For all the hopes, dreams and good vibes that came with the Cincinnati Reds’ hot start, no team in baseball has been worse since the start of May.The Reds entered that month leading the National League Central with a 20-11 record but have gone 23-41 since. Nobody wants to admit the season’s hopes are over at the All-Star break, but in order for history not to repeat itself, this team must face that fact.So what does that mean for the remaining 67 games? Here’s what the Reds must focus on over the second half of the season.There must be ruthless self-evaluationTo move forward, the Reds have to look at what went wrong to get to this point. Was the 2025 playoff run a fluke, or is this year the anomaly?What is certain is that the team’s offense hasn’t been good enough. That’s not just due to injury or bad luck. The Reds are tied for 27th in batting average (.230), 24th in on-base percentage (.310), tied for 24th in OPS+ (91) and 22nd in runs per game (4.16). As a team, the Reds have a strikeout percentage of 25 percent, only slightly better than that of the Los Angeles Angels.Whatever has been done in evaluation and development, even with the emergence of Sal Stewart, hasn’t been good enough to put a consistent offense on the field.Elly De La Cruz is eligible for arbitration for the first time after this season, meaning he has three years remaining under team control under the current rules. If the goal is to win with De La Cruz, there is a deadline looming — he’ll be eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.The most important part is to identify who else will fill out the roster around De La Cruz.The team has a core for its rotation that is also under team control through 2029 (Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott) and longer (Chase Burns, Rhett Lowder).