Terry Francona just torpedoed Reds' playoff hopes with pathetic lineup vs. Pirates

Cincinnati Reds fans have made a habit of critiquing Terry Francona's lineup decisions throughout the 2025 season, but it's difficult to be overly critical of a future Hall of Fame manager. Nevertheless, the Cincinnati faithful have every reason to be furious after viewing the embarrassing lineup that Francona chose to roll out for the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon.

The Reds are one game back in the chase for the final NL Wild Card spot and are staring down a must-win game against their division rival. But instead of inserting Tyler Stephenson into the starting lineup — one day after watching him go 4-for-5 with a double and the game-tying home run in the ninth inning — Francona decided to bench him in favor of Jose Trevino.

Stephenson has been one of the few Reds over the past month who's been able to produce any semblance of power at the dish. Since returning from the IL earlier this month, the Reds' backstop has seven extra-base hits, four of which are homers. Unless Stephenson is dealing with an undisclosed issue related to his broken thumb, this just doesn't make sense.

Terry Francona just crushed Reds' playoff hopes with pathetic lineup vs. Pirates

To make matters worse, Francona decided to leave Sal Stewart on the bench in favor of Ke'Bryan Hayes. While there's no denying that Hayes is the superior defender, his bat has been absent since the calendar flipped to September.

Hayes has always been an elite defender at the hot corner, and is likely to take home the Gold Glove at third base for the second time in his career. But after hitting .256/.333/.407 during his first month in a Reds' uniform, Hayes owns a .204/.290/.222 slash line during the month of September and hasn't had a hit since the team's road trip out west against the Athletics.

Now, this is baseball, and even without Stephenson and Stewart in the lineup, the Reds could rattle off 12 runs on 18 hits during Thursday's series finale and keep their playoff hopes alive. But it's just nonsensical to keep some of your best bats in reserve when your team struggles to score runs.

Trevino has acted as Lodolo's personal catcher this season — starting in 24 of Lodolo's 27 starts. But leaving one of your hottest bats on the bench just seems incredibly unwise given what's at stake. Reds fans are just hoping Francona knows what he's doing.

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