Reds MLB playoffs locker room celebration
Red players, coaches and staff pop bottles in the visitors clubhouse at American Family Field after clinching a 2025 National League wild card berth.
Elly De La Cruz played in his 162nd game of the 2025 season in the Cincinnati Reds’ season finale against the Brewers in Milwaukee, becoming the first Red to do so since Joey Votto in 2017 and the ninth Red to do so since 1962.
De La Cruz gave the Reds a 1-0 lead at American Family Field with his long home run in the top of the 2nd off of Brewers starter Freddy Peralta. The Reds didn’t win the game, but clinched a playoff berth nonetheless with the Mets’ loss.
Just seconds before De La Cruz’s homer, Fanduel Sports Network analyst and former Reds pitcher Jeff Brantley spoke during the broadcast about how De La Cruz shouldn’t play in every game next season.
“I’ll say this: He’s played every day this year. Next year, let’s get him some days off,” Brantley said. “He’s a big fella, and it’s tough to play every day when you have that kind of big body and you play as hard as he plays. I think that was a goal of Elly De La Cruz coming into this year. I think he told Terry Francona that. And Tito said, ‘Alright, we’ll try to do that, give you every opportunity.’ He’s done it. Next year, let’s get him some days off.”
“Make no mistake about it,” Brantley said just after De La Cruz’s homer. “Elly De La Cruz has the kind of talent that can take over a ballgame. … We have seen a renewed bit of energy here lately for Elly De La Cruz. That goes back to my comment about giving him some days off, because you allow him to play at 100 percent rather than having to push the envelope. He does things like he just did.”