The city of Cincinnati had a very interesting year with its
three professional sports teams. There was some good, some bad, and some ugly
as FC Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Cincinnati Bengals all competed
in their respective sports to bring a championship to the Queen City. So how
was 2018 for each team? Let's take a look.
Let's start with the good. FC Cincinnati by far had the best
year when compared to the Reds and the Bengals. They once again set numerous
attendance records and strung together a 23 match unbeaten streak that
culminated in a United Soccer League Regular Season Championship. Despite
bowing out of the USL Cup playoffs in the second round, their season was a
smashing success. Forrest Lasso won the USL Defender of the Year award,
Emmanuel Ledesma won the USL Most Valuable Player award, and Alan Koch won the
USL Coach of the Year award. The biggest prize the team won was its expansion
spot in Major League Soccer. MLS officially awarded FCC an expansion franchise
on May 29, 2018, and the team will begin MLS play in 2019.
Moving on to the bad, we have the Reds. 2018 was supposed to
be a season that saw the team make strides and show that the rebuild was
actually working. Instead it turned out to be a very forgettable season as the
Redlegs once again finished at the bottom of the National League Central
Division. The lack of pitching plagued the team all season as inconsistent
performances from both the rotation and the bullpen proved to be the
franchise's Achilles heel. The hitting on the other hand was pretty good all
year as Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett, and Eugenio Suarez were the backbone of
the Reds lineup and earned spots on the National League All-Star team. Jesse
Winker and Scott Schebler became reliable at the plate as well and Jose Peraza
showed great progress both in the field and with a bat in his hand. The team
did fire Bryan Price early in the season and named Jim Riggleman as interim
manager for the remainder of the season. Under Riggleman, the Reds were hot for
about a month but ultimately still played poorly for a majority of the season.
David Bell was named manager once the season concluded and two blockbuster
additions in Turner Ward and Derek Johnson have been added to Bell's coaching
staff. Most recently, the team announced they will part ways with Billy
Hamilton which could lead to top prospects like Nick Senzel and Taylor Trammell
getting some big league playing time in 2019.
The ugly unquestionably goes to the Bengals. 2018 was a year
that started out with immense optimism as the team jumped out to a 4-1 start
with an offense that looked unstoppable. The defense was another story however
as they continued to turn in poor performance after poor performance. They were
so bad that the team's brand new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was fired
during the middle of the season. Head coach Marvin Lewis took over defensive
duties but little improvement was made. The team was ravaged by injuries as
Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, and Tyler Eifert all wound up on the season ending
injured reserved list and guys like Joe Mixon and Gio Bernard missed a few games
due to knee problems. The team as a whole looked uninspired and unprepared in
games against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns, and the Denver
Broncos. As I write this, the Bengals are most likely going to miss the
playoffs and Lewis is rumored once again to be on the hot seat. Many Bengals
fans fear that the recently fired Browns coach Hue Jackson was rehired by the
Bengals to be the heir apparent to Lewis. Overall, 2018 was a disastrous year
that reminded Who Dey Nation of the dark decade that was the 1990s.
In conclusion, 2018 was a mixed bag for Cincinnati sports.
FC Cincinnati had a very successful season and is currently preparing to begin
MLS play. The Reds had a bad season but have renewed fan optimism by hiring a
new manager and hitting the reset button with the coaching staff while their
prospects appear to be making exciting strides at the minor league level. The
Bengals are looking like a mess and are in desperate need of massive shakeup to
revitalize the franchise. Hopefully FCC builds upon its 2018 success in 2019
and both the Reds and Bengals are able to right the ship and get back to their
winning ways. With three professional major league sports teams, maybe one of
these teams can bring a championship to Cincinnati for the first time since
1990.
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