Reds Recap
by William Meiners
Baseball is a season of series. Teams play around 50 of them in what’s mostly three- and four-game matchups. Even the very best teams in the majors, winning some 60 percent of their games, likely lose more than 50 times between early spring and early fall. The worst of the lot may lose 100 games a season. Yet that’s still around 60 wins for basement dwellers.
I’m no mathematician, just an ever hopeful Cincinnati Reds fan. The realist in me, taking recent history into account, knows they will likely hover around .500 for the season. Week after week chasing that even mark, or trying to build some space between wins and losses. Ideally, you want to win as many series as possible. No one wins them all, but following a middle-of-the-pack team could feel like a daily coin flip hoping your team of young men will hit and catch balls better than another one. Not even sure why it means so much to me.
In spite of that futility, I’m throwing my two cents in by documenting the Reds in the summer of 2026. I would be listening to them anyway. Might as well spill about 600 words on the matchup outcomes every few days. I didn’t think of it until late April, so I’ll track the Redlegs from May through late August. Then, like a team running on fumes, I’ll probably get sick of my own schtick and return to school.
More essayist than analyst, I realize the self indulgent summer I’m commiting to. Maybe I should be committed. Maybe it’s navel gazing on steroids (my least favorite baseball era). I created my head-exploding image with A.I., and my friend Jason Wendel will be showcasing his A.I. handiwork with each series. I’m troubled by all of that, believe me. But as a writer, I’m locked in, ready to bleed red. Don’t expect to get blown away and I’ll try not to blow my stack on losing streaks. But oh, what a wicked May it’s been to date. Let’s play ball. Click on the links above the images for my Reds Recaps.
“Mayday, Mayday!”: Reds Swept by Pirates
