In 10 years, the Cincinnati Reds hope that they will be able to look back at the 2023 season and remember the moments that defined a new era of baseball at Great American Ball Park, led by a talented group of rookies who transformed a moribund team into an exciting, dominant force.

The moments — Elly De La Cruz announcing his arrival with a massive homer off of the Dodgers Noah Syndergaard in his second game, Will Benson’s walk-off in that same game, De La Cruz sliding into third to complete the team’s first cycle in 24 years in the Friday night victory over the Braves to extend the winning streak to 12, whatever happened with Ricky Karcher in Kansas City, Joey Votto’s homering upon his return to the lineup and on his 40th birthday and so many more — will be replayed over and over.

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The numbers, though, will be secondary if all goes to plan. The numbers tell a deeper story, a story full of joy, disappointment and every emotion in between.

Here are 23 numbers that tell the story of the 2023 Reds, how the team succeeded and where it fell short.

2 — The number of runs allowed by the team’s lone addition at the trade deadline, lefty reliever Sam Moll, in 25 appearances. Those two runs came on one swing of the bat, a home run by the Marlins’ Josh Bell on Aug. 9 in his only blown save with the Reds. Moll struck out 22, walked 11 and allowed 13 hits in his 24 2/3 innings with the Reds. Moll, 31, is under team control through the 2027 season.

5.43 — Only two teams, the Rockies and A’s, had a poorer ERA from their starters than the Reds’ 5.43. The team’s 787 innings from their starters were the eighth-fewest in baseball.

5.9 — The Fangraphs WAR of the Reds’ bullpen. The bullpen, anchored by All-Star Alexis Díaz, was one of the strengths of the team and a godsend for manager David Bell, whose starting pitchers could rarely be counted on for length. A total of six relievers threw at least 30 innings for the Reds and had an ERA of less than 4.00. Reds relievers dealt with more pressure than any other group in baseball, entering a game in a high-leverage situation 241 times, 31 more than the next-highest, Marlins relievers. Díaz led baseball by being called upon 51 times in a high-leverage situation. He finished with 37 saves in 40 chances. His 93 percent save percentage was tied for the best among all relievers who had 20 or more save situations.

6 — The number of players placed on the COVID-19 list from Sept. 1 to Sept. 18. The Reds went 9-7 in a stretch that saw them always have at least two players on the COVID list and as many as five at one time, with Stuart Fairchild going on the COVID-19 list the day after Fernando Cruz came off it.

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7 — How many winning seasons the Reds have had since 2000, and of those current manager David Bell has three of them, including the COVID-shortened 60-game 2020 season.

12 — The number of games the Reds won in a row from June 10 to June 24. In that time, the team went from third place, five games out of first to 1 1/2 games up in the division. Of the 12 victories, the Reds came from behind in seven of them, The streak started in St. Louis against the Cardinals and featured a sweep of the defending champion Astros and a victory over the World Series favorite Braves.

16 — The length of rookie Noelvi Marte’s hitting streak to end the season. That mark ties the club record for a rookie set by Benny Zientara in September of 1946. He also finished the season with an active 22-game on-base streak. The 21-year-old Marte was one of the four players acquired in the team’s 2022 deadline deal with the Mariners, started the season in Double A and was promoted to the big leagues on Aug. 19. In 35 games, Marte hit .316/.366/456 with three homers and six steals. He was also impressive defensively at third base, a position he played for the first time in last year’s Arizona Fall League.

17 — Center fielder TJ Friedl had 17 home runs and 17 bunt hits. He was just the second Red to reach both thresholds in the same season, joining Bobby Tolan, who had 21 bunt hits, 21 homers and 26 steals in 1969. He led MLB in bunt singles and was fourth with eight sacrifice bunts. Friedl also stole 27 bases and had eight triples, tied with Will Benson for the team lead.

20 — The Reds won 20 more games in 2023 than they did in 2022, the second-greatest difference between wins from last season to this season in baseball. Only the Rangers (plus-22) had a better turnaround.

While there’s disappointment in the Reds not making the playoffs, it should be noted that the team defied all expectations. When spring training began, BetMGM set the team’s over/under for wins at 64.5 wins. The Reds hit the over on Aug. 22, with 36 games remaining.

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26 — The total number of letters in rookie Christian Encarnacion-Strand’s name. As any kindergartener can tell you, that’s as many letters as are in the entire alphabet, but add the hyphen and it has 27 characters, making it officially the longest name in major-league history. While he had Encarnacion-Strand on his jersey at RedsFest last December, he chose to go with just “Encarnacion” on the back of his jersey once the season started. Encarnacion-Strand produced more than a bit of trivia, though: In his 63 games after being called up on July 17, he hit .270/.328/.477 with 13 home runs and 37 RBIs.

34 — The percentage of the team’s home runs that came from rookies, led by Spencer Steer’s 23. Steer led the team in homers and his total was the most by a Reds rookie since Votto hit 24 in 2008. A total of four rookies had double-digit home runs: Steer, McLain (16) De La Cruz (13) and Encarnacion-Strand (13).

40 — The number of pitchers the Reds used on the season, a new team record. That included two position players, catcher Luke Maile (four appearances) and infielder Jason Vosler (two).

The team also used 17 different starters, tying the team record (2003, 2022). The 17 starters (including openers) tied them with the Dodgers for the most in the National League. The A’s led baseball with 24 different starters.

48 — The number of games the Reds came from behind to win, tied with the Orioles for the most in baseball. The Reds had 24 games come down to the final plate appearance and had 10 walk-off wins.

65 — The total number of players used by the Reds in 2023. That total was just one shy of the franchise record set a year ago, and one shy of the major-league lead (Angels). Oakland (62) was the only other team that used more than 60 players. The major-league record is 69, set by the Cubs in 2021.

74 — The number of appearances for right-hander Ian Gibaut, the fifth-most by any reliever in baseball. A total of 23 relievers made 70 appearances this season, including four Reds — Gibaut, closer Díaz (71), Buck Farmer (71) and Moll (70).

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86 — RBIs by Steer, the most by any Red and the most by any rookie in baseball. Arizona’s Corbin Carroll led National League rookies in home runs (25), runs (116) and steals (54). While Carroll will likely (and deservingly) be a unanimous choice for National League Rookie of the Year, it’s tough to overlook what Steer did for the Reds.

In addition to hitting .271/.356/.464, he also started games at five different defensive positions, in addition to six games as the team’s DH.

88 — Starts by rookie Matt McLain. The Reds were 18-22 when he was promoted on May 15 and went 50-42 (.543) in the 92 games after he joined the team until a right oblique strain put him on the IL on Aug. 28. That injury would end his season. In all, he started 88 of the 92 games in that span, 52 at shortstop, 33 at second and three as a designated hitter. The Reds went 47-41 in his starts and 48-41 overall in games he played.

119.2 mph, 99.8 mph, 3.54 seconds — The top marks according to Statcast for De La Cruz’s exit velocity, throwing velocity and running time from home to first. The eye test is enough to know that Elly De La Cruz has special talents. But the advanced statistics and measurements in Major League Baseball in 2023 allow us to quantify just how special De La Cruz’s mix of talents really is.

On Sept. 26, De La Cruz launched his second home run of the game against the Guardians in the ninth inning. The exit velocity of the home run was 119.2 mph, the hardest ball hit by a Reds player in the Statcast era (since 2015) and the third-hardest ball hit this season.

On July 16, De La Cruz fielded a grounder hit by the Brewers’ Joey Wiemer and threw the ball 97.9 mph, the fastest-tracked infield assist in the Statcast era. Four days later, De La Cruz broke that record with a 99.8 mph relay throw from left field to throw the Giants’ Wilmer Flores out at the plate.

Finally, De La Cruz’s 3.54 seconds from home to first on a bunt attempt on Aug. 8 was the fastest dash from home to first on the season.

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190 — The MLB-leading stolen base total for the Reds. De La Cruz led the team with 35 steals and was one of eight players to have double-digit steals. The 2022 Reds stole just 58 bases on the season, 13th in the National League. This year, the Diamondbacks were second in baseball in steals with 166, just 87 percent of the Reds’ total.

292 — Total innings pitched by Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft, the team’s top three starters entering the season.

Greene started Game 1 and Game 162 of the season, but his 112 innings pitched was third on the team behind Ashcraft and rookie Brandon Williamson. Greene spent 62 days on the IL from June 19 to August 19 with right hip pain. He also had a nine-day stint on the COVID-19 injured list in early September.

Lodolo and Ashcraft finished the season on the IL with a left tibia stress reaction and a right toe stress reaction, respectively. Lodolo made just seven starts, the last on May 6. Ashcraft threw a team-high 145 2/3 innings before going on the IL on Sept. 2. He had surgery on Sept. 19 and is expected to be fully recovered in time for spring training.

2,056 — The number of games Joey Votto has played in a Reds uniform. Only Pete Rose (2,722), Dave Concepcion (2,488), Barry Larkin (2,180) and Johnny Bench (2,158) have appeared in more games as a Red.

Votto is, no doubt, one of the franchise’s greatest players. Among all-time Reds, he’s first in walks (1,365) and intentional walks (147), and second in total bases (3,706), doubles (459), home runs (356) and the number of times reached base by hit, walk or hit by pitch (3,581). Votto ranks third all-time in the franchise in runs (1,171) and RBIs (1,144), and fourth in hits (2,135).

Rose is the franchise leader in all of those categories except for home runs and RBIs, both topped by Bench.

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4,307 — The number of days difference (11 years, nine months, 14 days) between the Reds’ oldest rookie, reliever Fernando Cruz (33), and its youngest, Elly De La Cruz (21). The Reds used a total of 23 rookies on the season, the most of any team in the big leagues and the fourth-most in club history. There were eight rookies on the team’s roster on the final day of the season and as many as 12 at one time. Overall, the Reds had 16 players make their big-league debut in 2023.

2,038,310 — The number of fans who came to Great American Ball Park in 2023, an average of 25,164 per game. Last season the Reds drew a total of 1,395,770 fans, an average of 17,232.

The Reds hosted the smallest official crowd in Great American Ball Park history on April 17 when the team started a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Two months later, after the team made its way to first place, it hosted 126,700 fans for the three-game series against Atlanta, a record for a three-game series at GABP.

In all, attendance was up 44 percent, the highest increase in baseball. While the 2022 team played in the Field of Dreams Game, it was the 2023 club that showed that if you build a good team, the fans will come.

(Top photo of Elly De La Cruz and Jonathan India: Joe Puetz / Getty Images)