The Reds’ recent run under Terry Francona should look familiar to Guardians fans 

Remember what it was like when Terry Francona was the Guardians’ manager? When they’d look great in April then forget how to play baseball for most of the summer before heating up at the end of the season and sneaking into the postseason. 

That’s playing out this year with the Reds — the newest team managed by Francona. After going just 12-15 in August, the Reds have gone 10-8 and September and now control their postseason destiny thanks to a historic collapse by the Mets.

The Reds just picked up a four game sweep over the Cubs over the weekend to push their record to 80-76 and put them into the final Wild Card spot (they’re technically tied with the Mets but hold the tiebreaker). 

The Reds finish the season with three games against the lowly Pirates before playing three against the Brewers, who have already clinched the National League Central and could clinch the home-field advantage before the start of their series against the Reds. 

Winning six games in a row is tough, but the Reds have as good of a chance as anyone given how they've been playing as of late.

Reds fans are getting Terry Francona experience that Guardians fans should acutely understand

Cincinnati's run under Francona is even more impressive when you consider the roster he’s doing it with. Elly De La Cruz and Austin Hays are their only everyday position players who have been above league average by measure of OPS+ and they have a bullpen ERA that’s hovering around the middle of the pack. 

But both of those things have been boosted up by a starting rotation led by Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Brady Singer and Nick Lodolo.  

The Reds have been in almost every game this year thanks to strong starting pitching, but picking wins has seemingly always been an adventure thanks to an inconsistent starting lineup and a bullpen that’s missing a shutdown reliever. 

But even with that, they’re in a spot where they can control their postseason destiny, which is hard to believe. 

“This last month, month-and-a-half, there’s been a lot of ups and downs,” pitcher Nick Martinez said after their win on Sunday, per C. Trent Rosecrans. “But like I said, we’re hard to kill. When we play our style, we’re a hard team to kill.”

Last year, the Reds limped to a 77-85 season that led to the team firing David Bell and hiring Francona, which has led to him turning things around this season. It’s not dissimilar to what happened in 2013 when Francona led the Guardians to the Wild Card a year after they only won 68 games. 

Even if the Reds don’t make the postseason this year (they still only have a 41.5% chance of making the postseason per Fangraphs), their push toward the postseason this year shows how every team managed by Francona has a legitimate shot at being a postseason team.

That theme should be familiar to Guardians fans.