A baseball coach used to pose this question to his team: "Would you rather go 4-for-4 and lose a heartbreaker, or strikeout three times but then deliver the game-winning hit?"
It's definitely clear which player goes home happier. That final, clutch moment erases all the frustration that came before. And this age-old baseball adage has to be the approach for Cincinnati Reds generational talent Elly De La Cruz in the final week-plus of the MLB regular season.
De La Cruz is in the slump of all slumps.
He last hit a home run on July 31.
Since then, he's batting .205 with a .545 OPS over 188 plate appearances.
He has 20 more strikeouts (56) than hits (36) over that span.
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But the Reds, without much help from Elly, have stayed in the postseason race. They're 2.0 games behind the New York Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot with nine games to play entering Friday. They've got a real chance.
It's easier said than done, of course.
How does De La Cruz clear his mind of all that has come before to deliver when it matters? Hitting is hard, really hard, and it's even harder when doubts creep in.
Elly and the Reds have likely tried all sorts of things to snap out of this slump, and it has to be quite frustrating.
But he's been presented with this chance, a week-and-a-half to shine as bright as his talent dictates, a nine-game span to propel his team to the postseason.
The Reds have been waiting for De La Cruz to get this final, meaningful chance. And sure, he's been in the worst slump of his life. But that doesn't mean he can't be the hero.
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