Heading into the 2020 season, the Cincinnati Reds were picked by many to win the National League Central and they were even a dark horse candidate to go to the World Series.
But partly thanks to the Detroit Tigers, those expectations have dropped a bit as the Reds are 2-5 after the first seven games of the season, with three of those losses coming at the hands of the Tigers.
The most recent of those Reds’ losses came on Friday night at Comerica Park as the Tigers played what may have been there most complete game in a couple of years.
Spencer Turnbull was outstanding, as he gave up two runs on just three hits over six innings of work to pick up his first win in forever, while the Tigers bats provided seven runs on 11 hits on way to a 7-2 victory.
With the win, the Tigers, who were projected to be one of the worst teams in baseball, again, moved to 5-3 on the season.
Following the game, Nick Castellanos praised his former team for their camaraderie.
“Their camaraderie is second-to-none,” he said.
“That’s extremely important on a team that wins. … All of those guys have been in the trenches now for a couple of years. When you’re in the trenches together and you’ve got to lean on one another, that builds character on a team.
“Eventually, I think, that is a good recipe for battling each and every night.”
Whether or not the Tigers will continue their winning ways is to be determined, but for now, manager Ron Gardenhire sure does have his players playing loose and having fun together.
And as Castellanos said, camaraderie is important on a winning team.
Nation, do you think the Tigers will continue their winning ways or is this solid start to the season just fool’s gold?