Cueto's Return Could Key a Cincinnati Postseason Run

The National League Central has been the best division in the National League for the entire season. Milwaukee and Chicago had futile years, yet the other three teams have been powerhouses for the entire year.  Cincinnati Reds have been hanging around like that one Counting Crows song talks about. The Reds have not led the NL Central division since April 22 and they have only spent 10 days on top of the table yet unless all hell breaks loose, they will still be in the playoffs this season. 

Cincinnati bolstered their starting rotation by getting Johnny Cueto back from injury and pitched wonderfully in his first game back with the team in more than two and a half months. The Reds have held their heads above water without Cueto in the last 75 days give or take and now they get Cueto back for the postseason run. Could he become the difference for this team? 

Cueto battled through a variety of injuries throughout the first part of the season, but he did well in his 10 appearances this year.  He has an ERA of 3.02 with a WHIP of 1.08 and 46 strikeouts this season. If we equated that out to 30 starts, Cueto would have 136 strikeouts for the year. While it was an injury-riddled season, Cueto had another productive year for the Reds in a small sample size. He pitched well last night in a win against Houston going five innings, five hits, no runs and five strikeouts with one walk. Houston and his next start against New York are not great indicators of how Cueto will be against high level competition yet it is a great way to ease him back into the rotation. 

It is not like Cincinnati needed Cueto though. In September, the Reds have the third-best starting rotation ERA in the National League.  They really do have a good rotation, and not much is made of it.  Mike Leake is having a solid year. Homer Bailey is having a career year for the Reds. Bronson Arroyo, while he annoys me, is having a pretty decent year for what they ask of him. Tony Cingrani is having some back issues, but he also did a good job filling in for Cueto. The Reds have a formidable rotation and because of their lack of flash, it is sort of going ignored from the mainstream media. 

St. Louis Cardinals are always going to get attention because they are one of the most public teams in Major League Baseball.  People will always give the Cardinals the most attention possible and that's a given. Pittsburgh Pirates are the golden darlings of the National League. Everyone who does not have a horse in the fight will be cheering for the Pirates. Then there are the Reds who just keep winning and they have not done with their ace yet he is coming back for the final couple weeks of the season and the postseason. Oh and the way it sets up, Cueto will pitch the first game of the postseason whether it be the one-game playoff or the postseason.

This is the one unknown about Cueto. He does not really have any postseason experience. He pitched once in 2010, but in no way should we look at that as the indicator for how he will be in the postseason. Last season, he strained a back muscle in the first 10 pitches of his first outing against San Francisco.  Cueto could easily implode in the playoffs and all I have said could have go for naught yet having him back is a major upgrade for the Reds. 

While people look towards St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles even who might be the biggest darling of the postseason, Cincinnati is still there. The Reds might be lurking the postseason woods and coming up big when least expected.

Charlie.  

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Case Against and For Expanded MLB Playoffs

Mike Carp did some damage to the
struggling Tampa Bay Rays. 

Last year, Major League Baseball changed their rules to a five-team playoffs allowing an extra team in for a one-game playoff. It created a great deal of discussion about what might be next for baseball. In my opinion, I could see baseball shortening the season by a week and then having the fourth and fifth team play a three-game series versus one single game. They say this would cause some damage, but a one-game playoff does nothing for me personally.  I doubt they will expand to six teams or heaven forbid eight teams.

The one people should probably expect is baseball is as Taylor Swift might say never ever getting back together with the four-team playoff model. Although if the playoffs were pre-2012, the National League would be must-see every night. But the American League shows why five teams is the better decision in the long run.  

The National League would be awesome in the next couple weeks if they were only four teams allowed in because right now, it is a five-team race with five playoff sports. I highly doubt the Washington Nationals can catch the fifth spot, but then again, weird shit happens in baseball all the time.  There would be storylines about what if the Pittsburgh Pirates do not get in after having their best season since 1992 or could the other two NL Central teams outlast the St. Louis Cardinals having the Cards miss the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

Would it be unfair to one of these teams?   Yes but only if it is St. Louis or Pittsburgh missing out.  Cincinnati has sort just been there the whole year. They are like the person who ends up at the party yet you have absolutely no idea how they got there. We all know that guy or girl. Unless one of these teams pull a Boston or a New York Mets in following couple weeks,  the National League playoffs are all but set just need to place the teams. These two weeks will still be fine in the NL because there is some intrigue to see where these squads finish, but it would have been awesome to see what happened when the pressure would have been truly on.

The American League is a completely other story.  While the AL East and AL Central are probably locked up by Boston and Detroit, the rest of the league is still as open as a field in Idaho.  Texas is the Wild Card, but they are only three games back from Oakland for the AL West. The second Wild Card is truly unpredictable and makes its case for why baseball needs the fifth Wild Card position.  As of this morning, four teams are within three games of the second Wild Card position. The Tampa Rays are clutching on the lead, but they have lost seven of their last 10 games trending water right now at the worst time. New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals are vying for the final position making for an absolutely thrilling final couple of weeks.

The other great thing about the American League race right now is it is not a guarantee Texas will make the playoffs either as the first Wild Card. They are only 2.5 games ahead of Tampa meaning most of the teams mentioned above have a chance at overtaking both Wild Cards with a hot run in the final two weeks of the season. It is likely inevitable some team whether in the playoffs or not will shit the bed and will be the talk of the baseball world.

If you are a purist, and wish baseball still had a four-team playoff, maybe pretend the National League still allows four teams. But if you want to have some fun, watch American League baseball in the coming weeks because it is setting up for some fantastic theater.

Charlie.

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Highlights & Lowlights: Pirates v. Brewers 9/2-9/4

While the Brewers are struggling this year, there are still good and bad things about each series, this is why we created Highlights & Lowlights to praise and criticize at the same damn time.

Yes, highlights and lowlights when we have been inundating you with NFL predictions. I realize there are not much to those picks, but it is still fun for the staff to do.  The Milwaukee Brewers did play some baseball this week and they will this weekend. I started the whole 'Let's hope they play well, but still lose games' and they have done just that thus far.

Highlights
Khris Davis - He did not really have a big series, but my goodness, the kid hits a home run off Francisco Lirano, a pitcher whose been dominating the world in the last couple of weeks.  It might be his power numbers but I am growing pretty fond of Davis. I really do believe he has a spot on this team going forward in 2014.

Tyler Thornburg - Another one of the SnoTap favorites is Mr. Thornburg. He started his first game in awhile and pitched pretty well until the 7th inning when he was pulled from the game after putting two men on-base who later scored on a Neil Walker home run. Every time he pitches, I start believing Thornburg should be in the conversation to at least compete for a starting position on the team next season and if he does not make it, Thorny will be an awesome bullpen pitcher like we all thought in the first place. This is a win-win situation for the Crew.

Jonathan Lucroy - Luc keeps doing what he has been doing all season and driving in runs with the fanbase behind him. Speaking of the fans, FOX Sports Wisconsin Mark Concannon tried to bait Lucroy into a question about him being the face of the franchise. Lucroy really is the anti-Ryan Braun honestly in terms from the way he carries himself and the way he plays the game. Trust me, there will be some more Lucroy jerseys next year, but he is not way the face of this franchise.  

Nori Aoki - There is not much to say for Nori except for the fact him getting a hit off of Lirano which is a feat itself as a left-hander. Grantland's Jonah Keri pointed out today Lirano has the lowest OPS against lefties of all-time. Aoki is also hitting .340 against left-handers so Francisco ran into a brick wall.

Yovani Gallardo - We have not been doing this for awhile so I have failed to mentioned how right Yo has looked in the last couple of weeks. Gallardo might have been hurt for awhile before he went on the Disabled List hence the reason why he struggled throughout the month of July. Hopefully, this is sign of things to come although we have said this before.

Lowlights 
Throwing at Justin Morneau - So this was pretty stupid. Wily Peralta had a classic overreaction on the mound thinking Andrew McCutchen looked at his homer even though it shows him looking for the balls in the lights. Just a stupid move by Wily.  

Jim Henderson - He definitely has not been rock solid in his last two appearances. Henderson gave up two runs against Los Angeles on Saturday night and then another one on Tuesday. The secret is going to get out that he struggles with lefties.

Don't kill Carlos' Vibe - Jon Heyman of CBS Sports used Carlos Gomez's high WAR to make an argument against why WAR is imprecise. Look do I think Gomez will get some MVP votes, yes I do, but I think we can all realize Gomez will not get the same looks as others because WAR is just one part of the equation when trying to figure out who should be an MVP.  

Michael Gonzalez - He actually pitched well this series, I'm just going to keep putting him here until he is off the roster.

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