Can we expect late-season runs for the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks?

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One of the more surprising storylines of the 2023 MLB season came with the uprising of two young, talented, and exciting teams — the Cincinnati Reds and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Neither team was projected to make much noise, but quickly proved the critics wrong with monster starts to their 2023 campaigns.

Here we are in late August, and both squads find themselves in the hunt for a playoff berth, each starting Monday’s play 1.0 games back in the NL Wild Card race. But what happened to them being division leaders making their mark as top teams in the league?

Young talent means a lot in the MLB, but it’s hard to have a successful season without a mix of young talent and veteran talent.

As exciting as both of these teams are, they lack one thing that is paramount to making a run in the MLB … and that is veteran talent and leadership. In a normal season, 162 games in MLB is no joke, and it’s hard for young players to come in and perform for the entire season, let alone the postseason.

In this article, I’ll take a dive into both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds and look at their chances for the rest of this season.

Arizona Diamondbacks celebration. (Photo by Rebecca Sasnett/Getty Images) /

The Diamondbacks entered the All-Star break sitting at 52-39 and in the hunt for an NL West title. They now sit at 64-61, 13.0 GB of the division lead, after winning seven of their last nine games.

Arizona was led by breakout star Corbin Carroll, slashing an incredible .273/.354/.502 for a very impressive .856 OPS and 132 OPS+. This is never a bad thing … but if you look at recent championship teams, while some have had incredible rookies (Jeremy Peña, etc.) the rookies shouldn’t have to lead the way. Carroll is surrounded by the likes of Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Evan Longoria, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who are all above-average hitters according to OPS+. Sure they can get away with this solid batting lineup, but the pitching is a bigger problem.

The Diamondbacks rotation is led by two solid starters in Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, sporting a 3.17 ERA (Gallen) and a 3.13 ERA (Kelly). After Gallen and Kelly, there isn’t much else. Young pitcher Brandon Pfaadt is getting valuable innings, but struggles with a 6.13 ERA, and other starters Zach Davies and Tommy Henry are both sidelined on the IL. If the Diamondbacks are to seriously compete, the pitching needs more depth and consistency.

All in all, the Diamondbacks have a fun, young, and exciting team that will be in the playoff and possibly championship conversation for years to come. This year, however, they just might not have the horses.

Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images) /

The Cincinnati Reds are an interesting team. The squad that was a free win marked on the schedule in 2022 turned into one of the scariest teams in baseball in just one year. After a meager 7-15 start to 2023, the Reds found themselves sitting at 50-40 at the All-Star break with a serious shot to take the weak NL Central division.

You may ask how did this happen? The answer is simple — young guns.

The emergence of young hitters Matt McLain, T.J. Freidl, Spencer Steer, and, of course, Elly De La Cruz saw the Reds go from a bottom-tier organization to one of the most exciting teams in baseball very quickly.

Let’s talk about Elly De La Cruz. This young man is a dream come true for baseball fans, especially Reds fans. His switch-hitting and his slugging have been on high display in his rookie season, but there is so much more to his game. In just 63 big league games, he has already stolen 19 bases (including home plate), and hit for the cycle. At just 21 years old, he is super talented and freakishly athletic. Every baseball fan out there would be lying if they said he wasn’t one of the most entertaining young players in the game.

The success of De La Cruz has also seemed to overshadow the other young, breakout players that the Reds have produced. First baseman Spencer Steer, shortstop Matt McLain, and outfielder T.J. Freidl are all having amazing seasons themselves, all with an OPS+ of over 100.

With all of this exciting young talent on the Reds, the problem with them is all too similar to the Diamondbacks … a lack of veteran talent. With how good these young guns have been, the fact of the matter is young players are going to have ups and downs. It is very rare you see players to the likes of Ronald Acuña Jr. or Miguel Cabrera who come into the league dominating and just don’t stop.

The Reds have felt this as they’ve fallen out of the division lead and are scratching for the last Wild Card spot in the National League. While the Reds have some promising young pitchers, just one of their starters has a sub-4.00 ERA. Walks and home run balls are a problem for this pitching staff and those two things are a recipe for disaster in playoff baseball.

Are the playoffs possible? Definitely, but I don’t see it going any further than that for the Reds. Their lineup isn’t experienced enough and the pitching staff just doesn’t have what it takes to make a run in October.

Summing it up

The bottom line for both of these teams is almost the same. Young, fun, and talented, but they lack the immediate tools to be competitive in the postseason or even make the postseason. The Reds and the Diamondbacks have both been a pleasure to watch this year, but neither team is a finished product. Fans of both teams should be excited as the future looks very bright, and the league should be watching out for these two teams in the coming years.

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