The1982 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five playoff series inMajor League Baseball’s1982 postseason played between theSt. Louis Cardinals and theAtlanta Braves from October 6 to 10. It was the 14thNLCS. The Cardinals swept the series in 3 games, and went on to win theWorld Series over theMilwaukee Brewers in seven games.

Despite their history as theNational League's most successful franchise – the second-mostWorld Series titles in baseball behind theNew York Yankees — this was the Cardinals first postseason appearance since the league went todivisional play. Their last postseason trip had been to the1968 World Series when they lost to theDetroit Tigers — the last year before divisional play. TheAtlanta Braves were making their first postseason appearance since1969, the first year of divisional play. The Cardinals were led byGold Glove first baseman and solid hitterKeith Hernandez, while the Braves were led byDale Murphy, who was later named the season'sMVP. The Cardinals had been the first team to clinch a playoff berth on September 27 while the Braves were the last to make the playoffs, clinching the West on October 3 when theGiants beat theDodgers whenJoe Morgan's three-run homer late in the seventh inning helped seal a 5–3 victory to deny the Dodgers from reaching the playoffs.^[1] The day before Morgan's three-run home run, the Giants were eliminated by the Dodgers, making it the first and only time thetwo rivals eliminated each other in the same season.^[2]

On a side note, Atlanta's managerJoe Torre and two of his coachesBob Gibson andDal Maxvill were known for playing for the opposing St. Louis Cardinal team while Cardinal coachRed Schoendienst previously played for the Braves and Cardinal coachHub Kittle previously managed in the Braves organization.

For Torre, this was his first attempt at postseason baseball, after 23 years on non-competitive teams as a player and manager. Throughout his career, Torre was seen as unlucky to just miss competitive windows by teams. As a player debuting in 1960, Torre just missed the Braves' great teams in the late 1950s and was traded to St. Louis just before Atlanta's1969 season, where they made the postseason for the first time since1958.1968 also represented St. Louis' last postseason appearance until 1982, which saw Torre just miss out again after being traded there in 1969. This bit on bad fortunate would change when Torre later went on to manage one of the greatest moderndynasties in MLB, winning four World Series in five seasons with theYankees from 1996-2000.

This was the first year since the inaugural NLCS in1969 to not feature the Reds, Pirates, Phillies, or Dodgers.

St. Louis won the series, 3–0.

Wednesday, October 6, 1982, atBusch Stadium (II) inSt. Louis, Missouri

In the top of the first inning, Braves leadoff manClaudell Washington hit Cardinals starterJoaquin Andujar's second pitch to left-center for a double.Rafael Ramírez then hit into a sacrifice, and with two out,Chris Chambliss singled through the middle for the 1–0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, the Cardinals gotKen Oberkfell andKeith Hernandez to both hit singles, but neither scored.

In the second, Andjuar only gave up one single to Glenn Hubbard.

The Cardinals threatened in the third. Tom Herr singled, but was thrown out trying to steal second base, wasting Lonnie Smith's triple. The Cardinals did not score.

In the bottom of the fifth, Ozzie Smith grounded out and Andujar was at bat when plate umpire Billy Williams called the game on account of rain with the Braves leading 1-0 and two outs from an official game. Under the rules at the time, the entire game was wiped out. Braves manager Joe Torre complained, saying, "But I feel that any postseason game should be finished, the next day or whenever it is."^[6]

This situation is no longer possible after 2009 rule changes that state once a game starts, it will be played to its conclusion and if necessary, would besuspended, not be a rained out game. Since 2020, in the regular season, once the first pitch is made, a game can only be suspended if it does not reach official game status or is a tied game. Under current rules, the game would have restarted with the Braves leading 1-0, with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Andujar at bat (or a pinch-hitter).

A new Game 1 began from the start the following night in a match-up of the volatile Braves starterPascual Pérez and longtime Cardinal starterBob Forsch.

Thursday, October 7, 1982, atBusch Stadium (II) inSt. Louis, Missouri

The new Game 1 was scoreless through two innings. In the bottom of the third,Willie McGee tripled and scored onOzzie Smith's sacrifice fly to center. It stayed 1–0 until the sixth when the floodgates opened and the Cardinals scored five runs to finish off Perez and the Braves for the evening. Three straight singles byLonnie Smith,Keith Hernandez, andGeorge Hendrick chased Perez and made it 2–0 with two on and nobody out. Brought in to put out the fire,Steve Bedrosian walkedDarrell Porter to load the bases and gave up a single to McGee that scored Hernandez. Ozzie Smith's single scored Hendrick and Porter scored on a sacrifice fly by Forsch. A wild pitch advanced the runners, and aKen Oberkfell single made it 6–0 Cardinals.Donnie Moore replaced Bedrosian and ended the inning, but the game was as good as over.

The Cardinals added a cosmetic run in the eighth scored by Forsch on a sacrifice fly. The 7–0 win gave the Cardinals a 1–0 lead in the best-of-five series. Forsch went the distance and only yielded three hits while Perez got the loss.

Saturday, October 9, 1982, atBusch Stadium (II) inSt. Louis, Missouri

After another rainout the night before, an exciting contest unfolded at Busch Stadium in Game 2 with the Braves sendingPhil Niekro againstJohn Stuper. The Cardinals took a 1–0 lead in the bottom of the second whenKen Oberkfell scored on a wild pitch. The Braves answered in the top of the third whenBruce Benedict walked, went to second on a Niekro bunt, and scored the Braves' first run of the series that counted whenRafael Ramirez hit a single that he followed by scoring on a three-base error to put the Braves in front for the first time, 2–1. Niekro helped himself in the fifth whenGlenn Hubbard singled, Benedict doubled, and Niekro's sacrifice fly gave the Braves a two-run lead. In the bottom of that same inning,Keith Hernandez singled and scored onDarrell Porter's double to make it 3–2 Atlanta. In the eighth, Porter walked, went to third on aGeorge Hendrick single, and scored to tie it whenWillie McGee hit into a fielder's choice that forced Hendrick at second. With the score tied, the Cardinals won in the bottom of the ninth whenDavid Green singled, went to second on a bunt byTommy Herr, and scored on a single by Oberkfell. The last at-bat win gave the Cardinals a 2–0 lead heading to Atlanta.Bruce Sutter got the win and Braves ace relieverGene Garber got the loss.

Sunday, October 10, 1982, atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadium inAtlanta, Georgia

In a must-win game, the Braves sentRick Camp to the hill and the Cardinals countered with the sometimes volatile and often entertainingJoaquín Andújar. There were no runs in the first, but in the second, the Cardinals clinched the series. Hernandez singled, Porter walked, Hendrick singled to score Hernandez, andWillie McGee hit his second triple of the series to score two more runs. WhenOzzie Smith singled to make it 4–0, Camp was history and for all intents and purposes, so were the Braves. In the fifth,Tommy Herr doubled and scored on a Hernandez single to make it 5–0. Facing elimination, the Braves fought back valiantly.Claudell Washington andBob Horner both singled. Faced with the prospect of a big inning, managerJoe Torre pulled Washington and replaced him with the fasterTerry Harper. But the next hitter,Chris Chambliss hit into a double play that scored Harper and made it 5–1, but took the Braves out of the inning since the next hitter was their star,Dale Murphy. Had Chambliss hit safely, a Murphy homer would have made it 5–4. Instead, Murphy singled with two outs, went to second on a wild pitch by Andujar, and scored onGlenn Hubbard's single. The scoring continued in the ninth when McGee drilled a home run off relieverGene Garber to end the scoring at 6–2. Bruce Sutter got the save and Camp the loss.

The win thrust the Cardinals into the1982 World Series against another beer town team, theMilwaukee Brewers.

1982 NLCS(3–0):St. Louis Cardinals overAtlanta Braves

This series was televised byABC Sports in the United States, running concurrently with the network's broadcast of theALCS.

KSDK in St. Louis, the Cardinals' over-the-air rights holder and that city'sNBC affiliate, produced a local broadcast of this series. The Braves' TV outlet,independent stationWTBS in Atlanta, attempted to produce coverage for its audience but was blocked from doing so by ABC and Major League Baseball. Though MLB rules of the time allowed for local telecasts of League Championship Series games, WTBS's status as acable- and satellite-deliveredsuperstation would have had its potential telecasts of the NLCS competing with ABC for national viewers.^[7] WTBS sought legal relief against MLB and ABC, but a final ruling in aPhiladelphia federal court upheld MLB's decision to bar WTBS from producing its own NLCS games.^[8][9][10]

When a new television rights contract between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC went into effect at the start ofthe 1984 season, coverage of League Championship Series games became network-exclusive, with locally produced broadcasts no longer permitted. The new contract also ended the long-standing practice of allowing local team broadcasters tosimulcast network coverage of the World Series.

The 1983 season represented more promise and heartbreak for Atlanta. The Braves were 71–46 on Saturday, August 13, after beating theLos Angeles Dodgers 8–7 on aBob Watson walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. The Braves were6+1⁄2 games ahead of the Dodgers at this point and things were looking good for them. However, during next series with the Padres, the Braves would lose their cleanup hitterBob Horner to a season-ending wrist injury. Horner was batting .303 with 20 homers at that point and his loss would prove to be a disaster for the Braves. After Horner's injury the Braves spiraled the rest of the way in August and early September and were soon overtaken by the Dodgers. With a chance to get within a one game of the now first-place Dodgers, Atlanta led Los Angeles 6–3 going into the bottom of the ninth during an afternoon game on atDodger Stadium on Sunday, September 11. However, in what turned out to be one of the games of the season, Los Angeles rallied to win 7–6, thanks to anR.J. Reynolds' walk-off suicide squeeze, thus extending their division lead to three games.^[11][12] This effectively won the Dodgers theNL West, as the Braves were not able to make up the three games in the standings the rest of the way. Atlanta did not seriously compete again for theNL West until1991, where they would this time best Los Angeles in a close race to the last weekend of the season.^[13]

The collapse of the Braves '83 season was not the fault ofDale Murphy, who hit .327 in September with 10 home runs. He was rewarded with his second straightNational League MVP award, solidifying himself as one of the best hitters in the early 1980s.

From 1991 to 2005 (excluding the strike-shortened 1994 season), the Braves made the postseason every year. In comparison, in their first 24 years in Atlanta (1966–1990), the Braves made the postseason just twice (1969 and1982).

Joe Torre would later manage the Cardinals from 1990 to 1995, before leading the Yankees tofour World Series championships from 1996 to 2007. For his success with the Yankees, Torre was inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Braves would avenge their 1982 National League Championship Series loss 14 years later during the1996 National League Championship Series when Atlanta became just the sixth team in MLB history to come back from a3–1 series deficit in the postseason. The two teams met again three other times during the postseason; in the2000 National League Division Series,2012 National League Wild Card Game, and2019 National League Division Series, with the Cardinals winning all three match-ups.

• 1982 NLCS at Baseball Reference

• 1982 Major League Baseball season
• National League Championship Series
• St. Louis Cardinals postseason
• Atlanta Braves postseason
• 1982 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
• 1982 in sports in Missouri
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• October 1982 sports events in the United States

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