1. Eight pitches into Game 1 they lost No. 1 starter Johnny Cueto to injury. Using No. 3 starter Mat Latos in relief destroyed the continuity of the rotation, forcing Mike Leake to start Game 4 when he hadn’t pitched in 11 days. It was disastrous.

2. Joey Votto, the team’s almighty run producer, did not drive in a run and finished the season with 205 straight plate appearances without a home run, turning him into what one observer called “a $240 million Sean Casey.”

3. Mat Latos lost control of his emotions in Game 5. Upset over three pitches not called strikes in the fifth inning, he eventually gave up a grand slam to Buster Posey.

4. Aggressive baserunning backfired. In the first inning of Game 3, Brandon Phillips stole second and tried to continue to third when catcher Buster Posey bobbled the ball but was thrown out. The Reds put three more on base that inning and scored one run. In Game 5, with two on and none out, Jay Bruce ran from second on a 3-and-2 pitch and was thrown out when Ryan Hanigan struck out, crushing a possible big inning.

5. During the final three games, all losses, the Reds treated runners on base like abandoned children. Three times in Game 5 they had two runners on base. One total run resulted. In Game 4 they stranded eight runners in the first four innings.