LOS ANGELES — The Reds are staring at elimination, but their manager Terry Francona kept the tone light before Game Two. He touched on bullpen strategy, the danger of walking Dodgers hitters, and the balance between trusting a starter and managing urgency in an elimination game. He also slipped in a family story that reminded him why he loves this stage.
Asked how meaningful it was to chip away at the Dodgers’ bullpen late in Game One, Francona was candid. “It wasn’t meaningful enough to win the game, but I’d rather play till the end. Our guys do a good job of that. If you can tax people, maybe they’re not available, maybe their stuff’s not the same the next night. There’s always a reason to keep playing, but in a short series, it can help you strategically moving forward.”
One thing that did make him smile came from home. “My middle daughter sent me a picture. My 11-year-old granddaughter in Boston sat in front of the TV till the last out. She had a Reds helmet on backwards, she had a Reds jersey on, and she refused to go to bed. When I got home, I thought, ‘There are some good things.’ It’s hard not to smile.”
Shohei Ohtani was another topic. Asked if there’s ever a case for putting him on, Francona waved it off. “You’re kidding, right? Have you heard of Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman? It would be a very poor decision. He’s a really dangerous hitter, but he’s also struck out 185 times this year. That’s where we have to get to. You start walking people in that lineup and you’re asking for trouble.”
Francona admitted his main worry is how far to ride his starter in a win-or-go-home setting. “Normally you’d like to let your starter work through some issues because they can reward you with innings,” he said. “In an elimination game sometimes you can’t let him do that. That’s probably the biggest source of anxiety for me.”
The conversation turned briefly to managerial turnover across the league. Francona spoke with empathy. “I’ve been doing it so long that I know how hard it can be and how devastating it is when you lose your job. It’s not just you, it’s your family. Your heart goes out to people, even if you want to beat their brains out when you’re playing them. There are really good people, close friends, and that’s the nature of our game. That’s not the fun part of it.”
As for chatter about realignment and geography in the postseason, Francona brushed it aside. “I don’t pay attention to stuff I can’t control. By the time that happens, I’ll probably be sitting in my rocking chair. We’re happy to play anywhere. We’ll fly anywhere. Our players are young and we’ll play anywhere.”
For Francona, the job is keeping his team loose and competitive. He knows what the Dodgers lineup brings and how small the margin for error can be. But he made it clear the Reds won’t fold. “They’ll go compete and play. That’s not a concern,” he said. The Dodgers will look to finish it. The Reds, under Francona’s watch, will fight to keep the series alive.
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