Emilio Pagán Still Believes in the Reds, and His Comments Might Surprise You

The Reds have won four of their last five games.

Jul 31, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Emilio Pagan (15) reacts after the victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Don't let the Cincinnati Reds get hot. They've won four of their last five games and nine of their last 13. They are just five games out of the National League Wild Card race.

Emilio Pagan has been a big reason why. He's been absolute nails as their closer since coming back from the injured list after struggling to start the year.

Since returning from the injured list in July, Pagan has an ERA of 1.74 and is striking out nearly 14 batters per nine innings. He's given up just two runs in 10 1/3 innings and has six of his 12 saves during that timeframe.

After Tuesday's win over the Athletics, Pagan made a bold statement regarding the rest of the season.

"We are here to win games," Pagan told Jim Day. "We are behind the 8-ball and that is on us. We've got a lot of baseball left. We have winnable games coming up. With our starting rotation, HG, Chase, Lodolo coming back, Singer, Abbott, we've got a rotation that can pitch us into the playoffs. That is something we talked about today in our meeting.

"If those guys keep putting up zeros and give our offense a chance, we are going to be in a good spot. We like giving the ball to those guys each five days and we like where we are at."

With Tuesday's win, the Reds moved to 54-58 on the season. According to FanGraphs, they still have just a 2.2% chance to make the postseason.

Pagan has been a great clubhouse presence, and it's obvious how much he's enjoyed his three seasons in Cincinnati. He always seems to be the one rallying the team and believing this group can make a run, and that's something Reds fans can appreciate. But the Reds face a brutal September schedule, and they'll likely need to play nearly flawless baseball down the stretch if they're going to have any realistic shot at reaching the postseason.

You can watch Pagan's postgame comments below:

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