Opposition research: Andrew Abbott

The best starter that nobody’s talking about

When discussing the worst franchises in baseball, it’s rare that anyone mentions the Cincinnati Reds. Maybe it’s because of their storied tradition, with five World Series titles and the Big Red Machine, but all of that success came decades ago.

Their last World Series win was in 1990. The last time they won a playoff series was 1995. Heck, the last time they won a postseason game was 2012. The Reds have missed the playoffs the past four seasons, and they’ve qualified for the postseason just once in the past eleven years. And that appearance came in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when they expanded the playoff field.

You’d think that getting rid of Marge Schott as owner would have improved the franchise’s fortunes, but they’ve pretty much gone downhill. (I will listen to theories that that Schott placed some sort of curse on the franchise after she was forced to sell.)

Maybe people overlook the Reds’ lack of success because they’re never quite bad enough to warrant attention. While they have often fallen short of the playoffs, they’re never truly awful. They’ve only lost 100 games in a season one time in the past 25 years.

Because of their lack of extreme success or failure, it’s easy to forget about the Reds, and it’s easy to not notice when any of their players have great seasons. That’s probably why lefthanded starter Andrew Abbott has largely flown under the radar.

After a solid, if unspectacular first two years, Abbott has taken the next step this season. He’s reduced his walks, limited home runs, and has pitched deeper into games. He seems to be a lock to be an All-Star, and if he continues at this pace in the second half, will likely be in Cy Young contention.

The Phillies will likely load up the lineup with right-handed hitters against him, but that might not make much of a difference. Last year, he was much tougher on lefthanded batters than righties, but in 2025, righties and lefties have a near identical OPS against him.

X-Men character of the series

Mastermind

The Hellfire Club used to be regarded as one of the X-Men’s greatest antagonists. But for the most part, they’ve been an afterthought in recent years. One of their most powerful members was Jason Wyngarde who had the ability to create powerful telepathic illusions.

He was a key part of turning Jean Grey (or at least the Phoenix force posing as Jean Grey) into the Dark Phoenix. Despite dying (remember, that never slows comic book characters down for too long), he pops up from time to time when the writers need someone with his powers. For instance, he’s been retroactively inserted into the origin stories for both Polaris and The Sentry.

Additional thought about the series

The Reds are an oddly constructed team. Their lineup has one superstar – shortstop Elly De La Cruz – and a bunch of average to good hitters around him. As a result, they rank around the middle in just about every offensive category: Batting average (15th), on-base percentage (15th), slugging percentage (15th), and home runs (14th).

Pitching-wise, they seem similarly average, although the Phillies will face two tough lefthanded starters to open the series in Abbott and Nick Lodolo. Game three, they’ll face rookie Chase Burns, whose career has gotten off to a rough start.

This is a series the Phillies should win, but despite the pitching mismatch in their favor (Burns will be facing Zack Wheeler), Sunday’s game worries me a bit. After the game, the Phillies will be headed west to finish out the first half with two tough opponents (Giants and Padres). It’s easy to see them in “we’ve got a plane to catch mode” but hopefully, they can avoid that and head onto the road trip on a strong note.