Editing Big Red Machine (section)

==Later years==
[[Dan Driessen]] took over at first base for Tony Perez in 1977.<ref name="baseball-reference.com"/> Although some of the original players departed the team, some extended the Big Red Machine nickname for two more years until the departures of Anderson and Rose following the 1978 season.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs |last=Riess|first=Steven A. |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-313-32991-5 |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxTZdZ2xc2EC |access-date=2009-05-13 }}</ref> The Reds turned around to finish in second place in [[1977 in baseball|1977]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=1977 Cincinnati Reds Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1977.shtml |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> and [[1978 in baseball|1978]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1978 Cincinnati Reds Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1978.shtml |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> Ray Knight replaced Pete Rose at third base for Cincinnati in 1979 and the rest of the Reds starting lineup still included six of the great eight: Bench, Morgan, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey and Geronimo. The Cincinnati Reds won another division title in 1979,<ref name="baseball-reference.com">{{Cite web |title=1979 Cincinnati Reds Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1979.shtml |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> but lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS.

The Big Red Machine had one last great run in 1981 when they finished the strike season with the best record in baseball. Only three of the great eight remained in the starting lineup: Foster, Griffey and Concepcion. Bench had an injury plagued season and was moved from catcher to third base. [[Tom Seaver]] had a win–loss record of 14–2 and an ERA of 2.54 while starting only 23 games in the Reds' strike-shortened 108-game regular season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1981 Cincinnati Reds Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1981.shtml |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> Despite that, the Reds finished second in the [[National League West]] in [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|both halves of the season]], making them ineligible to compete in the postseason despite having the best overall record in baseball.