5 Diamondbacks would play the No. 4 Phillies in Philadelphia.
The odds: The Diamondbacks have a 97.6% chance of winning a wild card, according to FanGraphs.com. They are followed by the Marlins (68.2%), the Cubs (30.5%) and the Reds (3.7%).
Road ahead: The Reds close the regular season on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals with a three-game series that starts Friday. The Reds are 5-5 against the Cardinals this season and 2-1 at Busch Stadium.
Connor Phillips (1-0, 5.66), Brandon Williamson (4-5, 4.54) and Hunter Greene (4-6, 4.71) will start the three games for the Reds.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Reds at Cardinals, 8:15 p.m., Bally Sports Ohio, 700, 1410
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