"If the New York Mets went out like chumps, then it can fairly be said that the Cincinnati Reds went in like chumps. These two outfits, plus maybe the Arizona Diamondbacks, entered into a revolving door and spun around for a while, dizzy and confused, and when the door spit the other two out into the cold, the Reds fell backward into relevance. They lost their final game of the regular season and still had a champagne party afterward."
"Cincinnati did not surge proudly to the finish line. Often, in a contest with the Mets, it pays to wait for gravity to do its thing, and it has once again chosen to collect first the team from Queens. The Mets played to a miserable 38-55 record after June 12, third worst in the majors; meanwhile the Reds played to an entirely ho-hum 48-45 record. They outscored their opponents over this span of 93 games by a total of two runs."
The Cincinnati Reds advanced to the postseason despite a lackluster finish and a loss in their final regular-season game, relying on the Mets' collapse to clinch a wild-card spot. The Mets went 38-55 after June 12 while the Reds went 48-45 over the same span, outscoring opponents by only two runs across 93 games. The Reds had been below third place for most of the season and were under .500 as late as Sept. 16, recently losing a home series to the Pirates. Gavin Lux compared the team to cockroaches, saying "You can't kill us." The Reds became the fourth team to reach the playoffs with fewer than 84 wins.
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