CHICAGO – Any last hopes the Cincinnati Reds had of making the playoffs ended at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday when the St. Louis Cardinals won their franchise-record 17th consecutive game.
Twenty-one minutes later, the Reds went down with a 7-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Reds entered Tuesday with an elimination number of 1, meaning they needed to win their final five regular-season games and they needed the Cardinals to lose their final six games to force a Game 163 tiebreaker.
Playing in a must-win game, the Reds never bounced back from an early deficit.