{"id":527061,"date":"2026-01-19T00:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527061\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T00:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:52:13","slug":"come-see-whats-brewing-the-history-of-the-1982-milwaukee-brewers-part-5-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527061\/","title":{"rendered":"Come See What’s Brewing: The History of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, Part 5 – History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis multi-part series talks about how the Brewers got to the World Series and offers a timeline of the 1982 campaign, including player profiles, game recaps, and other events that affected the season.
Part 1<\/a>
Part 2<\/a>
Part 3<\/a>
Part 4<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPart 5 relives the first two games of the 1982 ALCS\u2014ones that made us Brewer fans think the season would soon end.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBring on the Angels and the ALCS
While the Brewers battled down to the last game of the season to claim the AL East title, the California Angels had it a little easier in the AL West, winning the division by three games over Kansas City.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the Brewers locker room after the victory over Baltimore on Sunday, owner Bud Selig was repeatedly doused with champagne by the players. As he walked around drinking bubbly and celebrating, the players linked arms and sang. \u2018California, Here I Come.\u2019\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCalifornia vs. Milwaukee: Tale of the Tape
The Angels and Brewers were a lot alike: all power and little speed. Both teams had set lineups with few changes; each team had five players who appeared in 150 or more games. The Angels had four more players who played in at least 130 games, while the Brewers had three. Milwaukee used the exact same nine-player lineup 24 times, which is almost unthinkable today. It went:\n<\/p>\n

\t\tPaul Molitor<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tRobin Yount<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tCecil Cooper<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tTed Simmons<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tBen Oglivie<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tGorman Thomas<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tRoy Howell<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tCharlie Moore<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tJim Gantner<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tMolitor (158 starts), Yount (138) and Cooper (155) were virtually fixtures in the first three spots in the order.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brewers would collect more individual hardware than the Angels, with Robin Yount winning the AL Most Valuable Player award and Pete Vuckovich<\/a> the AL Cy Young<\/a> award. Yount would also win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award. Cecil Cooper also garnered a Silver Slugger.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor California, catcher Bob Boone<\/a> won a Gold Glove, while third sacker Doug DeCinces<\/a> and right fielder Reggie Jackson<\/a> each earned Silver Slugger accolades. Jackson tied for the major-league lead in home runs with 39, along with Gorman Thomas.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brewers led the AL with 891 runs scored, followed by the Angels, with 814. California led the AL with the fewest runs allowed (670), while the Brewers were tied for ninth (717). The Brewers’ 216 homers led the AL, trailed by the Angels with 186. Neither team stole many bases, as the Brewers were eighth in the AL with 84, while California was 11th with only 55.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tVuckovich, Mike Caldwell<\/a>, Moose Haas<\/a>, and Don Sutton<\/a> were the key starters for Milwaukee. Pete \u2018Big Foot\u2019 Ladd and Jim Slaton<\/a> would take over for Rollie Fingers<\/a>. Manager Harvey Kuenn<\/a> had Fingers on the playoff roster, but would prove hesitant to use him.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u2018Hammerin\u2019 Halos,\u2019 as the Angels were known, had veterans Tommy John<\/a>, Bruce Kison<\/a>, and Geoff Zahn<\/a> as their top starters. The Angels also had a bullpen gallimaufry, as five players had at least three saves, led by Doug Corbett<\/a>\u2019s eight.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGame 1: Baylor Bashes Brewers
Led by designated hitter Don Baylor<\/a>\u2019s five RBIs, the Angels came back from an early 3-1 deficit to defeat the Brewers 8-3 in Game 1 at Anaheim Stadium on October 5. Baylor had a sacrifice fly in the first, but Milwaukee scored a pair in the second on Thomas\u2019s two-run homer. Cooper knocked in Paul Molitor with an RBI groundout in the third to increase the lead to 3-1.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCaldwell gave up four runs in the third to give back the lead, though, highlighted by Baylor\u2019s two-run triple that evaded centerfielder Thomas when it took a bad carom off the right-center field fence.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSlaton replaced Caldwell in the fourth after Boone\u2019s base hit. With one out and the bases loaded, Baylor struck again, this time with a two-run single to left to make the tally 7-3. Fred Lynn<\/a> led off the fifth with a home run to right to give California a five-run lead.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSlaton, Ladd, and Dwight Bernard<\/a> shut down the Angels the rest of the way on one hit, but the damage had been done. Crafty veteran Tommy John gave up the early runs but coasted the rest of the way, earning the complete game win on seven hits and one walk while striking out five. The Brewers did not help themselves defensively, as Molitor committed an error on a possible double play ball in the fourth and Caldwell had a throwing error and a wild pitch in the first inning.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have to win tomorrow, or we\u2019re going to make things real tough on ourselves,\u201d Charlie Moore said after the game.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGame 2: Kison Handcuffs Milwaukee
The Brewers went down two games to none after Bruce Kison went the distance, giving up five hits and two runs as the Angels took a 4-2 win. Kison only needed 90 pitches, as he struck out eight and did not give the Crew a free pass.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tVuckovich went the distance for Milwaukee, giving up six hits, four runs, and four walks in taking the loss. With the bases loaded and one out in the second, Tim Foli<\/a> singled to left to score Lynn for the 1-0 lead. One batter later, with the sacks still jammed, Boone dropped a perfect suicide squeeze to make it 2-0.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the third, Jackson hit a homer to deep right to extend California’s lead to three runs.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFour-seamer over the plate. Bye-bye. Gone,\u201d Vuckovich said of the mistake, after the game.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the fourth, Boone got another RBI with a sac fly that scored DeCinces, widening the gap to 4-0. The Brewers finally got on the board in the fifth. Moore singled and moved to second on a groundout. Molitor lined a ball to center that Lynn inexplicably dove for, the ball getting past him and going all the way to the wall. The \u2018Ignitor\u2019 motored around the bases with a stand-up, inside-the-park homer to cut the lead in half.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought it got us up because it gave us some hope,\u201d Molitor explained after the game. \u201cBut nothing happened.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKison set down the last 13 batters, as neither team was able to score. Vuckovich was nearly as good, allowing only three walks over the final four frames, but it was too little, too late for Milwaukee.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMolitor and Moore led Milwaukee with two hits each, while Lynn also banged out a pair of knocks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t ask for a tougher task than we have,\u201d Molitor said. \u201cCalifornia has a lot of room for error now. And we have none.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tOctober 7: Off Day
A disconsolate band of Brewers returned to Milwaukee after a pair of tough losses at the \u2018Big A.\u2019 Including the end-of-season series in Baltimore, the Brew Crew lost five of six games in a \u2018do-or-die\u2019 week. They weren’t quite dead, but they certainly hadn’t done what they hoped to do.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe last 10 days on the road were pretty tough on everybody,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIt was tough for us to play after the emotional series in Baltimore, and then having to fly out to California and start the playoffs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scheduled starter for Game 3 was Don Sutton. When asked if he felt pressure, he scoffed.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat pressure? Maybe my attitude leads some people to think I should be psychoanalyzed, but I love this situation,” said the eventual Hall of Famer. “It\u2019s center stage.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBrewers fans could breathe easy, knowing that the man who won a clutch victory by pitching eight effective innings the previous weekend in Baltimore would be on the mound in a must-win game.\n<\/p>\n

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!<\/p>\n

View The Players Project<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This multi-part series talks about how the Brewers got to the World Series and offers a timeline of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2401],"tags":[5,136,843,59,4280,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-527061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-brewers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brewers","10":"tag-milwaukee","11":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","12":"tag-milwaukeebrewers","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115919031394983035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}