The thing that many baseball insiders said would happen at the end of the 2021 Major League Baseball season has happened.
The owners have locked out the players as the MLB Players Union and the league failed to get a collective bargaining agreement secured on Dec.1.
The two sides now enter what could be a lengthy work stoppage that hasn't happened since 1994, when the MLB Player's Union went on strike in the middle of the season. That stoppage cost the sport the World Series and a generation of fans who left the game. The home run chase in 1998 brought some fans back as the sport regained its footing.
But now with the league facing issues such as service time manipulation and tanking, a work stoppage has happened again.
But unlike 1994, this time the Cincinnati Reds clearly aren't in first-place.
The Reds have cut salary so far this offseason, jettisoning Gold Glove catcher Tucker Barnhart and veteran lefty Wade Miley from the roster following a winning season. The Reds went 83-79, just missing the playoffs and finishing third in the Central Division.
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There's a lot of "what could have been" surrounding the 2021 Reds (and the 2020 Reds for that matter), but nothing quite like 1994.
The 1994 Cincinnati Reds were World Series contenders
Before the 1994 strike, the Cincinnati Reds were the second-best team in the National League and with the best record in the Central Division by a .5 game at the time of the strike:
Central Division standings in 1994
W L W-L% GB
Cincinnati Reds 66 48 .579 --
Houston Astros 66 49 .5740 .5
Pittsburgh Pirates 53 61 .465 13.0
St. Louis Cardinals 53 61 .465 13.0
Chicago Cubs 49 64 .434 16.5
The best team in the National League at the time were the talented Montreal Expos led by future Hall of Famers Larry Walker and Pedro Martinez and future All-Stars Moises Alou and Cliff Floyd.
In the American League, The New York Yankees (70-43) and the Chicago White Sox (67-46) along with Cleveland (66-47), Kansas City (64-51) and Baltimore (63-49) were among the best teams.
Davey Johnson was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds
Lou Piniella had resigned as the Reds manager at the end of the 1992 season and first-year general manager Jim Bowden hired Hall of Famer Tony Perez manager.
Doc:No one as entertaining, creative or brash as Jim Bowden
That didn't end well.
Perez lasted just 44 games before he was fired in 1993 and replaced by former Mets manager Davey Johnson. He was 53-65 but returned in 1994.
Johnson led the Reds to the playoffs in 1995 and is the last manager to win a playoff series in Cincinnati.
Who was on the 1994 Cincinnati Reds?
Future Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who would win league MVP in 1995, was the starting shortstop for the Reds. Future All-Star Bret Boone was at second and former MVP Kevin Mitchell, who finished ninth in MVP voting in 1994, was in left field.
Reggie Sanders, who would have a breakout season in 1996, was in right field. The Reds added two-sport star Deon Sanders in 1994. The Reds traded Roberto Kelly and Roger Etheridge to Atlanta for "PrimeTime."
Jeff Brantley, radio voice of the current Reds, was in the bullpen
"The Cowboy" Jeff Brantley, who was 6-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 15 saves, pitched out of the bullpen in 1994, his first season with the Reds. Brantley had signed as a free agent the previous winter.
The pitching staff also included Jose Rijo, the 1990 World Series team ace. He started 26 games with a 9-6 record and 3.08 ERA. John Smiley as also effective, with a 11-10 record and 3.86 ERA.
Pete Schourek, who would finish second in the Cy Young voting in 1995, went 7-2 with a 4.09 ERA after being claimed off waivers on April 7, 1994.
How the 1994 Cincinnati Reds season played out
The Reds, just four years removed from winning the World Series, lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Opening Day but went 15-7 the rest of April.
The Reds finished the first half with a 52-35 record.
The Reds were 5-5 in August games before the season was stopped and had lost back-to-back games to the Dodgers, including a 2-0 loss on Aug. 11, 1994, that would be the team's final game.
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