| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | October 2–14, 1984 [1] |
| Teams | 4 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Detroit Tigers (4th title) |
| Runners-up | San Diego Padres (1st World Series appearance) |
| Awards | |
| MVP | Alan Trammell (DET) |
The 1984 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1984 season. The winners of each division advance to the postseason and face each other in a League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
In the American League, the Detroit Tigers returned to the postseason for the first time since 1972, and the Kansas City Royals returned to the postseason for the sixth time in nine years.
In the National League, the Chicago Cubs were making their first postseason appearance since the 1945 World Series, ending the longest postseason appearance drought in the league. Joining the Cubs were the San Diego Padres, who made their first postseason appearance in franchise history. This was San Diego’s last postseason appearance until 1996.
The playoffs began on October 2, 1984, and concluded on October 14, 1984, with the Tigers defeating the Padres in five games in the 1984 World Series. This was the first title since 1968 for the Tigers and their fourth overall.
The following teams qualified for the postseason:
| 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 | ||||||
Detroit won the series, 3–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 2 | Detroit Tigers – 8, Kansas City Royals – 1 | Royals Stadium | 2:42 | 41,973 [6] |
| 2 | October 3 | Detroit Tigers – 5, Kansas City Royals – 3 (11) | Royals Stadium | 3:37 | 42,019 [7] |
| 3 | October 5 | Kansas City Royals – 0, Detroit Tigers – 1 | Tiger Stadium | 2:39 | 52,168 [8] |
The Tigers swept the Royals to return to the World Series for the first time since 1968.
Jack Morris pitched seven solid innings and the AL MVP and AL Cy Young winning closer Willie Hernández pitched two shutout innings in relief as the Tigers blew out the Royals in Game 1 on the road. In Game 2, the Tigers held a 3–2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, but Hernández surrendered the tying run as Hal McRae tied the game with an RBI double. However, the Tigers still prevailed as "Senor Smoke", Aurelio López, held the Royals scoreless in the ninth, tenth and eleventh innings, and Johnny Grubb hit a double off Dan Quisenberry in the 11th inning to drive in Darrell Evans and Ruppert Jones for the game winning runs. When the series shifted to Detroit for Game 3, the Royals' Charlie Leibrandt pitched a complete game, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers won 1–0, off an RBI single from Marty Castillo which drove in Chet Lemon. This was the last time the Tigers won the AL pennant while playing at Tiger Stadium, as well as the first time that the Tigers ever swept a postseason series.
The Royals would return to the ALCS the next year, where they overcame a 3–1 series deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays en route to a World Series title.
The Tigers returned to the ALCS in 1987 in hopes of winning another title, but were shockingly upset by the eventual World Series champions in the 85–win Minnesota Twins in five games. The Tigers’ next pennant would come in 2006, where they swept the Oakland Athletics before falling in the World Series.
San Diego won the series, 3–2.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 2 | San Diego Padres – 0, Chicago Cubs – 13 | Wrigley Field | 2:49 | 36,282 [9] |
| 2 | October 3 | San Diego Padres – 2, Chicago Cubs – 4 | Wrigley Field | 2:18 | 36,282 [10] |
| 3 | October 4 | Chicago Cubs – 1, San Diego Padres – 7 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 2:19 | 58,346 [11] |
| 4 | October 6 | Chicago Cubs – 5, San Diego Padres – 7 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 3:13 | 58,354 [12] |
| 5 | October 7 | Chicago Cubs – 3, San Diego Padres – 6 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 2:41 | 58,359 [13] |
The Padres overcome a two games to none series deficit to defeat the Cubs in five games and advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history (in the process denying a rematch of the 1945 World Series between the Tigers and Cubs).
At first, it appeared as if this series would go Chicago's way. Rick Sutcliffe pitched seven innings of shutout ball as the Cubs blew out the Padres by a staggering 13–0 score in Game 1, handing the Padres their worst postseason loss ever. Steve Trout pitched eight solid innings as the Cubs won by two runs to take a 2–0 series lead headed to San Diego, and looked poised to win their first NL pennant in 39 years. However, the Padres responded. Ed Whitson stymied the Cubs’ offense in Game 3 as the Padres prevailed in a blowout to win their first postseason game in franchise history. Game 4 was a back-and-forth shootout between both teams, which was won by the Padres as Steve Garvey hit a walk-off two run homer in the bottom of the ninth to force a decisive fifth game. In Game 5, the Cubs led 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, but the Padres rallied with six unanswered runs across the sixth and seventh to take the lead for good, in part thanks to an error by Chicago’s Leon Durham in the bottom of the seventh, and clinched their first NL pennant.
Due to the Padres clinching the Pennant, the Cubs’ collapse in the 1984 NLCS entered baseball lore as part of the Curse of the Billy Goat superstition used to explain the Cubs’ pennant drought since 1945 and championship drought since 1908. This was the first of four consecutive losses in the NLCS for the Cubs - in 1989 they fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games, in 2003 they blew a 3–1 series lead to the Florida Marlins, and in 2015 they were swept by the New York Mets. The Cubs would eventually win their next pennant in 2016 over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games en route to a World Series title.
The Padres would win their next and most recent NL pennant in 1998 against the Atlanta Braves in six games before falling in the World Series.
Detroit won the series, 4–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 9 | Detroit Tigers – 3, San Diego Padres – 2 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 3:18 | 57,908 [14] |
| 2 | October 10 | Detroit Tigers – 3, San Diego Padres – 5 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 2:44 | 57,911 [15] |
| 3 | October 12 | San Diego Padres – 2, Detroit Tigers – 5 | Tiger Stadium | 3:11 | 51,970 [16] |
| 4 | October 13 | San Diego Padres – 2, Detroit Tigers – 4 | Tiger Stadium | 2:20 | 52,130 [17] |
| 5 | October 14 | San Diego Padres – 4, Detroit Tigers – 8 | Tiger Stadium | 2:55 | 51,901 [18] |
The Tigers defeated the Padres in five games to win their first championship since 1968, ending a 16-year championship drought for not just the Tigers, but the city of Detroit in general.
In San Diego, the Tigers took Game 1 off a complete game performance from Jack Morris. In Game 2, the Tigers held a 3–2 lead after the top of the fifth, but Kurt Bevacqua won the game for the Padres with a three-run home run off Tigers' starting pitcher Dan Petry, evening the series headed to Detroit. Game 2 remains the only World Series game won by the Padres. When the series shifted to Detroit for Game 3, the Tigers jumped out to a big lead early and maintained it, as Willie Hernández shut out the Padres in the final two innings to give the Tigers a 5–2 victory and the series lead. Jack Morris pitched yet another complete game in Game 4 as the Tigers won 4–2, taking a 3–1 series lead. Game 5 was an offensive duel which was won by the Tigers as they clinched the title with a series-sealing three-run home run by Kirk Gibson in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Padres would return to the World Series in 1998, but were swept by the New York Yankees, becoming the first victim of a Yankees three-peat from 1998 to 2000.
The Tigers would return to the World Series in 2006 and 2012, but they lost both to the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants respectively.
ABC televised both LCS nationally in the United States. This was the first year that both LCS would exclusively air on a national network, as each team's local broadcaster was no longer allowed to also televise coverage of the games. NBC then aired the World Series.
