Los Angeles Dodgers: Five biggest enemies of the 1970s

4. Rollie Fingers and the Oakland Athletics

While the 1970’s Oakland Athletics were not a team that the Dodgers met frequently, they did meet in a very important setting that did not go well for the Dodgers. We all know about the 1988 World Series and the infamous Kirk Gibson walk-off, but the two teams did square off 14 years prior in the 1974 World Series.

Much like the Oakland Athletics were heavily favored going into the 1988 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers were heavily favored going into the 1974 World Series. Los Angeles had finished the season with a 102-60 record, good enough for the best record in all of baseball and 12 games better than the Athletics.

Yet, just like the Dodgers did to them in 1988, the Oakland Athletics shocked the Dodgers, beating them four games to one. The Athletics then took home their third consecutive World Series victory, led by World Series MVP Rollie Fingers.

Fingers threw 9.1 innings of relief that series, only allowing two earned runs and garnering two saves. He was a huge part of this series, even throwing over four innings of relief in game one to get the victory.

In fact, there is another member of this team that pops up later in this list, on a different team. You may already know who he is, a winner of five World Series in the ’70s.