Woeful Reds hope to jumpstart 2022 campaign with a return to Great American Ball Park

The Cincinnati Reds (2-11) return home after a disastrous road trip saw the team lose six consecutive games on the West Coast. The Reds are hopeful to jumpstart their 2022 campaign with an extended homestand.

The Reds, specifically the bats, have been horrendous. Cincinnati hitters have been about as cold Joey Votto's hometown of Toronto in the month of January. The Reds rank dead-last in the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and runs scored.

Furthermore, injuries have absolutely decimated this team during the early-going. Earlier this week, Cincinnati lost Mike Moustakas, Jonathan India, and Tyler Stephenson to the Injured List. They join Luis Castillo, Mike Minor, Jose Barrero, and Donovan Solano.

The Reds won last year's season series vs. the Cardinals.

One good piece of news is that the Cincinnati Reds will have the services of Lucas Sims back on Friday. The right-hander is expected to rejoin the club after missing the first two weeks of the season. Sims' addition should bolster a Reds bullpen that ranks 14th in ERA and has surrendered a league-leading seven home runs this season.

Strangely, according to Baseball Reference, the Cincinnati Reds still maintain a 7.7% chance to make a run at the postseason this year. Maybe Hunter Greene said it best, there's a lot of games yet to be played this season.

Still, if the Reds can't put runs on the board and the Cincinnati bullpen can't keep other teams from scoring, it's going to be a very long season along the banks of the Ohio River. However, let's not forget that after a red-hot start (6-1) to the 2021 campaign, the Reds went 3-11 over the next 14 games and lost seven straight games.

If the Reds are looking to get back on track, they'll have to start against the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals (7-4). Cincinnati won the season series with St. Louis last season including a 5-4 edge over the Cards at home last season. Let's breakdown the upcoming series.