20-0, 14-1, and a Front Office Staying Put: The Week the Reds Hit Bottom

There are losing weeks, and then there is what happened to the Cincinnati Reds over the last seven days. Cincinnati was swept in Los Angeles, hammered 14-1 in one of those games, then traveled to Milwaukee and lost 20-0 and 13-9 to the Brewers before salvaging a 4-3 win on Sept. 13. Add a 4-1 home loss to the Dodgers on Monday, and the Reds have dropped three of four, six of eight, and sit at 70-80 with a minus-148 run differential — dead last in the NL Central.

Milwaukee Made History at Cincinnati's Expense

The 20-0 rout wasn't just embarrassing. It was historic. The Brewers became the first team in MLB history to record multiple shutout wins of 20 or more runs in a single season, per Yahoo Sports and FanSided. Garrett Mitchell hit Milwaukee's first grand slam of the year, one of four Brewers homers, and the Brewers posted 17 runs and 20 hits in the first five innings alone. The win clinched a playoff berth for the 93-57 Brewers, owners of the best record in baseball.

For Cincinnati, the damage was thorough. The Brewers scored 33 runs across two games against a Reds pitching staff that now carries a 4.68 team ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. Over the last five games, Cincinnati's pitchers have posted an 11.98 ERA and a 2.03 WHIP, while the offense has hit .196 with a .571 OPS. That is not a slump. That is a team coming apart at both ends of the inning.

The Front Office Isn't Going Anywhere

The on-field collapse was the loud part of the week. The quieter part may matter more. Yahoo Sports reported that Reds ownership is expected to keep the front office intact atop this last-place franchise, and MLB.com's coverage had president of baseball operations Nick Krall assuming responsibility for the disappointing season while discussing his future with the club. Manager Terry Francona told ESPN he was relieved by the reports, saying, "you want to be with people that you're aligned with."

FanSided's Reds outlet framed the retention through the coming MLB lockout, arguing there's only one logical reason to run it back with Krall: the uncertainty of a work stoppage makes a front-office overhaul impractical right now. Whatever the motive, the practical effect is the same. The evaluation of this roster — and the plan to fix it — will be handled by the same group that built it.

What It Means for 2027

That decision narrows the paths back to contention, and it makes the internal ones more important.

The Burns case is real. Rookie Chase Burns is 15-3 with a 2.80 ERA, 181 strikeouts and a 1.15 WHIP over 151.1 innings. Over his last 20 starts, he owns a 2.59 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. FanSided noted that Cincinnati's record in his starts represents an obvious route back to relevance next season — and the numbers bear it out. A rotation with a healthy Hunter Greene behind Burns looks very different from the one that just gave up 33 runs in two games.

Elly De La Cruz is finishing strong. The shortstop is hitting .284 with 27 homers, 25 steals and an .875 OPS on the season. Over his last 30 days, he's at .357/.419/.991 with seven home runs and 16 RBI. That's the best ball of his season, and it's happening while everything around him collapses.

The supporting cast is the problem. Ke'Bryan Hayes is hitting .146 with a .439 OPS in 212 at-bats. The team average is .227, the OPS .696. Spencer Steer is on the 10-day IL; Greene, Michael Toglia and Blake Dunn are on the 60-day. A lineup that scores 4.17 runs per game while allowing 5.15 cannot be fixed by a single prospect promotion.

The Reds have 12 games left, all of them against teams with something to play for, starting with the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park. For a franchise that just absorbed the worst statistical week in recent memory and chose continuity anyway, those games are less about the standings than about what the next front-office decision — the one they've already signaled they intend to make themselves — looks like.