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1978 Los Angeles Dodgers season

Field	Value
name	Los Angeles Dodgers
season	1978
misc	National League champions
National League West champions
league	National League
division	West
ballpark	Dodger Stadium
city	Los Angeles, California
record	95–67 ()
divisional_place	1st
owner	Walter O'Malley
president	Peter O'Malley
general_managers	Al Campanis
managers	Tommy Lasorda
television	KTTV (11)
radio	KABC
Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter
XEGM
Jaime Jarrín, Rudy Hoyos

National League West champions Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter XEGM Jaime Jarrín, Rudy Hoyos |}}

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.

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

November 23, 1977: Dennis Lewallyn was purchased from the Dodgers by the Minnesota Twins.
January 31, 1978: Elías Sosa was purchased from the Dodgers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening day lineup

Opening Day starters	Name	Position
Davey Lopes	Second baseman
Bill Russell	Shortstop
Reggie Smith	Rightfielder
Ron Cey	Third baseman
Steve Garvey	First baseman
Dusty Baker	Leftfielder
Rick Monday	Centerfielder
Steve Yeager	Catcher
Don Sutton	Starting Pitcher

Notable transactions

May 17, 1978: Glenn Burke was traded by the Dodgers to the Oakland Athletics for Billy North.
May 20, 1978: Mike Garman was traded by the Dodgers to the Montreal Expos for Larry Landreth and Gerry Hannahs.
July 1, 1978: The Dodgers traded players to be named later to the Houston Astros for Joe Ferguson and cash. The Dodgers completed the deal by sending Rafael Landestoy to the Astros on July 7 and Jeff Leonard to the Astros on September 11.

Roster

1978 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers

Notable events

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.

Game log

Regular season

Legend




Bold

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Postseason Game log

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Player stats

	= Indicates team leader

	= Indicates league leader

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	94	228	44	.193	4	23
1B	162*	639	202	.316	21	113
2B	151	587	163	.278	17	58
3B	159	555	150	.270	23	84
SS	155	625	179	.286	3	46
LF	149	522	137	.262	11	66
CF	110	304	71	.234	0	10
RF	128	447	132	.295	29	93

Tied with Enos Cabell for league lead.

Other batters

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

G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
119	342	87	.254	19	57
103	245	64	.261	13	40
67	198	47	.237	7	28
75	77	24	.312	1	11
40	75	23	.307	0	6
41	70	19	.271	0	9
54	55	14	.255	1	5
37	33	10	.303	0	6
16	19	4	.211	0	2
11	12	3	.250	0	1
5	8	5	.625	0	1
10	5	2	.400	0	1
7	4	2	.500	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
34	238.1	15	11	3.55	154
32	236.0	19	10	2.71	104
33	213.0	17	10	3.30	124
30	199.0	15	9	3.26	95

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	30	164.2	10	8	3.66	79
	23	111.1	7	4	2.02	66

Relief pitchers

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

G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
47	5	4	22	1.93	46
55	5	5	7	3.28	66
43	2	1	4	2.93	25
18	0	4	1	3.97	30
10	0	1	0	4.41	5

Postseason

|}}

1978 National League Championship Series

Main article: 1978 National League Championship Series

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

Game 1

October 4, Veterans Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Los Angeles	0	0	4	2	1	1	0	0	1	9	13	1
Philadelphia	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	5	12	1
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

October 5, Veterans Stadium

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

Game 3

October 6, Dodger Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	4	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	9	11	1
Los Angeles	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	8	2
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

October 7, Dodger Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	8	2
Los Angeles	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	13	0
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

Main article: 1978 World Series

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

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

Game 2

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

Game 3

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

Game 4

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

Game 5

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

Game 6

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

Awards and honors

Gold Glove Awards
- Davey Lopes
NL Player of the Month
- Rick Monday (April 1978)
NL Player of the Week
- Rick Monday (Apr. 17–23)
- Steve Garvey (Aug. 14–20)

All-Stars

1978 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
- Steve Garvey, starter, first base
- Rick Monday, starter, outfield
- Ron Cey, reserve
- Tommy John, reserve
- Davey Lopes, reserve
- Reggie Smith, reserve
Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award
- Steve Garvey
TSN National League All-Star
- Davey Lopes
- Steve Garvey

Postseason

NLCS Most Valuable Player
- Steve Garvey

Farm system

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

Major League Baseball draft

Main article: 1978 Major League Baseball draft

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.

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Brian Holton	RHP	Louisburg College	Yes	1978–1992	MLB
2	Greg Schultz	SS	Sacramento City College	Yes	1978–1985	AAA
3	Brad Patterson	RHP	Umpqua Community College	No
4	Mathew Reeves	LHP	Sacramento City College	Yes	1978–1982	A
5	Bryan Little	SS	Louisburg College	No
Expos-1980	1980–1988	MLB
6	Jimmy Boring	RHP	Georgia Perimeter College	No
7	Larry Pittman	1B	Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College	No
Mets-1979	1979–1981	A
9	Anthony Murdaugh	RHP	University of South Carolina	No
9	Peter Zorich	RHP	Lower Columbia College	No

January secondary phase

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Russell McDonald	RHP	DeAnza College	Yes	1978–1984	AAA
2	Daniel Sijer	LHP	Shoreline Community College	No
Padres-1979	1979–1980	A
3	Stephen Smith	RHP	Gulf Coast Community College	No

June draft

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
2	Clay Smith	SS	Northwest Classen High School	Yes	1978–1981	A
3	Augie Ruiz	LHP	University of Miami	Yes	1978–1984	AAA
4	Glenn Gallagher	LHP	Peekskill High School	No
Blue Jays-1981	1981–1984	AA
5	John Robbins	OF	Lockhart High School	Yes	1978–1980	A
6	Mike Marshall	1B	Buffalo Grove High School	Yes	1978–1999	MLB
7	Mark Nipp	RHP	University of Oklahoma	Yes	1978–1981	AAA
8	William Swiacki	RHP	Amherst College	Yes	1978–1982	AAA
9	Steve Sax	SS	Marshall High School	Yes	1978–1994	MLB
10	Rodney Kemp	OF	San Jose State University	Yes	1978–1980	A
11	John Malkin	C	Cardinal Spellman High School	Yes	1978–1985	AAA
12	Francis Wilczewski	RHP	Independence High School	Yes	1978–1979	A
13	Melvin Meadows	OF	White Oak High School	Yes	1979	Rookie
14	Jeffrey Kopjo	OF	Lyons Township High School	Yes	1978–1979	Rookie
15	Stephen Maples	C	Skyline High School	Yes	1978–1980	A
16	Brian Hayes	LHP	University of Southern California	Yes	1978–1980	AA
17	Joseph Pocoroba	SS	Crespi Carmelite High School	Yes	1978–1979	Rookie
18	Eric Bullock	OF	South Gate High School	No
Astros-1981	1981–1995	MLB
19	Gary Weiss	IF	University of Houston	Yes	1978–1981	MLB
20	Chris Iwasaki	OF	Reedley College	No
21	Dave LaPoint	RHP	Monadnock Regional High School	No
22	Thomas Banducci	RHP	William Floyd High School	Yes	1978	Rookie
23	Chris Gandy	1B	University of California, Riverside	Yes	1978–1980	A
24	Warren Reeh	LHP		Yes	1978	Rookie
25	William Murray	SS	Tamalpais High School	No
Dodgers-1981	1981	A
26	David Albrecht	LHP	Appleton East High School	No
27	James Taylor	C	University of South Carolina	No
28	Robert White	LHP	Lake Mills High School	Yes	1978–1980	A
29	Joseph Herbert	OF	Columbia High School	Yes	1978	Rookie
30	Kevin Patten	OF	Miami University of Ohio	No
Braves-1979	1979	Rookie
31	Kent Johnson	RHP	Muncie Northside High School	Yes	1978–1979	A
32	Daniel Forer	LHP	Iowa Western Community College	No
Dodgers-1981	1981	A
33	Michael Vienne	RHP	St. Mary's High School	No
34	Mark Pirruccello	C	Servite High School	No
Royals-1982	1982–1984	AA

June secondary phase

Round	Name	Position	School	Signed	Career span	Highest level
1	Dann Bilardello	C	Cabrillo College	Yes	1978–1994	MLB
2	Keith Schrimsher	RHP	University of South Florida	No
Reds-1979	1979–1980	A

Notes

References

[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lewalde01.shtml Dennis Lewallyn page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sosael01.shtml Elías Sosa page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burkegl01.shtml Glenn Burke page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/garmami01.shtml Mike Garman page at Baseball Reference]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fergujo01.shtml Joe Ferguson page at Baseball Reference]
"September 04, 1978".
"1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Schedule & Results".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1978&draft_type=janreg& 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase ]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1978&draft_type=jansec& 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase ]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1978&draft_type=junreg& 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft]
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1978&draft_type=junsec& 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Los Angeles	0	0	4	2	1	1	0	0	1	9	13	1
Philadelphia	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	5	12	1
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)

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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	4	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	9	11	1
Los Angeles	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	8	2
W: Steve Carlton (1-0) L: Don Sutton (0-1) SV: None
HRs: PHI – Steve Carlton (1), Greg Luzinski (1); LAD – Steve Garvey (3)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Philadelphia	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	8	2
Los Angeles	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	13	0
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)