WEEKEND ROUND-UP: Is Reds Roster Built to Beat Brewers, Win NL Central?

If the Reds want any shot at winning the NL Central in 2025, they have to start beating the Brewers.

Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona speaks with players at the pitchers mound in the eighth inning of a MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at Great American Ball Park in Downtown Cincinnati. Rangers won 1-0. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI -- Division titles in Major League Baseball and the NFL are highly coveted. They're the easiest tickets into the postseason, and teams always have a chance once they're in the dance.

The Reds didn't just lose three out four to the Milwaukee Brewers this weekend. This is now 11 straight series the Reds have lost to the Brewers. That goes back into the 2022 season when the Reds didn't lose a series against the Brewers.

We've seen this in the AFC North with how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have set the standard in the division. Both teams' toughness and physicality have led to a combined 17 AFC North titles since the divison's inception in 2002. The Cincinnati Bengals have won six AFC North titles and the Cleveland Browns have won zero AFC North titles.

Even with the Bengals breakthrough seasons in 2021 and 2022, Pittsburgh and Baltimore still hold the gold standard in the AFC North.

The Milwaukee Brewers are the standard in the National League Central. Since 2018, when Christian Yelich arrived, the Brewers have won four National League Central titles and also made the postseason in 2019 and 2020. Not to mention, the Brewers have won the NL Central in each of the last two seasons.

They've established themselves as the standard in the division with their starting pitching, bullpen, defense and clutch hitting. If the Reds want any shot at knocking off the Brewers and winning the NL Central in 2025, they have to start consistently beating them. To be the champs, you have to beat the champs.

Remember how much fun the Reds were to watch in June and July of 2023? When they won 12 straight games in mid-to-late June? But in those two months, the Reds and Brewers played 13 times. Cincinnati went 3-10 in those 13 games. Even when things were going seemingly well for the Reds, the Brewers still dominated them in the season series. Not to mention, the Reds went three straight games against the Brewers without a run in mid-July that season.

There's a strong belief, when it comes to roster building, that teams should be built to win their division. After all, that's the first step towards the ultimate goal of winning the World Series; making the Postseason. The easiest ticket into the postseason is winning a division title.

When the Reds took the city of Cincinnati, and Major League Baseball by surprise, in 2023, they did so with a flashy offense that was exciting to watch on the basepaths and to watch hitting the ball out of the ballpark. That's fun and exciting baseball to watch, but it was not conducive to winning during the Pennant chase. Starting pitching, a shutdown bullpen and fundamental offensive baseball, especially in clutch situations, is what ultimately wins in the Pennant chase.

The Milwaukee Brewers have shown those qualities in each of the last two seasons and this past weekend against the Reds, laying the blueprint for the Reds on what will, likely, win the NL Central in 2025. We'll see if this Reds team can start to mirror the Brewers formula for winning division titles.

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