Two years ago when the Reds won the NL Central they drew criticism from ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd for being soft. They racked up wins against the lesser teams of the NL, but struggled with in matchup against playoff contenders. As it turned out Cowherd was right. The formula worked to get the Reds into the postseason, but there stay there was brief as they overmatched badly on the way to being swept by Philadelphia.

This season the Reds are 16-14 (entering Friday’s series with Nationals) and sit 3.5 games back of the Cardinals, a team they are 2-4 against this season.

Lance McAlister of ESPN 1530 broke the numbers down on his blog:

Record vs. teams with losing record: 11-6
Cubs 3-2
Astros 2-1
Pirates 2-1
Giants 2-1
Brewers 2-1
Combined records: 69-86 .445

Record vs. teams with winning record: 5-8
Marlins 2-1
Cardinals 2-4
Nationals 1-3
Combined records: 55-38 .591

Starting with this weekend’s series with the Nationals, the Reds have a 14-game run of playing teams with winning records:

3 - Nationals (19-12)
2 - @Braves (19-13)
2 - @Mets (18-13)
3 - @Yankees (17-14)
4 - Braves (19-13)
Combined records: 92-65 .586

MLB cincinnati reds, st. louis cardinals, colin cowherd, lance mcalister