2018 Cincinnati Sports Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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.