For a number of fans, the answer to the question posed in the title of this article boils down to wins and losses. "You play to win the game" (thanks Herm Edwards). Yet at the end of the day most should realize this is a fairly disappointing way to live. Only one team is going to win a championship each season which means twenty-nine franchises failed. If that is your only standard of success then this Reds season has to be a failure.
Realistically there are ways for a team to be successful without actually winning it all.