1974 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1974 Cincinnati Reds season was the 105th season for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 5th and 4th full season at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds finished in second place in the National League West with a record of 98–64, four games behind the NL West and pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds were managed by Sparky Anderson and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium.
The Reds' 98 victories were second-best in all of Major League baseball to the Dodgers' 102 victories. The Dodgers had finished in second place from 1970 to 1973: in three of those years the Reds won the NL West,. In the 1973-74 offseason, the Dodgers added center fielder Jimmy Wynn in a trade from Houston and acquired future Cy Young Award winning reliever Mike Marshall from Montreal. The Reds added a solid starter in 12-game winner Clay Kirby in the offseason.

Pennant Race

Just as they had done the previous season, the Dodgers started hot and built a large lead on the Reds in the division, due largely to their head-to-head success against the Reds, winning nine of their first ten games against Cincinnati. After losing 6–3 to the Dodgers on August 5, the Reds trailed the Dodgers by games despite a solid 66–45 record. By August 15, the Reds had cut the lead to games after winning the first two of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium marking 9 losses in 11 games for Los Angeles. In the third game, Wynn hit a seventh-inning grand slam to break open a tight game as the Dodgers rallied to a 7–1 victory, which helped keep the Dodgers ahead in the NL West. The Reds would get no closer than two games the rest of the season.
Johnny Bench put up one of his best seasons to finish fourth in the NL MVP voting to winner Steve Garvey, runner-up Lou Brock, and Marshall. Wynn was fifth.
The 1974 season also marked the first with future Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman. Brennaman replaced another nationally known broadcaster, Al Michaels, who moved to San Francisco to take the same position with the Giants.

Offseason

December 3, 1973: Mario Soto was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds.
December 4, 1973: Ross Grimsley and Wally Williams were traded by the Reds to the Baltimore Orioles for Merv Rettenmund, Junior Kennedy and Bill Wood.
December 12, 1973: Steve Blateric was traded by the Reds to the Cleveland Indians for Roger Freed.
Prior to 1974 season: Dan Dumoulin was signed as an amateur free agent by the Reds.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		160	621	174	.280	33	129
1B		158	596	158	.265	28	101
2B		149	512	150	.293	22	67
SS		160	594	167	.281	14	82
3B		150	470	132	.281	7	56
LF		163	652	185	.284	3	51
CF		150	474	133	.281	7	54
RF		88	227	57	.251	2	19

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	106	276	73	.264	7	41
	80	208	45	.216	6	28
	117	135	27	.200	2	16
	84	125	30	.240	1	20
	50	120	27	.225	2	10
	33	37	7	.189	0	5
	46	31	2	.065	0	0
	22	19	3	.158	0	0
	20	17	3	.176	0	3
	14	11	2	.182	0	2
	9	7	2	.286	0	0
	6	6	2	.333	1	3

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	36	243.0	17	11	3.04	183
	36	230.2	12	9	3.28	160
	36	212.1	19	11	3.94	103
	35	186.1	13	12	3.14	141
	14	85.1	4	4	3.38	42
	16	78.1	4	3	3.68	37

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	6	17.0	1	0	3.71	14

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	73	10	7	14	3.24	53
	57	12	5	6	2.15	46
	40	3	1	1	4.08	48
	22	1	0	1	5.49	12
	24	2	1	2	4.33	12
	8	0	0	2	2.04	14
	10	0	0	0	5.40	5
	6	0	0	0	8.00	4