Wikipedia

1978 Los Angeles Dodgers season

The 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 89th season for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB), their 21st season in Los Angeles, California, and their 17th season playing their home games at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles California.

1978 Los Angeles Dodgers
National League champions
National League West champions
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkDodger Stadium
CityLos Angeles, California
Record95–67 (.586)
Divisional place1st
OwnerWalter O'Malley
PresidentPeter O'Malley
General managersAl Campanis
ManagersTommy Lasorda
TelevisionKTTV (11)
RadioKABC
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter
XEGM
Jaime Jarrín, Rudy Hoyos
← 1977
1979 →

The team won their second straight National League pennant and losing to the New York Yankees in the World Series again. Dodger coach Jim Gilliam died at the end of the season and his uniform number, 19, was retired by the team prior to Game 1 of the World Series; the team also wore a black memorial patch with Gilliam's number during the World Series. Unlike the previous Dodger team, no member of the team hit 30 home runs after seeing four members hit that mark the previous season (the team leader was Reggie Smith, with 29).

Offseason

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Regular season

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Season standings

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NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 9567 .586 — 54‍–‍27 41‍–‍40
Cincinnati Reds 9269 .571 2½ 49‍–‍31 43‍–‍38
San Francisco Giants 8973 .549 6 50‍–‍31 39‍–‍42
San Diego Padres 8478 .519 11 50‍–‍31 34‍–‍47
Houston Astros 7488 .457 21 50‍–‍31 24‍–‍57
Atlanta Braves 6993 .426 26 39‍–‍42 30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

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1978 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —5–76–128–105–135–76–68–42–108–1011–75–7
Chicago 7–5—7–56–64–87–1111–74–147–117–54–815–3
Cincinnati 12–65–7—11–79–98–47–57–54–79–912–68–4
Houston 10–86–67–11—7–116–67–56–64–88–106–127–5
Los Angeles 13–58–49–911–7—8–47–57–57–59–911–75–7
Montreal 7–511–74–86–64–8—8–109–97–116–65–79–9
New York 6–67–115–75–75–710–8—6–127–115–73–97–11
Philadelphia 4-814–45–76–65–79–912–6—11–78–46–610–8
Pittsburgh 10–211–77–48–45–711–711–77–11—5–74–89–9
San Diego 10–85–79–910–89–96–67–54–87–5—8–109–3
San Francisco 7–118–46–1212–67–117–59–36–68–410–8—9–3
St. Louis 7–53–154–85–77–59–911–78–109–93–93–9—

Opening day lineup

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Notable transactions

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Roster

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1978 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Notable events

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On August 20, before a night game in New York against the New York Mets, Steve Garvey approached Don Sutton in the Dodgers' clubhouse over an article in The Washington Post in which Sutton was quoted as saying to Tom Boswell:

"All you ever hear about on our team is Steve Garvey, the all-American boy...well, the best player on this team for the past two years--and we all know it--is Reggie Smith. Reggie doesn't go out and publicize himself. He doesn't smile at the right people or say the right things. Reggie's not a façade or a Madison Avenue image. He's a real person."

Garvey and Sutton wrestled for two minutes in the clubhouse over Sutton's words and had to be pulled apart by teammates. Neither was seriously injured. Both had facial scratches and bruises and Garvey had a bloodshot left eye where it appeared a finger or thumb had been inserted by Sutton. Days later, Sutton publicly apologized for the incident, but not to Garvey personally.[6]

Game log

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Regular season

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Legend
 Dodgers win
 Dodgers loss
 Postponement
 Clinched division
BoldDodgers team member
1978 regular season game log: 95–67 (Home: 54–27; Away: 41–40)[7]
April: 13–7 (Home: 6–3; Away: 7–4)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
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May: 14–13 (Home: 9–6; Away: 5–7)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
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June: 17–12 (Home: 9–4; Away: 8–8)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
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July: 17–12 (Home: 9–4; Away: 8–8)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
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—July 115:30 p.m. PDT49th All-Star GameAmerican League vs. National League (San Diego Stadium, San Diego, California)
August: 18–10 (Home: 10–4; Away: 8–6)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/
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September: 16–12 (Home: 11–6; Away: 5–6)
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October: 0–1 (Home: 0–0; Away: 0–1)
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Postseason Game log

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1978 Postseason game log: 5–5 (Home: 3–2; Away: 2–3)
NL Championship Series: vs. Philadelphia Phillies 3–1 (Home: 1–1; Away: 2–0)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceSeriesBox
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World Series: vs. New York Yankees 2–4 (Home: 2–1; Away: 0–3)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceSeriesBox
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Player stats

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= Indicates team leader
= Indicates league leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CSteve Yeager9422844.193423
1BSteve Garvey162*639202.31621113
2BDavey Lopes151587163.2781758
3BRon Cey159555150.2702384
SSBill Russell155625179.286346
LFDusty Baker149522137.2621166
CFBill North11030471.234010
RFReggie Smith128447132.2952993

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Rick Monday11934287.2541957
Lee Lacy10324564.2611340
Joe Ferguson6719847.237728
Vic Davalillo757724.312111
Johnny Oates407523.30706
Jerry Grote417019.27109
Ted Martinez545514.25515
Manny Mota373310.30306
Glenn Burke16194.21102
Rudy Law11123.25001
Pedro Guerrero585.62501
Joe Simpson1052.40001
Myron White742.50001

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Don Sutton34238.115113.55154
Burt Hooton32236.019102.71104
Tommy John33213.017103.30124
Doug Rau30199.01593.2695

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rick Rhoden30164.21083.6679
Bob Welch23111.1742.0266

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Terry Forster4754221.9346
Charlie Hough555573.2866
Lance Rautzhan432142.9325
Bobby Castillo180413.9730
Mike Garman100104.415

Postseason

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Jim Gilliam's number 19 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1978.

1978 National League Championship Series

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The Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3 games to 1 in the NLCS.

Game 1

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October 4, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 004 211 001 9131
Philadelphia 010 030 001 5121
W: Bob Welch (1-0)  L: Larry Christenson (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: PHI – Jerry Martin (1)   LAD – Steve Garvey 2 (2)   Davey Lopes (1)   Steve Yeager (1)

Game 2

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October 5, Veterans Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Los Angeles 000 120 100 480
Philadelphia 000 000 000 040
W: Tommy John (1-0)  L: Dick Ruthven (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: PHI – None   LAD – Davey Lopes (2)

Game 3

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October 6, Dodger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 040 003 101 9111
Los Angeles 012 000 010 482
W: Steve Carlton (1-0)  L: Don Sutton (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: PHI – Steve Carlton (1), Greg Luzinski (1); LAD – Steve Garvey (3)

Game 4

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October 7, Dodger Stadium

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Philadelphia 002 000 100 0 382
Los Angeles 010 101 000 1 4130
W: Terry Forster (1-0)  L: Tug McGraw (0-1)   SV: None
HRs: PHI – Greg Luzinski (2), Bake McBride (1); LAD – Ron Cey (1)   Steve Garvey (4)

1978 World Series

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The Dodgers again lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (2)

Game 1

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Tuesday, October 10, 1978, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Team123456789RHE
New York000000320591
Los Angeles03031031X11152
WP: Tommy John (1–0)   LP: Ed Figueroa (0–1)
Home runs:
NYY: Reggie Jackson (1)
LAD: Dusty Baker (1), Davey Lopes 2 (2)

Game 2

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Wednesday, October 11, 1978, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Team123456789RHE
New York0020001003110
Los Angeles00010300X470
WP: Burt Hooton (1–0)   LP: Catfish Hunter (0–1)   Sv: Bob Welch (1)
Home runs:
NYY: None
LAD: Ron Cey (1)

Game 3

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Friday, October 13, 1978, at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team123456789RHE
Los Angeles001000000180
New York11000030X5101
WP: Ron Guidry (1–0)   LP: Don Sutton (0–1)
Home runs:
LAD: None
NYY: Roy White (1)

Game 4

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Saturday, October 14, 1978, at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team12345678910RHE
Los Angeles0000300000361
New York0000020101490
WP: Goose Gossage (1–0)   LP: Bob Welch (0–1)
Home runs:
LAD: Reggie Smith (1)
NYY: None

Game 5

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Sunday, October 15, 1978, at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York

Team123456789RHE
Los Angeles101000000293
New York00430041X12180
WP: Jim Beattie (1–0)   LP: Burt Hooton (1–1)

Game 6

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Tuesday, October 17, 1978, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

Team123456789RHE
New York0300022007110
Los Angeles101000000271
WP: Catfish Hunter (1–1)   LP: Don Sutton (0–2)
Home runs:
NYY: Reggie Jackson (2)
LAD: Davey Lopes (3)

Awards and honors

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Farm system

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Major League Baseball draft

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The Dodgers drafted 35 players in the June draft and 12 in the January draft. Of those, seven players would eventually play in the Major Leagues.

The Dodgers did not have a first round pick this year in the June draft as their pick was given to the Pittsburgh Pirates as compensation for their signing of free agent pitcher Terry Forster. In the second round, they selected SS Clay Smith from Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Smith played in the Dodgers farm system through 1981, hitting .271 in 277 games in the rookie leagues and class-A before he was released.

This draft netted the Dodgers two key players for their championship teams of the 1980s. They drafted Mike Marshall in the 6th round and Steve Sax in the 9th. Marshall would hit 148 homers in 11 seasons and made the All-Star team in 1984 while playing both the outfield and first base. Sax played 14 seasons (8 of them with the Dodgers) and hit .281 with 444 steals. The Dodgers starting second baseman for most of the 1980s, he was the 1982 NL Rookie of the Year and a five time All-Star.

Notes

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  1. ↑ Dennis Lewallyn page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Elías Sosa page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Glenn Burke page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Mike Garman page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Joe Ferguson page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ "September 04, 1978".
  7. ↑ "1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Schedule & Results". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
  8. ↑ 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase
  9. ↑ 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
  10. ↑ 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
  11. ↑ 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase

References

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