‘Ready to go to the World Series’: Cincinnati Reds send message to Milwaukee Brewers, MLB

Since most of these young Cincinnati Reds have found it extremely difficult to win against the Milwaukee Brewers in their careers, Monday’s significant victory over the division rivals carried so much significance that they discussed topics like playing with confidence and setting the tone for the season.

During that conversation, one of them even made a reference to the “World Series.”

April 8th? The World Series? Did Elly De La Cruz say what we heard? Is he announcing this team’s October shot before tax day?

“Yeah,” De La Cruz said. “We’re ready to go.”

But who’s going to believe the best athlete in the majors can’t accomplish anything when he hits a pitch 450 feet on a line from the left side and another pitch from the right side past a diving center fielder, turning it into an inside-the-park home run with a sprint speed that teammate Will Benson estimates to be “30 mph or something”?

After Javier Valentin done so 19 years prior, he became just the third Red to hit home runs in a game from both sides of the plate (Pete Rose did it twice, in 1966 and ’67).

The Reds Brewers Elly CruzThe Reds defeat the Brewers thanks to Elly De La Cruz’s impressive speed and strength.

Reds begin their lineup Nick Lodolo: On Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds LHP Nick Lodolo will make his season debut.

Reds’ woundsTejay Antone will undergo elbow surgery, continuing a regrettable MLB trend.

By the time the next 149 games after this series are played, the Reds’ route to October may well pass via the newly revamped Brewers, both inspirationalally and motivatingly, if not competitively, regardless of whether they win that World Series.

In a pregame meeting, even manager David Bell seemed to imply as much to the club. Shortly after, they jumped on the defending National League Central champions for eight early runs, winning 10-8 in the first game of a four-game series on Monday.

“DB said let’s just set the tone and let them know who we are right away before that game,” Benson said. “And we did that after exiting the gate.”

With one out in the second, De La Cruz reached on an error, stole second on an erroneous throw, and scored the game’s first run on a ground ball. Benson hit a home run just after that.

During a six-run fourth, Benson led off on a double steal. A few batters earlier, De La Cruz singled and eventually scored from first on a sacrifice bunt, but there was also another erroneous throw involved.

Stated differently, “who we are.”

Benson remarked, “I personally love playing the Brewers just because of that little chip.”

Chip?

Bob Castellini is merely leasing the Reds when it comes to ownership.

The Reds haven’t prevailed in a season series against the Brewers without a pandemic ruining the most of the season, a testament to the length of time the Brewers have possessed these players.

Prior to Monday, they had lost 15 of the previous 19 meetings, going back to 2022.

De La Cruz praised the victory, saying, “It’s so important because we’re trying to win games and we want to beat them because they won a lot of games against us last year.”

“We worked hard, and we’re prepared to play in the World Series.”

That World Series stuff is back.

Perhaps he is correct.

Maybe Monday is the first of that, if he is.

Right now, the Reds are off to a 1-0 start in a division that destroyed them last season (Reds 21-31 against the rest of NL Central).

Perhaps it was Bell’s motivation for calling the meeting, even though he didn’t really, truly, acknowledge it—nor care about its meaning or tone.

We occasionally engage in that. It was more of a casual talk, he claimed.

Not even mentioning delivering a message to the division or the Brewers?

Bell began, “Well, you’re always trying to send —,” then he laughed and stopped talking. “This competition is fantastic. Nothing personal, at least. There is complete respect for every team we play, with the Brewers foremost on the list.

in particular, the Brewers.

The competitors. The enemies. The Reds-beating, chip-building, soul-crushing, hope-dashing, evil Brew Crew.

The National League’s current Player of the Week, Spencer Steer, stated, “I think there’s value in kind of setting the tone in this first game of the series, the first time seeing them all year.”

In terms of cost, the Reds’ defeat at the hands of the Brewers last season would have prevented the Arizona Diamondbacks from winning the pennant if the Reds had finished even 5-8 versus the Brewers rather than 3-10.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, you know, the team that won the World Series.