As Cincinnati Reds center fielder TJ Friedl participated in the postgame champagne shower in Milwaukee with the team heading to the playoffs and got doused by his teammates, he yelled out something that summed up the season: “We figured it out!”
In 2023 and 2024, the Reds fell apart during some late season stretches filled with losses. This year, the Reds were on the verge of another one of those stretches in late August and again in the middle of September. But the young core pulled through, battled back, and made it into the playoffs, which open today in Los Angeles.
The Reds technically finished the season with the same record as the New York Mets and advanced on a tiebreaker, winning the season series with N.Y. It reinforces the idea that every win this season counted for the Reds and every moment mattered.
As the Reds celebrate, let’s honor a few of the most important pieces and moments with some 2025 awards.
MVP/Pitcher of the year: Andrew Abbott
The game that seemed to spark the Reds’ run in September took place in early September as the Reds picked up a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres, when Abbott allowed one run in eight stellar innings. His 2025 season was always about what he could do to finish the campaign strong, because he’s always fell apart down the stretch during his professional career after strong starts to seasons. Abbott’s start against the Padres, along with 4 ⅔ shutout innings down the stretch against the Chicago Cubs and Friday’s win over the Milwaukee Brewers, were capstones on his All-Star season.
Starting pitching carried the Reds this season. While Hunter Greene provided the most talented performance in 2025, Abbott was healthy for nearly the entire year and threw 166 ⅓ innings. Every fifth day, he gave the Reds a good chance to win.
Best duo: Relievers Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan
When the 2024 season started, Pagán was an unordinary middle reliever in the Reds’ bullpen and Santillan was in Triple-A. Now as the 2025 season wraps up, they’ve developed into one of the most fearless back-of-the-bullpen duos in MLB. They’ll take the ball any time, and they’ve shown they trust their stuff against any hitter.
Pagán was sensational in his first full year as a closer. Because the Reds edged out the Mets, his performance in New York in July where he started down superstars Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso for the final outs looms even larger. Santillan pitched in the second-most games in MLB this season (80), and just about every single one was a high-stress spot.
During September, Francona pitched them as much as possible. Pagán and Santillan battled fatigue and carried the Reds across the finish line.
Best decision: Moving Noelvi Marte to right field
The Reds wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Marte’s acrobatic robbed homer last Thursday versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. And they wouldn’t have made it without Marte developing from a player who was one of the worst performers in all of MLB in 2024 into one of the Reds’ best players in 2025.
Marte would also be the runaway pick for most improved. His move to right field improved the Reds’ defense and opened up a spot for the Reds to add an elite third base defender in Ke’Bryan Hayes. While Hayes cooled off down the stretch, he was one of the team’s more polished bats in August.
Best win: 8-4 over the Detroit Tigers in June
In early June, the Reds held a players-only meeting to discuss an elephant in the room. The Reds hadn’t had a single late-game comeback win in 2025 at that point. In the meeting, Gavin Lux and Jose Trevino discussed the types of strategic and motivational conversations they wanted to see when the Reds faced adversity. Cincinnati went on to rattle off 12 wins in 17 games, and the comeback on the road against a Detroit team with the best record in baseball at the time showed the Reds’ upside.
Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Will Benson all demonstrated specific improvements they had made. And the Reds got the comeback elephant off of their back.
Best addition: Starting pitcher Brady Singer
His ERA isn’t flashy, and Singer doesn’t light up the radar gun. But when the 2024 season ended, the Reds’ front office concluded that one of the team’s biggest priorities for 2025 was getting a dependable middle-of-the-rotation starter. The starting rotation collapsed due to injuries in 2023 and 2024, and they couldn’t risk that happening again.
The Reds dealt Jonathan India to Kansas City for Singer, who was as advertised as he made all 32 starts. During August and into the middle of September, he was the team’s hottest pitcher. His durability meant the Reds didn’t have to tap into Triple-A starting pitching depth that was really shaky on paper.
Playoff spotlight: Elly De La Cruz
The Reds’ shortstop had a disappointing second half of the season and was moved down to the bottom half of the order. To try to get back on track and regain some confidence, he went back to the swing he used in 2023 and tweaked it as a way to cut down on strikeouts. Elly then decided he was willing to live with more swings and misses down the stretch if that allowed him to hit for more power.
It paid off, and De La Cruz is hot entering the postseason. He has a clear history of performing well on big stages and against great teams, and he’s also had great success against the Dodgers on the bases. After dealing with a quad injury during the summer, he’s healthy again and has a chance to rewrite his story of the second half of his season.
Charlie Goldsmith has covered the Reds and Bengals since 2020, and his newsletter on the teams can be found at charlieschalkboard.substack.com. He’s @CharlieG__ on X.
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