First place, an 11-game win streak, and the Cincinnati Reds are riding high

You know, you’ve got to go through hell before you get to heaven.

The Cincinnati Reds are rolling, and they’re doing so with production from top to bottom on their roster. Nine different guys have homered over the last three games, Elly De La Cruz leads a cast of five, six, seven rookies resuccitating the roster, and Joey Votto has finally returned seamlessly to help fuel the charge.

It’s been a fun few weeks in the world of the Cincinnati Reds. After my voice and I finally turned the corner after a pretty meaty bout of pneumonia, we got the Walks Will Haunt gang back together to talk about it all, which you can hear by hitting the play button below (or following the link here).

There has been plenty to love about the way the Reds have rallied, found production from every corner of their 40-man roster, and leaned on a bullpen full of folks most of us never knew before the year started. That said, they’re still going to need a lot of help to drag this thing to the finish line, and we talked about that - the starting pitching, specifically - lest you worry we’ve become too jovial in our old age.

There’s passion. There are a few F-bombs. There’s a plea to the ownership of the team to not take this fortuitous opportunity lightly, too. The NL Central is eminently winnable, and anything less than a pursuit of said opportunity would be a disservice not just to the fans, but to the players who have brought life back to the club with their exploits. Go get ‘em some help, damnit, before the tough slate of games makes it too much for even their fantastic abilities!

Have a listen on this, your Friday. The Reds play host to the Atlanta Braves tonight to begin a five-week stretch of mostly difficult games that will, in many ways, define their season seeing as it’s the five-week lead-up to the trade deadline.

Go Reds. Apologies for the gratuitous Steve Miller Band lyrics.