The Reds won the National League West title with a record of 95 wins and 59 losses, 10+1⁄2 games over the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A major catalyst for the Reds, Bobby Tolan, ruptured his Achilles' tendon in the winter of 1971 while playing basketball and he missed the entire '71 MLB season.
Nearly every Reds regular, including Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Pérez, Bernie Carbo and David Concepcion, had significant decreases in their production from 1970.
Surrounded by more talent in Cincinnati, Morgan would become one of the more productive power-speed players in the entire decade on his way to eventual induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Billingham's best moments came in the 1972 World Series when he threw 13+2⁄3 innings allowing no earned runs in collecting a win, a save, and a no decision in Game 7.
With Rose, Morgan and a healthy Tolan at the top of the lineup, a rejuvenated Bench was the recipient as the Reds' cleanup hitter.
and reliever Clay Carroll (37 saves, 2.25 ERA) were 12th and 13th, respectively, in the MVP voting conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Tenace had two hits and two RBI in Game 7 as Oakland scored two in the sixth inning and held on for a 3–2 victory for the A's first World Series title since 1930.