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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 to feature a matchup between two "expansion" teams (i.e., franchises not included among the 16 operating in the major leagues for most of the first half of the 20th century), 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 MVP (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 Athletics, Orioles, or Yankees.

Background

The American League East race would come down to one winner-take-all game against the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles. This had happened only once before in baseball history, where a showdown came in the last game of the regular season — the 1949 race between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Game 162 was 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 two games of the three-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 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, 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 Phillies, the previous World Series winner; Tim Foli, a shortstop on the World Series winning 1979 Pirates; Doug DeCinces, a longtime Orioles' third baseman who just 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. These new acquisitions joined a talented everyday lineup. Rod Carew was now 36-years-old at first base, but the best pure contact hitter of his generation, and he hit .319 in 1982; Brian Downing hit 28 home runs, playing left field and batting leadoff. Bobby Grich was a good hitting second baseman, at .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.

While not as close as the AL East race, the AL West would come down to the 2nd to last day of the season, with the Angels holding off the Kansas City Royals.

Summary

Milwaukee Brewers vs. California Angels

Milwaukee won the series, 3–2.

Game summaries

Game 1

Tuesday, October 5, 1982, at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California

The Angels jumped to a 1–0 lead in the first when Brian Downing scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Don Baylor. Milwaukee came back to take a 3–1 lead with a two-run homer by Gorman Thomas in the second and a run scored by Paul Molitor on a groundout in the third. But the Angels took back the lead for good in their half of the third with a four-run rally highlighted by Baylor's two-run triple. Baylor capped off a five-RBI game with a two-run single in the fourth, and the Angels got another run in the fifth when eventual series MVP Fred Lynn homered. California starter Tommy John, who lent his name to the famous surgical procedure, settled down after the third and gave the Brewers little over the final six innings on his way to a complete-game victory.

Game 2

Wednesday, October 6, 1982, at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California

California got off to a 4–0 lead in Game 2 and never looked back. The Angels got two in the second on an RBI single from Tim Foli and a squeeze bunt by Bob Boone. California's Reggie Jackson homered in the third to make it 3–0, and Boone plated the Angels' fourth run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. The Brewers made a game of it in the fifth on Paul Molitor's two-run inside-the-park homer, but could get no closer the rest of the way against the strong pitching of Bruce Kison. Those complete-game efforts helped produce the snappy 2:06 time of game. California was now up 2–0 in the series and needed only one more win for the franchise's first trip to the World Series.

Game 3

Friday, October 8, 1982, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The series moved to Milwaukee and produced the Brewers' first win. Milwaukee opened the scoring in the fourth with three runs on an RBI double by Cecil Cooper, who would eventually get the series-winning hit, and sacrifice flies by Gorman Thomas and Don Money. Paul Molitor got two more runs for Milwaukee with a seventh-inning homer, this one over the fence. Brewers starter Don Sutton pitched strongly for the first seven innings but tired in the eighth, yielding three runs on a Bob Boone homer and doubles by Fred Lynn and Don Baylor. Pete Ladd came out of the Milwaukee bullpen to get the final four outs for the save.

Game 4

Saturday, October 9, 1982, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Brewers again staved off elimination and evened the series in a rather sloppy but high-scoring Game 4. The teams combined for five errors to allow three unearned runs. Milwaukee built a 6–0 lead with three-run rallies in the second and fourth. The Brewers got a lot of help from two California errors and three wild pitches by Angels starter Tommy John, who took the loss. The teams traded runs in the sixth: Fred Lynn doubled home Reggie Jackson for the Angels, and Jim Gantner singled home Mark Brouhard for the Brewers. Brouhard, who only appeared in 40 regular season games, was subbing for Ben Oglivie. Brouhard contributed 3 hits, 4 runs and 3 RBI's in this, the only postseason appearance of his career. California rallied for four runs in the eighth on a grand slam by Don Baylor to cut Milwaukee's lead to 7–5. But the Brewers bounced back with a two-run homer by Brouhard in the bottom of the inning to put the game away and level the series 2–2.

Game 5

Sunday, October 10, 1982, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Game 5 proved to be the most dramatic of the series. The Angels got a quick 1–0 lead in the first on a double by Brian Downing and a single by Fred Lynn. But Milwaukee tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Paul Molitor doubled and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly by Ted Simmons. The Angels made it 2–1 in the third on an RBI single from Fred Lynn, and stretched the lead to 3–1 in the fourth on a run-scoring single from Bob Boone. Milwaukee cut the lead to 3–2 in the bottom of the fourth on Ben Oglivie's homer. In the 5th inning, the Angels nearly threatened again, until Reggie Jackson was thrown out trying to reach third on a Fred Lynn single. The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the seventh, when disaster struck the Angels. Milwaukee loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Cecil Cooper then cracked the series-winning hit, a two-run single that put the Brewers ahead 4–3. The Milwaukee bullpen kept the Angels off the board in the final two innings, helped by a spectacular catch by reserve outfielder Marshall Edwards, robbing Don Baylor of extra bases. The Angels threatened again in the 9th with a runner on second, and Rod Carew at the plate. Pete Ladd got Carew to ground out to Robin Yount, and the Brewers took home the franchise's first American League pennant.

Composite box

1982 ALCS (3–2): Milwaukee Brewers over California Angels

Aftermath

1982 would not be the closest the Angels came to winning a pennant in the 1980s. In 1986, the Angels were up 3-1 in the AL Championship Series, leading 5-2 in ninth inning, and within one strike of their first-ever AL pennant. Dave Henderson of the opposing Red Sox caught hold of a Donnie Moore forkball and launched a home run into the left field seats to give the Red Sox a momentary, 6-5 lead on the top of the ninth inning. The Red Sox would go on to win the game 7-6 in eleven innings and complete the 3-1 series comeback a few days later. It would not be until 2002 when the Angels won their first pennant, on their way to their first World Series in franchise history.

On that 1986 Angels team was Brewers' ace Don Sutton, who also joined the 300-win club that season.

This was the Milwaukee Brewers last and only AL pennant, as they moved to the National League in 1998. The Brewers have yet to win a pennant since moving to the NL.

References

1. Since 1982 this has occurred three more times in LCS play. See 1984 National League Championship Series, 2004 National League Championship Series, and 2017 American League Championship Series.
2. "MIL@BAL: Yount's two homers lift Brewers to AL East | 10/03/1982". MLB.com. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
3. "MIL@BAL: Brewers clinch AL East in season finale | 10/03/1982". MLB.com. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
4. Stephen, Eric (April 13, 2020). "The best Angels team that didn't win a championship". Halos Heaven. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
5. "1982 ALCS Game 1 - Milwaukee Brewers vs. California Angels". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
6. "1982 ALCS Game 2 - Milwaukee Brewers vs. California Angels". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
7. "1982 ALCS Game 3 - California Angels vs. Milwaukee Brewers". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
8. "1982 ALCS Game 4 - California Angels vs. Milwaukee Brewers". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
9. "1982 ALCS Game 5 - California Angels vs. Milwaukee Brewers". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.

External links

• 1982 ALCS at Baseball-reference

• 1982 Major League Baseball season
• Milwaukee Brewers postseason
• Los Angeles Angels postseason
• American League Championship Series
• 1982 in sports in California
• 1982 in sports in Wisconsin
• 1980s in Anaheim, California
• 1980s in Milwaukee
• October 1982 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in Anaheim, California
• Baseball competitions in Milwaukee