Back in 1974, the Los Angeles Dodgers were absolutely cooking, racking up a stunning 102 wins. That record stood as the best for a Dodgers team in L.A. for 43 years, an insane run that featured the legendary “Infield” of National League MVP Steve Garvey at first, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at shortstop, and Ron Cey at third. It was their first full season together, and they brought the house down, making their first postseason appearance since 1966.
The Infield’s Dominance and a Photo Finish
Even with that monster 102-win season, the fight for the NL West went right down to the wire against the Cincinnati Reds. Talk about a nail-biter! It took until the penultimate day of the season for Walt Alston’s Dodgers to finally secure the division title. Clinching day, October 1, found the Dodgers battling the Astros in Houston while the Reds were in Atlanta. Cincinnati’s game wrapped up first, and when the Braves pulled off the win, the division was officially the Dodgers’. You could practically feel the tension across the league.
The TV Blunder That Still Stings
But man, what happened next was just pure pain for any fan trying to catch the action. For a few agonizing minutes, fans glued to their TVs watching Dodgers-Astros had to wait to see the dugout reaction. Paul Henninger from the Los Angeles Times summed up the frustration perfectly. He called out the irony of the tape-delay, which had apparently been a problem for baseball fans all season on Monday nights, showing up again on a channel that PROMISED live coverage until the Dodgers clinched!
Henninger’s words perfectly capture the vibe: “Everybody could treasure the glorious moment when it happened , LIVE, that is. Dodger fans were all geared for it last Tuesday night. Channel 11 was telecasting the Dodgers game from the Atrodome. They knew the Reds were trailing. Doggett as on TV when word came. The Reds lost! Quick, cut to the Dodgers’ dugout to see the players’ reactions LIVE when they heard. Hey! They got the news! Davey Lopes was seen leaping for joy and … Vin Scully turns up on the screen frying sausage. What’s happening? Hurry up, Vinnie, flip those (deleted) links over, get on with it.”
Can you even imagine? You’re buzzing, your team just clinched, and instead of seeing Davey Lopes leaping for joy LIVE, you get Vin Scully cooking sausage?! Then, to make things even worse, after a taped commercial got in the way and the initial excitement died down, KTTV finally aired a tape-delay of the dugout frolics. It was, as Henninger put it, “like reading yesterday’s newspaper.” Seriously, KTTV, for shame! That’s a memory that probably still grinds gears for those fans.
A Playoff Format That’d Blow Your Mind Today
This was also a completely different era for the League Championship Series itself. From 1969 to 1984, the NLCS was a best-of-5 series, not the best-of-7 we know today. And get this: home-field advantage alternated by division each year. In 1974, it was the NL West’s turn, which made sense given the Dodgers’ 102-60 record against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 88-74.
But “home-field advantage” back then was WILD. The team with the supposed advantage actually played their first two games on the road before coming home for up to three games. So, the Dodgers had to kick off their postseason journey in Pittsburgh, not at home. Night games weren’t as prevalent either. It just goes to show how much the game, and how we watch it, has changed over the decades.
What a wild ride that 1974 season was for the Dodgers, full of incredible highs and some truly head-scratching moments off the field. It’s a stark reminder that even with a dominant team, the journey is never smooth, and sometimes, the biggest challenges come from the least expected places, like a tape-delay during your biggest moment.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by True Blue LA.
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