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1 hour ago
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The Cincinnati Reds' pitching staff wilts when the opponent loads the bases.
Except this isn't about a team allowing a bunch of grand slams. This is about a team doing something that's even more inexplicable.
The Reds issue walks with the bases loaded at an unfathomable rate.
This season, Cincinnati has played 38 games. They've walked in a run with the bases loaded 14 times.
In more than a third of their games, they walk in a guy when the bases are juiced.
They had just seven walks with the bases loaded in the entirety of the 2025 season:
This would seem impossible...but it's true.
38 games into the season, #Reds pitchers have issued a walk with the bases loaded 14 times.
14 times. 14 runs.
That puts them on pace for 60 bases loaded walks this season.
In 2025, they issued 7 walks with the bases loaded ALL of… pic.twitter.com/twOuaqYBRv
MORE: This crazy Aaron Judge, Bo Bichette stat sums up Yankees, Mets seasons
This is a stat that's almost impossible to believe.
There are entire games where an offense won't load the bases. And then even when they do, it's not often that those plate appearances end in walks.
The league-wide walk rate is less than 10% of plate appearances ending in a base on balls, and while on the one hand pitchers are careful with the bases full, there's also a bit of an underwhelming embarrassment about walking in a run.
It's hard to know if any team has ever done this poorly at this stat before, because such data isn't usually tracked too deeply. But it's clear that the Reds are doing something at a brutal rate, and it's not helping their cause.
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