One of the biggest questions coming out of the Bengals training camp was whether or not the team could find a second receiver to complement A.J. Green — for at least one day. In the Bengals’ 34-27 victory over the Browns, Cincinnati had some weaknesses exposed, but the receiving corps certainly wasn’t one of them.   

For a few months the Pirates were a nice, uplifting story, but deep down everyone knew the Cardinals were the real threat, the real enemy of the Reds.  

When the Reds announced that Joey Votto needed knee surgery and was going to miss a month, most thought the best-case scenario would be the first-place Reds treading water and hopefully keeping the Pirates and Cardinals at bay. And even that was seen as a bit optimistic.  

One of the great beauties of baseball is that one pitch can mean everything and one game can mean nothing. The Reds are off to a slow start, winning seven of their first 16 games. It’s not ideal and wins in April count as much as wins in September, but it’s baseball — every team loses roughly one-third of its games.