Reds (Abbott) vs Cubs (Taillon): 5/5/26, 6:40pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

What's your take on the Reds? A real contender, or just off to a decent start? I'm pretty mixed on them, but kinda lean away from them being a true division contender. They could be a WC team, sure.

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Ryan Rolison	0	25	0	0	14	39
Phil Maton	0	11	0	25	4	40
Javier Assad	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jacob Webb	0	36	0	0	0	36
Hoby Milner	0	0	0	15	12	27
Corbin Martin	0	0	0	26	0	26
Ben Brown	0	0	24	0	25	49

[Irrelevant Dude]

Shouldn't Palencia be on the bullpen usage chart?

[BigbadB]

Not sure if they have injured starters or not, but not impressed with the ERA's of the 4 guys slated to start for them in this series. Their bats seem pretty legit. 

Meanwhile, rotating heroes on the Cubs roster is making this team a lot of fun right now. Same roster as the guys that were frustrating the hell out of us a month ago. More heroism please.

[squally1313]

9 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Not sure if they have injured starters or not, but not impressed with the ERA's of the 4 guys slated to start for them in this series. Their bats seem pretty legit. 

Meanwhile, rotating heroes on the Cubs roster is making this team a lot of fun right now. Same roster as the guys that were frustrating the hell out of us a month ago. More heroism please.

Lodolo is coming back Friday, Greene is on the shelf for a while still, and we're missing by far their best healthy pitcher in Burns. But yeah, right now their rotation is a bit of a mess. 

They've actually gotten pretty unlucky metric wise, which probably explains their RD. Worst BABIP in the majors, xwOBA (9th in baseball) is 20 points higher than their wOBA (24th). The pitching is bad however you look at it though. 

[Bertz]

Reds are total frauds.  Elly/Greene/Burns is as good of a trio as you'll find on any roster in the league, but the depth is just not there at all.

Abbott's better than this, though not especially scary.  He was very much a beneficiary of good fortune last year.  He's probably a Taillon/Rea tier pitcher.  Probably due for a good game but also we should touch him up.

[macarthur31]

Haven't watched alot of Reds ball, but after seeing them last night - they just seem young and hungry.  Tito's the right skipper for them, and I intuit that they're gonna learn alot together.  They could grab a wildcard spot.  Suarez seems like a terrific veteran anchor for all the youth, but they need 1-2 more of his ilk.

I was impressed by the hard contact they were making - Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz are gonna be a problem, man.  However, in terms of 2026 - they seem like a season away.

 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

Not sure if they have injured starters or not, but not impressed with the ERA's of the 4 guys slated to start for them in this series. Their bats seem pretty legit. 

 

Reds are last in BA, middle of the pack in slugging and 24th in OPS. If by pretty legit you mean bad, sure their bats are legitably bad. 
I worry more about their eventual starting pitching. When Lodolo and Greene come back their rotation is solid with Burns and Abbott as well. 

[Derwood]

[BKHoo]

Abbott has not pitched as well this year but if memory serves - he has been pretty good v the Cubs? 

[Brian707]

3rd place team now. Thats their ceiling.  Conforto ripped their hearts out last night.

 

 

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

Abbott has not pitched as well this year but if memory serves - he has been pretty good v the Cubs? 

 

With the exception of the start last August, appears the Cubs have generated a good amount of traffic on the bases.  Just haven't been able to cash much of those base runners in.

[PeanutPunch33]

The Reds stink, and their -23 run differential proves it. 

That's what happens when you've fielded basically the same exact roster for 3 seasons in a row, and the rare big moves they've made, they chose Eugenio Suarez and Ke'Bryan Hayes 😂

[Bertz]

Abbott pitched that game last May where the Cubs were hitting 100+ MPH lasers all over the field and got jack to show for it.

That and the game in Toronto against Scherzer were the biggest tough luck losses of the year.

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Abbott pitched that game last May where the Cubs were hitting 100+ MPH lasers all over the field and got jack to show for it.

That and the game in Toronto against Scherzer were the biggest tough luck losses of the year.

I remember that game, in the table above appears as a dominating start yet, the Cubs were crushing the ball.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

8 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I remember that game, in the table above appears as a dominating start yet, the Cubs were crushing the ball.

Yep, Cubs had an xBA of .439 in that game. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=5/24/2025&gamePk=777791&chartType=pitch&legendType=pitchName&playerType=pitcher&inning=&count=&pitchHand=&batSide=&descFilter=&ptFilter=&resultFilter=&hf=scoreboard&sportId=1&liveAb=#777791

[CubUgly]

4 hours ago, squally1313 said:

 

They've actually gotten pretty unlucky metric wise, which probably explains their RD. Worst BABIP in the majors, xwOBA (9th in baseball) is 20 points higher than their wOBA (24th). The pitching is bad however you look at it though. 

Yeah, they smoked about 5 or 6 balls at least that found gloves last night.  We had some good fortune and them not so much in that regard.