Homer Bailey Claims Cincinnati Reds Have Been Overlooked: Have They?

After Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey completed his no-hitter on Friday night, he was bombarded with questions about the game, answering nearly every one of them in a very humble and attention-deflecting manner.

He sang the praise of his defense and of his catcher, Ryan Hanigan. But as John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer tells us, somewhere along the way he began to rant about the Reds being overlooked for all of their accomplishments. 

This brings up the obvious question: Have the Cincinnati Reds and their accomplishments been overlooked this year?

It seems as though Bailey was referring to the national media, in particular ESPN, as John Fay discussed with Marty Brennaman during the Reds' on-air broadcast Saturday night.

In some sense, Bailey seems to have a point; but in another he may be a bit ignorant in his claims. Let's dig a little deeper here.

Check out this article by Chad Dotson of RedlegNation.com that was featured on ESPN and highlighted why Johnny Cueto should be on the national radar. Did you catch one of the millions (exaggeration) of articles that reviewed Joey Votto as the best player in the game or claimed that Aroldis Chapman was the eventual Cy Young winner? There was also recently a video highlighting Todd Frazier and his accomplishments on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

The point being made here is that the Reds have been getting some pretty decent attention from the mother of all sports networks. Many players have been highlighted, but Bailey himself hasn't, and the starting rotation that he pitches in hasn't gotten much praise as a whole either.

As Homer Bailey points out in John Fay's article, he is one of four Reds starters to have passed the 200-innings pitched plateau this season—for the first time since the White Sox did it in 2006. The Reds also became only the seventh team in MLB history to have five starters with at least 30 starts. These are some pretty remarkable triumphs, and outside of local media, nothing has really been made of these accomplishments.

So in a sense, yes, Homer Bailey does have some room to spat at the media for overlooking feats that he has personally been a part of. But the national media has not completely overlooked Cincinnati.

You just pitched a no-hitter, Homer, your team has clinched the NL Central and will be in the national spotlight next weekend. Just sit back and chill, enjoy the moment and maybe even crack open a cold one—you're about to get plenty of attention. 

Make the best of it.

You can follow Josh Ramsey on Twitter @JRamCincy