If any team went into a season with the right mixture of confidence and motivation, it was the 1975 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Led by first baseman and Most Valuable Player Steve Garvey, Los Angeles piled up 102 wins in 1974 to edge the Cincinnati Reds by four games in the National League West Division. The Dodgers went 12-6 against Cincinnati and went on to lose in five games to Oakland in the best-of-seven World Series.