5 reasons why the Reds can overtake the Brewers
By Bill Felber
Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Helio Castroneves and Joey Votto?
At age 42, Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an improbable Super Bowl upset of the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in February. In May, Phil Mickelson, 50, became the oldest Major winner in history when he took the PGA.
A few weeks later, Helio Castroneves won his fourth Indianapolis 500 at age 46.
Plainly this is the year of the uber-veteran big-event hero. In baseball, nobody fits that description as perfectly as Joey Votto, the Reds first baseman.
At age 38, Votto fits solidly into baseball’s esteemed senior citizen class. He’s a former MVP (2010), he’s a seven-time leader in on base average, and he’s a career .300 hitter.
But save for a brief appearance in the COVID-inspired 2020 expanded pseudo playoffs, he hasn’t been to the postseason since 2013. The Reds have never won a postseason series in which Votto has played. On the other hand, Votto’s never played in a postseason series during a year in which stars of a certain advanced age stood out so dramatically.
Like Brady, Mickelson and Castroneves, this 2021 season could be Votto’s year for a glorious resurrection.