The 1978 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1978 season. The 75th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers. In a rematch of the previous year's World Series, the Yankees won, four games to two, to repeat as champions and to win their 22nd World Series. As of 2022, it remains the most recent World Series to feature a rematch of the previous season's matchup.[1]

The 1978 series was the first of 10 consecutive years that saw 10 different teams win the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers would break the string with a World Series win in 1988, having won in 1981.

This series had two memorable confrontations between Dodgers rookie pitcher Bob Welch and the Yankees' Reggie Jackson. In Game 2, Welch struck out Jackson in the top of the ninth with two outs and the tying and go-ahead runs on base to end the game. Jackson would avenge the strikeout, when in Game 4 he singled off Welch which moved Roy White to second, from which White would score the game winning run on a Lou Piniella single to tie the series at 2-2. In Game 6, Jackson smashed a two-run homer off Welch in the seventh to increase the Yankees' lead to 7–2 and a Yankees' victory to win the series.

Background
See also: 1978 MLB Postseason
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees were as far back as 14 games behind the Boston Red Sox at mid-July suffering from injuries to pitchers Catfish Hunter and Jim Beattie. A public display of antipathy between manager Billy Martin and slugger Reggie Jackson resulted in the replacement of Martin by the amenable, easygoing Bob Lemon on July 17. With time running out, the Yankees, four games behind the Red Sox in the American League East, began a crucial four-game series at Fenway Park in Boston. On September 7, the Yanks began the "Boston Massacre" with a 15–3 drubbing of the BoSox, with second baseman Willie Randolph driving in five runs. (Randolph was sidelined in the postseason, due to a pulled hamstring in late September.)[2] The assault continued with the Yankees winning game two 13–2, game three 7–0 (Ron Guidry winning his 21st—a two-hitter), and an 18-hit, 7–4 victory in game four, completing the sweep. The Yankees and Red Sox were now tied for first place with 20 games remaining for both clubs.[3]

New York went 48–20 (.706) in their last 68 scheduled games, but lost on the final day to Cleveland to finish the regular season in a dead-heat with Boston at 99–63 (.611). The Yanks had to travel to Fenway for the one-game playoff on Monday, October 2. Down 2–0 after six innings, they won 5–4, made famous by light-hitting Bucky Dent's clutch three-run homer in the seventh inning (his fifth of the year). Ron Guidry won his 25th game (against only three losses) and Goose Gossage recorded the last eight outs for his 27th save, retiring Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski with the tying run at third base for the final out.

Los Angeles Dodgers
In the National League the Los Angeles Dodgers were locked in a tight three-way race with the rival San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds falling as far as 6+1⁄2 games back. Taking a lesson from the in-fighting Yankees, this normally close-knit group caught fire after a clubhouse fight between teammates Steve Garvey and Don Sutton in August, ultimately finishing 2+1⁄2 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds. Unlike the 1977 Dodgers with four 30+ home run hitters, this squad's leader in home runs was Reggie Smith with 29. No pitcher won 20 or more games but five pitchers did win at least ten games. Rookie Bob Welch was a key after being promoted from the minors, winning seven games and saving three while being utilized as both a starter and reliever.

During the World Series the Dodgers wore on their uniforms a black patch with the number 19 in dedication to coach Jim Gilliam, who died from a brain hemorrhage two days before the start of the Series. His uniform number was retired by the Dodgers prior to the start of Game 1. Davey Lopes, the Dodgers player closest to Gilliam,[4] led the Series in home runs (3) and the team in slugging percentage (.654), on-base plus slugging (1.011) and runs scored and batted in (7 each).[5] His inspired play left Reggie Jackson saying, "Lopes is blatantly penetrated by the spirit of Gilliam."[6]

League Championship Series
Main articles: 1978 American League Championship Series and 1978 National League Championship Series
In a repeat of the 1977 playoffs the Yankees again dispatched the Kansas City Royals, this time three games to one as the Dodgers did the same to the Philadelphia Phillies by the same margin. After losing the first two games of the World Series, the Yankees would become the first team to come back to win the Series in six. The Dodgers would duplicate that feat against the Yankees in the 1981 World Series.

свернуть