With the best record in baseball, they went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS in three straight games to reach the World Series.
The Reds drew 2,629,708 fans to their home games at Riverfront Stadium, an all-time franchise attendance record.
The "Big Red Machine" was at the height of its power in the 1976 season, with four future Hall-of-Famers (Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez, and manager Sparky Anderson), the future MLB all-time hits leader Pete Rose, and a notable supporting line up including Dave Concepción at shortstop, and Ken Griffey, César Gerónimo, and George Foster in the outfield.
This would also turn out to be the final full year for the Big Red Machine, Perez would be traded in the offseason to the Montreal Expos.
Joe Morgan was the NL's Most Valuable Player for the second straight season and Johnny Bench was the World Series MVP.