1978 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | Major League Baseball |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | April 5 – October 17, 1978 |
Number of games | 162 |
Number of teams | 26 |
TV partner(s) | ABC, NBC |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Bob Horner |
Picked by | Atlanta Braves |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Jim Rice (BOS) NL: Dave Parker (PIT) |
Postseason | |
AL champions | New York Yankees |
AL runners-up | Kansas City Royals |
NL champions | Los Angeles Dodgers |
NL runners-up | Philadelphia Phillies |
World Series | |
Champions | New York Yankees |
Runners-up | Los Angeles Dodgers |
World Series MVP | Bucky Dent (NYY) |
In the 1978 Major League Baseball season, the New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their second consecutive World Series, and 22nd overall, in a rematch of the prior season's Fall Classic. The Yankees overcame clubhouse turmoil, a mid-season managerial change, and a 14-game mid-July deficit in the American League East en route to the championship. All four teams that made the playoffs in 1977 returned for this postseason; none of the four returned to the postseason in 1979.
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 100 | 63 | .613 | — | 55–26 | 45–37 |
Boston Red Sox | 99 | 64 | .607 | 1 | 59–23 | 40–41 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6½ | 54–27 | 39–42 |
Baltimore Orioles | 90 | 71 | .559 | 9 | 51–30 | 39–41 |
Detroit Tigers | 86 | 76 | .531 | 13½ | 47–34 | 39–42 |
Cleveland Indians | 69 | 90 | .434 | 29 | 42–36 | 27–54 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 59 | 102 | .366 | 40 | 37–44 | 22–58 |
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kansas City Royals | 92 | 70 | .568 | — | 56–25 | 36–45 |
Texas Rangers | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 52–30 | 35–45 |
California Angels | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 50–31 | 37–44 |
Minnesota Twins | 73 | 89 | .451 | 19 | 38–43 | 35–46 |
Chicago White Sox | 71 | 90 | .441 | 20½ | 38–42 | 33–48 |
Oakland Athletics | 69 | 93 | .426 | 23 | 38–42 | 31–51 |
Seattle Mariners | 56 | 104 | .350 | 35 | 32–49 | 24–55 |
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Philadelphia Phillies | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 54–28 | 36–44 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 88 | 73 | .547 | 1½ | 55–26 | 33–47 |
Chicago Cubs | 79 | 83 | .488 | 11 | 44–38 | 35–45 |
Montreal Expos | 76 | 86 | .469 | 14 | 41–39 | 35–47 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 69 | 93 | .426 | 21 | 37–44 | 32–49 |
New York Mets | 66 | 96 | .407 | 24 | 33–47 | 33–49 |
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 54–27 | 41–40 |
Cincinnati Reds | 92 | 69 | .571 | 2½ | 49–31 | 43–38 |
San Francisco Giants | 89 | 73 | .549 | 6 | 50–31 | 39–42 |
San Diego Padres | 84 | 78 | .519 | 11 | 50–31 | 34–47 |
Houston Astros | 74 | 88 | .457 | 21 | 50–31 | 24–57 |
Atlanta Braves | 69 | 93 | .426 | 26 | 39–42 | 30–51 |
League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) | World Series | |||||||||||||||
East | NY Yankees | 7 | 4 | 6 | 2 | |||||||||||
West | Kansas City | 1 | 10 | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||
AL | NY Yankees | 5 | 3 | 5 | 410* | 12 | 7 | |||||||||
NL | Los Angeles | 11 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
East | Philadelphia | 5 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |||||||||||
West | Los Angeles | 9 | 4 | 4 | 410* | |||||||||||
*Denotes walk-off
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Baltimore Orioles | Earl Weaver | |
Boston Red Sox | Don Zimmer | |
California Angels | Dave Garcia and Jim Fregosi | Garcia was fired on June 1. |
Chicago White Sox | Bob Lemon and Larry Doby | Lemon was fired on June 24. |
Cleveland Indians | Jeff Torborg | |
Detroit Tigers | Ralph Houk | |
Kansas City Royals | Whitey Herzog | |
Milwaukee Brewers | George Bamberger | |
Minnesota Twins | Gene Mauch | |
New York Yankees | Billy Martin, Dick Howser, and Bob Lemon | Martin resigned on July 24, and Lemon was hired the next day. Lemon won the 1978 World Series |
Oakland Athletics | Bobby Winkles and Jack McKeon | Winkles resigned on May 23. |
Seattle Mariners | Darrell Johnson | |
Texas Rangers | Billy Hunter and Pat Corrales | Hunter was fired on October 1. |
Toronto Blue Jays | Roy Hartsfield |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Atlanta Braves | Bobby Cox | |
Chicago Cubs | Bob Kennedy | |
Cincinnati Reds | Sparky Anderson | |
Houston Astros | Bill Virdon | |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Tommy Lasorda | Won the National League pennant. |
Montreal Expos | Dick Williams | |
New York Mets | Joe Torre | |
Philadelphia Phillies | Danny Ozark | |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Chuck Tanner | |
San Diego Padres | Roger Craig | |
San Francisco Giants | Joe Altobelli | |
St. Louis Cardinals | Vern Rapp, Jack Krol, and Ken Boyer | Rapp was fired on April 25. |
American League | National League | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Award | Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team |
Most Valuable Player | Jim Rice | LF | BOS | Dave Parker | RF | PIT |
Cy Young Award | Ron Guidry | LHP | NYY | Gaylord Perry | RHP | SD |
Rookie of the Year | Lou Whitaker | 2B | DET | Bob Horner | 3B | ATL |
Relief Man of the Year | Goose Gossage | RHP | NYY | Rollie Fingers | RHP | SD |
American League | National League | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Position | Player | Team | Player | Team |
P | Jim Palmer | BAL | Phil Niekro | ATL |
C | Jim Sundberg | TEX | Bob Boone | PHI |
1B | Chris Chambliss | NYY | Keith Hernandez | STL |
2B | Frank White | KC | Davey Lopes | LA |
3B | Graig Nettles | NYY | Mike Schmidt | PHI |
SS | Mark Belanger | BAL | Larry Bowa | PHI |
OF | Dwight Evans | BOS | Garry Maddox | PHI |
OF | Fred Lynn | BOS | Dave Parker | PIT |
OF | Rick Miller | CAL | Ellis Valentine | MTL |
Statistic | American League | National League | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
AVG | Rod Carew, MIN | .333 | Dave Parker, PIT | .334 |
HR | Jim Rice, BOS | 46 | George Foster, CIN | 40 |
RBIs | Jim Rice, BOS | 139 | George Foster, CIN | 120 |
SB | Ron LeFlore, DET | 68 | Omar Moreno, PIT | 71 |
Wins | Ron Guidry, NYY | 25 | Gaylord Perry, SD | 21 |
ERA | Ron Guidry, NYY | 1.74 | Craig Swan, NYM | 2.34 |
Ks | Nolan Ryan, CAL | 260 | J. R. Richard, HOU | 303 |
SV | Goose Gossage, NYY | 27 | Rollie Fingers, SD | 37 |
Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Dodgers [1] | 95 | −3.1% | 3,347,845 | 13.3% | 41,331 |
Philadelphia Phillies [2] | 90 | −10.9% | 2,583,389 | −4.3% | 31,505 |
Cincinnati Reds [3] | 92 | 4.5% | 2,532,497 | 0.5% | 31,656 |
New York Yankees [4] | 100 | 0.0% | 2,335,871 | 11.1% | 28,838 |
Boston Red Sox [5] | 99 | 2.1% | 2,320,643 | 11.9% | 28,301 |
Kansas City Royals [6] | 92 | −9.8% | 2,255,493 | 21.7% | 27,846 |
California Angels [7] | 87 | 17.6% | 1,755,386 | 22.5% | 21,671 |
San Francisco Giants [8] | 89 | 18.7% | 1,740,477 | 148.6% | 21,487 |
Detroit Tigers [9] | 86 | 16.2% | 1,714,893 | 26.1% | 21,172 |
San Diego Padres [10] | 84 | 21.7% | 1,670,107 | 21.4% | 20,619 |
Milwaukee Brewers [11] | 93 | 38.8% | 1,601,406 | 43.6% | 19,770 |
Toronto Blue Jays [12] | 59 | 9.3% | 1,562,585 | −8.1% | 19,291 |
Chicago Cubs [13] | 79 | −2.5% | 1,525,311 | 5.9% | 18,601 |
Chicago White Sox [14] | 71 | −21.1% | 1,491,100 | −10.0% | 18,639 |
Texas Rangers [15] | 87 | −7.4% | 1,447,963 | 15.8% | 17,658 |
Montreal Expos [16] | 76 | 1.3% | 1,427,007 | −0.5% | 17,838 |
St. Louis Cardinals [17] | 69 | −16.9% | 1,278,215 | −23.0% | 15,780 |
Houston Astros [18] | 74 | −8.6% | 1,126,145 | 1.5% | 13,903 |
Baltimore Orioles [19] | 90 | −7.2% | 1,051,724 | −12.0% | 12,984 |
New York Mets [20] | 66 | 3.1% | 1,007,328 | −5.6% | 12,592 |
Pittsburgh Pirates [21] | 88 | −8.3% | 964,106 | −22.1% | 11,903 |
Atlanta Braves [22] | 69 | 13.1% | 904,494 | 3.7% | 11,167 |
Seattle Mariners [23] | 56 | −12.5% | 877,440 | −34.4% | 10,833 |
Cleveland Indians [24] | 69 | −2.8% | 800,584 | −11.1% | 10,264 |
Minnesota Twins [25] | 73 | −13.1% | 787,878 | −32.2% | 9,727 |
Oakland Athletics [26] | 69 | 9.5% | 526,999 | 6.3% | 6,587 |
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