The 2021 Cincinnati Reds bullpen, for the first three months of the season, was bad.
Not just bad, but historically bad. The two best relief pitchers were Lucas Sims and Tejay Antone without a doubt.
But the Reds just came off a three-game sweep over this last weekend and all were one-run wins and they moved into second place thanks to relievers Brad Brach, Art Warren and Heath Hembree.
Those three did their best imitation of The Nasty Boys, who need no introduction to Reds fans. That’s one point of view. The other is that they were facing the Cubs, an underachieving team on a 7-game losing streak waiting to be blown up at the trade deadline.