# 1978 Kansas City Royals season

The 1978 Kansas City Royals season was their tenth in Major League Baseball. The Royals won their third consecutive American League West title with a record of 92–70. For the third postseason in a row, Kansas City lost to the New York Yankees, falling 3-1 in the ALCS.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Kansas City Royals | 92 | 70 | .568 | — | 56‍–‍25 | 36‍–‍45 |
| Texas Rangers | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 52‍–‍30 | 35‍–‍45 |
| California Angels | 87 | 75 | .537 | 5 | 50‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Minnesota Twins | 73 | 89 | .451 | 19 | 38‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Chicago White Sox | 71 | 90 | .441 | 20½ | 38‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Oakland Athletics | 69 | 93 | .426 | 23 | 38‍–‍42 | 31‍–‍51 |
| Seattle Mariners | 56 | 104 | .350 | 35 | 32‍–‍49 | 24‍–‍55 |

### Record vs. opponents

1978 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 7–8 | 4–6 | 8–1 | 9–6 | 7–8 | 2–8 | 7–8 | 5–5 | 6–9 | 11–0 | 9–1 | 7–4 | 8–7 |
| Boston | 8–7 | — | 9–2 | 7–3 | 7–8 | 12–3 | 4–6 | 10–5 | 9–2 | 7–9 | 5–5 | 7–3 | 3–7 | 11–4 |
| California | 6–4 | 2–9 | — | 8–7 | 6–4 | 4–7 | 9–6 | 5–5 | 12–3 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 9–6 | 5–10 | 7–3 |
| Chicago | 1–8 | 3–7 | 7–8 | — | 8–2 | 2–9 | 8–7 | 4–7 | 8–7 | 1–9 | 7–8 | 7–8 | 11–4 | 4–6 |
| Cleveland | 6–9 | 8–7 | 4–6 | 2–8 | — | 5–10 | 5–6 | 5–10 | 5–5 | 6–9 | 4–6 | 8–1 | 1–9 | 10–4 |
| Detroit | 8–7 | 3–12 | 7–4 | 9–2 | 10–5 | — | 4–6 | 7–8 | 4–6 | 4–11 | 6–4 | 8–2 | 7–3 | 9–6 |
| Kansas City | 8–2 | 6–4 | 6–9 | 7–8 | 6–5 | 6–4 | — | 6–4 | 7–8 | 6–5 | 10–5 | 12–3 | 7–8 | 5–5 |
| Milwaukee | 8–7 | 5–10 | 5–5 | 7–4 | 10–5 | 8–7 | 4–6 | — | 4–7 | 10–5 | 9–1 | 5–5 | 6–4 | 12–3 |
| Minnesota | 5–5 | 2–9 | 3–12 | 7–8 | 5–5 | 6–4 | 8–7 | 7–4 | — | 3–7 | 9–6 | 6–9 | 6–9 | 6–4 |
| New York | 9–6 | 9–7 | 5–5 | 9–1 | 9–6 | 11–4 | 5–6 | 5–10 | 7–3 | — | 8–2 | 6–5 | 6–4 | 11–4 |
| Oakland | 0–11 | 5–5 | 6–9 | 8–7 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 5–10 | 1–9 | 6–9 | 2–8 | — | 13–2 | 6–9 | 7–4 |
| Seattle | 1–9 | 3–7 | 6–9 | 8–7 | 1–8 | 2–8 | 3–12 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 5–6 | 2–13 | — | 3–12 | 8–2 |
| Texas | 4–7 | 7–3 | 10–5 | 4–11 | 9–1 | 3–7 | 8–7 | 4–6 | 9–6 | 4–6 | 9–6 | 12–3 | — | 4–7 |
| Toronto | 7–8 | 4–11 | 3–7 | 6–4 | 4–10 | 6–9 | 5–5 | 3–12 | 4–6 | 4–11 | 4–7 | 2–8 | 7–4 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 4, 1978: John Mayberry was purchased from the Royals by the Toronto Blue Jays.
* June 5, 1978: The Royals traded a player to be named later to the San Diego Padres for Steve Hamrick (minors). The Royals completed the deal by sending Gary Lance to the Padres on September 29.
* August 3, 1978: Gerry Ako (minors) and cash were traded by the Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jamie Quirk.

#### Draft picks

* June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft
** Jeff Cornell was drafted by the Royals in the 8th round.
** Frank Viola was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round, but did not sign.

### Roster
## Game log
### Postseason Game log

1978 Postseason game log: 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2) :
AL Championship Series: vs. New York Yankees 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2)
#DateTime (CT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceSeriesBox/ Streak
1October 37:30 p.m. CDTYankeesL 1–7Beattie (1–0)Leonard (0–1)Clay (1)2:5741,143NYY 1–0L1
2October 42:30 p.m. CDTYankeesW 10–4Gura (1–0)Figueroa (0–1)—2:4241,158Tied 1–1W1
3October 62:30 p.m. CDT@ YankeesL 5–6Gossage (1–0)Bird (0–1)—2:1355,445NYY 2–1L1
4October 77:30 p.m. CDT@ YankeesL 1–2Guidry (1–0)Leonard (0–2)Gossage (1)2:2056,356NYY 3–1L2 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss      Bold = Royals team member :

## Player stats
### 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 | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Darrell Porter | 150 | 520 | 138 | .265 | 18 | 78 |
| 1B | Pete LaCock | 118 | 322 | 95 | .295 | 5 | 48 |
| 2B | Frank White | 143 | 461 | 127 | .275 | 7 | 50 |
| 3B | George Brett | 128 | 510 | 150 | .294 | 9 | 62 |
| SS | Freddie Patek | 138 | 440 | 109 | .248 | 2 | 46 |
| LF | Willie Wilson | 127 | 198 | 43 | .217 | 0 | 16 |
| CF | Amos Otis | 141 | 486 | 145 | .298 | 22 | 96 |
| RF | Al Cowens | 132 | 485 | 133 | .274 | 5 | 63 |
| DH | Hal McRae | 156 | 623 | 170 | .273 | 16 | 72 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| Clint Hurdle | 133 | 417 | 110 | .264 | 7 | 56 |
| Tom Poquette | 80 | 204 | 44 | .216 | 4 | 30 |
| John Wathan | 67 | 190 | 57 | .300 | 2 | 28 |
| Steve Braun | 64 | 137 | 36 | .263 | 0 | 14 |
| Jerry Terrell | 73 | 133 | 27 | .203 | 0 | 8 |
| U L Washington | 69 | 129 | 34 | .264 | 0 | 9 |
| Joe Zdeb | 60 | 127 | 32 | .252 | 0 | 11 |
| Jamie Quirk | 17 | 29 | 6 | .207 | 0 | 2 |
| Joe Lahoud | 13 | 16 | 2 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Art Kusnyer | 9 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 1 | 2 |
| Dave Cripe | 7 | 13 | 2 | .154 | 0 | 1 |
| Luis Silverio | 8 | 11 | 6 | .545 | 0 | 3 |
| Jim Gaudet | 3 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Randy Bass | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting 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 |
| Dennis Leonard | 40 | 294.2 | 21 | 17 | 3.33 | 183 |
| Paul Splittorff | 39 | 262.0 | 19 | 13 | 3.40 | 76 |
| Larry Gura | 35 | 221.2 | 16 | 4 | 2.72 | 81 |
| Rich Gale | 31 | 192.1 | 14 | 8 | 3.09 | 88 |
| Andy Hassler | 11 | 58.1 | 1 | 4 | 4.32 | 26 |

#### 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 |
| Doug Bird | 40 | 98.2 | 6 | 6 | 5.29 | 48 |
| Marty Pattin | 32 | 78.2 | 3 | 3 | 3.32 | 30 |
| Andy Hassler | 11 | 58.1 | 1 | 4 | 4.32 | 26 |
| Jim Colborn | 8 | 28.1 | 1 | 2 | 4.76 | 8 |
| Steve Busby | 7 | 21.1 | 1 | 0 | 7.59 | 10 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Al Hrabosky | 58 | 8 | 7 | 20 | 2.88 | 60 |
| Steve Mingori | 45 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2.74 | 28 |
| Randy McGilberry | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.21 | 12 |
| Steve Foucault | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 0 |
| Bill Paschall | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.38 | 5 |
| George Throop | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |

## ALCS
### Game 1

October 3: Royals Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| W: Jim Beattie (1-0) L: Dennis Leonard (0-1) S: Ken Clay (1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 2

October 4: Royals Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 1 |
| Kansas City | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | X | 10 | 16 | 1 |
| W: Larry Gura (1-0) L: Ed Figueroa (0-1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

October 6: Yankee Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kansas City | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| New York | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | X | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| W: Goose Gossage (1-0) L: Doug Bird (0-1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: KCR – George Brett 3 (3) NYY – Reggie Jackson (2) Thurman Munson (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 4

October 7: Yankee Stadium
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kansas City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| New York | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| W: Ron Guidry (1-0) L: Dennis Leonard (0-2) S: Goose Gossage (1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1) |||||||||||||

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | John Sullivan |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Gordon Mackenzie |
| A | Fort Myers Royals | Florida State League | Gene Lamont |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | José Martínez |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Omaha