The Cincinnati Reds‘ 25-game start to the 2022 Major League Baseball season has been among the three worst of MLB’s Modern Era (since 1900).
Most of the team’s top players have spent at least some time on the Injured List, and Reds manager David Bell has said many times that he’s proud of the effort his players have made to compete.
One national writer – ESPN’s Jeff Passan – insisted after Thursday’s 10-5 loss to the Brewers in Milwaukee dropped the Reds to 3-22 this season that the team’s effort represents “tanking at its absolute ugliest.”
From Passan via Twitter:
The Cincinnati Reds are now 3-22.
They have scored an NL-worst 79 runs. If they doubled that, it would still be fewer runs than they’ve allowed, 166.
Their 6.90 ERA is a full two runs worse than the next-worst team. Not nice at all.
This is tanking at its absolute ugliest.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 5, 2022
On Wednesday, Major League Soccer’s FC Cincinnati earned its fourth win in 10 games this season before the Reds could reach win No. 4.
Former Reds pitcher Kent Mercker told the Columbus Dispatch’s Rob Oller earlier this week that “it’s hard not to accidentally win more games.”
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ESPN’s Passan: Reds’ 3-22 start ‘is tanking at its absolute ugliest’