Lance McAlister

Understand how noncompetitive and non serious you have to be to lose 34 games by at least 5 runs.

And hey, the Cincinnati Reds have 16 more shots to add to it.

Three days to the Cincinnati Bengals season opener vs Tampa Bay.
No. 3 Jim Breech .....the franchise's all-time leading scorer, with 372 more points than any other player.

Dodgers 14 Cincinnati Reds 1
Elly homered for the 5th consecutive game. Sal Stewart collected two hits. The rest of the night? Embarrassing and sad.

A really good MLB team beat up a Triple-A team.

The Dodgers pounded out 14 hits, clubbed four homers, and drew six walks. They scored six runs in the 4th. They beat the Reds for the 11th consecutive time at Dodger Stadium.

Jose Trevino pitched the 8th inning, his 6th appearance on the mound this season.

That’s a sweep and the 34th loss by at least five runs. That happened 20 times last season.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired 17 of his first 20 batters. He joined the club of pitchers reaching a season high strikeout mark (10) vs the Reds.

Offense: 6 H, 1 BB, 13 K
Elly: 26th HR, career high
Sal: 2 H
Everyone else: 3 for 29 with 12 K.

Lowder: 3.1 IN, 7 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 4 K, HR, 72 pitches/43
ERA 5.81.

Bullpen: Mey 0.2, 2 R, Garcia 1.0, Johnson 1.0, 2 R, Santillan 1.0, 2 R, Trevino 1.0, HR.

Tonight's Question: What are the most controversial moments in the history of sports?

In honor of the Michigan-Western Michigan ending, let's make that our 8pm topic tonight on Sports Talk.

I'm not interested in rehashing the Michigan game. Give me a moment filled with chaos and controversy that left people in disbelief.

Here is your Wednesday night Cincinnati Reds lineup vs RHP 👀
Jorge, CF
Elly, SS
Stewart, 1B
Bleday, DH
Rodriguez, RF
Brito, 2B
Banfield, C
Friedl, LF
Hayes, 3B
---------------
Lowder

Seven.....that's how many qualified hitters are batting .300 in MLB. The league average is .244.

Qualified .300 hitters
2026: 7
2006: 38
1996: 48
1986: 23
1976: 24
1966: 12

With MLB expansion news back in the headlines, here are the latest odds for which two cities will secure the next franchises:
Nashville 2/3
Salt Lake City 5/2
Montreal 5/1
Raleigh 6/1
Portland 9/1
Orlando 16/1

Per Bet On Line

Last night, the Yankees secured a winning record for a 34th consecutive season. That is the second longest mark in MLB history.

The Cincinnati Reds have 11 winning seasons since the current Yankee streak of 34 began in 1993.

The Reds have produced four winning seasons over their previous 13 years and seven in the last 25 seasons.

Most consecutive winning seasons:
39 Yankees, 1926-64
34, Yankees, 1993-active
18, Orioles, 1968-85
17, White Sox, 1951-67
16, Dodgers, 2011-active
16, Red Sox, 1967-82
15, Cardinals, 2008-22
15, Braves, 1991-2005
15, Cardinals, 1939-53
15, Pirates, 1899-1913
(Per Sarah Langs, MLB)

Four reasons the NFL rules:

1. Hope and opportunity..........
Since 1990 – a streak of 36 consecutive seasons (1990-2025) – at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs that were not in the postseason the year before. There were six new playoff teams last season: Carolina, Chicago, Jacksonville, New England, San Francisco and Seattle.

There have been at least two new division winners for 23 consecutive seasons (2003-25), including seven new division winners in 2025.

2. Drama
In 2025, 73 games were decided by three-or-fewer points, tied for the most in a season in NFL history (2018, 2022).

There were 72 games with a game-winning score in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime in 2025, second-most in a season all-time, while approximately 70 percent of all games last season were within one score (eight points) at some point of the fourth quarter.

3. Fantasy Football

4. Gambling

Congrats to Austin Grammar! The 2020 Western Brown High School grad is one of four players named a finalist for the 2026 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year award.

The 24-year old Hamersville product captured the Surfside New York Classic in Rochester for his first career. The graduate of Webber International University shot a near-perfect 299 game in the title match. He joined me on Sports Talk to discuss.

2026 stats: $44,100 earnings, 220.66 average, one title, one top-five finish, one top-10 finish, three top-25 finishes, five cashes.

Grammar finished 32nd on tour in points and 29th in earnings, ranking fourth among rookies in both categories.

Western Brown