Red-emption?
The Guardians and Reds will meet for a three-game series. One more loss by the Guardians will secure the Ohio Cup for the Reds… so this is really important (if you find jokes about the Ohio Cup tiresome, this is not the right article for you).
The Guardians are 34-30 with a -19 run differential, 21st in team wRC+ at 94, 15th in Baserunning Runs Above Average at -0.1, fifth in Defense at 3, 26th in starting pitcher SIERA at 4.42, and sixth in bullpen SIERA at 3.43.
The Reds are 33-33 with a +38 run differential, 19th in team wRC+ at 96, 19th in Baserunning Runs Above Average at -0.8, 17th in Defense at -7.9, 12th in starting pitcher SIERA at 3.95, and 22nd in bullpen SIERA at 3.91.
Matchups:
Game One, Monday, 6:40PM EDT: Wade Miley, LHP, 5.61 SIERA vs. Luis Ortiz, RHP, 3.98 SIERA
Game Two, Tuesday, 6:40PM EDT: Andrew Abbot, LHP, 3.69 SIERA vs. Slade Cecconi, RHP, 4.07 SIERA
Game Three, Wednesday, 1:10PM EDT: Nick Lodolo, LHP, 3.76 SIERA vs. Logan Allen, LHP, 5.07 SIERA
The Reds are led by Austin Hays 140 wRC+, Jose Trevino 130 wRC+, TJ Friedl 123 wRC+, Gavin Lux 112 wRC+, Elly De La Cruz 111 wRC+, Will Benson 109 wRC+, and Tyler Stephenson at 106 wRC+. PLEASE, Guardians, do NOT throw Will Benson any breaking balls in the zone. Maybe just don’t throw him anything.
The Guardians are led by Jose Ramirez at 163 wRC+, Steven Kwan 132 wRC+, Carlos Santana 120 wRC+, Daniel Schneemann 114 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo 103 wRC+ and Bo Naylor 98 wRC+.
So far this season, the Reds and Guardians have been horrific against left-handed pitching; the Reds have a team wRC+ of 73 vs. southpaws, and the Guardians have a wRC+ of 72 there. Unfortunately, the Reds only face one lefty in this series and it is Logan Allen; the Guardians will face three lefties and two of them are Andrew Abbot and Nick Lodolo. To win this series (or sweep), the Guardians need David Fry, Carlos Santana and probably Angel Martinez to come through vs. LHP. Also, Guardians fans, get ready to speak 12 Will Wilson at-bats, buddy.
It’ll be important to AT least make the Reds’ starters work and get into their bullpen which isn’t very good. Also, I do not mind people like Wilson bunting to make a pitcher field a ball as he did last series. It strikes me that pitchers nowadays are very poor fielders. So, IF you can’t hit, don’t be afraid to find a way – any way – to make a pitcher work.
And, please, please, let’s avoid the WIll Benson and Tito Francona revenge tour this week. Thank you.