The Cincinnati Reds are off to their worst start in franchise history.
After having been swept over the weekend by the Colorado Rockies in a three-game set at Coors Field, the Reds have a record of 3-19, the worst in all of baseball.
Even though they said goodbye to a number of key contributors from their 2021 team that won 83 games, this is considerably bad for the Reds.
Injuries have taken their toll on this team.
They’ve lost six games in a row on top of that.
However, there is one MLB analyst that thinks things might get better for the Reds down the road and is betting against a 100-plus loss season.
Only 3 of the previous 8 teams since 1901 that started the season losing 18+ of their first 21 (and only 2 of the 5 since the season expanded to 162 games) went on to lose at least 100 games in the season.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) May 1, 2022
Cut Your Losses
This is a bold prediction and it’s incredibly brave of this analyst for going on the record and saying it.
A 100-plus loss season seems inevitable for the Reds.
While it’s true that only two of the five teams who have started out by losing 18 of 21 since the regular season was expanded to 162 games lost 100, it doesn’t exactly bode well for the Reds.
This team lost Nick Castellanos in free agency and traded away stars such as Wade Miley, Tucker Barnhart, Sonny Gray, Eugenio Suarez, and Jesse Winker.
The Reds are shell of what they were in 2021.
This team would have reached the postseason last year had the playoff format been what it is now, 12 teams and six per league as opposed to 10 teams and five per league.
All that considered, it didn’t seem to make sense for them to trade away so many players.
But having done that and been through a slew of injuries, it’s hard to bet against them losing 100-plus games.
NEXT: MLB Analyst Shuts Down A Reds Turnaround