You guys aren't really gonna blow this, are you?

That’s what Sparky Anderson said to the Big Red Machine when they gave away some games in the standings late in the year so many seasons ago.

The Reds are five games up. There’s 22 left to play. They look tense, and they look like a team that hasn’t been here before. It’s time to let all that go and start playing one game at a time; like it’s the final game that you are going to play in your life. As I’ve stated so many times before, when your back is to the wall you’ve got to play with reckless abandon and aggression. Play like you’ve got nothing to lose. At some point you just have to say screw it and let it ride.

There’s no time to think about ‘what if you lose this one’. You think about history and tradition in this great game, and you think about the fact that this time the Reds belong, damnit. You think about pulling the rug from underneath St. Louis and saying not this time.

There’s no room for fear on this train ride. Only the thought of being mentioned with the likes of the most successful Reds teams in the modern era. Only thoughts of being enshrined in greatness forever, the 2010 Reds.

Buckle your chin straps for 22 more big ones. Scratch and claw for every out, every zero you can hang on the board. Fight tooth and nail for every inch, every run, and every edge be it mental or physical for 27 outs each night. You do that, and the rest takes care of itself.

Go out and fucking get it done, Cincinnati. This is a baseball town damnit, and this division is rightfully ours.