How long must Reds fans settle down, celebrate, and cheer for their team losing?
To be fair, the Cincinnati Reds have not had a friendly schedule to begin the 2022 baseball season. The Reds opened the season on the road against the defending the World Series Champions Atlanta Braves. Then, the Reds returned home to face Cleveland ace Shane Bieber before heading on the road to play four games against the NL's best team in the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Furthermore, the Reds have been hamstrung by injuries; no pun intended. The team began the 2022 season without Mike Minor, Luis Castillo, Donovan Solano, Jose Barrero, Max Schrock, Justin Dunn, and Tejay Antone. Recently, they've been joined by Nick Senzel, and while not on the IL as of yet, Jonathan India has missed Cincinnati's last three games.
But, with all that aside, let's not act as if the Reds had a murder's row lineup heading into Opening Day. Aristides Aquino, Colin Moran, and Brandon Drury were all part of the Reds roster on April 7th when they began their 2022 campaign.
How long must Reds fans sit back and celebrate losing?
The Reds have began the 2022 season 2-8 and haven't even enjoyed a lead since last Sunday's win in Atlanta. Cincinnati ranks dead last in on-base percentage and OPS. The Reds have struck out more than any team in the National League except the San Diego Padres while also ranking 14th in the league in walks.
On the pitching-side of things, Cincinnati is at the bottom of the league in ERA. While Hunter Greene has wowed the pundits and fanbase with his overpowering fastball, the rookie has surrendered three round trippers in his two starts. Greene has all the tools to be a superstar, but let's not forget he's appeared in just two major league games.
One of the few areas where the Reds have not performed like the absolute worst team in baseball is surprisingly the relief corps. While a 4.39 ERA is not great, it does rank ahead of four other bullpens in the NL.
I guess the question then becomes, how many losses are Reds fans supposed to endure while we settle down and cheer for our team? Reds president Phil Castellini, who made waves last week with his now infamous rhetorical question about where fans are gonna go, also suggested that the fanbase just needed to, "settle down and celebrate and cheer for the team,"
Most of the fanbase is not going to abandon their team, but the more losses that pile up, the more likely fans are going to stop tuning in. If Castellini is not going to take his responsibility as team president seriously and invest in the product on the field, does he really expect Reds Country to invest their time and money into their fandom?