Cincinnati Reds: What a wild and unpredictable first half

The Cincinnati Reds’ first half can be summed up in one word: weird.

All 30 MLB teams were set to play the first game of the season on the same day until the Cincinnati Reds had to postpone their game on Opening Day. This was unusual for a city that is known for extravagant Opening Day ceremonies. Unknown at the time, this set the tone for the rest of the completely unpredictable first half.

A three-game sweep to start the season was not surprising. When completely healthy, the Washington Nationals have three Cy Young caliber starters in Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Gio Gonzalez. What was surprising was losing 18 of the first 21 games. This team wasn’t supposed to be good, but a 139 loss season?

One of the biggest stories of the season was firing manager Bryan Price and pitching coach Mack Jenkins. It showed a sign of progress towards the future. The front office was ready to make changes in order to make the team better, and they were dedicated to the future.

After one month, the Reds finally won a series.

The Minnesota Twins aren’t a bad team; they just happened to be the first team the Reds managed to defeat more than once. This was aided by Eugenio Suárez’s fractured hand completely healing in less than three weeks, rather than six like it takes for many other players.

And a blockbuster trade for Matt Harvey.

Was Devin Mesoraco a curse or is Matt Harvey a blessing? After trading for Harvey on May 8th, the Reds won six games in a row. This trade seemed to make little sense at the time but turned out to be fantastic. Harvey had a 7.00 ERA in 8 games (4 starts) for the Mets. He has a 3.64 ERA with the Reds, lowering his 2018 ERA to 4.63.

At the time of the trade, the Reds were 8-27. After that date, the Reds have a record of 35-26 (.573). If the season started on May 8, the Reds would have the first NL wildcard.

Probably the most impressive stretch so far of the season was the last week and a half of June. This included three straight series against first-place teams, one being a four-game sweep of the Cubs. The Reds took a series against the Braves and split the following series against Milwaukee. After that, the team won two series on the road and a series against the Cubs with two one-run losses.

The players are performing better than anyone could have imagined.

By far the biggest breakout this season is Scooter Gennett. Gennett was claimed off waivers just before the start of the 2017 season and rode the bench for the first half. In 2018, he has a .326 batting average and 3.2 WAR. Scooter started the season with a 1.000 average through 5 ABs. It has obviously declined since then, but it seems nearly impossible to get him out.

Gennett won player of the week twice in May and won player of the month that month as well. His .398 average and 8 home runs in 28 games helped him get there. He currently leads the National League in batting average.

Despite missing three weeks with a fractured hand, Eugenio Suárez is second in the league in RBI and has spent most of the first half leading the league in RBI. Suárez leads the team with 3.6 WAR and is third in the national league with a .973 OPS.

At one point in the season, the Boston Red Sox had more grand slams than the Reds had home runs. Now, the Reds lead baseball with nine grand slams. Oh, and two of them were hit by pitchers.

The Cincinnati Reds are notorious for having a terrible bullpen.

This year, however, the Cincinnati bullpen is one of the best in baseball. The Reds won bullpen of the week in May after putting up a 0.95 ERA and 35 Ks in 28.1 innings.

Jared Hughes has been one of the most important parts of this bullpen. A cheap free agent pickup, Hughes has a career-low 1.44 ERA, allowing just 8 runs in 50 innings.

Next: 2018 Midseason Awards for the Reds

This season has been anything but typical. The Reds start their “playoff push” Friday at home versus the Pirates. The second half might be predictable and easy, but it’s more likely to be just as wild as the first.