Second Half Preview: What to Expect from the Reds

Jul 16, 2013; Flushing, NY, USA; National League pitcher Aroldis Chapman (54) of the Cincinnati Reds throws a pitch in the 7th inning in the 2013 All Star Game at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

With the conclusion of Tuesday night’s MLB All Star Game, only a few things are certain for the Cincinnati Reds. The first being, there is no chance that Great American Ball Park will host game 1 of the World Series this year. The second, the Reds can still win this thing.

Will it be easy? No way it will be easy, but still very much possible.

The Reds will go into this weekends matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates four games behind them for second place and five games behind the division leading St. Louis Cardinals… A tough task indeed, but if you recall, the 2012 American League Champion Detroit Tigers were just two games over .500 and were in third place in their division.. Things turned out okay for them.

Different time, different story yes, but a gasp of hope. Here’s what the Reds are going up against the last 67 games of the 2013 Regular Season.

For starters, the Reds have 32 games against teams with .500 records & 35 with teams under .500. Fairly even, yeah, but stay optimistic as we dive into the numbers.

Lets start with the two teams hovering above the Reds in the standings.. In the post All Star Break portion of the season, the Reds will play a total of 19 games against the Cardinals & Pirates.

Against the Cardinals this year, the Reds are 3-6, not good basically. All three series have been three game sets with the Reds taking just one game from the three played series… Yikes. The Reds will play 10 against the Cards with seven being at GABP & the other three being in St. Louis.

the Pirates on the other hand own a 6-4 record against the Reds. The Buccos swept the first series, then the Reds took two of three the next set, which was followed four game split the next time out. Cincinnati will host Pittsburgh for six games, and play three in Pittsburgh.

As far as the rest of the division, that being the Chicago Cubs & Milwaukee Brewers, the Reds will play 16 games against those two teams. The Reds hold a 10-3 record against the Cubs and both franchises will host a three game set. Milwaukee on the other hand gets 10 games against the Reds.

The Reds hold a six win and three loss record against the Brew Crew, and will play seven games in Milwaukee and three in Cincinnati.

That breaks down the remaining NL Central matchups, let’s get to the NL West.

Yes Reds fans, the ball club is heading out west again right after the set at home vs. Pittsburgh. This year the Reds are 5-4 vs, the west but three of the wins were in a home sweep of the San Fransisco Giants.

The Reds play four games in San Fransisco followed by four games against the resurgent LA Dodgers, and three games against the San Diego Padres. The Padres then will come to Cincinnati for three games and the Reds will host four against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Easy enough, right?

The NL East is a much easier picture to describe for the remainder of the season. Having finished all their scheduled games against the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Miami Marlins, the Reds will play three more against the New York Mets. The last series played between the two saw the Reds sweep the Metropolitans in May.

Last but not least, with the new Scheduling, the Reds have some inter league games to play… inter league  has not been the best of friends with the Reds

This Year

ever.

After taking two out of three from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to start the season, the Reds lost a two game sweep against the Oakland Athletics, split four games with in-state rivals the Cleveland Indians, and lost two out of three to the Seattle Mariners.

Fortunately, three of their remaining Inter league games are in Houston facing the uh… rebuilding Houston Astros. The others, two games at home against the AL West leading Oakland Athletics.

To go month to month the Reds opponent records altogether look like this.

July: 188-189
August:331-331
September:314-338

Still plenty of Baseball to go, let’s get this going, boys.

Go Reds!