Homer Bailey, the Cincinnati Reds pitcher who tossed a no-hitter Friday night, thinks his team – which will make their second postseason appearance in three years – is getting no love from ESPN. He ranted to the media over the weekend:

“No one’s even paid attention … You don’t hear about that on ESPN. We keep hearing about (the Reds in the 70s). Nobody’s talking about this team, this rotation, the things we’ve done, the amount of quality starts, the innings. Four guys over 200. Five guys making every start. Johnny Cueto about to go for his 20th win. He was in Cy Young contention.

“Nobody’s paying attention to it. Nobody’s paying attention to how our bullpen is probably the best in baseball.

“We come here last night and there’s (34,000) people. We go back home and there’s only 20,000. We’re a first-place team with a bunch of exciting things going on — whether it’s Todd Frazier going for Rookie of the Year or Joey Votto going for a batting title or Johnny Cueto up for a Cy Young. A rotation full of guys that day in day out take the ball.

“I don’t think we necessarily try to get attention. But I think what everybody is witnessing with this team is pretty special. It shouldn’t go overlooked.”

The “here” referenced above is Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh! Where the sad sack Pirates locked in another losing season (some of us, cough, saw that coming). How are the lowly Pirates out-drawing a 96-win team that has the biggest division lead in baseball? I wonder if, when the postseason TV schedules are revealed, Bailey is left slackjacked when the Reds are playing mostly in the afternoon and not on ESPN. [Cincinnati Reds Blog]