With their playoff hopes starting to slip away, there was a players’ only meeting around 9:30 a.m.
“It was a good reminder that we’re all in this together,” first baseman Spencer Steer said. “When you go through tough stretches, you start to put too much weight on your own shoulders. You take it too hard on yourself. But it’s a team sport. We’re all in this together. We’re all feeling it together.”
A lot of players are banged up because of the grind of a 162-game MLB season. Multiple players have spoken about the importance of teammates picking each other up.
“The meeting was that reminder that we’re all feeling it together,” Steer said. “It took some weight off of some guys’ shoulders. It hit a reset button for us.”
The Reds bounced back and picked up comeback wins in each of their next two games. One of them was a Labor Day walk-off from Noelvi Marte that was one of the most exciting moments of the Reds’ season so far.
It was a good response to the Reds’ worst week of the season. They dropped series against the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Cardinals. Meanwhile, the New York Mets were pulling ahead of the Reds in the Wild Card race.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Hitters were pressing at the plate. During that stretch of games, the Reds scored three runs or fewer in five out of eight games.
The Reds knew that they had to turn things around quickly.
“We felt like we were a little flat,” third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “We felt like whenever the other team, whether we scored or not, when the other team was punching us back we were staying flat.”
The poor week stressed the importance of the fundamentals for the 2025 Reds. They dropped those three series because of errors, poor situational hitting and some key walks allowed by pitchers.
When the Reds eliminate those three things, they’ve done pretty well this season.
“There’s no selfish individuals (here),” TJ Friedl said. “You want to be that guy for your team. You want to help the team win. Everyone has that collective mindset. At the end of the year, we’ll be where we want to be. There’s no moping. There’s no being upset. But when guys pinch-hit for, it’s like let’s go. We’re all in this together. It takes all of us.”
Over the last two offseasons, the Reds’ front office made a point to acquire veterans who had experience on winning teams. Players like Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagán, Brent Suter, Brady Singer, Jose Trevino, Gavin Lux and Austin Hays.
Having leaders like that can make a difference at turning points of a season.
“Every game is important,” Lux said. “You’re playing for your teammate and not for yourself. We have the opportunity to keep going and be where we want to be.”
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