After winning the AL West in 1982, the Angels suffered a heartbreaking loss in the ALCS and parted ways with manager Gene Mauch. The 1983 season was a 92-loss disaster. The 1984 California Angels responded by bringing back Mauch and starting a course correction that would last for three years. The everyday lineup had aging […]
The Twins were in the fourth year of a rebuilding program under manager Billy Gardner. The franchise, after some moderately successful teams in the late 1970s, let their star players—including Hall of Fame first baseman Rod Carew—go elsewhere. The Twins lost over 100 games in 1980. They were on a pace to do the same […]
The 1984 New York Yankees were a team going through some big transitions. After the renaissance era of 1976-81—a period where the proud franchise won five AL East titles, four American League pennants and two World Series titles—the Yankees were slipping behind other contenders in their rigorous division. And a difficult offseason would make ’84 […]
The great baseball city of Baltimore was at the peak of its glory coming into 1984. Over the past 23 seasons, the Orioles had 22 winning seasons. They won the rigorous AL East seven times. There were multiple near-misses that would have been easy playoff seasons by the standards of today. They had a reputation […]
After their first winning season in franchise history in 1983, the 1984 Toronto Blue Jays solidified the progress. They posted another solid campaign and established the breakthrough of ’83 was no fluke. Only playing in a division with one of the best teams of the 1980s kept them from the postseason. A talented outfield that […]
Where the 1984 Pittsburgh Pirates were at in the historical arc of their franchise was a pertinent question coming into the season. They won the World Series as recently as 1979. Their only losing season since 1968 was in the strike-shortened year of 1981. They had been in first place as late as September in […]
There are times when a perceived mismatch leads to a magical upset or at least a riveting moment when a favorite has to turn back a determined challenger. The 1984 ALCS between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals was not one of them. The Tigers came in a heavy favorite, and while the Royals […]
The 1984 Kansas City Royals weren’t one of the stronger teams in the franchise’s halcyon days from 1976-85. The season looked lost several times and the final record was a mediocre 84-78. But in a year where the AL West was weak, the Royals put together a September surge that won them a division title. […]
The first half of the 1980s are generally not seen as a high point in the history of the Boston Red Sox, and that characterization is, for the most part, fair. There were no division titles, nor even a noteworthy near-miss. But there were examples of some overachievement and teams that deserve to be remembered well. The 1984 Boston Red Sox were just such a team.