The1982American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup inMajor League Baseball's1982 postseason played between theMilwaukee Brewers and theCalifornia Angels from October 5 to 10, 1982. Milwaukee won the series three games to two to advance to the franchise's firstWorld Series, where they would lose to theSt. 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.^[1]

The series was noteworthy as being the first League Championship Series in either league to feature a matchup between twoexpansion teams (i.e., franchises not included among the 16 operating in the major leagues from 1901 to 1960), 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 theALCS Most Valuable Player (Fred Lynn) came from a losing team;Mike Scott (1986) andJeffrey Leonard (1987) would later win anNLCS MVP from a losing side in theNational League. This was the first ALCS not to feature theOakland Athletics,Baltimore Orioles, orNew York Yankees.

As of 2025, this remains the only league pennant won by the Brewers.

TheAmerican League East race would come down to a winner-take-all game against theMilwaukee Brewers andBaltimore Orioles. A game where both teams were tied for 1st on the last game of the regular season had happened only once before in baseball history — the1949 American League race between theBoston Red Sox andNew York Yankees. The 1982 Game 162 were to be pitched by future Hall of Famers,Don Sutton and the Orioles’Jim Palmer. Adding more drama was that it was Baltimore’s legendary managerEarl 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 three games of the four-game series. Baltimore fans even brought brooms toMemorial Stadium, anticipating the final scene of one the greatest comebacks in MLB history.^[2]

In the first inning,Robin Yount, theAL 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.^[3]

Sutton then walked two batters and gave up 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 fielderBen 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 around, 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.^[4]

Awaiting the Brewers in the ALCS was theCalifornia Angels, who were built onGene Autry's plan to acquire veterans with winning pedigrees. They had traded forBob Boone, a catcher from the1980 champion Philadelphia Phillies;Tim Foli, a shortstop on theWorld Series winning 1979 Pirates;Doug DeCinces, a longtime Orioles' third baseman who won a pennant in 1979; All-Star left fielderFred Lynn came over in a trade in 1981, who nearly won a World Series in1975 with theRed Sox; and most importantly, big ticket free-agent signeeReggie Jackson, a 5x World Champion and 2xWorld Series MVP winner. Coincidentally, all the recent acquisitions but Jackson grew up in Southern California.

These new additions joined a talented everyday lineup.Rod Carew was now 36-years-old at first base, but still the best pure contact hitter of his generation, and hit .319 in 1982;Brian Downing hit 28 home runs, playing left field and batting leadoff.Bobby Grich, the second baseman, hit a solid .261/.371/.449; andDon Baylor, the DH, hit 24 home runs and drove in 98 runs. Grinch and Baylor were also former Orioles, who Autry had signed throughfree agency in 1977.

While not as close as the AL East race, theAL West would come down to the 2nd to last day of the season, with the Angels holding off theKansas City Royals.^[5]

Milwaukee won the series, 3–2.

Tuesday, October 5, 1982, atAnaheim Stadium inAnaheim, California

The Angels jumped to a 1–0 lead in the first whenBrian Downing scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly byDon Baylor. Milwaukee came back to take a 3–1 lead with a two-run homer byGorman Thomas in the second and a run scored byPaul 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 MVPFred Lynn homered. California starterTommy 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.

Wednesday, October 6, 1982, atAnaheim Stadium inAnaheim, 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 fromTim Foli and a squeeze bunt byBob Boone. California'sReggie 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 onPaul Molitor's two-run inside-the-park homer, but could get no closer the rest of the way against the strong pitching ofBruce 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.

Friday, October 8, 1982, atCounty Stadium inMilwaukee, 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 byCecil Cooper, who would eventually get the series-winning hit, and sacrifice flies byGorman Thomas andDon Money.Paul Molitor got two more runs for Milwaukee with a seventh-inning homer, this one over the fence. Brewers starterDon Sutton pitched strongly for the first seven innings but tired in the eighth, yielding three runs on aBob Boone homer and doubles byFred Lynn andDon Baylor.Pete Ladd came out of the Milwaukee bullpen to get the final four outs for the save.

Saturday, October 9, 1982, atCounty Stadium inMilwaukee, 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 starterTommy John, who took the loss. The teams traded runs in the sixth:Fred Lynn doubled homeReggie Jackson for the Angels, andJim Gantner singled homeMark 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 byDon 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.

Sunday, October 10, 1982, atCounty Stadium inMilwaukee, 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 byBrian Downing and a single byFred Lynn. But Milwaukee tied the game in the bottom of the inning whenPaul Molitor doubled and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly byTed Simmons. The Angels made it 2–1 in the third on an RBI single fromFred Lynn, and stretched the lead to 3–1 in the fourth on a run-scoring single fromBob Boone. Milwaukee cut the lead to 3–2 in the bottom of the fourth onBen Oglivie's homer. In the 5th inning, the Angels nearly threatened again, untilReggie 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 outfielderMarshall 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 firstAmerican League pennant.

1982 ALCS(3–2):Milwaukee Brewers overCalifornia Angels

1982 would not be the closest the Angels came to winning a pennant in the 1980s. In1986, 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 aDonnie 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 the3-1 series comeback a few days later. It would not be until2002 when the Angels won apennant for the first time, on their way to theirfirst World Series in franchise history.

On that 1986 Angels team was former Brewers' aceDon Sutton, who also joined the300-win club that season.

In 2009, Earl Bloom of theOrange County Register named the 1982 Angels as the second best team in franchise history, after the World Series-winning 2002 ballclub.^[11] The 1982 Angels were 2nd in runs scored, 1st in runs allowed, 2nd inrun differential, 2nd inOPS+, and 4th inERA+.^[12] It was the only time the Angels posted top five in these categories in franchise history; not even the 2002 championship team reached these numbers.

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, going 0-3 in the process (2011, 2018 & 2025).

• 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

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