Reds Have Sights Set On The Division.

Aug 19, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo (17), left fielder Chris Heisey (28) and right fielder Jay Bruce (32) congratulate each other at the end of the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Great American Ball Park. The Reds defeated the Diamondbacks 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

With three teams in the National League Central division battling for three playoff spots the battle for the division title will go all the way into deciding it on the final week of the regular season.

The Reds winners of seven of nine and 12 of 17 including a opening series win against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night 5-3 are showing that they aren’t content to settle for one of the NL wild card berths. They are 2.5 games behind first place Pirates and 1.5 games behind second place Cardinals. On August 8th, the Reds were starting at a season high seven game deficit in the division and having fans saying “season over” and “whose gonna be our starter in the one game playoff.”?

The offense which has been inconsistent all season picked up in the recent completed road trip scoring five or more runs in four of the six games played against the Cubs and Brewers. The starting pitching has been outstanding and the bullpen has been solid recently thanks to the emergence of Manny Parra and JJ Hoover.

All Reds fans have waited for this team to make a run at the division title they last led it was on April 22nd which seems like an eternity. As of right now things are looking up for the team as some of their main pieces are slowly coming back from injury. Pirates have lost seven of their last 10 games before winning late last night, the Cardinals are 10-8 in August and won their third in a row last night for the first time since late July.

If the season ended today the Reds would have the second wild card spot in the National League. Obviously, that’s not the goal for the team right now. The D’Backs who are in town for a four game series are the closest team chasing then came in five games back, with the win last night by the Reds they now trail by six games. The Reds are very much focused more on catching Pittsburgh and St Louis and less on Arizona.