| 1984 MLB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Major League Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | April 2 – October 14, 1984 |
| Number of games | 162 |
| Number of teams | 26 |
| TV partner(s) | ABC, NBC |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Shawn Abner |
| Picked by | New York Mets |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | NL: Ryne Sandberg (CHC) AL: Willie Hernández (DET) |
| Postseason | |
| AL champions | Detroit Tigers |
| AL runners-up | Kansas City Royals |
| NL champions | San Diego Padres |
| NL runners-up | Chicago Cubs |
| World Series | |
| Champions | Detroit Tigers |
| Runners-up | San Diego Padres |
| World Series MVP | Alan Trammell (DET) |
The 1984 Major League Baseball season started with a 9-game winning streak by the eventual World Series champions Detroit Tigers who started the season with 35 wins and 5 losses and never relinquished the first place lead.
On March 3, 1984, Peter Ueberroth was elected by the owners as the sixth commissioner of baseball (replacing retiring commissioner Bowie Kuhn) and officially took office on October 1 of that year. As a condition of his hiring, Ueberroth increased the commissioner's fining ability from US$5,000 to $250,000. His salary was raised to a reported $450,000, nearly twice what Kuhn was paid.
Just as Ueberroth was taking office, the Major League Umpires Union was threatening to strike the postseason. Ueberroth managed to arbitrate the disagreement and had the umpires back to work before the League Championship Series were over.
| Month | American League | National League |
|---|---|---|
| April | Alan Trammell | Tony Gwynn |
| May | Eddie Murray | Leon Durham |
| June | Tony Armas | Ryne Sandberg |
| July | Kent Hrbek | José Cruz |
| August | Gary Ward | Keith Moreland |
| September | Greg Walker | Dale Murphy |
| Month | American League | National League |
|---|---|---|
| April | Jack Morris | Rick Honeycutt |
| May | Mike Boddicker | Nolan Ryan |
| June | Charlie Hough | Ron Darling |
| July | Willie Hernández | Orel Hershiser |
| August | Roger Clemens | Rick Sutcliffe |
| September | Doyle Alexander | Dwight Gooden |
| Statistic | American League | National League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVG | Don Mattingly NYY | .343 | Tony Gwynn SD | .351 |
| HR | Tony Armas BOS | 43 | Dale Murphy ATL Mike Schmidt PHI | 36 |
| RBIs | Tony Armas BOS | 123 | Gary Carter MTL Mike Schmidt PHI | 106 |
| Wins | Mike Boddicker BAL | 20 | Joaquín Andújar STL | 20 |
| ERA | Mike Boddicker BAL | 2.79 | Alejandro Peña LA | 2.48 |
| SO | Mark Langston SEA | 204 | Dwight Gooden NYM | 276 |
| SV | Dan Quisenberry KC | 44 | Bruce Sutter STL | 45 |
| SB | Rickey Henderson OAK | 66 | Tim Raines MTL | 75 |
American League
| National League
|
| League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) | World Series | ||||||||
| East | Detroit | 3 | |||||||
| West | Kansas City | 0 | |||||||
| AL | Detroit | 4 | |||||||
| NL | San Diego | 1 | |||||||
| East | Chicago Cubs | 2 | |||||||
| West | San Diego | 3 | |||||||
| Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers [1] | 79 | −13.2% | 3,134,824 | −10.7% | 38,702 |
| Detroit Tigers [2] | 104 | 13.0% | 2,704,794 | 47.8% | 32,985 |
| California Angels [3] | 81 | 15.7% | 2,402,997 | −5.9% | 29,667 |
| Chicago White Sox [4] | 74 | −25.3% | 2,136,988 | 0.2% | 26,383 |
| Toronto Blue Jays [5] | 89 | 0.0% | 2,110,009 | 9.3% | 26,049 |
| Chicago Cubs [6] | 96 | 35.2% | 2,107,655 | 42.4% | 26,346 |
| Philadelphia Phillies [7] | 81 | −10.0% | 2,062,693 | −3.1% | 25,465 |
| Baltimore Orioles [8] | 85 | −13.3% | 2,045,784 | 0.2% | 25,257 |
| St. Louis Cardinals [9] | 84 | 6.3% | 2,037,448 | −12.1% | 25,154 |
| San Diego Padres [10] | 92 | 13.6% | 1,983,904 | 28.8% | 24,493 |
| New York Mets [11] | 90 | 32.4% | 1,842,695 | 65.6% | 22,749 |
| New York Yankees [12] | 87 | −4.4% | 1,821,815 | −19.3% | 22,492 |
| Kansas City Royals [13] | 84 | 6.3% | 1,810,018 | −7.8% | 22,346 |
| Atlanta Braves [14] | 80 | −9.1% | 1,724,892 | −18.6% | 21,295 |
| Boston Red Sox [15] | 86 | 10.3% | 1,661,618 | −6.8% | 20,514 |
| Milwaukee Brewers [16] | 67 | −23.0% | 1,608,509 | −32.9% | 19,858 |
| Montreal Expos [17] | 78 | −4.9% | 1,606,531 | −30.8% | 19,834 |
| Minnesota Twins [18] | 81 | 15.7% | 1,598,692 | 86.1% | 19,737 |
| Oakland Athletics [7] | 77 | 4.1% | 1,353,281 | 4.5% | 16,707 |
| Cincinnati Reds [19] | 70 | −5.4% | 1,275,887 | 7.2% | 15,752 |
| Houston Astros [20] | 80 | −5.9% | 1,229,862 | −9.0% | 15,183 |
| Texas Rangers [21] | 69 | −10.4% | 1,102,471 | −19.1% | 13,781 |
| San Francisco Giants [22] | 66 | −16.5% | 1,001,545 | −20.0% | 12,365 |
| Seattle Mariners [23] | 74 | 23.3% | 870,372 | 7.0% | 10,745 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates [24] | 75 | −10.7% | 773,500 | −36.9% | 9,549 |
| Cleveland Indians [25] | 75 | 7.1% | 734,079 | −4.5% | 9,063 |
| Network | Day of week | Announcers |
|---|---|---|
| ABC | Monday nights Sunday afternoons | Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, Howard Cosell, Don Drysdale, Tim McCarver, Earl Weaver, Reggie Jackson |
| NBC | Saturday afternoons | Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola, Bob Costas, Tony Kubek |
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