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1982 American League Championship Series
The 1982 American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup in Major League Baseball's 1982 postseason played between the Milwaukee Brewers and the California Angels from October 5 to 10, 1982. Milwaukee won the series three games to two to advance to the franchise's first World Series, where they would lose to the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three. The 1982 ALCS was marked by a dramatic comeback by the Brewers, who lost the first two games of the series and were trailing late in the final game, and the series was the first League Championship Series where the home team won every game.
The series was noteworthy as being the first League Championship Series in either league to feature a matchup between two expansion teams (i.e., franchises not included among the 16 operating in the major leagues from 1901 to 1960), for featuring two teams that had never before won a pennant, and for being the first time a team came from a 2–0 deficit to win the series. It also marked the only time the ALCS Most Valuable Player (Fred Lynn) came from a losing team; Mike Scott (1986) and Jeffrey Leonard (1987) would later win an NLCS MVP from a losing side in the National League. This was the first ALCS not to feature the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, or New York Yankees.
As of 2025, this remains the only league pennant won by the Brewers.
The American League East race would come down to a winner-take-all game against the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles. A game where both teams were tied for 1st on the last game of the regular season had happened only once before in baseball history — the 1949 American League race between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The 1982 Game 162 were to be pitched by future Hall of Famers, Don Sutton and the Orioles’ Jim Palmer. Adding more drama was that it was Baltimore’s legendary manager Earl Weaver's last game, who already announced this would be his last season (Weaver would later come out of retirement to manage the Orioles from 1985-1986). The race was also significant because the Brewers and Orioles had high expectations coming into the season, but both teams got off to dreadful starts and were given up on midway through the season. To get to this point, Baltimore, who were eight games back of Milwaukee and Boston in mid-August, won the first three games of the four-game series. Baltimore fans even brought brooms to Memorial Stadium, anticipating the final scene of one the greatest comebacks in MLB history.
In the first inning, Robin Yount, the AL MVP for the season in 1982, took a solo home run the other way against Jim Palmer. Yount homered to center in the third, and in the eighth inning he tripled and scored. The Brewers clung to a 5-1 lead with Sutton pitching well.
Sutton then walked two batters and gave up a hit in the bottom of the eighth, to cut the lead to 5-2. Joe Nolan came up to pinch hit with two outs and runners on the corners. Nolan laced a low line drive into the left field corner. It looked certain to score two more runs. Instead, left fielder Ben Oglivie went sliding feet first and made the catch, as his legs rolled up the wall that was on the right on top of the foul line. The rally was turned back around, and the Brewers scored five times in the top of the ninth, giving the Brewers a 10-2 win and a hard-fought AL East title.
Awaiting the Brewers in the ALCS was the California Angels, who were built on Gene Autry's plan to acquire veterans with winning pedigrees. They had traded for Bob Boone, a catcher from the 1980 champion Philadelphia Phillies; Tim Foli, a shortstop on the World Series winning 1979 Pirates; Doug DeCinces, a longtime Orioles' third baseman who won a pennant in 1979; All-Star left fielder Fred Lynn came over in a trade in 1981, who nearly won a World Series in 1975 with the Red Sox; and most importantly, big ticket free-agent signee Reggie Jackson, a 5x World Champion and 2x World Series MVP winner. Coincidentally, all the recent acquisitions but Jackson grew up in Southern California.
These new additions joined a talented everyday lineup. Rod Carew was now 36-years-old at first base, but still the best pure contact hitter of his generation, and hit .319 in 1982; Brian Downing hit 28 home runs, playing left field and batting leadoff. Bobby Grich, the second baseman, hit a solid .261/.371/.449; and Don Baylor, the DH, hit 24 home runs and drove in 98 runs. Grinch and Baylor were also former Orioles, who Autry had signed through free agency in 1977.
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1982 American League Championship Series AI simulator
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1982 American League Championship Series
The 1982 American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup in Major League Baseball's 1982 postseason played between the Milwaukee Brewers and the California Angels from October 5 to 10, 1982. Milwaukee won the series three games to two to advance to the franchise's first World Series, where they would lose to the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three. The 1982 ALCS was marked by a dramatic comeback by the Brewers, who lost the first two games of the series and were trailing late in the final game, and the series was the first League Championship Series where the home team won every game.
The series was noteworthy as being the first League Championship Series in either league to feature a matchup between two expansion teams (i.e., franchises not included among the 16 operating in the major leagues from 1901 to 1960), for featuring two teams that had never before won a pennant, and for being the first time a team came from a 2–0 deficit to win the series. It also marked the only time the ALCS Most Valuable Player (Fred Lynn) came from a losing team; Mike Scott (1986) and Jeffrey Leonard (1987) would later win an NLCS MVP from a losing side in the National League. This was the first ALCS not to feature the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, or New York Yankees.
As of 2025, this remains the only league pennant won by the Brewers.
The American League East race would come down to a winner-take-all game against the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles. A game where both teams were tied for 1st on the last game of the regular season had happened only once before in baseball history — the 1949 American League race between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The 1982 Game 162 were to be pitched by future Hall of Famers, Don Sutton and the Orioles’ Jim Palmer. Adding more drama was that it was Baltimore’s legendary manager Earl Weaver's last game, who already announced this would be his last season (Weaver would later come out of retirement to manage the Orioles from 1985-1986). The race was also significant because the Brewers and Orioles had high expectations coming into the season, but both teams got off to dreadful starts and were given up on midway through the season. To get to this point, Baltimore, who were eight games back of Milwaukee and Boston in mid-August, won the first three games of the four-game series. Baltimore fans even brought brooms to Memorial Stadium, anticipating the final scene of one the greatest comebacks in MLB history.
In the first inning, Robin Yount, the AL MVP for the season in 1982, took a solo home run the other way against Jim Palmer. Yount homered to center in the third, and in the eighth inning he tripled and scored. The Brewers clung to a 5-1 lead with Sutton pitching well.
Sutton then walked two batters and gave up a hit in the bottom of the eighth, to cut the lead to 5-2. Joe Nolan came up to pinch hit with two outs and runners on the corners. Nolan laced a low line drive into the left field corner. It looked certain to score two more runs. Instead, left fielder Ben Oglivie went sliding feet first and made the catch, as his legs rolled up the wall that was on the right on top of the foul line. The rally was turned back around, and the Brewers scored five times in the top of the ninth, giving the Brewers a 10-2 win and a hard-fought AL East title.
Awaiting the Brewers in the ALCS was the California Angels, who were built on Gene Autry's plan to acquire veterans with winning pedigrees. They had traded for Bob Boone, a catcher from the 1980 champion Philadelphia Phillies; Tim Foli, a shortstop on the World Series winning 1979 Pirates; Doug DeCinces, a longtime Orioles' third baseman who won a pennant in 1979; All-Star left fielder Fred Lynn came over in a trade in 1981, who nearly won a World Series in 1975 with the Red Sox; and most importantly, big ticket free-agent signee Reggie Jackson, a 5x World Champion and 2x World Series MVP winner. Coincidentally, all the recent acquisitions but Jackson grew up in Southern California.
These new additions joined a talented everyday lineup. Rod Carew was now 36-years-old at first base, but still the best pure contact hitter of his generation, and hit .319 in 1982; Brian Downing hit 28 home runs, playing left field and batting leadoff. Bobby Grich, the second baseman, hit a solid .261/.371/.449; and Don Baylor, the DH, hit 24 home runs and drove in 98 runs. Grinch and Baylor were also former Orioles, who Autry had signed through free agency in 1977.