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1974 baseball season

1974 Los Angeles Dodgers: The First NL West Title

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By their lofty standards, the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers were in a rut. To be sure, it was a rut most franchises would have loved to be in. The Dodgers had fought in close pennant races in 1971 and 1973. They had generally played winning baseball since a 1959-65 stretch that saw them win three World Series titles. But since 1969, when the leagues split into divisions for the first time, Los Angeles had yet to win the NL West. For the Dodgers, that was a drought. In 1974, they quenched their thirst, won the division, and gave their great veteran manager Walter Alston a return trip to the World Series.  

After 95 wins in 1973 hadn’t been enough to overtake Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, the L.A. front office went to work. They traded outfielder Willie Davis to the Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals) in exchange for reliever Mike Marshall. All Marshall did was pitch in 106 games, log 208 innings, save 21 games, win 15 more, post a 2.42 ERA and win the Cy Young Award.

The Dodgers also went to work on their everyday lineup. They dealt starting pitcher Claude Osteen to the Houston Astros for centerfielder Jimmy Wynn. How did that work out? Wynn finished with a .387 on-base percentage/.497 slugging percentage, hit 32 homers and drove in 108 runs. He finished fifth in the MVP voting.

In the meantime, Los Angeles had an infield in place that would define this franchise for the rest of this decade and into the next one. Steve Garvey played first base, and he won the MVP award in 1974, thanks primarily to a .312 batting average and 111 RBIs. Davey Lopes was at second base, and he finished with a .350 OBP and stole 59 bases. Third baseman Ron Cey’s OBP was .349, and shortstop Bill Russell wasn’t far behind at .336.

Manning the corner outfield spots were Bill Buckner and Willie Crawford. Buckner’s OBP was .351 while Crawford’s was .376. Steve Yeager and Joe Ferguson were a productive tandem behind the plate. The Dodgers had baserunners galore, with Wynn and Garvey driving them in. And they led the National League in runs scored.

The pitching was equally stellar, ranking first among NL staffs in composite ERA. Andy Messersmith was a 20-game winner, finished with a 2.59 ERA and was the Cy Young runner-up behind Marshall. Don Sutton, a future Hall of Famer, made 40 starts, finished 19-9 and posted a 3.23 ERA. Doug Rau’s 35 starts got him 13 wins and a 3.72 ERA. Al Downing was a reliable spot starter, while Charlie Hough and Geoff Zahn were both effective out of the bullpen in front of Marshall.

L.A. pitching might have been even better had Tommy John’s season not been cut short. John had made 22 starts and was sitting on a 13-3 record with a 2.59 ERA. Then he injured his elbow and had to undergo the surgery that would become called “Tommy John surgery.” The Dodgers had to try and outlast the Reds without him.

Los Angeles and Cincinnati were both in the NL West for two reasons. For one, the Central Division that the Reds now occupy didn’t exist until 1994. There was simply an East and West from 1969 through 1993. Then there’s the fact that Major League Baseball flunked geography. They put the Reds and the Atlanta Braves in the West, along with the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros (a National League team prior to 2013). Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs were in the East.

That strange alignment had kept Los Angeles out of the postseason in 1973. Only division winners could advance to the playoffs and the Reds and Dodgers were the top two teams in the National League overall. The same dynamic would be at play in 1974, only more dramatic.

After a nice 7-3 start, Los Angeles went to Cincinnati for a two-game set. In the Tuesday night opener, the Dodgers trailed 3-1 in the ninth. Wynn homered to cut the lead in half. Cey and Crawford both singled and set Garvey up to tie the game on an RBI groundout. Then, in the 11th inning, a two-out, two-run double from Russell gave L.A. a 5-3 win.

On Wednesday night, Rau was pitching well and holding a 2-1 lead after six. Then the Dodger bats erupted. They dropped a four-spot in each of the final three innings. Garvey homered twice, as did Wynn. Buckner had three hits. The final was 14-1.

An early statement made, Los Angeles roared out to a 28-11 record by May 20 when Cincinnati made the return trip west for a three-game series. On Monday night, Wynn ripped a three-run jack to key a 5-3 win. Tuesday’s game was tied 2-2 after seven innings. Marshall and Reds closer Pedro Borbon went one-on-one. Marshall prevailed, when Ferguson drove in the winning run with a ninth-inning sac fly. The following night, Marshall pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief, Garvey hit both a two-run double, and a two-run single and the Dodgers completed the sweep with a 6-3 win.

By Memorial Day, L.A. was soaring at 33-13, and their lead over Cincinnati sat at eight games. The Dodgers kept rolling right into June. They swept the eventual NL East champion Pittsburgh Pirates three straight.

Then came the first stumble of the season. Eight losses in twelve games, capped off by losing three straight on the return trip to Pittsburgh. With Cincinnati starting to rev up, the NL West lead was cut to five games. Los Angeles responded in dramatic fashion—five wins in six games against San Francisco and Atlanta and every one of them a walkoff.

Momentum restored, the Dodgers paid another visit to Cincinnati and won two of three, again keyed by Marshall outdueling Borbon in a battle of closers. The lead ballooned to 10 ½ games before another stumble—six losses in nine games leading into the All-Star break. The Dodger record was 63-34—astoundingly good—but only 5 ½ games ahead of the Reds.

The late summer seemed to indicate some danger. From the All-Star break up to Labor Day, the Dodgers went 20-15. Not bad, but they also started losing to the league’s good teams. They were swept twice by the Pirates and finally lost a series to the Reds. The L.A. lead was at 3 ½ games and there were still two head-to-head series with Cincinnati left. No one could rest easy with the best two teams in all of baseball battling it out.

Losing two of three at home to San Franciso heightened the tension, as the first series with the Reds loomed. Sutton took the ball in Friday night’s opener at old Riverfront Stadium and delivered a clutch 3-1 win. That was the key to taking two of three. Los Angeles promptly won four straight and maintained a 3 ½ game margin when the Reds came west for the final head-to-head matchup of the season on September 13.

When L.A.’s bats were quiet on Friday and Saturday, both losses, the drama was building. The margin stood at a narrow 1 ½ games going into the Sunday finale. And for five innings, the bats continued to stay quiet. Sutton was keeping his team in the game as the Dodgers trailed 1-0. Would anyone step up?

Garvey did. His RBI double tied the game and Ferguson drove in the go-ahead run later in the sixth. One inning later Wynn unloaded with a grand slam. Sutton completed a six-hitter. The 7-1 win pushed the lead back to 2 ½ games and gave Los Angeles some room to breathe.

There were still 2 ½ weeks to go and the Dodgers had middling week coming out of this series, splitting six games with the Astros and Padres. But the Reds had a disastrous week, staying on the West Coast and losing five of six. It was the decisive week, as L.A. now had a 4 ½ game lead.

The Reds wouldn’t go quietly, but the Dodgers doggedly maintained a lead. By the time there were three games left, Los Angeles had the magic number down to one. They needed to win just one of three games at Houston, or hope Cincinnati lost one of their two games in Atlanta.

On Monday, the Dodgers lost 4-1 while the Reds were idle, so the champagne stayed on ice. But on Tuesday, the entire lineup got in on the act. Eleven different players got hits. At some point in the game, it’s likely the players were informed that the Reds had fallen behind early and were on their way to a defeat in Atlanta. But it wouldn’t matter. The Dodgers closed out an 8-5 win and—for the first time—were champions of the NL West.

Los Angeles finished the season 102-60. Cincinnati would end up 98-64. No one else in the major leagues won more than 91 games. The Dodgers had beaten a great team in an old-school pennant race.

Now, it was on to the postseason and a date with Pittsburgh in the National League Championship Series. Sutton and Messersmith were lights-out in winning Games 1 & 2 on the road in what was then a best-of-five series. After coming back home and losing Game 3, the combination of the bats and Sutton did the job in the fourth game—a 12-1 rout that brought the National League pennant back to Los Angeles.

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1974 NLCS

It was going to be an all-California World Series, SoCal vs. NoCal, as the Dodgers met up with the Oakland A’s. Oakland’s 90-win season looked pedestrian behind what Los Angeles had done, but these A’s were also the two-time defending World Series champions. They were battle-tested. Perhaps that was the difference in a tense, taut Series where four of the games were settled by a 3-2 score. The A’s won three of those games, plus a 5-2 decision and captured their third straight championship.

The Dodgers had still broken through and given Alston, who had been with the club back in Brooklyn, his final appearance in the Fall Classic. The next two seasons saw Los Angeles revert to form—of playing good, sound baseball, but being stuck behind Cincinnati, who went on to win two straight World Series crowns. But the Dodgers’ time was coming. In 1977, with a rookie manger named Tommy Lasorda, they got back on top of the NL West and started another great era of Dodger baseball.

1974 ALCS: Another A’s-Orioles Battle

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The 1974 American League Championship Series marked the third time in four years the Oakland A’s and Baltimore Orioles had squared off for the pennant. The A’s were looking to win a third consecutive World Series title. The Orioles were looking to get back to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1971. In a series defined by excellent pitching, it was Oakland who prevailed.

You can read more about the journey each team took to its respective division title, and about their key players, at the links below. This article will take an exclusive focus on the games of the 1974 ALCS.

READ ABOUT THE 1974 OAKLAND A’S
READ ABOUT THE 1974 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

League Championship Series play was a best-of-five affair through 1984, and homefield was done on a rotation basis. This year’s rotation called for the series to open with two games in Oakland and conclude with up to three played back east in Baltimore.

So, on a Saturday afternoon, we got started with the A’s sending the great Catfish Hunter to the mound to face off with crafty Oriole lefty Mike Cuellar. With one out in the first inning, Baltimore’s Paul Blair took Catfish deep and the Birds had a quick 1-0 lead.

Oakland evened it up in the bottom of the third. Dick Green worked a leadoff walk. Bill North grounded into a force play but replacing Green with the speedy North on the bases worked out. North stole second and then scored on a base hit from Bert Campaneris.

The Orioles moved back in front in the fourth when Bobby Grich hit a one-out double, and then scored on a single by Tommy Davis. And in the fifth, Baltimore opened up against Catfish. The legendary Brooks Robinson was in the twilight of his career, but he homered to lead off this inning. Elrod Hendricks singled, then moved up to second on a sac bunt and took third on a passed ball. When Hunter struck out Rich Coggins, he was on the verge of limiting the damage. But Blair came up with a clutch RBI single to make it 4-1. Grich homered. It was 6-1, Hunter was gone, and Baltimore was cruising.

Oakland got a run back in the fifth but didn’t threaten again until adding another run in the ninth. The outcome wasn’t in doubt after the Grich blast, and the Orioles took the opener 6-3.

Now, the two-time defending champs faced a virtual must-win game on Sunday afternoon, lest they go on the road down 0-2. Ken Holtzman shouldered the burden for the A’s against Dave McNally for the Birds.

Both pitchers were sharp early, and the game was scoreless into the bottom of the fourth. A’s third baseman Sal Bando hit a harmless pop fly down the rightfield line, in foul territory. Grich gave chase and got there…but he dropped the ball. That was the opening Bando needed, who homered to give Oakland their first lead of the series.

The A’s were able to get another run when North drew a walk, and then scored on a two-out triple from Joe Rudi. Oakland threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs. Nothing came of it, and this remained a tight 2-0 game into the late innings. Finally, in the eighth, the A’s broke it open. With two outs, a walk and an error, set up a three-run homer by Ray Fosse. Holtzman completed a five-hitter. Oakland’s 5-0 win evened the series.

LCS games still weren’t being scheduled for prime-time, so the Tuesday through Thursday schedule in Baltimore to decide the pennant would all take place during work or school hours. Tuesday’s Game 3 saw Vida Blue go for the A’s, while the Orioles gave the ball to Jim Palmer. And a series that had already seen some good pitching was about to go to a whole new level.

Blue and Palmer simply dominated. The difference? Palmer made one mistake to Bando, who hit another big home run. On an afternoon when he pitched a four-hitter, Palmer would take the L. Blue was magnificent, dealing a two-hitter, striking out seven and never allowing anything resembling a real threat. The A’s 1-0 win moved them to the brink of the pennant.

Game 4 was a Hunter-Cuellar rematch. The A’s weren’t much better at hitting Cuellar than they had been in Game 1. But on this afternoon, the Oriole lefty was wild.

The problems started in the first inning, when Cuellar issued three consecutive two-out walks. He got Gene Tenace to pop up and avoid damage. But his control never settled in, and in the fifth inning, it came back to bite. Again with two outs, Cuellar walked two men. Then a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Rudi was intentionally walked. Normally, this would seem a smart move. But loading the bases when the starting pitcher is having trouble finding the strike zone is problematic. Cuellar walked Tenace. The A’s had a 1-0 lead.

As the game moved to the sixth inning, Oakland was in the bizarre position to win a pennant-clinching game while being no-hit. Finally, in the seventh, the bats got off the schneid. After a walk to Bando, Reggie Jackson doubled. The only A’s hit of the afternoon had given them a 2-0 lead.

Hunter dominated through seven innings and that 2-0 lead held to the ninth inning. Rollie Fingers was on the mound looking to close it out, when Baltimore launched a last, desperate rally. With one out, Blair walked and Grich singled. After Davis grounded out, a Boog Powell base hit made it 2-1 and there were runners on first and second. Don Baylor was the last hope. Fingers struck him out and Oakland had won the game on the strength of pitching and drawing 11 walks.

There weren’t a lot of notable offensive performers in this series. In fact, there were none for Baltimore. For Oakland, a hat tip would have to go Fosse, who went 4-for-12. And while Bando only went 3-for-13, his two home runs were both huge.

The ALCS didn’t have an official MVP until 1980. If we can give one retroactively here, my choice would be Blue. While I generally prefer a starting pitcher to have two wins before considering them for a series MVP award, Blue’s dominance in Game 3 was both thorough and necessary, given Palmer’s almost-as-good performance.

Oakland went on to complete their three-peat, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. In the big picture, this 1974 ALCS marked the end of what can be considered the A’s-Orioles Era of American League baseball. Baltimore continued to be a competitive contender, but they did not return to the postseason until 1979. Oakland came back for one more shot in 1975, but lost in the ALCS, and then fell off the map for a few years. This series marked a pivot point in the history of the American League.

1974 NLCS: How The Dodgers Beat The Pirates

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are a playoff mainstay in our own day. But in 1974, they were in the postseason for the first time since 1966, and the first time since the leagues split into divisions. In our own day, the Pittsburgh Pirates are a small-market underdog. But in 1974, the Pirates were one of the game’s great powers, in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. When these two franchises met in the 1974 NLCS, the Dodgers decisively captured the series and won the pennant.

You can read more about the paths each team took to its division title, and about their key players, at the links below. This page takes an exclusive focus on the games of the 1974 National League Championship Series.

READ ABOUT THE 1974 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
READ ABOUT THE 1974 PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Homefield for LCS play was done on a rotation basis, rather than merit. Thus, even though the Dodgers had the best record in baseball and finished 14 games ahead of the Pirates, this series would open with two games in Pittsburgh. The remaining games of what was then a best-of-five round would take place in Los Angeles.

Saturday afternoon’s opener saw Don Sutton take the mound for the Dodgers. Jerry Reuss would one day be a postseason hero in Los Angeles. But in 1974, he was a Pirate, and their Game 1 starter.

L.A. got something going in the top of the second when Joe Ferguson led off with a single, and then moved to third on Bill Russell’s one-out base hit to rightfield. Reuss struck out Steve Yeager and had a chance to escape unscathed with Sutton coming to the plate. But Reuss suddenly lost his control—he walked Sutton to load the bases and walked Davey Lopes to force in the game’s first run.

Reuss rebounded and pitched well the balance of the afternoon. But it was already too late. Sutton was dealing. He tossed a complete-game four-hitter. Even with Dodger third baseman Ron Cey booting a couple errors, Sutton only allowed a runner to reach second base once.

The game stayed 1-0 all the way to the top of the ninth. At which point, Sutton stepped up with his bat. He singled to lead off the inning. With two outs, Jimmy Wynn doubled home a big insurance run, and Ferguson’s single added one more. The final was 3-0.

A big sports Sunday was next, with both cities also having top NFL teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers were an emerging power, en route to what would be the first of four Super Bowl titles in this decade. Pittsburgh fans would have to choose whether to watch Game 2 or to catch the Steelers down in Houston. The Los Angeles fans had it easier—the playoff-bound Rams would play Detroit later in the day. Baseball started at 1 PM EST, with the Dodgers going to Andy Messersmith against the Pirates’ Jim Rooker.

Lopes opened the game by working Rooker for a walk, and then went to third when Bill Buckner singled to right. Wynn’s fly ball was too shallow to score a run, but Steve Garvey followed with a single to put L.A. up 1-zip. Ferguson walked and the bases were loaded with one out. Cey’s rough start to this series continued when he popped out. Bill Russell lined out and Rooker had kept it a 1-0 game.

But Cey was about to turn his game around, and that started in the top of the fourth. He homered for a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers threatened in the fifth, when Lopes singled, stole second and took third on an errant throw. But Buckner, Wynn, and Garvey all failed to pick him up. Another chance to expand the lead died in the seventh when Garvey struck out with two runners on base.

The Pittsburgh bats were still doing nothing, but they were also in the game when the bottom of the seventh arrived. With the bottom two spots in the order up, it was pinch-hitters who got the Pirates going. Paul Popovich and Richie Zisk both singled. Rennie Stennett put down a sac bunt to set up the tying runs on second and third with just one out.

Richie Hebner grounded out to first, as the Dodgers took the out and allowed the run. Al Oliver then legged out an infield hit. The game was tied 2-2.

Dave Giusti was on in relief for Pittsburgh. Cey, on his way to a four-hit day, led off the top of the eighth with a double. Russell beat out an infield hit. Willie Crawford singled to left and just like that, the Dodgers had the lead back. This time they built on it. Manny Mota singled. It was 4-2, there were runners on the corners and still no one out. Giusti was pulled. Lopes promptly singled to make it 5-2.

It could have been worse. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. But Buckner tapped one back to the pitcher that failed to score a run. After an intentional walk, Garvey’s tap-back to the mound turned into an inning-ending double play. But the Dodgers had all they needed. Their Cy Young Award-winning reliever Mike Marshall set the last six hitters down in order. L.A. won 5-2 in a game where they had left twelve runners on base. And they were going home in complete command of this series.

Prime-time baseball was not yet a thing in the LCS, so the midweek games ahead would all be played during the day. Tuesday afternoon’s Game 3 began at 12:40 PM local time. Bruce Kison shouldered the burden of keeping the Pirates alive. Doug Rau was looking to put the Dodgers in the World Series.

Pittsburgh came out like a team with their back to the wall. Stennett opened the game with a single to right. Oliver drew a one-out walk. And Willie Stargell homered. The Pirates had their first lead of the series at 3-0 and they weren’t done. A Garvey error with two outs led to a home run by Hebner. Kison had been staked to a 5-zip lead.

Kison’s life was made even easier in the top of the third when singles from Oliver, Zisk, Hebner, and Mario Mendoza produced two more runs. Kison worked into the seventh, allowing just two hits. The 7-0 score held, and Pittsburgh still had life.

What Los Angeles had was Sutton going back to the mound for Wednesday’s Game 4. He would rematch with Reuss.

The Dodgers needed to re-establish their momentum, and they wasted no time in doing so. Lopes opened the home half of the first with a walk and a stolen base. He scored on a double from Wynn. In the third inning, Wynn walked. Garvey homered. It was 3-0, and with no time to waste, Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh pulled Reuss. Ken Brett, the older brother of a soon-to-be-more-famous third baseman in Kansas City, came out of the Pittsburgh bullpen.

It didn’t work, and it didn’t matter. In the fifth, Garvey followed another Wynn walk with another two-run blast. In the sixth, after a Yeager walked, Lopes tripled, and then scored on a throwing error. It was 7-0. The reason it didn’t matter, is that Sutton was as dominant today as he’d been in the series opener. The afternoon turned into one long party in Dodger Stadium.

Pittsburgh got their lone run when Stargell hit a solo blast in the seventh. But Los Angeles scored twice in the seventh, and three more times in the eighth. Sutton added an RBI single and pitched eight innings of three-hit ball. Marshall came on to close. He wrapped up the 12-1 win by striking out Hebner, and the champagne could flow.

There was no MVP given out in NLCS play until 1977, but there’s little doubt Sutton would have won the award. He pitched 17 innings, and allowed just seven hits, getting two of his team’s three wins. He’d also contributed at the plate in each game.

Other notable performers for Los Angeles included Garvey and Russell, who each collected seven hits. Lopes went 4-for-15, and the speedy leadoff man also drew five walks. Stargell’s six hits and two home runs were the only noteworthy positive for Pittsburgh.

The Dodgers went on to the World Series where they faced the Oakland A’s. L.A.’s great season, one where they had the best record in baseball, ended in disappointment when they fell in five games and Oakland secured a third straight title.

But neither franchise was going anywhere. The Pirates made it back to the NLCS in 1975. After three subsequent years of contending baseball that left them short of the playoffs, they returned to October and won a World Series in 1979. While Los Angeles temporarily slipped behind Cincinnati’s great Big Red Machine in 1975 and 1976, the Dodgers returned to the Fall Classic in 1977 and 1978, and then won it all in 1981.

1974 World Series: The A’s Win Three In A Row

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The Oakland A’s came to the 1974 World Series looking for a third straight championship. The Los Angeles Dodgers were in the Fall Classic for the first time in nine years. In one sense, it was a close Series—each game was tightly contested. But in the bigger sense, it was decisive—the veteran A’s were the team that consistently came up with the clutch plays and captured the title in five games.

You can read more about the paths Oakland and Los Angeles took through the regular season, about their key players, and about their triumphs in the League Championship Series, at the links below. This page is focused solely on the games of the 1974 World Series.

READ ABOUT THE 1974 OAKLAND A’S
READ ABOUT THE 1974 LOS ANGELES DODGERS

READ ABOUT THE 1974 ALCS
READ ABOUT THE 1974 NLCS

The Series began on Saturday afternoon in Dodger Stadium. The A’s went with lefty Ken Holtzman against the Dodgers’ 20-game winner, Andy Messersmith. Oakland struck first in the top of the second when Reggie Jackson homered to left-center. Los Angeles responded by putting two men aboard in the bottom half of the inning, but Ron Cey grounded into a double play.

That missed opportunity set a tone. The Dodgers put two runners on in both the third and fourth innings and failed to score. In the top of the fifth, Holtzman went to work with his bat, doubling down the leftfield line, going to third on a wild pitch and scoring on a squeeze bunt by Bert Campaneris. L.A. might have been making most of the noise, but it was Oakland that took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

The Dodgers got some help from the A’s defense. Davey Lopes reached on an error by Campaneris. A subsequent error by Reggie, on a single off the bat of Bill Buckner, allowed the speedy Lopes to come all the way around. Jimmy Wynn drew a walk. It was 2-1, there were runners on first and second and still just one out. Oakland manager Alvin Dark had seen enough and went to his Hall of Fame reliever, Rollie Fingers.

Fingers struck out Steve Garvey and ultimately killed the threat. The Dodgers might have gotten on the board, but they had let another chance get away. And they made their own defensive miscues in the top of the eighth. Campaneris beat out a bunt. Then Cey committed an error, that allowed Campy to come all the way around. In the meantime, Fingers was dealing. Not until there were two outs in the ninth, when Wynn hit a solo blast, did the Dodgers do anything offensively. The final was 3-2.

Don Sutton and Vida Blue had both been dominating in their LCS starts, and they were the pitching matchup for Sunday’s Game 2. This was an era when baseball was still more popular than the NFL, so even though the Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Rams were each bound for their respective conference championship games in 1974, the World Series was the biggest show in town.

The Dodgers got on the board in the second inning when Cey worked a one-out walk. Subsequent singles by Bill Russell and Steve Yeager brought him around. Blue got settled in and L.A. stayed quiet until the sixth. That’s when Garvey’s infield hit was followed by a Joe Ferguson home run. It was 3-0.

In the meantime, Sutton was dominating. Not until the eighth, when two singles and an error loaded the bases with one out, did the A’s launch a meaningful threat. Sutton got Billy North to hit on the ground to Russell at short, who took it himself at second, threw to first for the double play and killed the threat.

Oakland threatened again the ninth. Bando was hit by a pitch and Reggie doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. The veteran Dodger manager Walter Alston called on his Cy Young Award-winning reliever, Mike Marshall. Joe Rudi greeted Marshall with a line drive single to center that cut the lead to 3-2.

Marshall struck out Gene Tenace. At that point, Herb Washington came out of the A’s dugout to pinch run at first base. Washington was a track star and was employed specifically for these situations—to steal a base and get into scoring position. Marshall picked him off and closed it out. Another 3-2 final was in the books, this one going to the Dodgers.

After a day off, the Series resumed back in Oakland on Tuesday night. The great Catfish Hunter was going for Oakland, while Al Downing took the ball for Los Angeles.

The first movement took place in the bottom of the third. With one out, North singled to left. That was followed by a ground ball out, but alert baserunning got North all the way to third. That extra base was significant. After Bando drew a walk, North was in position to score on an error made by catcher Ferguson on a ball in front of the plate. Rudi followed with a single that scored Bando and it was 2-0.

L.A. put two runners on in the fourth with one out, but Willie Crawford’s line drive to second baseman Dick Green ended up as a double play. Oakland added on in the bottom of that same inning. Green walked, Catfish bunted him up and Campaneris delivered a two-out single that made it 3-zip.

Hunter cruised through seven innings. In the eighth, Buckner went deep to get the Dodgers on the board and brought on Fingers. Wynn drew a one-out walk. Garvey came up and hit a line drive. Once again, it was bad luck for Los Angeles—it went at Green and ended up as a double play.

A home run by Crawford in the ninth cut the lead to 3-2 and a Campaneris error put the tying run aboard with none out. Fingers struck out Cey, got a double-play ball from Russell and put another 3-2 final to bed.

Game 4 was a Holtzman-Messersmith rematch, and it was mostly quiet in the early innings. Until Holtzman again did damage with his bat—a third-inning solo blast gave Oakland a 1-0 lead. L.A. had an immediate response in the top of the fourth. With one out, Garvey singled. Ferguson drew a two-out walk. Russell smacked a triple to center that scored both runs and gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Holtzman had another opportunity at the plate in the fifth, with runners on second and third and one out. This time, Messersmith struck him out and preserved the lead. In the top of the sixth, Wynn’s leadoff double gave Los Angeles a chance to add on. But Holtzman pitched around trouble. That set up the decisive home half of the sixth inning.

North led off with a walk and moved up to second when a pickoff throw went awry. Bando singled, and we were tied 2-2. After Messersmith walked Reggie, Rudi got a bunt down and put runners on second and third. Claudell Washington was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out.

Jim Holt came off the Oakland bench to pinch-hit for catcher Ray Fosse and delivered—a two-run single to rightfield put the A’s up 4-2 and there were still runners on the corners. Green’s groundball out picked up another run.

It was 5-2, and not until the eighth did Los Angeles threaten. They put two runners on with two outs. The tying run at the plate brought Fingers in for Holtzman. The great closer struck out Ferguson, closed the ninth without further incident and put Oakland on the brink of another championship.

The Dodgers would invest their last hopes in Sutton, who had been brilliant in all three of his postseason starts. He would rematch with Blue in Game 5.

Oakland had momentum, and they applied early pressure. Campaneris led off the bottom of the first with a single. North replaced him on the basepaths after a force out. North then stole second and took third on Yeager’s throwing error. That allowed Bando’s fly ball to score a run and give the A’s a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Fosse homered to make it 2-0.

Sutton settled down, Blue cruised in the early going and it was still 2-zip in the top of the sixth. With matters getting urgent for the Dodgers, Tom Paciorek led off the inning with a double. Lopes drew a walk and Buckner’s sac bunt moved the tying runs into scoring position. Wynn’s fly ball scored one run. Garvey came up with a clutch two-out single to left that tied the game 2-2.

By the seventh inning, it was a battle of the great closers, Fingers and Marshall. In the bottom of that inning, Rudi homered. It was 3-2 and the A’s had just six outs left to get.

In the top of the eighth, Buckner singled to center. An error by North gave Buckner second base, and he decided to try for third. Reggie was backing up the play and threw out Buckner. The last, best Dodger chance was gone. Fingers closed it out. When Von Joshua hit a comebacker to the mound, the Oakland A’s were champions again.

Fingers was named the 1974 World Series MVP. He had appeared in four games, pitched 9 1/3 innings, allowed only two runs and picked up a win and two saves. He was an understandable choice. But Rudi had a case of his own—he was 6-for-18, with several clutch hits, including the home run that won the championship. I can see a really good argument both ways, but I think I’d lean to Rudi.

Campaneris had a notable series, going 6-for-17. On the Dodger side, Garvey was the only hitter who was consistent, collecting eight hits over the five games. Marshall appeared in all five games out of the bullpen and pitched nine innings. The fatal pitch to Rudi in the seventh inning of Game 5 was his only mistake.

Los Angeles would be back. In 1977, a rookie manager named Tommy Lasorda took over and guided the Dodgers into the Series each of first two years and won it in 1981.

As for Oakland, the 1972-74 stretch of dominance represents the only time in baseball history a team not named the New York Yankees has won three consecutive World Series titles. The A’s had one more postseason run left in them, making the ALCS in 1975. But their championship streak ended that year, and the arrival of free agency saw the lineup strip-mined soon after. Their next World Series appearance wouldn’t be until 1988, against this same Dodger franchise. And the next championship would be in 1989. The 1974 World Series was the end of an era in major league baseball.

1974 Cincinnati Reds: When Excellence Wasn’t Enough

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The Big Red Machine had emerged as the dominant team in the National League in the early part of the 1970s. They won pennants in 1970 and 1972. They reached the NLCS in 1973. But they hadn’t yet won the whole thing. The 1974 Cincinnati Reds season only served to add to the frustration. They were one of the elite teams in baseball, but a slow start and a more unforgiving postseason format than exists today, kept them out of the playoffs.

Cincinnati made a couple of moves in the offseason to try and take that final step. They dealt outfielder Bobby Tolan, a big part of their success, but who was starting to decline and standing in the way of some rising stars. The trade with San Diego netted the Reds a quality starting pitcher in Clay Kirby, who would make 35 starts, go 12-9 and post a 3.28 ERA in 1974.

That trade worked out better than the one that sent a good young starter in Ross Grimsley to Baltimore in exchange for outfielder Merv Rettenmund. Grimsley continued to pitch well for an Oriole team that won a division title. Rettenumnd had a respectable .337 on-base percentage but was a part-time player.

Overall, with one good addition and one unfortunate subtraction, Cincinnati pitching was still an asset. Don Gullet was the staff ace, winning 17 games with a 3.04 ERA. Jack Billingham racked up 19 victories and his ERA was 3.94. Fred Norman only made 26 starts, but his 3.14 ERA was still good enough to win 13 games. Roger Nelson and 21-year-old Tom Carroll were effective in spot-starting duty.

Sparky Anderson’s bullpen was built around the duo of Pedro Borbon and Clay Carroll. Borbon logged 139 innings, saved 14 games, won ten more and posted a 3.24 ERA. Carroll worked 100 innings with a dazzling ERA of 2.15, with 12 wins and six saves. All in all, the Reds’ pitching staff ranked third in the National League for ERA.

The bats were what the Big Red Machine was renowned for, and their name players had vintage seasons. The great catcher, Johnny Bench, hit 33 homers and drove in 129 runs. Tony Perez played first base and popped 28 home runs with 101 RBIs. Joe Morgan was at second base and his OBP soared to .427. He hit 22 homers and mixed in 58 stolen bases. And Pete Rose was in leftfield, racking up an OBP of .385, and hitting 45 doubles.

Cincinnati’s core four of Bench, Perez, Morgan, and Rose fueled the offense, but there were no easy outs. Three players—Dan Driessen at third base, shortstop Dave Concepion and centerfielder Cesar Geronimo all batted .281 and had good OBPs. Ken Griffey Sr. had a .331 OBP. George Foster joined Rettenmund in providing depth and finished with a .343 OBP. The Reds’ attack scored the second-most runs in the National League.

The divisional structure prior to 1994 had each league split into just an East and a West. Moreover, Cincinnati was placed in the West (while Chicago and St. Louis were in the East). This was more than just geographically incoherent. It had impacted the pennant race in 1973, when the Reds, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers were clearly the best two teams in the National League. And the same dynamic would exist in 1974. In an era when only the division champ could go to the playoffs, the bar was being set high in the NL West.

Cincinnati played five games with Los Angeles in the early part of the season and lost all five, giving up 33 runs in the process. The Reds played reasonably well against everyone else and were 23-19 on Memorial Day. But the Dodgers were blazing and with a record of 33-13, held an eight-game lead.

Cincy won four straight series out of the holiday weekend but failed to make a dent in the eight-game deficit. They played consistently throughout the month of June, losing a pair of series against the Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals), but winning everywhere else. It only narrowed the deficit to 7 ½ games.

When the Reds got another shot at the Dodgers in a four-game home series, they lost three times. This time the bats failed, scoring just 11 runs—six of those in the single game they won. With a record of 49-37, Cincinnati was ten games off the pace.

A trip to Pittsburgh, the traditional early 1970s power of the NL East, and en route to another division title, saw things pick back up. The Reds won four out of five. They swept three straight against a Cardinal team that would contend to the final day of the season. Cincinnati rolled into the All-Star break with a record of 58-40. The lead was down to 5 ½ games. The Reds and Dodgers were easily the best two teams in all of baseball.

Even though Cincinnati went 8-4 coming out of the break, that still cost them a game in the standings. They were 6 ½ back when they went to Los Angeles on August 5.  

Monday’s opener didn’t go well. Gullett pitched six good innings and was in a 2-2 tie but got beaten by a grand slam in the seventh, ultimately losing 6-3. On Tuesday night, Carroll hung in with Dodger great Don Sutton and the game was tied 3-3, going to extra innings. The Reds had to make a move. The time for wasting head-to-head opportunities was past.

Facing L.A. reliever Mike Marshall, who would win the Cy Young Award, Cincinnati got a leadoff single from Rose and a home run from Bench. An insurance run sealed a badly needed 6-3 win. Bench did it again the next night, with an early two-run homer that staked Billingham to a 2-0 lead. Billingham made that stand up the rest of the way with a six-hit shutout.

The Reds came out of the series and went 13-8 into Labor Day. But the Dodgers were starting to cool down, and now simply playing good baseball was enough to cut into the lead. Cincinnati was 81-53, 3 ½ games out, as the stretch drive beckoned.

But another head-to-head opportunity would be missed. Los Angeles came to old Riverfront Stadium for a three-game series and grabbed two wins. On September 13, when the Reds went back to Dodger Stadium, the deficit was still 3 ½ games. Cincinnati absolutely had to win this series and could really use a sweep.

Billingham went on Friday night and took a 3-2 lead into the eighth. Concepion opened it up with a three-run blast and the Reds won 6-3. On Saturday, Gullett worked into the eighth, backed up by home runs from Perez and Morgan. The Reds won 4-2. The deficit was down to 1 ½ games as we went into the Sunday finale.

For five innings, behind Fred Norman, Cincinnati led 1-0. But Norman gave up a couple runs in the sixth. And when Borbon came on in relief, he didn’t have it. The Reds ultimately lost 7-1. At 2 ½ games out, and 2 ½ weeks to go, they were still alive. But it would be a difficult road to travel.

And the following week, still on the West Coast, would be a killer blow. Cincinnati lost five of seven games against the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. They were now 4 ½ games out. The Reds tried to rally, sweeping six games at home with the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros and staying alive as the season reached its final three games. But they would need everything to go right—the Reds needed the Dodgers to lose three straight against Houston, while Cincy had to sweep its season-ending two-game set in Atlanta.

Hope was kept alive on Monday when Los Angeles lost while Cincinnati was idle. But Tuesday, the penultimate day of the season, was when hope was extinguished. The Reds fell behind the Braves early and lost 7-1. And in either case, the Dodgers won in Houston. The NL West race was over.

Cincinnati’s final record was 98-64. Not only was this the second-best record in baseball, but they cleared everyone except Los Angeles by seven full games. It was an exceptional year, as good as any the Reds had enjoyed to this point. But in the era before wild-cards, it wasn’t enough.

From the perspective of history, the good news is that Cincinnati’s ultimate vindication was not far off. The Big Red Machine kicked it into an even higher gear in 1975, winning 108 games. This time, they finished the job and won the World Series. In 1976, they won 102 games and captured a repeat title.

The 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates Prevail In The NL East

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The Pirates had won three straight division titles in the old NL East from 1970 through 1972, with a World Series title in 1971 included. In 1973, Pittsburgh contended to the final day of the season, but that was a sub-.500 team kept in contention by an entire division that played mediocre baseball. The 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to bounce back and reassert control of their own backyard. It took a long time, and a lot of stops and starts, but they won a sizzling pennant race and returned to postseason play.

Willie Stargell was 34-years-old, but the leftfielder continued to put up good numbers. Stargell finished 1974 with a stat line of a .407 on-base percentage/.537 slugging percentage and drove in 96 runs. He was one part of a productive outfield. Al Oliver played center and his stat line was .358/.475. Richie Zisk drove in 100 runs with a .386/.476 stat line in rightfield.

The outfield trio got help from third baseman Richie Hebner and his 18 homer runs. Rennie Stennett played second base and batted .291. A platoon at first base got some power from Bob Robertson, who slugged .479, and some on-base consistency from Ed Kilpartrick, with his .367 OBP. Collectively, it all gave the Pirates the third-best offense in the National League.

Pitching was more problematic. Individually, it was hard to fault any one particular member of the staff. Jerry Reuss, Ken Brett, and Dock Ellis all had ERAs in the 3s. So did Bruce Kison, who did spot-starting and relief work. Dave Giusti worked over 100 innings out of the bullpen and posted a 3.32 ERA.

The staff ace was Jim Rooker, who finished with an ERA of 2.78 and won 15 games. That’s a nice year. Perhaps the problem lie with the fact that, in an era with a lot of good pitching staffs, it was a year that was the best on the Pittsburgh staff. With no one who stood out, the Pirate staff ERA ranked seventh in the 12-team National League. Although the flip side is that with no obvious weak points, they were well-built for a 162-game haul. And it would take all of those games for Pittsburgh to reclaim their place atop the NL East.

With the leagues split into just two divisions, the Pirates shared the East with that division’s current occupants, the New York Mets (the defending division champs), Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals) and Philadelphia Phillies (a non-contender in recent years but poised to break out with a young third baseman named Mike Schmidt). Pittsburgh, along with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals were also in the East. The Cincinnati Reds (along with the Atlanta Braves) went west.

Only the first-place teams went to the postseason prior to 1994, so there was usually no time to lose in getting rolling. But Pittsburgh spent the early part of the year in the funk that had marked their 1973 campaign.

The Pirates started 3-10, including losing five of six to St. Louis. Pittsburgh didn’t win a series until the end of April. In May, they lost five of six to Philadelphia. By Memorial Day, the Pirates were limping at 14-26, in last place, and staring at a nine-game deficit.

More losses came in early June. The Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers were the National League’s two best teams this year, and Pittsburgh went on the road to both places and lost five of six. The first signs of a spark came at the end of that road trip, when they split six games in San Diego and San Francisco, and then came home to sweep the Dodgers in a return series.

A roller-coaster ensued. Six losses in eight games against the Cubs and Cardinals were followed by a nice 6-1 stretch against the Phillies and Expos. Then a 4-9 sequence that included getting swept four straight at home by the Reds. But the first half ended with a seven-game winning streak. Pittsburgh was 45-49 and in fourth place at the All-Star Break. It wasn’t inspiring, but this was again a year where no one really wanted to grab the NL East. Thus, that mediocre record, had them within 3 ½ games of the lead.

August 6 was when things started to change for the better. Sitting on a record of 52-57, the Pirates tore off 18 wins in 24 games. That included taking five of six from the Dodgers, winning a series with the Reds, and sweeping the Mets, who had lost their magic from 1973.

By the time that stretch was over it was Labor Day. And in spite of their many stops and starts, Pittsburgh was 70-63 and in first place. St. Louis was just a game and a half back, while Philadelphia was four games out. Everyone else had fallen by the wayside.

The Pirates delivered a death blow to the Phillies when they first swept a Labor Day doubleheader, then capped off a series sweep the next day, scoring 26 runs in the process. The bats then thumped Expo pitching for 24 runs in another sweep.

With their lead pushed out to a 2 ½ games, Pittsburgh stumbled. A disastrous 1-6 week against the Cubs, Expos, and—most importantly—the Cardinals, let St. Louis completely reverse the race. On September 15, the Pirates trailed the Cards by a game and a half. And the first of two remaining series against St. Louis was set to begin in old Three Rivers Stadium on September 17.

Oliver homered in the first inning of Tuesday night’s opener. Reuss was brilliant. But it wasn’t enough. The Pirates only mustered four hits the rest of the way and didn’t score again. Reuss pushed the game to extra innings—in fact he pitched all 13 frames—but the Cardinals got the last word in a 2-1 win.

The Pirates got more good pitching on Wednesday night, this time from Rooker. They got another big hit from Oliver, a two-run double. In this game, that was enough for a 4-1 win.

Both offenses, quiet for the first two nights, opened up in Thursday night’s rubber match. Pittsburgh trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Stargell ripped a two-run double to get the lead. Hebner blasted a three-run homer to break it open. Pittsburgh won 8-6 and closed to within a half-game.  

A series loss to the Mets pushed the Pirates a game and a half back again when they made the return visit to St. Louis. There were just ten days left in the season.

Rooker took the ball on Monday night. He was brilliant and he needed to be. The game went to the 10th inning still scoreless. Finally, Hebner’s RBI single got Pittsburgh on the board. Giusti came out of the bullpen to close the 1-0 win.

The bats got rolling on Tuesday night. Stennett had three hits at the top of the order. Stargell drove in three runs in the middle. The young backup outfielder, Dave Parker, drove in two runs with a key pinch-hit single. Pittsburgh won 7-3 and moved into first place.

When the Pirates dropped five runs in the first inning on Wednesday night, thanks to a three-run blast from Manny Sanguillen, they were poised to sweep and get control of the race. The pitching collapsed so thoroughly that Pittsburgh was down 9-6 after five. Then they rallied and tied it. Another extra-inning game, the third in the last week between these two teams, went down. Giusti pitched three shutout innings and the game went to the 11th, still tied 9-9.

Pittsburgh scored three runs. That should have been enough. But with Giusti now out, St. Louis got off the mat. The Cardinals scored four times and had a stunning 13-12 win. The Pirates were back to trailing by a half-game.

What Pittsburgh had was control of that half-game, and by this point, that was no small thing. They went to Shea Stadium for a four-game weekend set, won three times and pulled even. For the final three days, the Pirates would be hosting the Cubs, while the Cardinals were in Montreal.

Kison came up with a clutch start on Monday night, winning a 2-1 pitcher’s duel. St. Louis answered, and the race was still tied.

The eighth inning of Tuesday’s games would be a critical moment in this NL East race. Pittsburgh was trailing 5-4. St. Louis was ahead 2-0. The Pirates got a two-run blast from Robertson and won 6-5. The Cardinals coughed up the lead and lost 3-2. Pittsburgh had control going into the final day.

There was rain in Montreal, so St. Louis would watch and wait. If the Pirates lost, the Cardinals and Expos would make up their game on Thursday, with the possibility of a potential tiebreaker game on Friday. When the Pirates trailed 4-2 in the ninth inning, it looked like some more baseball would still be necessary.

Pittsburgh scraped out a run. Robertson came to the plate with two outs and a man in scoring position. He struck out. But the ball got away from Cub catcher Steve Swisher. Robertson not only reached base, but the tying run scored.

Oliver tripled in the 10th inning, and the division-winning run was just 90 feet away. Sanguillen hit a ground ball on the infield. There was no play at the plate. The Pirates won the game 5-4 and had finally prevailed in an amazing NL East race.

Pittsburgh faced off with Los Angeles in the 1974 NLCS. The Pirate bats were quiet in the first two games, both close home losses. In a series that was then a best-of-five affair, they were virtually done. The offense exploded back in Dodger Stadium for a 7-0 win that extended the series. But that was the last hurrah. Pittsburgh was blown out in Game 4 and the season was over.

The season might have been over, and the return to the World Series might not have happened. But the Pirates had given their fans plenty of thrills and returned to the top of the NL East. In 1975, they did it again. And before the decade was out, in 1979, they won the Series again.

1974 Baltimore Orioles: A Sizzling Stretch Drive Wins Another AL East

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The 1974 Baltimore Orioles were looking for the franchise’s fifth division title in the last six years. They were hoping to get back to the World Series for the first time since 1971, and to win it for the first time since 1970. They came up short on the latter two goals, but a sizzling September established that these ’74 Orioles were still the kings of the AL East.

Baltimore’s greatness in this era was built on pitching, while the hitting had slipped a bit in the last couple of years. Given that, it seems surprising that the most significant offseason move was to deal a productive everyday player in Merv Rettenmund, for another starting pitcher, in Ross Grimsley. Those two players were the centerpiece of a five-player trade with the Cincinnati Reds. But the move still worked out. Even though the lineup continued to have problems, Grimsley’s strong year was instrumental to winning the division.

Grimsley, at the age of 22, made 39 starts, worked nearly 300 innings, won 18 games and posted a rotation-best 3.07 ERA. Mike Cuellar was a 22-game winner with a 3.11 ERA. Dave McNally racked up 16 wins and finished with a 3.58 ERA. This trio combined to make 114 starts.

Their success and durability was essential, because Baltimore got a bad break when staff ace Jim Palmer—the reigning Cy Young Award winner and a future Hall of Famer—lost seven games in a row in the first half of the season, was diagnosed with a bad elbow and then spent a couple months on the disabled list. Palmer would return for the stretch drive and be a big part of it, but his season-ending numbers were a 7-12 record and 3.27 ERA in just 26 starts.

Manager Earl Weaver had a deep and balanced bullpen. Grant Jackson, Wayne Garland, and Bob Reynolds all finished with ERAs in the high 2s. Dan Hood was respectable and Doyle Alexander was versatile, making twelve starts. All of it added up to the Orioles having the second-best staff ERA in the American League.

But would they hit? Boog Powell, once a power-hitting MVP first baseman, could still get on base, with a .358 on-base percentage. But the power was gone. Brooks Robinson, the great third baseman had an OBP of .353. But age 37, his power was also shot. Earl Wlliams, the young catcher, who had been so promising in 1973, slipped to mediocrity. Don Baylor, a talented young leftfielder, had a .341 OBP, but his power mysteriously took a year off. Tommy Davis was unproductive in the designated hitter spot.

Bobby Grich had a nice year at second base, with a .376 OBP, but the fact his 19 home runs led the team tells you the difficulties with power. Perhaps even more telling is that Paul Blair was second on the team in dingers. Blair was a terrific centerfielder, one of the best of his time. He had a surprisingly good year with the bat, hitting 17 home runs. But if he’s your #2 muscle guy, you’ve got problems. And the Birds did.

Weaver compensated for some of the lack of punch with the running game. Baylor, Blair, and rightfielder Rich Coggins combine to steal 82 bases. Baltimore finished third in the American League in steals. But they still ended up ninth in what was then a 12-team American League for runs scored.

Baltimore was up and down in the early part of the season. The highlight was winning two of three at home over the Oakland A’s in late April, and then going out west and doing it again in early May. The A’s were the two-time defending World Series champion and headed for a third crown in 1974. The lowlight of the early going for the Orioles was losing four of six to the lowly Milwaukee Brewers, who would bedevil them throughout the year, and dropping three of four to the Boston Red Sox at home in mid-May.

By Memorial Day, Baltimore was playing .500 ball. The good news is that the entire division—in fact the entire American League—was all hovering around mediocrity. The AL’s best record was 24-20 and its worst was 18-24.

The Orioles continued to slog along and were 38-36 when they got on a little hot spurt. They went to Boston and took three straight, and then went to Oakland and won another series in early July. By the All-Star break, Baltimore was 49-45, only a half-game off the pace being set by the Red Sox, and with the entire division still within five games of each other.

It bears noting that this was still the era where there were no wild-cards and there were only two divisions per league. So even though the race was tight, it was winner-take-all to go directly into the League Championship Series.

The Birds stumbled out of the break, losing series to Cleveland and Milwaukee, and then went 15-15 through August and up to Labor Day. As the holiday weekend signaled the stretch drive was here, Baltimore’s record was only 67-65. They were five games back of Boston. The New York Yankees were nestled in between, just two games out.

The Orioles, Red Sox, and Yankees had gotten some separation, but there was work to do. And a home series with Boston that started with a Labor Day doubleheader was a necessary place to start.

Grimsley took the ball for the first game on Monday against Boston ace Luis Tiant. Grich hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. That was all Grimsley got. It was all he needed, allowing just three singles in a complete-game 1-0 shutout.

In the nightcap, Cueller faced crafty Red Sox lefty Bill Lee. In the bottom of the third, Brooks Robinson and Enos Cabell singled. A bunt from shortstop Mark Belanger set up Blair to drive in a run with a sac fly. That was all Cuellar got. It was all he needed, allowing just two singles in a complete-game 1-0 shutout.

Palmer went for the sweep on Wednesday. He got a little more to work with. Baltimore erupted for four runs in the fourth inning, and then added a couple more. It was all more than Palmer needed. He allowed just three singles in a complete-game 6-0 shutout.

It was one of the most stunning displays of pitching dominance ever seen. A first-place team with a stacked lineup had managed just eight singles in three games and been held scoreless. It’s a series that lives in Red Sox infamy. And when the Orioles followed it up by taking three of four from Cleveland on the weekend, they closed to within a game of the lead.

The Yankees were now tied with the Red Sox for first. After Baltimore split a pair with Milwaukee, they lost a home series against New York, to briefly cool the surge. In a busy nine-game week with two doubleheaders, the Birds again took three of four from the Indians. With the record now 78-70, Baltimore had moved past Boston, but still trailed New York by 2 ½ games on September 15.

With Yankee Stadium under renovation in 1974, the Yanks were playing their home games at crosstown Shea Stadium, sharing with the Mets. So, for the crucial September 17-19 series, the Orioles would go to Queens.

Palmer took the mound in Tuesday night’s opener and came up big again. He allowed just seven singles. In a scoreless tie in the eighth, Blair delivered a two-out, three-run blast against New York closer Sparky Lyle. Baltimore won 4-0.

Wednesday night’s game was tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth. The Orioles got three singles, hit two doubles, and drew four walks, while sending twelve batters to the plate. The seven-run eruption blew it open and Cuellar won this game 10-4.

Thursday night was McNally’s turn to shine under pennant race pressure. He went the distance with a shutout of his own. A lead that was just 1-0 after seven was broken open late, and the Orioles won 7-0. They had another big sweep of a divisional rival.

Baltimore followed it up by traveling to Fenway and taking two of three on the weekend from the Red Sox. But the Yankees countered by sweeping four straight from the Indians. With ten days to go, New York was 84-70 and Baltimore was 83-71. Boston had completely collapsed.

The last full week was a thrilling one at old Memorial Stadium. Baltimore hosted the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee. The Birds won all five games. Three of those wins came in walkoff fashion. One was a game they trailed 4-2 in the ninth, and another took 17 innings to seal. When the week was over and there were three days left, Baltimore was in first place at 88-71. New York was nipping at their heels, 88-72.

The Yankees were idle on Monday, when the Orioles would decide which way that dangling half-game would swing. They were in Detroit and won 12-6. The lead was a full game with two to play.

Tuesday was a tension-filled night. The Orioles and Tigers were tied 6-6 going into the ninth. The Yankees led the Brewers 2-0 in Milwaukee. This race looked certain to go to the final day and perhaps even be tied.

Baltimore got a big RBI double from backup catcher Andy Etchebarren in the top of the ninth, and they won 7-6. They were able to go to the clubhouse and get word that Milwaukee had rallied with two runs in the eighth, and then won 3-2 in the ten innings. The AL East race was over.

For the third time in four years, it would be Baltimore and Oakland in the American League Championship Series. The Orioles got the 1974 ALCS off to a good start, going out west and taking a Game 1 win. But Oakland’s pitching was the one staff that could match, and even exceed Baltimore’s great arms. The Oriole bats got a taste of what Red Sox and Yankee hitters went through in September. Over the next three games in the best-of-five series, Baltimore managed just a single run and lost the ALCS in four games.

The Orioles’ September pennant push was still one of baseball’s great stretch drives, as they went 25-6 to close the year. But that push would be the last hurrah, at least for a little while. Make no mistake, Baltimore continued to field good teams over the next four years. But Boston in 1975, followed by New York from 1976-78, reached a higher level and kept the Orioles out of the money. It was 1979 when Baltimore returned to the postseason. And it was 1983 when the Orioles would win it all again.

1974 Oakland A’s: New Leader; Same Championship Result

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For a two-time defending World Series champion, the 1974 Oakland A’s entered the season in a bit of flux. They had a new manager. After Dick Williams resigned immediately following the championship in 1973, Alvin Dark was the new man in charge. But the players on the field were fundamentally the same and that added up to the same result—a third straight World Series title in Oakland.

Pitching was the key and a Cy Young season from Catfish Hunter led the way. Hunter worked 318 innings, astonishing even by the workhorse standards of the day and won 25 games with a 2.49 ERA. Vida Blue and Ken Holtzman each had ERAs in the low 3s and combined for 36 more wins. Rollie Fingers, the versatile reliever who was destined for the Hall of Fame, worked 119 innings and posted a 2.65 ERA. These four arms carried the A’s to the American League’s best ERA.

The everyday lineup produced the 2-3-4 finishers in the American League MVP voting. Joe Rudi drove in 99 runs and finished second. Sal Bando drove in 103 and came in third. Reggie Jackson actually had the best year of any of them. Reggie finished with a .391 on-base percentage, slugged .574, hit 29 home runs, drove in 93 runs, scored 90 more and stole 25 bases. It was a magnificent all-around campaign and why he didn’t finish higher in the voting is subject to anyone’s speculation.

The Jackson-Bando-Rudi trio got support from Gene Tenace, who hit 26 home runs. Bert Campaneris at short and Billy North in centerfield combined to swipe 89 bases. The offense overall wasn’t as good as it had been in the championship runs of 1972 and 1973, but it was still third in the AL in runs scored.

Oakland straggled out of the gate and were 10-11 when they delivered a sweep of AL West division rival Minnesota and took two of three from another challenger in Kansas City (Prior to 1994, there was only an East & West division in each league, with the winners going directly to the LCS). By Memorial Day, the A’s record was a pedestrian 24-20, but that was enough to be on top of a balanced AL West.

They gradually picked up steam in the early part of the summer. There was a four-game sweep of the California Angels in June. Right before the All-Star break, the A’s played AL East teams in New York, Baltimore and Cleveland, the first two being leading contenders. Oakland went 7-4 in this stretch and took a five-game lead into the break.

Chicago, Texas and Kansas City were the teams hoping to make a second-half run. The A’s played steady baseball immediately out of the break and pushed their lead as high as 7 ½ games. That’s where it stood on Labor Day. The White Sox had fallen by the wayside, with the Rangers and Royals still holding out hope for a September challenge.

Oakland had the opportunity to put Texas away in a four-game series in early September. Catfish got them rolling with a 3-0 win to start the series, but the A’s lost the next three. The margin was still comfortable at 5 ½ games with three weeks to play, but it wasn’t over yet. They went to Texas for a return trip and lost the first two of a weekend series. The Rangers had the chance to close within three games in the Sunday finale.

The championship veterans answered the bell. Bando hit a two-run homer and Fingers gave 4 2/3 innings of quality relief work in a 4-1 win. That effectively ended the hopes of the challengers. With six days to go in the season, Hunter beat the Twins 2-1 to secure at least a tie. One day later, Texas blew an extra-inning lead in Kansas City and lost 5-4, ending the race.

Oakland faced a familiar foe in the 1974 ALCS. The A’s had met the Baltimore Orioles in this round in both 1971 (when the Orioles won) and in the ‘73 postseason run. Neither team was outstanding this year—the Orioles had 91 wins and the A’s had 90—but there was plenty of October experience.

Baltimore was an offensively-challenged team that thrived on great pitching. Even with an off-year by the great Jim Palmer, the Orioles had the second-best pitching in the American League behind starters Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Ross Grimsley. They were also hot, having barreled past the Red Sox in the late summer and nipped the Yankees in the stretch.

The ALCS was a best-of-five affair prior to 1985 and homefield was done by a rotation system that would have the first two games in Oakland and the remainder of the series in Baltimore. A 6-3 loss in Game 1 with Hunter on the mound put Oakland’s back to the wall quickly. But Holtzman came up big in Game 2. And then the pitching really took over. Blue pitched a gem and outdueled the great Jim Palmer back in Baltimore in Game 3. Hunter, with a chance at redemption, won a pitcher’s duel of his own in Game 4 and the A’s had another pennant. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1974 ALCS

The World Series would be an all-California affair, as the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League pennant. The Dodgers had the best record in baseball at 102-60. They had the MVP award winner in Steve Garvey and the Cy Young Award winner with reliever Mike Marshall. The games in this Series would all be close, but Oakland’s championship mettle came shining through in difficult spots. 

The A’s split the first two games in Los Angeles, both by 3-2 scores. They won another 3-2 game back home in Game 3. The fourth game saw Oakland trail in the sixth inning before a four-run rally put them in command. Game 5 was tied 2-2 in the late going. Rudi homered off of Marshall in the seventh, Fingers put away the fourth 3-2 final of the Series and for the third straight year, the Oakland A’s were the champions of baseball. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1974 WORLD SERIES

Oakland had one more good run left in the team, winning a fifth straight AL West title in 1975. But they lost the ALCS to Boston that year, bringing an end to the dynasty. The newly dawning era of free agency would break apart this team. Hunter left for New York after the ‘74 season. Reggie followed suit. Owner Charlie Finley dismantled the rest of the roster. 1974 was the last championship run of a great dynasty.