2020 Cincinnati Reds season

The 2020 Cincinnati Reds season was the 151st season for the franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), and their 18th at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. They made the playoffs as the number 7 seed in the National League, but were swept in two games by the Atlanta Braves in the NLWCS. The Braves held the Reds scoreless for all 22 innings in the series, an MLB postseason record.

2020 Cincinnati Reds
National League Wild Card Winners
League	National League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Great American Ball Park
City	Cincinnati, Ohio
Record	31–29 (.517)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	Bob Castellini
President of baseball operations	Dick Williams
General managers	Nick Krall
Managers	David Bell
Television	Fox Sports Ohio (Thom Brennaman (through August 19), Chris Welsh, George Grande, Jeff Brantley, Jim Day, Jeff Piecoro)
Radio	WLW (700 AM) Reds Radio Network (Tommy Thrall, Jeff Brantley, Jim Day, Thom Brennaman, Chris Welsh, Doug Flynn (fill-in), Sam LeCure (fill-in), Danny Graves (fill-in))
Stats	ESPN.com Baseball Reference
← 2019 Seasons 2021 →

On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled.^[1] Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks.^[2] On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 24 Opening Day.^[3]

The shortened season led to the Reds recording the lowest number of hits (390) by a team in the modern era (since 1901).^[4] Their batting average of .212 was the lowest in MLB since the 1910 Chicago White Sox hit .211.^[5]

Offseason

Coaching Staff

• October 24, 2019: Named Alan Zinter hitting coach. Zinter was previously the Assistant Director of Player Development, Offense, for the San Francisco Giants the past two seasons.^[6]
• December 17, 2019: Named Joe Mather assistant hitting coach. Mather was previously the Minor League Field and Hitting Coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks.^[7]

Signings

• December 2, 2019: Signed free agent Mike Moustakas to a four-year, $64 million contract. Moustakas played second and third base for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019 and is expected to play second base for the Reds.^[8]
• December 16, 2019: Signed free agent starting pitcher Wade Miley to a two-year, $15 million contract.^[9]
• January 6, 2020: Signed Japanese outfielder Shogo Akiyama to a three-year, $21 million contract.^[10] Akiyama will be the first Japanese-born player to play for the Reds, who were the last team to have never had one play for them.
• January 10, 2020: Agreed to one-year contracts with the following players, avoiding arbitration: starting pitcher Trevor Bauer, $17.5 million; reliever/outfielder Michael Lorenzen, $3.725 million; reliever Matt Bowman, $865,000; catcher Curt Casali, $1.4625 million; starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, $5.9 million.^[11]
• January 27, 2020: Signed free agent Nicholas Castellanos to a four-year, $64 million contract.^[12]
• January 30, 2020: Signed free agent reliever Pedro Strop to a one-year, $1.825 million contract.^[13]

Standings

National League Central

• v
• t
• e

NL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	34	26	.567	—	19‍–‍14	15‍–‍12
St. Louis Cardinals	30	28	.517	3	14‍–‍13	16‍–‍15
Cincinnati Reds	31	29	.517	3	16‍–‍13	15‍–‍16
Milwaukee Brewers	29	31	.483	5	15‍–‍14	14‍–‍17
Pittsburgh Pirates	19	41	.317	15	13‍–‍19	6‍–‍22

If rescheduled games are the difference between the 5–8th seed in the playoffs, they are not played. The Cardinals did not play two games.

National League Wildcard

• v
• t
• e

Division Leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
Los Angeles Dodgers	43	17	.717
Atlanta Braves	35	25	.583
Chicago Cubs	34	26	.567

• v
• t
• e

Division 2nd Place

Team	W	L	Pct.
San Diego Padres	37	23	.617
St. Louis Cardinals	30	28	.517
Miami Marlins	31	29	.517

• v
• t
• e

Wild Card teams
(Top 2 teams qualify for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cincinnati Reds	31	29	.517	+2
Milwaukee Brewers	29	31	.483	—
San Francisco Giants	29	31	.483	—
Philadelphia Phillies	28	32	.467	1
Washington Nationals	26	34	.433	3
New York Mets	26	34	.433	3
Colorado Rockies	26	34	.433	3
Arizona Diamondbacks	25	35	.417	4
Pittsburgh Pirates	19	41	.317	10

Record vs. opponents

2020 National League record v t e Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2020
Team	CHC	CIN	MIL	PIT	STL	AL
Chicago	—	6–4	5–5	6–4	5–5	12–8
Cincinnati	4–6	—	6–4	7–3	4–6	10–10
Milwaukee	5–5	4–6	—	5–5	5–5	10–10
Pittsburgh	4–6	3–7	5–5	—	4–6	3–17
St. Louis	5–5	6–4	5–5	6–4	—	8–10

Game log

Regular season

2020 Game Log: 31–29 (Home: 16–14; Away: 15–15)
July: 2–5 (Home: 2–4; Away: 0–1) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Box/Streak 1 July 24 Tigers 7–1 Gray (1–0) Boyd (0–1) — 1–0 W1 2 July 25 Tigers 4–6 Farmer (1–0) Iglesias (0–1) Jiménez (1) 1–1 L1 3 July 26 Tigers 2–3 Cisnero (1–0) Lorenzen (0–1) Jiménez (2) 1–2 L2 4 July 27 Cubs 7–8 Lester (1–0) Miley (0–1) Jeffress (1) 1–3 L3 5 July 28 Cubs 5–8 Mills (1–0) Reed (0–1) — 1–4 L4 6 July 29 Cubs 12–7 Gray (2–0) Hendricks (1–1) — 2–4 W1 — July 30 Cubs Postponed (inclement weather). Rescheduled to August 29. 7 July 31 @ Tigers 2–7 Turnbull (1–0) Castillo (0–1) — 2–5 L1
August: 13–15 (Home: 5–6; Away: 8–9) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Box/Streak — August 1 @ Tigers Postponed (inclement weather). Rescheduled to August 2. 8 August 2 @ Tigers (1) 4–3 (7) Iglesias (1–0) Jiménez (0–1) — 3–5 W1 9 August 2 @ Tigers (2) 4–0 (7) Bauer (1–0) Norris (0–1) — 4–5 W2 10 August 3 Indians 3–2 Gray (3–0) Plesac (0–1) Iglesias (1) 5–5 W3 11 August 4 Indians 2–4 Bieber (3–0) Jones (0–1) Hand (3) 5–6 L1 12 August 5 @ Indians 0–2 Clevinger (1–1) Antone (0–1) Hand (4) 5–7 L2 13 August 6 @ Indians 0–13 Carrasco (2–1) Castillo (0–2) — 5–8 L3 14 August 7 @ Brewers 8–3 Bauer (2–0) Lauer (0–1) — 6–8 W1 15 August 8 @ Brewers 4–1 DeSclafani (1–0) Anderson (0–1) Iglesias (2) 7–8 W2 16 August 9 @ Brewers 3–9 Suter (2–0) Gray (3–1) — 7–9 L1 17 August 11 Royals 6–5 (10) Sims (1–0) Staumont (0–1) — 8–9 W1 18 August 12 Royals 4–5 Keller (2–0) Miley (0–2) Rosenthal (4) 8–10 L1 19 August 13 Pirates 6–9 Williams (1–3) DeSclafani (1–1) — 8–11 L2 20 August 14 Pirates 8–1 Gray (4–1) Kuhl (0–1) — 9–11 W1 — August 15 Pirates Postponed (COVID-19). Rescheduled to September 4. — August 16 Pirates Postponed (COVID-19). Rescheduled to September 14. — August 18 @ Royals Postponed (COVID-19). Rescheduled to August 19. 21 August 19 @ Royals (1) 0–4 (7) Keller (3–0) Castillo (0–3) Rosenthal (6) 9–12 L1 22 August 19 @ Royals (2) 5–0 (7) Bauer (3–0) Harvey (0–1) — 10–12 W1 23 August 20 @ Cardinals 4–5 Elledge (1–0) Iglesias (1–2) — 10–13 L1 24 August 21 @ Cardinals 4–2 Lorenzen (1–1) Cabrera (1–1) Iglesias (3) 11–13 W1 25 August 22 @ Cardinals 0–3 Kim (1–0) Miley (0–3) Gallegos (1) 11–14 L1 26 August 23 @ Cardinals 2–6 Cabrera (2–1) Mahle (0–1) – 11–15 L2 27 August 24 @ Brewers 2–4 Anderson (2–2) Bauer (3–1) Hader (6) 11–16 L3 28 August 25 @ Brewers 2–3 Woodruff (2–2) Castillo (0–4) Hader (7) 11–17 L4 — August 26 @ Brewers Postponed (Boycotts due to Jacob Blake shooting). Rescheduled to August 27. 29 August 27 @ Brewers (1) 6–1 (7) Gray (5–1) Houser (1–3) — 12–17 W1 30 August 27 @ Brewers (2) 6–0 (7) Sims (2–0) Lindblom (1–2) — 13–17 W2 31 August 28 Cubs 6–5 Mahle (1–1) Hendricks (3–4) Iglesias (4) 14–17 W3 32 August 29 Cubs (1) 0–3 (7) Darvish (6–1) Bauer (3–2) Jeffress (4) 14–18 L1 33 August 29 Cubs (2) 6–5 (7) Kuhnel (1–0) Kimbrel (0–1) 15–18 W1 34 August 30 Cubs 1–10 Rea (1–0) Castillo (0–5) — 15–19 L1 35 August 31 Cardinals 5–7 Hudson (1–2) DeSclafani (1–2) Gallegos (2) 15–20 L2
September: 16–9 (Home: 9–4; Away: 7–5) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Box/Streak 36 September 1 Cardinals 2–16 Kim (2–0) Gray (5–2) — 15–21 L3 37 September 2 Cardinals 4–3 Iglesias (2–2) Gallegos (1–1) — 16–21 W1 38 September 4 @ Pirates (1) 4–2 (7) Castillo (1–5) Brault (0–2) Iglesias (5) 17–21 W2 39 September 4 Pirates (2) 3–4 (7) Howard (2–1) Bauer (3–3) Rodríguez (3) 17–22 L1 40 September 5 @ Pirates 6–2 Garrett (1–0) Williams (1–6) — 18–22 W1 41 September 6 @ Pirates 2–3 Rodríguez (1–2) Iglesias (2–3) — 18–23 L1 42 September 8 @ Cubs 0–3 Mills (4–3) Mahle (1–2) Jeffress (6) 18–24 L2 43 September 9 @ Cubs 3–0 Bauer (4–3) Darvish (7–2) Iglesias (6) 19–24 W1 44 September 10 @ Cubs 5–8 Ryan (1-0) Gray (5–3) Jeffress (7) 19–25 L1 45 September 11 @ Cardinals 3–1 Castillo (2–5) Wainwright (4–1) — 20–25 W1 46 September 12 @ Cardinals 1–7 Hudson (3–2) Antone (0–2) — 20–26 L1 47 September 13 @ Cardinals 10–5 Bradley (2–0) Gant (0–3) Iglesias (7) 21–26 W1 48 September 14 Pirates (1) 3–1 (7) Iglesias (3–3) Howard (2–2) — 22–26 W2 49 September 14 Pirates (2) 9–4 (7) Romano (1–0) Turley (0–2) — 23–26 W3 50 September 15 Pirates 4–1 Lorenzen (2–1) Musgrove (0–5) Garrett (1) 24–26 W4 51 September 16 Pirates 1–0 Castillo (3–5) Brubaker (1–2) Iglesias (8) 25–26 W5 52 September 18 White Sox 7–1 Mahle (2–2) Stiever (0–1) — 26–26 W6 53 September 19 White Sox 0–5 Foster (5–0) Bauer (4–4) — 26–27 L1 54 September 20 White Sox 7–3 Sims (3–0) Cease (5–3) — 27–27 W1 55 September 21 Brewers 6–3 Castillo (4–5) Woodruff (2–5) — 28–27 W2 56 September 22 Brewers 2–3 Anderson (4–3) Antone (0–3) Hader (11) 28–28 L1 57 September 23 Brewers 6–1 Bauer (5–4) Houser (1–6) — 29–28 W1 58 September 25 @ Twins 7–2 Lorenzen (3–1) Berríos (5–4) — 30–28 W2 59 September 26 @ Twins 3–7 Clippard (2–1) Castillo (4–6) — 30–29 L1 60 September 27 @ Twins 5–3 (10) Iglesias (4–3) Romo (1–3) — 31–29 W1
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Reds team member

Postseason

2020 Postseason Game Log: 0–2 (Home: 0–0; Away: 0–2)
NL Wild Card Series: 0–2 (Home: 0–0; Away: 0–2) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Box/Streak 1 September 30 @ Braves 0–1 (13) Minter (1–0) Bradley (0–1) — 0–1 L1 2 October 1 @ Braves 0–5 Anderson (1–0) Castillo (0–2) — 0–2 L2

Postseason rosters

Playoff rosters
National League Wild Card Series Pitchers: 21 Michael Lorenzen 22 Wade Miley 23 Archie Bradley 26 Raisel Iglesias 27 Trevor Bauer 30 Tyler Mahle 39 Lucas Sims 50 Amir Garrett 54 Sonny Gray 55 Robert Stephenson 58 Luis Castillo 70 Tejay Antone Catchers: 12 Curt Casali 16 Tucker Barnhart Infielders: 3 Freddy Galvis 7 Eugenio Suárez 9 Mike Moustakas 19 Joey Votto 38 José García 52 Kyle Farmer 64 Matt Davidson Outfielders: 2 Nicholas Castellanos 4 Shogo Akiyama 15 Nick Senzel 17 Brian Goodwin 31 Travis Jankowski 44 Aristides Aquino Designated hitters: 33 Jesse Winker

Roster

2020 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers 70 Tejay Antone 27 Trevor Bauer 53 Jesse Biddle 23 Archie Bradley 58 Luis Castillo 87 José De León 28 Anthony DeSclafani 50 Amir Garrett 54 Sonny Gray 26 Raisel Iglesias 57 Nate Jones 66 Joel Kuhnel 21 Michael Lorenzen 30 Tyler Mahle 22 Wade Miley 43 Brooks Raley 23 Cody Reed 47 Sal Romano 39 Lucas Sims 55 Robert Stephenson 46 Pedro Strop 48 Tyler Thornburg		Catchers 16 Tucker Barnhart 12 Curt Casali 37 Tyler Stephenson Infielders 29 Christian Colón 64 Matt Davidson 52 Kyle Farmer  3 Freddy Galvis 38 José García  9 Mike Moustakas  7 Eugenio Suárez 17 Josh VanMeter 19 Joey Votto		Outfielders  4 Shogo Akiyama 44 Aristides Aquino  2 Nicholas Castellanos  6 Phil Ervin 17 Brian Goodwin 31 Travis Jankowski 34 Mark Payton 15 Nick Senzel 33 Jesse Winker		Manager 25 David Bell Coaches 45 Freddie Benavides (bench) 65 Caleb Cotham (assistant pitching) 90 Delino DeShields (first base/infield) 56 J. R. House (third base/catching) 92 Lee Irving (bullpen catcher) 36 Derek Johnson (pitching) 63 Joe Mather (assistant hitting) 89 Cristian Perez (assistant bullpen/advance scouting) 61 Jeff Pickler (game planning/outfield) 60 Lee Tunnell (bullpen) 88 Rolando Valles (associate) 59 Alan Zinter (hitting)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
Nick Castellanos	60	218	37	49	11	2	14	34	0	19	.225	.486
Eugenio Suárez	57	198	29	40	8	0	15	38	2	30	.202	.470
Joey Votto	54	186	32	42	8	0	11	22	0	37	.226	.446
Shogo Akiyama	54	155	16	38	6	1	0	9	7	25	.245	.297
Jesse Winker	54	149	27	38	7	0	12	23	1	28	.255	.544
Freddy Galvis	47	141	18	31	5	0	7	16	1	13	.220	.404
Mike Moustakas	44	139	13	32	9	0	8	27	1	18	.230	.468
Tucker Barnhart	38	98	10	20	3	0	5	13	0	12	.204	.388
Curt Casali	31	76	10	17	3	0	6	8	2	14	.224	.500
Nick Senzel	23	70	8	13	6	0	2	8	2	6	.186	.357
Jose Barrero	24	67	4	13	0	0	0	2	1	1	.194	.194
Kyle Farmer	32	64	4	17	3	0	0	4	1	5	.266	.313
Brian Goodwin	20	49	5	8	2	0	2	5	4	5	.163	.327
Aristides Aquino	23	47	7	8	1	0	2	8	1	6	.170	.319
Matt Davidson	20	43	3	7	1	0	3	11	0	4	.163	.395
Phil Ervin	19	35	5	3	0	0	0	0	1	6	.086	.086
Josh VanMeter	14	34	3	2	1	0	1	1	1	3	.059	.176
Christian Colón	11	23	3	3	1	0	0	2	1	1	.130	.174
Mark Payton	8	18	0	3	1	0	0	0	1	2	.167	.222
Tyler Stephenson	8	17	4	5	0	0	2	6	0	2	.294	.647
Travis Jankowski	16	15	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	.067	.067
Michael Lorenzen	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.---	.---
Team Totals	60	1842	243	390	76	3	90	237	29	239	.212	.403

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Trevor Bauer	5	4	1.73	11	11	0	73.0	41	17	14	17	100
Luis Castillo	4	6	3.21	12	12	0	70.0	62	31	25	24	89
Sonny Gray	5	3	3.70	11	11	0	56.0	42	26	23	26	72
Tyler Mahle	2	2	3.59	10	9	0	47.2	34	21	19	21	60
Tejay Antone	0	3	2.80	13	4	0	35.1	20	11	11	16	45
Anthony DeSclafani	1	2	7.22	9	7	0	33.2	41	27	27	16	25
Michael Lorenzen	3	1	4.28	18	2	0	33.2	30	17	16	17	35
Lucas Sims	3	0	2.45	20	0	0	25.2	13	10	7	11	34
Raisel Iglesias	4	3	2.74	22	0	8	23.0	16	11	7	5	31
Nate Jones	0	1	6.27	21	0	0	18.2	25	13	13	6	23
Amir Garrett	1	0	2.45	21	0	1	18.1	10	5	5	7	26
Wade Miley	0	3	5.65	6	4	0	14.1	15	10	9	9	12
Robert Stephenson	0	0	9.90	10	0	0	10.0	11	11	11	3	13
Cody Reed	0	1	5.79	9	0	0	9.1	10	6	6	8	10
Archie Bradley	1	0	1.17	6	0	0	7.2	4	1	1	0	6
Tyler Thornburg	0	0	3.86	7	0	0	7.0	6	3	3	5	10
José De León	0	0	18.00	5	0	0	6.0	6	12	12	11	10
Brooks Raley	0	0	9.00	4	0	0	4.0	5	4	4	2	6
Matt Davidson	0	0	5.40	3	0	0	3.1	4	2	2	2	1
Joel Kuhnel	1	0	6.00	3	0	0	3.0	4	2	2	0	3
Pedro Strop	0	0	3.86	4	0	0	2.1	1	3	1	6	3
Sal Romano	1	0	0.00	2	0	0	1.1	0	0	0	0	0
Jesse Biddle	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0.2	1	0	0	1	1
Team Totals	31	29	3.84	60	60	9	504.0	401	243	215	213	615

Source:

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Louisville Bats	International League
AA	Chattanooga Lookouts	Southern League
A	Daytona Tortugas	Florida State League
A	Dayton Dragons	Midwest League
A-Rookie Advanced	Billings Mustangs	Pioneer League
A-Rookie Advanced	Greeneville Reds	Appalachian League
Rookie	AZL Reds	Arizona League
Rookie	DSL Reds	Dominican Summer League

References

1. Feinsand, Mark (March 12, 2020). "Opening Day delayed at least 2 weeks; Spring Training games cancelled". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
2. Feinsand, Mark (March 16, 2020). "Opening of regular season to be pushed back". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
3. Feinsand, Mark (June 24, 2020). "Play Ball: MLB announces 2020 regular season". MLB.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
4. "Team Batting Season Finder: For Single Seasons, from 1901 to 2020, Standard stats, requiring Hits <= 450, sorted by lowest Hits". Stathead. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
5. "Team Batting Season Finder: For Single Seasons, from 1901 to 2020, batting_avg<=.220, Standard statistics, Sorted by smallest Batting Average". Stathead. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
6. "Reds announce new hitting department structure". MLB.com. October 25, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
7. Sheldon, Mark. "Reds hire Joe Mather as assistant hitting coach". Reds.com. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
8. Sheldon, Mark. "Moustakas to Reds on 4-year deal (source)". MLB.com. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
9. "Wade Miley agrees to 2-year, $15M deal with Reds, source says". ESPN.com. December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
10. Sheldon, Mark. "Reds, Akiyama agree to 3-year, $21M deal". Reds.com. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
11. Sheldon, Mark (January 11, 2020). "Bauer inks $17.5M pact; Reds settle arb cases". Reds.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
12. Sheldon, Mark. "Reds finalize 4-year deal with Castellanos". MLB.com. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
13. Stebbins, Tim. "Pedro Strop won't be back with Cubs, agrees to deal with division rival Reds". NBCSports.com.

External links

• Official Website Archived 2008-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
• 2020 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference