The Toronto Blue Jays are headed back to the World Series for the first time since 1993, and Cincinnati Reds fans have to feel good for David Bell. The former Reds manager, who is now the Blue Jays vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager, was instrumental in helping to build this year’s American League championship team.
Bell, a Cincinnati native, steered the Reds’ ship for nearly six seasons and was then unceremoniously dumped with a week to go in the 2024 season despite having two years remaining on his contract. After firing Bell, the Reds hired future Hall of Famer Terry Francona as the team’s new manager this past offseason.
Say what you will about Bell’s tenure in the Cincinnati dugout, but outside of the 2020 season — one that was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic — the former Reds skipper never had anywhere near the level of talent that the AL Champion Blue Jays have assembled this season. It’s a stark reminder that while a manager can certainly influence the outcome of a game, the 40 players on the roster are truly the ones who make the difference between winning and losing.
Unlike the Reds, the Blue Jays were able to score runs during the 2025 regular season. While Cincinnati ranked 14th in runs scored, the Jays were among the top-5 in all of Major League Baseball. Toronto was tied for 11th in home runs while Cincy ranked 21st in round trippers despite playing half their games at Great American Ball Park. The Blue Jays’ .760 OPS was third behind only the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Reds placed 19th.
The pitching side of things favored the Reds. Cincinnati’s starters were among the best in MLB this past season, and the Jays hovered around the middle of the pack in most meaningful categories.
Where the rubber meets the road, however, is the disparity in payroll. Toronto spent $255 million on this year’s roster while Cincinnati forked over just $119 million. The Jays ranked seventh in that department, while the Redlegs are all the way down at No. 19. This isn’t to suggest that Cincinnati needs to be a top-5 spender in order to make a World Series run, but maybe duking it out with the likes of the Detroit Tigers ($157 million) and Kansas City Royals ($136 million) wouldn’t hurt.
To be fair, Bell the executive and Bell the manager are two different people entirely. But if the Reds ownership showed even a modicum of interest in spending on top-tier talent over the past few years, perhaps Bell would still be in the Cincinnati dugout and they’d at least have a playoff series win under their cap. The Reds haven’t advanced in the MLB Postseason since 1995, and haven’t won it all since 1990 — something the Jays are trying to do this season.
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