TORONTO -- The Reds’ 2026 season ended the way too many of their games did: with a flat finish and another reminder that promise alone doesn’t carry a team very far.
Cincinnati was swept out of the year with a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays, closing a 75-87 campaign that left the club in last place in the NL Central. That was a sharp drop from the 2025 group that reached the postseason as the final National League Wild Card team before getting swept in two games by the Dodgers.
The letdown hit hard inside the clubhouse because the Reds believed they were building toward something bigger.
“There were high expectations," closer Emilio Pagán said. "The reason it hurt so much for a lot of people is because we all thought we were moving in the right direction, and we moved in the wrong direction this year after a playoff berth last year.”
For a while, the record looked better than the underlying reality. Cincinnati sat at 20-11 on April 30, tied for the second-best mark in baseball, but the numbers underneath told a rougher story.
A lot of those wins came in tight, low-scoring games, the club carried a negative run differential, and the rotation was already compromised before the season even started with Hunter Greene out with a right elbow issue and Nick Lodolo sidelined by a blister. That lack of length from the starters kept stressing the bullpen.
The slide came fast. The Reds went 10-17 in May and dropped into last place, then followed with a 9-17 June.
“Along the way, in every phase … Offensively, we’ve been challenged in areas, defensively at times, pitching. In our game, you might go a week and not get exposed, but not over the course of a year," said manager Terry Francona, who oversaw an 83-win season in '25, his first with the club.
The final numbers reflected the mess. Cincinnati finished last in the Majors in batting average at .229 and on-base percentage at .305, and 25th in slugging at .394.
The pitching staff posted a 4.83 ERA, which ranked 28th. Defense was an issue too, especially in the outfield.
“Our season did not go anywhere remotely like we wanted it to. I fully understand," Francona said.
"We were just talking in the coaches’ room. We need to have a sense of urgency, as we do.
At the same time, I told that room in there how much I appreciated that when things don’t go well, we kind of circled the wagons and tried to get better, and we don’t point fingers at each other.
"It’s actually a great group. It doesn’t take away that we didn’t do good enough.”
Injuries kept piling up as the season wore on. Eugenio Suárez missed a month in late April with a left oblique injury.
Elly De La Cruz sat out a month in June because of a right hamstring issue. Pagán was out for two months from May to July with a left hamstring injury.
Brandon Williamson missed four months with a left shoulder injury, while Graham Ashcraft and Tony Santillan were sidelined for multiple months by a right elbow sprain and left oblique strain, respectively.
"It’s something that’s out of our control," Suárez said. "At the same time, we have to understand that you never give up and learn from that and come ready for next year.”
Pagán put the season’s shortcomings bluntly.
“Obviously, it’s easy to point to untimely injuries," Pagán said. "But the fact of the matter is, we didn’t execute well enough as a team, as an organization, as individuals, to be the type of team that we thought we were going to be. We have to find a way to be more consistent in that execution -- in all facets of the game.”
Even in a lost year, there were bright spots worth carrying forward. Sal Stewart blasted 32 home runs and drove in 111 runs while playing all 162 games, putting himself in the mix for NL Rookie of the Year.
Chase Burns, who went 15-3 with a 2.86 ERA, emerged as the staff ace and joined Stewart as a first-time All-Star. Burns also signed a seven-year, $105 million contract extension in July.
De La Cruz also made real strides, especially as a right-handed hitter, and put together his best season while becoming the fourth Reds player to reach 30 homers and 30 steals.
“It wasn’t the season that we all wanted," Stewart said. "Every time we gained some momentum, we just kind of fell back down, which sucks a little bit.
I know we could be better. I know what we’re capable of here.
Just didn’t go our way this year.”
Now the Reds head into an offseason with plenty unsettled, but with the same manager and front office in place. Francona, president of baseball operations Nick Krall and general manager Brad Meador are all returning, and the work of repairing a team that unraveled in 2026 is already waiting.
"I’ll never not be optimistic," Francona said. "I don’t care who it is.
But there’s a lot of work to do. We know that.”
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