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.
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) |
American League edit
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National League edit
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League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) | World Series | ||||||||
East | NY Yankees | 3 | |||||||
West | Kansas City | 1 | |||||||
AL | NY Yankees | 4 | |||||||
NL | Los Angeles | 2 | |||||||
East | Philadelphia | 1 | |||||||
West | Los Angeles | 3 |
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 |
ABC aired Monday Night Baseball, the All-Star Game, and both League Championship Series. NBC televised the weekend Game of the Week and the World Series.