Cincinnati Reds Need to Turn Summer Momentum Into October Elation

It's time for the Reds to aggressively address their weaknesses to make a real run.

Cincinnati Reds pinch hitter Gavin Lux (2) receives an ice bath from Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain after hitting a walk-off line drive for a Reds win in the bottom of the 11th inning of the MLB interleague game between the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. The Reds won 5-4 in 11 innings. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds are rolling. They have won 12-of-17 and are four games above-.500 after having beat the New York Yankees for back-to-back nights. The Reds have me thinking ahead.

Picture this: fireworks boom into the night sky above the Ohio River. Reds players stream out of the dugout, onto the field, and mob the guy who just got the walk-off hit. You are high-fiving everyone of the 40,000 fans around you, most of them you haven’t said a word to the entire night. 

That happened Tuesday night.

That’s happened before on a handful of summer nights at Great American Ballpark.

That hasn’t happened there in October.

That hasn't happened for Reds fans in 30 years.

This team could change that. It is a flawed team but it is a fun team. If Nick Krall and company go out and make a few moves at the trade deadline, they could tighten up the inefficiencies on the roster and really make a run at this.

The Reds have their ace in Hunter Greene, albeit he’s on the shelf for a little longer. They have a good cast for their starting rotation. They have the ticket draw and lineup anchor in Elly De La Cruz. They have their on-base machine at the top of the lineup in TJ Friedl.

This could work.

I want what happened Tuesday night to happen in October. I want what happened on Clinchmas to happen in October. I want it to happen MULTIPLE times in October.

Make it happen, front office. You know what you have to do. Thirty years is far, far too long to not have October baseball in The Queen City