Cincinnati Reds Shutout vs Astros, Where Do They Go From Here?

CINCINNATI -- Part of the lyrics to Guns N' Roses's Sweet Child O' Mine go "Where do we go now?" Well, as far as this Reds season goes, that's a good question after a 3-0 loss vs the Houston Astros Friday night to push the Reds to 19-21 through 40 games.

It's frustrating. Because I do think this team's best baseball is still ahead. There's still a chance this team gets it going and strings together wins to keep themselves in the race throughout the summer.

Before the Reds won 12 straight games in June of 2023, they were under .500 until six games into that winning streak. The Reds were relatively inconsistent until they called up Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz and Andrew Abbott.

This year's Reds may be following a similar path. They've been hovering around .500 through 40 games, but they haven't been able to safely pass the threshold yet this season.

The problem, though, is that's the only thing to hopefully look forward to about this Reds team. There isn't a big three to look forward to getting the call-up to the Major League roster. They're already here, and, unfortunately, they're not helping much.

About that 12-game winning streak two years ago. McLain and De La Cruz were both on the Major League roster for it. They were both integral parts of it. Both of them got a taste of winning early, and they, along with the rest of the Reds, have not been close to that string of winning since.

Could McLain and De La Cruz, along with the rest of the Reds, be pressing because of it? They won 12 straight games, were in the Postseason race until the second-to-last game of the regular-season and have had high expectations surrounding them since then.

The Reds coming close to the Playoffs in 2023 may have been the worst-case scenario. That could have made Nick Krall and the Reds front office think they were closer to the Postseason than what reality was really telling them.

The 2023 Reds still had a lot of weaknesses on the roster. Last year's team most certainly did. This year's Reds have an offense that has looked anemic on multiple occasions, sometimes for consecutive game stretches.

Yet, because the Reds were so close to the Postseason in 2023, the front office has been operating under the belief that they are so close. Maybe that's why there hasn't been an aggressive approach in the offseason the previous two years.

For the 2025 Reds, their best baseball may still be ahead. They could get healthy and on a winning streak, as a result. But hope is not a strategy. It's a dangerous game.

Where does this Reds team go from here? That's a frustrating question to ponder, and some of the possibilities are not fun to think about.