Sports

While the Cincinnati Reds broke their losing streak finally against the Giants, they followed that win up with a very frustrating loss the following day. As I am writing this, they are hoping to pull off a much-needed series win on Sunday, but there are so many question marks with this roster. Can this team get back to .500 baseball? Can they find a way to win games when they get behind early? Will they finally figure out the fine line between being aggressive and making mistakes on the pads? I’m not sure of the answer or how to fix the looming issues with this team, but I do know that I am so very tired of the “it’s a long season” mindset. I’ve watched Cincinnati sports my whole life. It’s time to win now and not let this season get away before they even hit mid-May. At 40 games into the season, the Reds have a losing record. You can’t chalk it up to “it’s a long season” forever.

WEST LIBERTY – WL-S beat Fairbanks, 3-2, in OHC baseball on Friday.

Ball State University senior pitcher Francys King – a Mechanicsburg graduate – hurled just the second recorded perfect game in program history to lead the visiting Cardinals to a recent 8-0 victory over Central Michigan in the Mid-American Conference.

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA has been warned of legal action from players and national leagues if it does not backtrack on adding new and bigger competitions to the congested calendar of men’s international soccer.

The Urbana RamJets 11-U baseball team captured the 11th Annual Burning Bat Tournament in Pickerington, Ohio, last weekend.

The last week of Reds baseball has nearly been unwatchable. I’ve never turned a Reds game off, but I was very close on Sunday, as the Reds continued one of the worst offensive droughts in their history. The good news is that it can’t get any worse (if it can, I will have to start a new Netflix series). Players like CES, Benson, and Candelario are massively underperforming, while players like Thompson, Martini, Maile, and Fairchild do not belong on a big-league roster. The Reds are now batting collectively as a team ,209, which statistically makes them the worst offensive team in all of baseball (Woof). It’s been the pitching year after year and finally when the pitching staff is dominant, the offense decides to make every pitcher look like a Cy Young winner. I believe the Reds will turn it around, but drastic times should result in drastic measures. The front office butchered the Mike Ford handling, but now they really need to make some roster moves before they lose attendance at GABP. Higgins, Capel, or Dunn should be on this roster and if they go 0-20 then they have completed the same thing that Nick Martini completed over his tenure with this team. There is literally 0 risk of trying someone new at DH. 2 home runs on Opening Day and I remember people being glad he was on the roster and not Joey Votto, Yikes! At least Cincinnati would’ve picked up the bats on the dugout floor and maybe Votto could be hitting .220 with 6 home runs for this team. Isn’t it sad how .220 sounds good at this point in the season? Even Kirk Herbstreit is giving up on this roster and he is one of the biggest Reds fans in the nation. While it has been a very bad week, stay with this team and help them tread water until Friedl, Marte, and McLain return. It’s a long season and staying at .500 baseball until July could be enough to go on a run and make the playoffs with a healthy roster. Let the marathon continue!

The sectional pairings for prep baseball were announced on Sunday.

The sectional pairings for prep softball were released earlier this week.

DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are reuniting with running back Ezekiel Elliott after agreeing to terms on a contract with the former two-time rushing champion, a person with knowledge of the deal said Monday.

Over the weekend, the Cincinnati Bengals received many great compliments on their draft and overall received some very high draft grades. While draft grades mean nothing, it does show that many experts believe that Cincinnati added at the right positions at the correct time during the draft to fit their needs. Let’s take a look at who will be wearing the orange and black this season: