September 30, 2025 • 10 mins
Reds Broadcaster Chris Welsh joined Todd Walker to celebrate the Reds making the playoffs and looking at the Wild Card Series with the Dodgers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Reds have made the playoffs, and you can talk
about back and in all you want, but they are
in and now they get a chance of the defending
champion Dodgers. We're going to talk Reds with broadcaster Chris Welsh.
And Chris, first of all, I know that you, as
a former player and anybody that follows baseball, you know,
backing in the playoffs, I guess you can call it that,
(00:22):
but it points out that all one hundred and sixty
two games actually do count, don't they.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, they sure do. And I think the other thing
to keep in mind, Todd, is that never underestimate how
poorly your opponents can play. Because there was a three
months basically collapse on the part of the New York
Mets that opened the door for the Reds. But the
Reds kept kind of plugging along like the you know,
the little engine that could, and they believed in themselves.
(00:48):
The opportunity presented itself, and here they are getting ready
for postseason here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, the Mets were like what people refer to as
a slow motion train crash. I mean, you saw it coming,
but even a few weeks ago, you're like, well, the
Mets are going to win enough to hold off the
Reds here. But really, Chris, I think it was hard
to believe in this team after they got swept by
the A's. I gotta admit I thought that was it
for them. Can you think back to that series and
(01:15):
how they recovered?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
You know? Yeah, you know what if you go back
to the last two road trips, if the Reds had
they had to go on the West coast twice. You know,
he went to San Diego and then they went to
Sacramento to play the A's and then Saint Louis and
then in the previous road trip they went into LA
and then also to play the Angels in La. So
at the very end of the year, the schedule makers
(01:38):
didn't exactly do the Reds a whole lot of favors
by making his Reds ball club go go to the
West Coast in successive road trips. So, you know, the
Reds had to kind of keep their dabber up in
order to you know, just kind of hang in there.
And they were ambushed by the Oakland A's, no question
about that. I don't think anybody saw that coming. The
A's have a really good offensive team, and it was
(02:00):
a bandbox ballpark that they kept hitting the ball out of.
So you know, if you don't believe in yourselves, who's
going to believe in you? And I think that's the
attitude of this ball club.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, they went nine and four after that sweep, in fact,
to squeeze their way into the playoffs. As we talk
Reds with Chris Welsh here, and you think about this
Reds team, doesn't seem like they're built for the playoffs?
I don't know. I mean, for one thing, most teams
that end up winning it have a lot of power.
This Reds team certainly doesn't. Is that the biggest hindrance
(02:31):
you think to long term success in the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think that I would probably disagree with you on that.
I think that the yard built for the playoffs because
they've got great starting pitching. This isn't like the Reds
teams of old, where they had a couple of pretty
good hitters in the lineup. But if you look at
typical playoff baseball, it's normally low scoring. You don't see
middle relievers in there anymore. You know, the ninth, tenth,
eleventh guy on a pitching staff normally sits and watches
(02:57):
the game, he doesn't get in to participate. Because managers
have a short leash on their starters, they're going to
use other starters who are better pitchers than most mineral
relievers as relievers. So it's a team that if you
can run out the likes of Hunter Green when he
is on his game, he's as good as anybody in baseball.
Same for Andrew Abbott All Star this year. You know
(03:18):
you're going to maybe use Nicklodola out of the bullpen,
You're going to use Singer out of the bullpen. So
whatever it takes, they're going to do. But I like
the idea that they've got as good as starting pitching
out there as anybody maybe this side of the Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Dodgers, just the team they have to face here in
the postseason, and you talk about Hunter Green. Of course,
if we back this up a week, Chris manager Terry
Francona made the somewhat controversial decision to not pitch Hunter
Green last Tuesday in Game one against the Pirates, which
would have made him available for Sunday's game with Milwaukee,
(03:52):
and ended up working out for the Reds because now
Hunter Green is available for Game one of this series
take me back to that decision. Were you taking aback
by it at all or what did you take of
his decision not to move Hunter Green up there that
one day.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You know, I don't think it had anything to do
with Terry Francona looking ahead and seeing what matchup that
they might have in Los Angeles. They had nothing to
do with that. I think it has a lot more
with Hunter Green and how he felt physically about being
able to pitch on certain days of rest. And you know,
we all know that Hunter Green had a growing issue
(04:28):
that cost him a lot of games at the start
of this year. And Hunter's a kind of pitcher that
wants to feel really good and strong out there. He's
not the kind of guy that wants to go out
there with substandard stuff. So I think that it was
as much Hunter Green's decision as it was Terry Francona's decision.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah. Interesting take Chris Walsher's well, US Reds broadcaster reveling
in the Reds making the playoffs, and you know, when
the Reds hired Terry Francona, I think this is kind
of what they thought the season might be. I don't
think anybody thought this was you know, in ninety five
I win team, but they thought, you know, maybe we're
good enough to hang around to the end and squeeze
in the playoffs. And I guess in the long run
(05:07):
it worked out that way. And Franconah's got to get
some credit, does he not?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, he does. You know that what you just said
kind of reminds me of something that my longtime TV
partner George Grand used to say all the time. He say,
you know, the year in which you decide to compete
and contend, you don't pick that year, The year picks you.
And I think that's really what's happened here in this
ball club as far as Terry Francona goes, I really
(05:32):
sincerely believe that this club would not have gone to
the postseason. They wouldn't have won eighty games without Terry
francon at the helm, you know. And I know that
he gets a lot of a heat for some of
the decisions that he makes, but you know, for the
first manager in a long time, he levels with some
of us in the broadcast crew and he tells us
exactly what he's thinking, how things are working, kind of
(05:53):
behind the scenes information that other managers don't normally give us.
So he's got a reason for everything that he does,
and it's a legitimate reason. So I haven't second guess
one movie's made this year because he explains it to us.
He can't explain it to the general public because it
would compromise maybe some confidence that he has in players
and coaches and so on. But this guy's a master psychologist.
(06:17):
I played with him when we were teammates in Montreal.
I never saw this coming from Francona. He's always been
a really good people guy. Everybody loved him. He was
a great teammate. But he has come into the situation
now he understands the players, he understands what he needs
to do to keep the clubhouse going without overdoing it.
And I think that is a big difference maker this
(06:39):
year for this ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Well, no question about it. He's gotten them to this
point and now, of course they take on the Dodgers
or the defending champions. And I guess the other thing, Chris,
maybe you can relate more as a former player. The
Reds and Dodgers played six times, the Dodgers pretty well dominated,
winning five of the six. Does any of that matter
now or is this we're all playing with house money.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Now I've throw it out the door. Yeah, you know,
house money is what it is. And I think the
other part of that is that, you know, there's no
pressure on the underdog if the rich can steal Game
one here with Hunter Green on the mound, all of
a sudden, the pressure now is where it's on the
Dodgers and their big payroll and all their big superstars,
the same way it was on the New York Meths
(07:21):
down the stretch.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, no doubt about it. And Hunter Green gets his chance. Chris,
you know, this guy has been pegged as a number
one stud, a maybe best in Baseball type potential since
he was what twelve years old, I mean seemingly forever,
and now he's back in his hometown of LA with
the biggest stage of anybody's career. Practically, this is the
(07:44):
moment he's been living for, right, Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It absolutely has. And I think that, you know, if
he can just focus that energy and that adrenaline, you know,
on the task at hand, it's an easier thing to
say than it is to do. I mean, believe me,
I mean, all all big league pitchers, even in back,
every pitcher out there at any level, you get nervous,
you know, at the very beginning of the ball game, right,
I don't care if you're twelve years old playing in
(08:08):
a travel ball or whether you're you know, pitching the
first game of the playoffs, like Hunter Green is, you
got a little extra something going. It's a very difficult
ballance to find for any athlete to try harder but
stay more relaxed.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, that's definitely something you've got a master and Chris,
before I let you go, as we look at Hunter
Green tonight, just in general, even early on or as
the game goes on, what do you see from Hunter
Green when he's on as opposed to when he isn't.
What are we looking for tonight to be able to tell?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Well, I think early on we're going to see if
he's elevating his fastball and that he's getting the Dodgers
to swing on it. If he's able to do that,
that's a good sign coming out out of the shoot.
And I think that he's going to do that early
in the ball game, because sometimes you come out and
your adrenaline's really pumping, it's hard to get your breaking
ball working because you're overthrowing it. If he can get
(09:01):
his feet on the ground and get into some kind
of a rhythm, then he's going to break out that slider.
And believe me, that slider is when he keeps his
hand up and his fingers on top of the baseball,
he can drive that slider down and away and down
in the left hander's like showe hey O, Tommy and
Freddie Freeman. I think it's gonna be two devastating pitches
(09:23):
third time through the order. If he gets that far,
I think he breaks off that splitter. H that's gonna
be good as well. Keep in mind that the Dodgers
are not at full strength now. Will Smith, the catcher
who's right in the middle of the order, he's he's
had a broken bone. You've got Max Munsey who is
has had some lower body issues and core issues, I
guess you know. So these guys are banged up a
(09:45):
little bit. Tommy Edmund has had some ankle problems all
year long, so use his team is not exactly firing
on all cylinders right now. They've got an excellent pitching staff,
no question about it, starting wise, but the Reds that
they can get to the Dodger bullpen are going to
have real chance.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That's Chris Wellace, one of the Reds broadcast crew, and
we are of course rooting for the Reds to get
to the next round of the playoffs, something they haven't
done in thirty years. Chris, we appreciate you joining us
in Go Reds, all right, Todd, Go Ris.
The Reds have made the playoffs, and you can talk
about back and in all you want, but they are
in and now they get a chance of the defending
champion Dodgers. We're going to talk Reds with broadcaster Chris Welsh.
And Chris, first of all, I know that you, as
a former player and anybody that follows baseball, you know,
backing in the playoffs, I guess you can call it that,
(00:22):
but it points out that all one hundred and sixty
two games actually do count, don't they.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, they sure do. And I think the other thing
to keep in mind, Todd, is that never underestimate how
poorly your opponents can play. Because there was a three
months basically collapse on the part of the New York
Mets that opened the door for the Reds. But the
Reds kept kind of plugging along like the you know,
the little engine that could, and they believed in themselves.
(00:48):
The opportunity presented itself, and here they are getting ready
for postseason here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, the Mets were like what people refer to as
a slow motion train crash. I mean, you saw it coming,
but even a few weeks ago, you're like, well, the
Mets are going to win enough to hold off the
Reds here. But really, Chris, I think it was hard
to believe in this team after they got swept by
the A's. I gotta admit I thought that was it
for them. Can you think back to that series and
(01:15):
how they recovered?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
You know? Yeah, you know what if you go back
to the last two road trips, if the Reds had
they had to go on the West coast twice. You know,
he went to San Diego and then they went to
Sacramento to play the A's and then Saint Louis and
then in the previous road trip they went into LA
and then also to play the Angels in La. So
at the very end of the year, the schedule makers
(01:38):
didn't exactly do the Reds a whole lot of favors
by making his Reds ball club go go to the
West Coast in successive road trips. So, you know, the
Reds had to kind of keep their dabber up in
order to you know, just kind of hang in there.
And they were ambushed by the Oakland A's, no question
about that. I don't think anybody saw that coming. The
A's have a really good offensive team, and it was
(02:00):
a bandbox ballpark that they kept hitting the ball out of.
So you know, if you don't believe in yourselves, who's
going to believe in you? And I think that's the
attitude of this ball club.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, they went nine and four after that sweep, in fact,
to squeeze their way into the playoffs. As we talk
Reds with Chris Welsh here, and you think about this
Reds team, doesn't seem like they're built for the playoffs?
I don't know. I mean, for one thing, most teams
that end up winning it have a lot of power.
This Reds team certainly doesn't. Is that the biggest hindrance
(02:31):
you think to long term success in the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think that I would probably disagree with you on that.
I think that the yard built for the playoffs because
they've got great starting pitching. This isn't like the Reds
teams of old, where they had a couple of pretty
good hitters in the lineup. But if you look at
typical playoff baseball, it's normally low scoring. You don't see
middle relievers in there anymore. You know, the ninth, tenth,
eleventh guy on a pitching staff normally sits and watches
(02:57):
the game, he doesn't get in to participate. Because managers
have a short leash on their starters, they're going to
use other starters who are better pitchers than most mineral
relievers as relievers. So it's a team that if you
can run out the likes of Hunter Green when he
is on his game, he's as good as anybody in baseball.
Same for Andrew Abbott All Star this year. You know
(03:18):
you're going to maybe use Nicklodola out of the bullpen,
You're going to use Singer out of the bullpen. So
whatever it takes, they're going to do. But I like
the idea that they've got as good as starting pitching
out there as anybody maybe this side of the Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Dodgers, just the team they have to face here in
the postseason, and you talk about Hunter Green. Of course,
if we back this up a week, Chris manager Terry
Francona made the somewhat controversial decision to not pitch Hunter
Green last Tuesday in Game one against the Pirates, which
would have made him available for Sunday's game with Milwaukee,
(03:52):
and ended up working out for the Reds because now
Hunter Green is available for Game one of this series
take me back to that decision. Were you taking aback
by it at all or what did you take of
his decision not to move Hunter Green up there that
one day.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You know, I don't think it had anything to do
with Terry Francona looking ahead and seeing what matchup that
they might have in Los Angeles. They had nothing to
do with that. I think it has a lot more
with Hunter Green and how he felt physically about being
able to pitch on certain days of rest. And you know,
we all know that Hunter Green had a growing issue
(04:28):
that cost him a lot of games at the start
of this year. And Hunter's a kind of pitcher that
wants to feel really good and strong out there. He's
not the kind of guy that wants to go out
there with substandard stuff. So I think that it was
as much Hunter Green's decision as it was Terry Francona's decision.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah. Interesting take Chris Walsher's well, US Reds broadcaster reveling
in the Reds making the playoffs, and you know, when
the Reds hired Terry Francona, I think this is kind
of what they thought the season might be. I don't
think anybody thought this was you know, in ninety five
I win team, but they thought, you know, maybe we're
good enough to hang around to the end and squeeze
in the playoffs. And I guess in the long run
(05:07):
it worked out that way. And Franconah's got to get
some credit, does he not?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, he does. You know that what you just said
kind of reminds me of something that my longtime TV
partner George Grand used to say all the time. He say,
you know, the year in which you decide to compete
and contend, you don't pick that year, The year picks you.
And I think that's really what's happened here in this
ball club as far as Terry Francona goes, I really
(05:32):
sincerely believe that this club would not have gone to
the postseason. They wouldn't have won eighty games without Terry
francon at the helm, you know. And I know that
he gets a lot of a heat for some of
the decisions that he makes, but you know, for the
first manager in a long time, he levels with some
of us in the broadcast crew and he tells us
exactly what he's thinking, how things are working, kind of
(05:53):
behind the scenes information that other managers don't normally give us.
So he's got a reason for everything that he does,
and it's a legitimate reason. So I haven't second guess
one movie's made this year because he explains it to us.
He can't explain it to the general public because it
would compromise maybe some confidence that he has in players
and coaches and so on. But this guy's a master psychologist.
(06:17):
I played with him when we were teammates in Montreal.
I never saw this coming from Francona. He's always been
a really good people guy. Everybody loved him. He was
a great teammate. But he has come into the situation
now he understands the players, he understands what he needs
to do to keep the clubhouse going without overdoing it.
And I think that is a big difference maker this
(06:39):
year for this ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Well, no question about it. He's gotten them to this
point and now, of course they take on the Dodgers
or the defending champions. And I guess the other thing, Chris,
maybe you can relate more as a former player. The
Reds and Dodgers played six times, the Dodgers pretty well dominated,
winning five of the six. Does any of that matter
now or is this we're all playing with house money.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Now I've throw it out the door. Yeah, you know,
house money is what it is. And I think the
other part of that is that, you know, there's no
pressure on the underdog if the rich can steal Game
one here with Hunter Green on the mound, all of
a sudden, the pressure now is where it's on the
Dodgers and their big payroll and all their big superstars,
the same way it was on the New York Meths
(07:21):
down the stretch.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, no doubt about it. And Hunter Green gets his chance. Chris,
you know, this guy has been pegged as a number
one stud, a maybe best in Baseball type potential since
he was what twelve years old, I mean seemingly forever,
and now he's back in his hometown of LA with
the biggest stage of anybody's career. Practically, this is the
(07:44):
moment he's been living for, right, Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It absolutely has. And I think that, you know, if
he can just focus that energy and that adrenaline, you know,
on the task at hand, it's an easier thing to
say than it is to do. I mean, believe me,
I mean, all all big league pitchers, even in back,
every pitcher out there at any level, you get nervous,
you know, at the very beginning of the ball game, right,
I don't care if you're twelve years old playing in
(08:08):
a travel ball or whether you're you know, pitching the
first game of the playoffs, like Hunter Green is, you
got a little extra something going. It's a very difficult
ballance to find for any athlete to try harder but
stay more relaxed.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, that's definitely something you've got a master and Chris,
before I let you go, as we look at Hunter
Green tonight, just in general, even early on or as
the game goes on, what do you see from Hunter
Green when he's on as opposed to when he isn't.
What are we looking for tonight to be able to tell?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Well, I think early on we're going to see if
he's elevating his fastball and that he's getting the Dodgers
to swing on it. If he's able to do that,
that's a good sign coming out out of the shoot.
And I think that he's going to do that early
in the ball game, because sometimes you come out and
your adrenaline's really pumping, it's hard to get your breaking
ball working because you're overthrowing it. If he can get
(09:01):
his feet on the ground and get into some kind
of a rhythm, then he's going to break out that slider.
And believe me, that slider is when he keeps his
hand up and his fingers on top of the baseball,
he can drive that slider down and away and down
in the left hander's like showe hey O, Tommy and
Freddie Freeman. I think it's gonna be two devastating pitches
(09:23):
third time through the order. If he gets that far,
I think he breaks off that splitter. H that's gonna
be good as well. Keep in mind that the Dodgers
are not at full strength now. Will Smith, the catcher
who's right in the middle of the order, he's he's
had a broken bone. You've got Max Munsey who is
has had some lower body issues and core issues, I
guess you know. So these guys are banged up a
(09:45):
little bit. Tommy Edmund has had some ankle problems all
year long, so use his team is not exactly firing
on all cylinders right now. They've got an excellent pitching staff,
no question about it, starting wise, but the Reds that
they can get to the Dodger bullpen are going to
have real chance.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That's Chris Wellace, one of the Reds broadcast crew, and
we are of course rooting for the Reds to get
to the next round of the playoffs, something they haven't
done in thirty years. Chris, we appreciate you joining us
in Go Reds, all right, Todd, Go Ris.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.