In the Red in Cincinnati

My first Cincinnati Reds post could not come at a better time. The Kansas City Royals finished up June with a winning record, their first in 22 months according Tim Kurkjian on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. That leaves my Reds and the Nationals as the teams with the longest streaks of ineptitude at six months.

Has it been that long? It seems like I was learning to ride a bike the last time the Reds were any good. They are currently 30-50 which nets them a .375 winning percentage, good for 30 points lower than any other team in the Major Leagues. It will be interesting to see if anyone on the team will finish with a higher batting average than the team's winning percentage. Not that anyone is threatening--NO ONE on the team is batting over .300.

It figures. The Bengals have made the playoffs recently and look to be decent for the foreseeable future. Passing them on the escalator are the Reds, who grabbed the Bengals' Worst Team Crown on their way down.

The Reds' record for losses in a season is 101 (1982). This team is on pace to smash that, and I believe they should do it with gusto. The Major League record is actually 134 set by the Cleveland Spiders in 1899. They can keep that. The commonly accepted "worst team" in memory would either be the 1962 Mets (120 losses) or the 2003 Tigers (119). For the Reds to pass the Mets they need to go 12-70 the rest of the way. Tough I know, but don't sell this team short. Or wait...