Well this is certainly unexpected. The Reds stretched their win streak to 5 games after sweeping the Pirates and have elevated their record to 5-1.
Game 1: 5-3 Reds
Game 2: 14(FOURTEEN!)-1 Reds
Game 3: 11-4 Reds
The offense is ballin'. Tyler Naquin hit leadoff home runs in games 2 and 3. Castellanos and India have been red hot (no pun intended). Luis Castillo had a great bounce back game after getting drilled on Opening Day. Today was 7 innings of no run baseball.
I'm fully aware it's a miniscule sample size, but here are some fun stats (at least to me):
-Cincy scored 57 runs through their first six games, a franchise record that blows away the 1976 Big Red Machine's total of 51. No, I am not comparing the current team to one of the best ever, just noting what they have accomplished.
-I'm sure he will slow down, but rookie India is tearing it up and could be a contender for NL Rookie of the Year.
He is tied for 6th in hits in the Majors (2nd among all rookies), 4th in the MLB with 10 RBI's (leading rookies), is 3rd in the Majors batting .476 (2nd among rookies), has 2 sac flies (tied for the MLB lead and sole leader among rookies) and even has a triple to boot. Also among rookies, he is 3rd in OBP and 5th in OPS. And he doesn't seem to mind getting hit by pitches.
-Next I'll single out Castellanos. He is tied for the league lead with 9 runs, 6th in hits, tied tops on the leaderboard with 4 home runs, all the way down in 9th in RBI's
, 8th in average, is leading in slugging and OPS, and for good measure is also leading in total bases and 2nd in extra base hits.
-As for the rest of the team: Senzel is tied for league lead in runs scored with Moose 1 back. Naquin is tied with Castellanos with those 4 homers. He is also 2nd in RBI's with 13. Moose is batting .412 and sits 6th in OBP. Naquin is 3rd slugging. He is 5th in OPS with Moose not far behind in 9th.
-As a team, the Reds are leading the MLB in runs, homers, RBI's, batting average, slugging and OPS. They are 2nd in hits, triples, and OBP. Oddly, they have not succeeded in a steal...in fact they haven't even attempted one yet this season!
-To put things in perspective, in 2020 the Reds finished dead last in hits, triples, and average (.212 compared to .316 this year). They were well down the order in the other major statistical categories as well. What a difference the season has been (so far...).