1 reason why Sunday will be Joey Votto's last home game with the Reds and 2 reasons why it won't be

Sunday will not be Joey Votto's last home game with the Reds because he wants to bring a championship to Cincinnati.

Some fans want to rag on Joey Votto because he makes $25-million per season and hasn't delivered when it mattered most. I can point to a number of players throughout league history that have seen similar results. One of them plays in southern California right now and has a contract worth $200-million more than Votto's.

To most fans, professional baseball players make a lot of money and when they don't live up to the expectations of the contract, it's fair to criticize them for not playing winning baseball.

But it's a bit difficult to lay all the blame for the lack of the Reds playoff success over the past decade at the feet of Joey Votto. Has he failed to produce in the postseason? A .563 OPS would suggest the answer is, yes. But in the 2012 NLDS, when the Reds actually had a team that could win it all, Votto was 7-for-18 (.389).

Votto wants nothing more than to bring a World Series Championship back to the city of Cincinnati. For all the old school Reds fans out there, nobody on this year's team, outside of Votto, probably has any idea who the Great Eight were? Or who the manager of the Big Red Machine was. Votto actually cares about the deep-rooted, rich history of baseball in Cincinnati.

With so much young talent on this Reds team, the 2024 season represents the first chance since 2012 that Cincinnati has a legitimate chance to make a run at the World Series. That's something that Joey Votto would love to be a part of, and if he can put his pride on the shelf and accept a lesser role, the Reds will welcome him back next season.