Sitting on a table near the back of the visitor's clubhouse at AT&T Park is a 2-foot high gold and silver trophy cup — a mini Stanley Cup of sorts that Cincinnati has used for motivation this season.

To capture the cup, the Reds have to win each individual series they play.

So far the idea has worked pretty well. Cincinnati won nine of its final 15 series to pull away and win the NL Central for the second time in three years.

"It's kind of a symbol of winning each series," Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan said. "We carry it around with us, we drink out of it. It's just something to keep us loose. We haven't lost too many so it's been working for us and we're going to keep riding it."

The cup began showing up around midseason, though no one is quite certain who originally came up with the idea. Outfielder Ryan Ludwick gets the most credit, but all of Cincinnati's players take part in naming the trophy for every series. They called it the Cheddar Cup in Milwaukee and the Friar Cup in San Diego.

"It could be the Windy City Cup if you're in Chicago, it could be the Golden Gate Cup if you're out here (in San Francisco)," said pitcher Bronson Arroyo, the Reds' Game 2 starter. "We toss some ideas around and somebody sticks with one."

Cincinnati rode the cup to 29 series victories during the regular season. If the Reds can have similar success in the playoffs, they could end up with two more trophies.

For now, they're content sticking with the one they have.

"Baseball is such a long game, it's much easier to focus on the task at hand if you can take it in small snapshots of three games," Arroyo said. "We hope it doesn't die a first-rounder."