Los Angeles Dodgers: Five biggest enemies of the 1970s

5. Bobby Bonds and the San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are easily the Dodgers greatest rivals in the history of their franchise. Besides the Red Sox and Yankees, no other two teams hold the type of rivalry and bad blood that these two do. Both teams were members of the “Classic Eight,” which were eight National League teams that are still functioning today. These two organizations go a long way back.

However, in the 1970s, the Giants were not the Dodgers biggest rivals. While they did battle it out in the regular season constantly, the two teams did not have the same sort of back and forth tug of war that they do today. The Giants had some great seasons, but for the most part, this was dominated by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Giants managed to only win one National League West title, coming in 1971. That team consisted of Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey, and Willie Mays to name a few. However, the Giants did not make it very far, squaring off against the Pittsburgh Pirates for the Pennant, the Giants lost three games to one.

Bobby Bonds had perhaps the biggest impact on the Giants, as after he left the team fell to obscurity. Against the Dodgers he was good, not great, batting .254 and driving in 71 runs in 130 games played. The Giants may have been great early in the decade, putting up a fight in the subsequent years as well, but they did not cause as much of a headache as the other four.