Last game: The Reds (81-77) beat the Cleveland Guardians 11-7 on Tuesday. The victory assures the Reds won’t have a losing record one year after losing 100 games. They can finish no worse than .500.
“The way our offense played tonight, it felt free; it felt like we were on the attack,” catcher Luke Maile told reporters in Cleveland on Tuesday. “We need that right now. Playing with nothing to lose, that’s what got us here. It’s what we need moving forward.”
Wild-card race: The Philadelphia Phillies (88-69) have clinched the first wild card.
Four teams are still competing for the second and third wild cards. The Arizona Diamondbacks (83-74) have a one-game lead over the Chicago Cubs (82-75). The Miami Marlins (81-75) trail the Cubs by a half game. The Reds trail the Cubs by 1½ games.
If the season ended today: The Braves and Dodgers would earn the top two seeds and first-round byes.
In best-of-three wild card series, the Cubs would earn the No. 6 seed and play the No. 3 Brewers in Milwaukee, and the No. 5 Diamondbacks would play the No. 4 Phillies in Philadelphia.
The odds: The Diamondbacks have an 89% chance of winning a wild card, according to FanGraphs.com. They are followed by the Marlins (56.7%), the Cubs (41.8%) and the Reds (12.5%).
Road ahead: The Reds play the Guardians at 6:10 p.m. Wednesday. They are off Thursday. They then close the regular season on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals with a three-game series that starts Friday.
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