The Key for the week of April 28, 2025
Who are these Reds?
And what have you done with the ones who couldn’t score a run? All of a sudden the Reds bats are heating up and sending the team above .500 for the first time since May 1, 2024. The Reds are getting ready to close out April on a 16-13 record, sparked in part by outfielder Austin Hays, who is hitting .365 in the two weeks he’s been playing, but now is nursing a tender hamstring. You might remember he started the season on the DL with a calf injury. Other injuries to watch: Jeimer Candelario is being checked for a lower back issue, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand is on the shelf with his own lower back soreness. But don’t look now, Reds outfielder Gavin Lux leads the National League in batting with a .352 average.
Pete to the Hall?
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says he’ll decide soon on a request to end the permanent ban on Pete Rose, after Manfred talked with President Trump about Rose. The President is on the record as saying the ban should be lifted and promised a presidential pardon for Pete, and this is the first time since then that Manfred said he would re-consider a petition to have Rose removed from MLB’s permanently ineligible list. Pete famously predicted this scenario, expecting that he would make Baseball’s Hall of Fame after his death. The reinstatement would open the way for Rose to be considered for the Hall of Fame. You might remember Manfred denied Rose’s application for reinstatement in 2015.
Down the stretch they come (Ben’s Best Bet)
Saturday’s Kentucky Derby sports a 20-horse field for the 151st edition of the Run for the Roses, with Journalism coming in as an early 3-1 favorite from the number 8 post. Second choice is Sovereignty, starting from post position 18. The Derby marks the return of Hall of Fame Trainer Bob Baffert, back from a four-year suspension after now-deceased Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test in 2021. Baffert’s horses, Rodriguez (12-1) and Citizen Bull (20-1) are starting from the #4 and #1 post positions respectively. Who loves Journalism? Ben started Poor Richard’s Almanack, you know, so Journalism may just win out on this Saturday.