It was the best of bullpens, it was the worst of bullpens.The 2026 Cincinnati Reds have been a tale of two teams.Cliche? Yes. Accurate? Also yes.While this analogy would have worked better had the Reds lost Wednesday in Philadelphia, it’s still indicative of a glass-just-a-tad-more-than-half-full prognosis of the remaining 112 games of the season entering Friday’s series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park. The Reds were 16-9 in their first 25 games of the season and 10-15 in their next 25 games and are now 26-24 after completing a — you guessed it — .500 road trip.To borrow from another literary work that most of us were supposed to have read for school at some point but probably never did, the Reds haven’t simply been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde affair. They’ve been confusing as heck.Following their first 25 games, the Reds led the National League Central — a division with all five teams above .500 — by a half-game over the Chicago Cubs. The Milwaukee Brewers were in last, but just 2 1/2 games behind the Reds at 13-10.Following their first 50 games, the Reds are tied for last in the National League Central — a division that still has all five teams above .500 — and trailing the first-place Brewers by 4 1/2 games.Maybe the easiest thing to do is to break the Reds’ performance into the offense, starting pitching and the bullpen.Starting pitchingComing into the season, the starting rotation was expected to be Cincinnati’s strength. No matter how you slice it, the injuries to Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson have had an effect on the Reds. Greene and Lodolo started the season on the injured list. Lowder and Williamson later joined them. Of those four starters, Lodolo is the only one not currently on the IL.