Well folks, we made it. Winter is over, and we’ve reached what is, for me, the holiest day on the calendar—opening day for Major League Baseball.
Yeah, I know there was a game last night. But this is the real thing, the day most teams kick off their seasons. Besides, real ones know that baseball doesn’t really start until it gets underway in Cincinnati, which happens at 4:10 p.m. ET.
I see a pretty good season on the horizon for the ol’ Redlegs, although I might be in the minority. A projection I saw this morning had them finishing fourth in the National League’s Central Division, behind the Cubs, Pirates (!?), and Brewers. Let’s start with this: I don’t get the Pirate love at all. Sure, Paul Skenes is phenomenal, but I don’t see enough around him for Pittsburgh to make this kind of jump. But hey, that’s just one casual fan’s opinion.
With my rose-colored glasses on, the Reds lineup should be a lot more potent than last year (when they made the playoffs. Plugging Geno Suarez back into the middle of the lineup makes it so much better, as does the seeming return to form of Matt McLain. Elly De La Cruz is at least going to be “good,” and if he’s healthy there’s reason to believe he’ll bump that up to “great” (with “stellar” not out of the equation). Sal Stewart should be in the running for Rookie of the Year; Spencer Steer is always solid, and so is T.J. Friedl. There will be ups and downs for players like Will Benson, Noelvi Marte, and Tyler Stephenson, but you can always count on them for the occasional monster shot (and I still think Marte has a chance to break out and become a really good all-around hitter).
Obviously I hate that they’re starting the year with Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo on the injured list, with Hunter out until at least July. But I think Chase Burns is ready to leap to the top of the rotation in their absence. Rhett Lowder coming off an injury will be worth keeping an eye on, and Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer are perfect middle-rotation guys. There have been plenty of years when the Reds would have killed to have a starting staff this strong, and that’s even with two of the top guys sidelined.
(There are too many moving pieces in the bullpen for me to have any insight. I would have loved for them to add a closer, but Emilio Pagan did a great job last year in that role.)
Anyway, looking forward to watching them get started today. I’ll be on the couch well ahead of time with the pregame going and probably a hot dog in each hand.
To watch the Reds this year, I subscribed to Reds.TV in addition to MLB.TV for the full league.* I’m looking forward to streamlining the baseball-watching experience. Previously I had to get some kind of cable or streaming package to watch them, or last year I subscribed to FanDuel Sports through Amazon. With them being folded into MLB’s streaming package this year for the first time locally, I’m hoping that means I can watch them in multiview when there are other games going, or play around with the audio options (I love John Sadak and Chris Welsh on the TV side, but sometimes it might be nice to get the radio call from Tommy Thrall and Jeff Brantley too).
*Not quite the full league. Although I was able to finally subscribe to the Reds package locally, being in Central Ohio means I’m still blacked out from watching Cleveland or Pittsburgh. I could subscribe to the Guardians package—for an additional $100—but I think literally my only option to watch the Pirates would be to subscribe to Fubo. I’m not doing either of those. I think it’s very stupid that despite paying $200 for Reds.TV and MLB.TV combined, there are still a handful of games I can’t get. Not to mention those that will be shown instead on one of the national carriers, which are of course preempted from the package.
And of course, if you’re a fan of the sport, enjoy it while you can. Will there be baseball in 2027?
::shakes Magic 8 Ball::
Outlook not so good.
There is almost certainly going to be a work stoppage after this season as the players and owners try and fail to come to an agreement on the division of money. Personally, I’m of two minds. On one hand, I’m pro-labor, so yes, by all means, go and get your bread. On the other hand, teams like the Dodgers, Mets,** Yankees, and a very small handful of others being able to shell out for as many of the game’s superstars as they want while the majority of teams have no shot at them once they reach free agency, it’s just not great for the game overall. And yes, you can certainly argue about whether the owners of small-market teams can’t or won’t pay up, it amounts to the same thing. It behooves everyone to create a more level playing field.
**Full disclosure: the Mets are my second-favorite team. What can I say? They were great in the ‘80s (Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, etc.) when I started getting into baseball. And Shea Stadium was the first place I saw a game that wasn’t Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
Of course, a level playing field isn’t going to be everyone’s objective. I’m not sure it’s going to be anyone’s objective. So we’re probably looking at a protracted lockout lasting well into what would otherwise be the 2027 season. Will it happen at all? I don’t know, man. I’d love to say yep, sure it will, count on it, but anyone who’s optimistic about this sort of thing at this point probably isn’t paying that much attention.
So I’m going to grab a drink and enjoy watching the Reds on Opening Day 2026. Let’s enjoy the ride and see where it takes us, shall we?
POSTGAME UPDATE: Welp. Losing 3-0 coming off a season in which the major issue what that they didn’t score enough runs is…not great. But Sal Stewart looked great (and dodged a major injury bullet when a screaming liner smashed into his wrist area), and it was great to see Geno back in red.
The Commaphile 