Every team in baseball except the Reds (2-11) and Texas Rangers (2-9) has at least four victories. The Reds trailed the first-place St. Louis Cardinals (7-3), who start a three-game series in Cincinnati at 6:40 p.m. Friday, by 6½ games through Wednesday. The Reds will try to avoid their first 10-game losing streak since they lost 11 in a row in May 2016 with rookie Hunter Greene making his first start at home Friday.
How does this start compare to the worst starts in Reds history? Here’s a glance at the franchise’s worst records through 13 games since 1900:
1-12
1931: The only Reds team to win only once in its first 13 games, the 1931 Reds opened with five straight losses before beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. They then lost seven straight games, beat the Pirates again and lost five more times for a 2-17 start. They finished 58-96.
2-11
2022: The Reds have been outscored 74-37 in their first 13 games.
2018: This team started 2-13 and was outscored 83-41. When it fell to 3-15, manager Bryan Price was fired. It finished 7-22 in April and closed the season with a 67-95 record.
1955: The Reds had four winning months this season but couldn’t overcome a 4-12 April and a 14-21 July and finished 75-79 in Birdie Tebbetts’ second season as manager.
1913: The Reds finished 64-89 in Joe Tinker’s only season as manager.
3-10
1982: The only Reds team to lose 100 games rebounded from this start to win nine of its next 11 games. A 7-21 record in July and a 9-18 mark in September left it with a 61-101 record. Fifth-year manager John McNamara was fired in July when the team had a 34-58 record and replaced by Russ Nixon.
1966: The Reds opened the season on the road for the first time because the opening series at Crosley Field was rained out. The delayed start led to a slow start, and the team finished 76-84. It was one of only two losing records in the decade. First-year manager Don Heffner was fired in July when the team had a 37–46 record and replaced by third-base coach Dave Bristol.
1953: Gus Bell hit a grand slam and Ted Kluszewski hit a three-run home run in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Giants as the Reds snapped an eight-game losing streak on May 4 to avoid a 2-11 start. The Reds finished 68-86. Manager Rogers Horsnby resigned with eight games left in the season when the Reds announced he wouldn’t return the following season.
1934: The Reds’ .344 winning percentage (52-99) this season still stands as the worst in franchise history.
1922: Few Reds teams have turned the season around as well as this team. It had a winning record in every month except April and finished 86-68.
4-9
2014: This team won seven of its next nine games to even its record at 11-11. It finished 76-86.
1993: This start came during Tony Perez’s brief stint as manager. The Reds were 20-24 when he was fired. Davey Johnson replaced him. The Reds finished 73-89.
1977: After winning back-to-back World Series championships, the Big Red Machine got off to a slow start this season. It won five straight, though, after a 4-10 start and returned to the right side of .500 in June. It finished 88-74.
1971: The Reds won between 95 and 108 games every season from 1970 to 1976 except this season when it finished 79-83.
1960: This team did get back above .500 in May in Fred Hutchinson’s first full season as manager but finished 67-87, its worst record since 1950.
1950: The Reds started 0-6 this season, won four straight and then lost seven games in a row. They finished 66-87, their sixth of 11 straight losing seasons.
1937: The Reds finished 56-98 this season. Manager Chuck Dressen was fired in September with a record of 51-78.
1927: The Reds were 47-29 in the second half of this season and finished 75-78.
1907: After a 3-1 start, the Reds lost nine of their next 10 games. They finished 66-87.
1906: Ned Hanlon won five National League pennants earlier in his career as a manager and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996 by the veteran’s committee but started 4-9 in 1906 and 1907, his only seasons as Reds manager.
1902: The Reds finished 70-70 with one tie this season despite a 4-11 start.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Cardinals at Reds, 6:40 p.m., Apple TV+, 700, 1410
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