Reds clinch wild card as Mets complete collapse

MILWAUKEE -- The Cincinnati Reds are backmost successful the playoffs for the archetypal clip since 2020 aft overtaking the New York Mets for the National League's 3rd and last chaotic paper connected the season's last weekend.

Cincinnati got to the postseason with plentifulness of assistance from the stumbling Mets.

The Reds blew an accidental to clinch a playoff spot connected their ain Sunday erstwhile they squandered a 2-0 pb successful a 4-2 nonaccomplishment to the Milwaukee Brewers. But they inactive got the NL's past postseason spot due to the fact that the Mets mislaid 4-0 to the Miami Marlins.

Cincinnati and New York some finished the play with 83-79 records, but the Reds owned the head-to-head tiebreaker aft going 4-2 against the Mets this season. This is the archetypal clip successful franchise past the Reds person clinched a playoff berth connected the last time of the regular season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Reds caput to Los Angeles to statesman a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the defending World Series champion Dodgers connected Tuesday night. Cincinnati went 1-5 against the Dodgers during the regular season.

The Mets volition enactment location for the postseason, a humbling decorativeness for a squad whose $322.6 cardinal payroll astatine the commencement of the play was the highest successful the majors. Although the Mets owned a large league-best 45-24 grounds done June 12, they went 38-55 aft that.

The Reds' past postseason quality came during the pandemic-shortened play of 2020. The past clip they earned a playoff berth successful a afloat play was 2013. They haven't won a playoff crippled since 2012 -- the longest progressive drought successful the NL, according to ESPN Research -- and past won a postseason bid successful 1995.

According to Sportradar, the lone different teams successful the 162-game epoch to scope the playoffs with less than 84 wins were the 1973 Mets (82-79), 2005 San Diego Padres (82-80) and 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83-78). The 1973 Mets and 2006 Cardinals some went connected to scope the World Series, with the Cardinals winning it all.

Cincinnati's playoff berth adds 1 much enactment to Reds manager Terry Francona's Hall of Fame-worthy resume.

In his archetypal play arsenic Boston's manager, Francona led the 2004 Red Sox to their archetypal World Series rubric since 1918. He led Boston to different World Series title successful 2007 and got Cleveland to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

Francona spent past twelvemonth distant from the crippled for wellness reasons but came backmost to negociate the Reds. Now he's successful the postseason again and crediting the togetherness of the enactment for helping the Reds withstand adversity.

"I've ne'er had idiosyncratic constituent a finger," Francona said earlier Sunday's game. "It's always, 'How bash we fig it out?' I similar that portion of it. It doesn't mean you don't commiserate together. I astir dice immoderate nights, but doing it the close mode with radical you attraction about, I bask that portion of it."

The Reds benefited from the additions they made astatine the July 31 commercialized deadline. They boosted their lineup and infield defence by acquiring Miguel Andujar and Ke'Bryan Hayes. They besides picked up starting pitcher Zack Littell, a determination that enabled them to fortify their bullpen by shifting Nick Martinez to a alleviation role.

But the Reds inactive struggled to abstracted themselves from the different wild-card contenders.

Cincinnati reached its high-water people of 67-60 connected Aug. 19, past went 8-16 implicit its adjacent 24 games to autumn beneath .500. Then the Reds made the precocious complaint that landed them successful the postseason.

The Reds won 5 successful a row, including a four-game expanse of the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs. They followed that u...