I was playing Immaculate Grid’s baseball game a couple weeks ago, and one of the categories — the Cincinnati Reds — was right in my wheelhouse, a team I’ve been a fan of my whole life. But then the game threw me a curve. One of the cross-categories was a 200-hit season with the team. For the uninitiated, Immaculate Grid is a 3x3 game in which you have to pick a player that meets the criteria. Sometimes, it’s two teams, and sometimes, it involves milestones or awards. No player can be used twice in one game.
The easy answer is Pete Rose. However, I’m a player who likes to shoot for a low rarity score — kind of like a long shot in Ohio sports betting. (Each correct answer shows the percentage a certain player was guessed, sometimes down to the hundredths of a percentage point.)
After immediately crossing off players like Dann Bilardello, Juan Francisco and Pokey Reese from consideration, I came up with… nothing. While I’ve followed the Reds my whole life, I was in diapers during the heyday of the Big Red Machine. I knew players like Dave Parker and Sean Casey had come close, but again, I couldn’t think of a recent player. Turns out there’s a reason for that.
After completing the game — I ended up going with Vada Pinson, which was a correct answer — I felt compelled to do a little research. Sure enough, no Reds player had posted a 200-hit season since Rose did it in 1977 when I turned 3 years old. But there was much more to my fact-finding mission as I studied that Big Red Drought.
Longest 200-Hit Season Droughts
Ohio betting apps list the Los Angeles Dodgers as the World Series favorite at +360. Atlanta is second at +550.
Milestone Hit Seasons are Rare
According to Baseball-Reference.com’s Statfinder, 171 players have reached the 200-hit plateau in a season from 1978 to last year, when Ronald Acuna Jr., Freddie Freeman and Luis Arraez were the first to do it since Whit Merrifield and Rafael Devers made it in 2019.
In addition to that, every MLB team except for one has had at least one player go for 200 hits in a season since then, and no other team’s drought comes close to matching the Reds, a franchise far better known for their hitters than their pitchers. Case in point, Trevor Bauer was the first Reds pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, doing so in 2020.
Three teams — the Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics — have had just one player apiece reach 200 hits in a season since 1978. On the other end of the spectrum, the Boston Red Sox have had the most 200-hit seasons over the past 46 years with 20 of them. The New York Yankees have had 17, while the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners have had 13 each.
Could a Reds Hitter End Streak in 2024?
It’s possible, but manager David Bell’s penchant for platooning, which was a key factor in the team’s 2023 surprising rebound, reduces those chances some. Still, players like TJ Friedl and Matt McLain could post 200 hits, provided they’re able to stay healthy for the entire season.
Speaking of droughts, it’s been 34 years since the Reds won a World Series, and BetMGM Ohio oddsmakers give Cincinnati +4000 odds of ending that drought this season. The Reds last won a division title in 2012, and ESPN BET lists the Reds as the third choice on its board to win it this year. Their +360 odds are behind the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, both of which are the co-favorites at +175.
BetOhio.com is your source for the latest news on Ohio sportsbook promos in advance of the MLB season.
