Cincinnati Reds Winning Streak, All-Star voting & Luis Arráez

 Cincinnati Reds Winning Streak, All-Star voting & Luis Arráez
Numbers, numbers, numbers

We don’t need a math major on this show. We will breakdown what’s happening across MLB with a focus on The Reds

What’s the math and history of winning & losing streaks

Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I'm Mark Corbett, and we're glad to have you here.   We missed the week and we were. In the middle of moving desktop table studios to a new location and we'll be there soon. So this week we're actually recording in the Tampa Baseball Museum. So acoustics may be just a little bit different.

Anyway, welcome then to, we're getting ready to get started. So what are we gonna do? This week we're gonna take a look at the Cincinnati Reds for starters.  Then we're on to see what goes on with   numbers on a lot of different things as well. Baseball has to be one of the most measured sports there are out there.

When you consider looking at everything from the basic e r a, looking at what's happening with how many people are on bases, how many stolen bases there are, looking at as far as the teams, where they are in their rankings  the standings, rather, who's first, who's last, and how many games back there are.

But one of 'em that we talk about the most when it comes to numbers is how many games have you won in a row? What's the streak?    We looked at the beginning of the season. It wasn't surprising.  Maybe it was surprising to see the Tampa Bay Rays go  game after game. What was it?

14 games I believe they had  without a loss in the first  beginning of the season from game one. And a lot of people were critical of that, talking about   some of the teams they were playing  were mediocre. And that was  how they were able to do it. And the race continued to win.

And  some teams start a little later and I think the Cincinnati Reds have proven that may be the very case with them. Let's take a look at what's happened to this. Just this past week, it began with veteran Cincinnati player Joey Vato, returning back to the team. He's been out since last August, and he was excited, the fans were excited, and here's what Joey had to say after his first day back with the game.

I feel lucky and grateful to be able to come back and play. I feel like I just got called up. If I'm most sincere, I feel like I, this is 2007 all over again and I just got called up and we'll see how I play, but I can't wait to compete. This is the first day I could have been back.   I can't rejoin a  a winning ball club with championship aspirations without being fully ready.

I recognize the momentum. I recognize the excitement. I recognize the culture, and it was my responsibility to make sure I come back and catch up, get up to speed with them. I want to be here. I want to wear a red's uniform till the end of my career. The end of my career.  We're hoping that there's many years to come for Joey, but you gotta realize.

This isn't a guy who's moved around from league to league, from team to team. He began his pro career back in 2007 with Cincinnati, and he's been going on with them ever since. Last year in 2022, he did become injured and was out since last August. He's been back at this point on Saturday, June 24th. He's played, I believe about  four or five games.

 Since that time. He's got a bating percentage of 3 0 8. His on base percentage is 4 38.  This man, he's more than just  a good player.  He  he rises above that. He hits some home runs. Those are some of the things he brings to the team, but he also brings a credibility of a senior leadership, something I think that invigorates a lot of the younger players as well.

And we'll talk about how that's  maybe impacted some folks like even  L e d Cruz. So  let's look a little bit deeper here. Hang on. I think Cincinnati's kind of been the forgotten team much as I thought at the beginning of the season. A lot of people had forgotten about the Orioles and the Orioles.

Right now in the American League East, they're only five and a half games behind the rays, and the Orioles have 45 wins, which is very impressive.  If we go to the National League where the Cincinnati Reds are, they've got 41 wins right now. They have won. Not just 10 of their last 10 games, I think it's now up to 10, 11 of their last 11 games.

So that's a heck of a streak, and that makes National Medias step up and notice the return of Joey Vata was part of that.    I was been looking at them a little more closely too, as Jonathan India came up with them and La De la Cruz. Oh my gosh. Let's face it, that guy's been up, what, maybe  three weeks and he's making a heck of an imprint with that team.

And we got a few words here from the Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell, on what he's seen with Joey Veto's return. What a great player. No, really   he's, he just got himself ready. He's so excited to be part of our team and  he is been watching, he is been doing everything  to stay connected to our team and then to come back and contribute.

 Tonight was just a great start and meant a lot to our team.  But  it was great having him out there. He's felt and been a part of this the whole time from the very first day of spring training. And he's made sure of that during this whole time that he wasn't with us, but now it feels the way it's supposed to.

He's back  a player with our team and he's gonna make us better. It's as simple as that.  Again, I don't know if there's anything simple about what the Reds have been achieving.  Let's start by taking a look how the Reds have been doing in their own division. The NL Central this year. Right now they are above 500.

They got a  fi what 0.539 winning percentage. That's  41 wins and 35 losses. And as I said, they've won 11 of their 11 last 11 games. If we go down, the rest of the n l central brewers are following the Reds, only one and a half games back, and they're five and five with a win loss record for the last 10.

The  Cubs are eight and two  for the last 10, and they're beneath 500 with a 4 86 winning percentage. Pirates are 35 and 40 underneath the Cubs, and they have only won one of their last 10 games. Ouch. And the Cardinals and a team that everybody expects to do better than they normally do, and we probably will see more from them in the second half of the year.

Right now they are at 31 wins and 44 losses. So while the reds are holding onto a lead that's basically taken 11 straight wins to get there. The brewers are right behind them on with, on their tail with one and a half games back, and it cubs with four games back.  The thing is, it comes down to a big, we're looking at a lot of things on numbers, and we're looking at things that make national media aware of certain teams and what's happening there.

And that usually comes with streaks. Whether you're the pirates who've lost oh nine outta the last 10, or you the reds who've won 11 outta the last 11. Both of those things draw attention.  Not to mention the fantastic work that Vato has done since he came back and La De La Cruz who did sound something rather historic last night.

We'll talk about that in a minute. I'm taking a look at an article published on sports not.com, and it's written by Matt Johnson. It's called The Longest Winning Streak in MLB History of the longest MLB winning streaks ever and Longest in 2023. So there's a lot of things he covers in it.  I highly recommend checking it out.

So let's take a quick peek at those winning streaks since we're talking about that today.  It says the longest one ever achieved was back in 1916, and let's see if we look a little more closely. Cleveland Guardians had a winning streak in 2017 of 22 games. The cubbies, they had a 21 game streak back in 35  Oakland A's, oh, yeah.

 We know things how they are today, but 2002, they had a 20 game streak. The New York Yankees in 1947 had a 19 game winning streak, and the White Sox back in oh six had a 19 game winning streak. And I think overall the rays have a longest winning streak here in 2023 of like about 13 or 14 games. I apologize.

Seems like I have conflicting information on that. Let's see here. Oh, update. They're saying the Cincinnati Reds now have the longest current wind streak and MLB at 12 games while the reds. Have had a strong winning streak. I was thinking a few days ago.  Yeah, you can question some of the teams they've been playing, but they're now coming up against the Braves.

I thought  I guess maybe this is it. Maybe it'll win. But it didn't. They went one more into it. So last night in Cincinnati they put another W there  another digit in the wind column, so to speak. And if there's any question in your mind about the impact. That a wedding streak can have on a team.

The excitement I saw last night, I was watching the, what's it, the Friday night game with the Cincinnati Reds against the Braves. And that crowd was amazing out there in the Great American ballpark in Cincinnati.    The volume and the of those guys chanting and cheering for their team was overwhelming.

And that reflects back to the guys on the field. Including second baseman, Jonathan India, who's now been with the Reds  all three years of his professional career. But it's evidently pretty infectious. Here's what Jonathan had to say about the Reds.   It's blatant. We're America's team.    We're playing really  right now.

 We're firing all cylinders  bullpen's, doing amazing starting pitch is doing amazing, and we're hitting the ball  and we got a good lineup.      We pass it on to each other. We have some fun. Having some fun. Indeed. That's Jonathan indeed. Again, talking about the mindset a couple of days ago of the Reds, and while I was saying earlier  they won 11 of 11, but last night after defeating the Atlanta Braves, that was 12 out of 12.

 Listening to some of the announcers last night was interesting to hear where they mention that. This season with the Reds, Cincinnati has 27 comeback wins. On top of that  the last five games, they've had five straight comeback wins, and they've rallied back three times from games where they were down five or more.

If there is one word to describe Cincinnati right now, I would say determination. They want to keep growing. They want to keep moving. Their persistence and their attitude, I think everybody should  may see them as the fixture for leading national league through the rest of the year if they keep this kind of attitude.

And after that game last night with Atlanta, you would think. Then a player with four at bats had two hits, two runs, two home runs, and four rbis would be the top of the news for that game.  That was Joey Vato, but quite honestly, his name fell secondary. To that new rookie, Ellie De La Cruz, Ellie Di Cruz last night hit a cycle, good old number 44 himself.

He took that number actually I think in  reverence to  previous 44, and that would be Mr. Eric Davis, I believe he's still within the Reds organization. Back in June of 1989, he hit for the cycle. So it's been 34 years since the Cincinnati Reds have had a player hit the cycle and last night. Elliot De La Cruz, who's only been playing for about 12 games.

This  this season with the Reds. He is hot. He brings a lot of energy, he brings a lot of power, he brings a lot of excitement to that team, and that's part of the dynamic that's going to continue to lead the reds up as they continue. Win after win with the National League Central. Now again, they're playing the Braves tonight and I believe tomorrow.

Who knows what will come of that, because Braves are a very strong team. The Braves are leading the National League as we speak, with a six 40 win record, and that means actually the 48 wins and 27 losses, they are the only team. In the 600 s in the wind percentage.  Let's see. Next after that would actually be the Diamondbacks.

So the Reds, while there's a few others that would be above them in winning percentages, they're showing themselves to be a strong team in Nno Central, and they very well could be the division winners this year.  So I'll look to those Sensei Reds and I wish them a great season, but I just don't know how they're gonna do Saturday and Sunday with Atlanta Braves tough team, but they defeated 'em last night and they could hear the trumpets roar at the be top of the ninth.

As Alexis Diaz took the mound to the trumpeting sound  and wrapped up the game last night. So we'll see what happens today and tomorrow. But congratulations again to the Cincinnati Reds for pushing it so hard and being a very energetic team. And as long as we're talking about numbers and measurements, let's take a look at what's happening with the M L B All-Star game.

The voting for that comes in two phases.  Phase one is now completed, and then phase two is about to begin. So keep your eye on mlb.com after the initial fan voting in phase one, phase two takes all of those P folks who were voted on and takes the top two in each position. And ask the fans to vote again.

There's more to it than that, but like right now, I'd like to give you a breakdown of who those top two are in every position for the American League and the National League. So let's get started. The final two candidates for catcher in the American League are Adley Rutman with the Orioles and Jonah Heim with the Rangers catcher for the National League.

Shawn Murphy with the Braves and Will Smith with the Dodgers. If we move on over to first base, we'll find in the American League Vladi Mayor Guerrero Jr. With the Blue Jays and Yandy Diaz of the Rays National League First Space, Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers and Matt Olson of the Braves. Second base American League, Marcus Simeon of the rages and Whit Maryfield of the blue.

Jays seeing a pattern here with the blue Jays. Must be a lot of folks ready to put some ballots in the box. Nothing like encouraging fans. Okay, second base, continue here. National League. Louis arose who we'll talk a little bit more about here in a. After  going through this Luisa Res with the Marlins and Ozzy Abby's for the Braves, both fine athletes.

Shark Stop America League got Bob Bette with the Blue Jays and Cory Seger with the Rangers National League, Orlando Rce with the Braves and Francisco Linor with the Mets third Base America League. Josh Young for the Rangers and Matt Chapman with the Blue Jays. Third Base National League. Nolan Ado with the Cardinals and Austin Riley with the Braves.

Let's dig into the outfield with the American League Aaron Judge with the Yankees, Mike Trout with the angels. Randy Rosa Arena with the Rays. Jorden Alvarez. With the Astros. Kevin Kmar with the Blue Jays and Adeles Garcia with the Rangers Nation League outfield. It looks strong as well. Mooky bets with the Dodgers Carbon.

Carol with the Diamondbacks Luiz Uriel Jr. With the Diamondbacks, Michael Harris. The second with the Braves. And now let's get to the designated hitter. The American League has o Tawny, no surprise there. And the National League, you've got  JD Martinez and Bryce Harper. So that's who the candidates are.

I think Bundy, they will continue with, start with the phase two of voting with these. So keep your eyes open again on mlb.com for information on that. And lastly, this week I want to salute that Marlon served baseman. Mr. Luis arose. This guy is just, this guy Ray Hugs is just completely blowing my mind. He dances around 400 on his batting average.

It is just amazing to see somebody who continually stays right up there. I'm looking here like in the last five games he had, looking at what the one he had on June 19th, he had five at bats and he had five hits last night. On the 23rd when they were playing Pittsburgh, he had four bats. Three hits. He just brings it.

And the night before where he is at three at bats, he had one hit, but he also had one walk that night.  This guy  that's, I could say this guy. So the Marlins certainly are proud to have him there. I know we had Lou on recently talking about Lou Schiff talking about him. So I salute Mr. Luis Reus for the Marlins and wish him continued success.

So keep it up there, man. That's pretty much it this week for Baseball Biz On Deck, and thank you. We're broadcasting again here from the Tampa Baseball Museum. As we're waiting for the new studio to be put together, and till then, I will look forward to talking with you guys. I wanna remind you some of the things we'll be upcoming on future shows.

We'll be talking about the draft, what's been happening with that. We'll take a look at the All-Star game, who's actually gonna be playing in it, and the home run Derby. So a lot of good things to come. Thanks again for joining us here today on Baseball Biz On Deck. I'm Mark. Also special thanks to Scott Holmes for the music.

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