Reds could celebrate playoff berth with ‘our baseball family’
The Cincinnati Reds’ playoff celebration started next to the Target Field mound in Minneapolis at 11:48 p.m. ET and continued for a long time in the visiting clubhouse.
Before the champagne was sprayed, the cigars were lit and the beers were sipped, the Reds gathered for their typical ritual after wins. They traveled all season with a gold gong that can be held up by a string, which Joey Votto bought for the team. After wins, a couple of players will bang the gong with a mallet to start the team’s celebration.
“There’s one guy to hit this gong tonight,” Tucker Barnhart announced to the room. “The only and only David Bell!”
The team cheered as the manager grabbed the mallet and tapped the gong. Barnhart wasn’t satisfied when Bell offered to hand the mallet back to him. This was a playoff team. He urged Bell to swing again. Bell winded his arm up and blasted the gong. The room went wild.
The Reds are headed back to the postseason for the first time in seven years.
“The first one was pretty weak and then he had me do it again and I didn’t waste that opportunity,” said Bell, who hadn’t hit the gong until Friday. “It was brought here by Mike Moustakas and all of our players have really latched onto it. It’s nice because sometimes you got to stop and celebrate it.”
Moustakas, who said he did something similar in Kansas City added, “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, where they’re at the standings or what they’re doing, these are the best players in the world. To go out there and win a game is something to be celebrated every single night. Just doing those things like that helps us enjoy it even a little bit more and have some fun.”
The Reds put on their red MLB playoff T-shirts, “Respect Cincinnati,” during their on-field postgame celebration and wore them throughout their celebration. The T-shirt represented so much to them.
For a lot of players in the clubhouse, it’ll be the first time in their careers that they’ve had a taste of the postseason. There were tears. There was a lot of hugging. Players took photos together and shared them on social media.
It was a strange scene played without any fans in the crowd. Players couldn’t celebrate with their families at the ballpark. It might not have been a normal playoff celebration, but that may have been fitting in 2020.
“Unique this year? This is the only way I know,” Michael Lorenzen said. “It’s not very unique to me. We celebrated and maybe next year will be unique because this one is my first. It’s all I know. It’s a lot of hugs. We’re giving a lot of love around the guys.
“We went through a lot this year. We’ve been through a lot. From the outside looking in, I’m sure you’ve seen it, but there is a lot that goes on in the clubhouse when you have this pressure on you to win ballgames and we weren’t living up to that. We’ve been through a lot and we stuck together.”
Bell said the first call he made was to his younger sister, Traci. She has Down’s syndrome and is a die-hard Reds fan. Bell’s brother, Mike, is the bench coach with the Minnesota Twins. Mike Bell laughed that he knew where her allegiance stood this weekend.
“She was fired up,” David Bell said of his sister. “Had a little celebration. It’s a beautiful voice to hear, especially when she’s happy and excited. It was a fun call to make right after the game.”
After the champagne-spraying celebration, in an auxiliary area with concrete floors, some players returned to the dugout and puffed on their victory cigars in a quieter area.
“It’s been different,” Amir Garrett said. “We can’t celebrate on the field. We can’t celebrate with our families. But we’ve got our baseball family here. That’s the most important thing. We’ve got each other. We’re in there having fun, man. Drink some beers, smoking some cigars. We’re enjoying the moment. We’re in the moment right now. It’s the best feeling.
“There was champagne everywhere. Oh my god. Listen to me. Listen to me when I tell you guys this: I am so happy. I am so happy right now. You guys don’t understand, I’m so happy.”
All interviews this season are conducted virtually through Zoom. Garrett was one of the last players brought into the interview room. After answering questions for six minutes, he was asked if he remembered a turning point in the season when everything clicked for the Reds.
Garrett raised his hands and shrugged.
“I can’t even tell you,” he said. “I don’t even remember. I drank so much champagne and Bud Light and Corona. I don’t know what I got for you. We’re in the playoffs. That’s all I know.”