Queen City Bolsheviks Seize Machinery of the [NL Central]
By DJW and I stood witness to the Reds capture of the NL Central last night. As I wrote in March:
The Reds should be viewed as prohibitive favorites in the NL Central…
Ryan Ludwick is an impressive acquisition; there is every reason to expect 25+ home run power…
Once Baker settles Aroldis Chapman into the closer role, the bullpen should be the best in the National League…
With what I expect to be a rejuvenated Bronson Arroyo solidifying the back half of the rotation, the Reds have no worries in the rotation…
It’s not enough to say that Joey Votto is great and be done with it; this team is good enough to win the division *without* Votto…
And if only I’d hit the “Publish” button, they’d be calling me a genius.
To be sure, I did think that the Reds would win the NL Central, and I’m not surprised that they won it going away. I had much more confidence in the rotation than did Scott (although Arroyo’s season has been remarkable), and higher expectations for Cueto than seemed common at the time. I absolutely could not have imagined that they’d miss Votto for 48 games and go 31-17. We’ll see how things work out moving forward; with Cueto and Latos they have a pair of outstanding playoff starters, plus an excellent bullpen. Perhaps most importantly, there is no longer a temptation to start Edison Volquez in the first game of the division series…