The1983American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup inMajor League Baseball's1983 postseason played between theChicago White Sox and theBaltimore Orioles from October 5 to 8.

The Orioles won the series three games to one. Although the White Sox took Game 1 by a score of 2–1, the Orioles came back to win the last three games of the series. The Orioles went on to defeat thePhiladelphia Phillies in five games in the1983 World Series. In the regular season the White Sox won theWest Division by 20 games with a 99–63 record. The Orioles won theEast Division by six games with a 98–64 record.

In the early 1980s, the sports scene in Chicago was dire. The White Sox had not been to the postseason since losing the1959 World Series, theCubs had not been to a World Series since losing in1945, theBlackhawks had not won a Stanley Cup since1961, theBears had not won a championship since1963, and theBulls had moderate success with a defensive first approach underDick Motta but they could never get over the hump against the more talentedLakers orWarriors; they had been to anNBA Finals.

By 1983, the city was starved for a winner of any kind. The 1983 White Sox AL West division crown was the city of Chicago's first baseball championship of any kind (division, league, or world) in twenty-four years. Their “win ugly” nickname was given to them by Texas Rangers managerDoug Rader. The club rattled off a modest win streak around the All-Star break, but according to Rader their success would be short-lived, stating "they're not playing that well... they're winning ugly". Behind managerTony La Russa, catcherCarlton Fisk, outfielderHarold Baines, and designated hitterRon Kittle, the "Winning Ugly" Sox finished the season 60-25.^[1]

Since winning the city's secondchampionship in1970, Baltimore had suffered a decade full of heartbreak, losing in the World Series to Pittsburgh in1971 and1979 (the latter after being up 3 games to 1); losing postseason series to Oakland in1973 and1974; and losing closeAL East races in1975,1977,1980,1981 and1982.

1983 was the Orioles' first in nearly 15 years withoutmanagerEarl Weaver, who retired after the Orioles missed the playoffs in the final game of the 1982 season.^[2] The Orioles replaced Weaver withJoe Altobelli, who had been an Orioles manager in the Baltimore's farm system from 1971-1976. The Orioles went 58-31 from July through the end of the regular season, pulling away from Detroit, New York and Milwaukee in September in what had been a tough AL East race in years prior.

Baltimore won the series, 3–1.

Playing in their first postseason game since the1959 World Series, the White Sox jumped out to a 1–0 ALCS lead behind a complete-game victory byLaMarr Hoyt, the American LeagueCy Young Award winner. In the third, consecutive two out singles byRudy Law,Carlton Fisk andTom Paciorek offScott McGregor plated Chicago's first run. After a 42-minute rain delay in the fourth inning, the White Sox made it 2–0 when Paciorek walked to lead off the sixth, moved to third whenGreg Luzinski reached on anEddie Murray error and scored when Rookie of the YearRon Kittle grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the ninth,Dan Ford doubled with two outs then Pinch Runner Tito Landrum scored asCal Ripken Jr. denied Hoyt's shutout with an RBI single for the Orioles' only run.

Mike Boddicker evened the series with a dominant performance, striking out 14 batters while allowing just five singles and three walks in a shutout victory.Gary Roenicke doubled to lead off the second offFloyd Bannister, and then scored onVance Law's throwing error onKen Singleton's groundball. In the fourth, Roenicke walked with one out, then scored on Singleton's double. In the sixth,Cal Ripken Jr. hit a lead off double off the left field wall, moved to third onEddie Murray’s fly out to centerfield and then came home as Roenicke capped the game's scoring with a two-run home run to give the Orioles a 4–0 win.

With the series shifting to Chicago, White Sox starterRich Dotson was rocked for six runs, all earned, over five innings, as the Orioles pushed Chicago to the brink of elimination. In the top of the first with one out,Jim Dwyer doubled,Cal Ripken Jr. hit an infield single andEddie Murray belted a 2-0 pitch into the upper deck for a three-run homer to start the scoring. Next inning,Rick Dempsey walked with two outs and scored onAl Bumbry's double. The White Sox scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the second offMike Flanagan whenRon Kittle hit a leadoff double and scored onVance Law's single. In the fifth,Cal Ripken Jr. was hit by a pitch with two-out and then a subsequent walk toEddie Murray was followed by a two-run double byJohn Lowenstein who was thrown out trying for three to end the inning. During Murray's at bat in the 5th, the first pitch nearly hit him and led to the benches clearing with no punches being thrown. In the eighth,Eddie Murray walked, stole second, advanced to third onRich Dauer's flyout and then scored onTodd Cruz's RBI single with two out offDick Tidrow to make it 7–1 Orioles. In the top of the ninth, a double byCal Ripken Jr. sandwiched in between walks toJohn Shelby andEddie Murray loaded the bases offJerry Koosman.Dennis Lamp in relief walkedGary Roenicke to force in a run, then left fielderJerry Hairston's error onJoe Nolan's fly ball allowed two more runs to score beforeRich Dauer's sacrifice fly capped the scoring at 11–1 Orioles. Flanagan pitched five innings whileSammy Stewart pitched four shutout innings while allowing only one hit to close out the win.

With his team facing elimination, White Sox managerTony LaRussa decided to save Hoyt for a potential game 5 start and went withBritt Burns instead. Burns pitched nine shutout innings, but the Sox could not push across a run. Chicago missed their best opportunity to score in the 7th. Greg Walker andVance Law singled thenJerry Dybzinski attempted to bunt the runners over but the lead runner was forced at third.  Then with one out and runners on first and second,Julio Cruz singled to left field. Third base coachJim Leyland held the lead runnerVance Law at third but Dybzinski did not see that in time and got caught halfway between second and third. As Baltimore began to execute the run down, Law broke for home and was thrown out while barreling intoRick Dempsey. After aTippy Martinez balk moved the runners up,Rudy Law lined out to left field to end the inning. Baltimore then eliminated Chicago with a three-run outburst in the top of the 10th, advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1979. With one out in the 10th,Tito Landrum hit a 1-0 pitch into the left field upper deck, ending Burns' day. ThenSalome Barojas in relief allowed three straight singles toCal Ripken Jr.,Eddie Murray andGary Roenicke, the last of which scored a run.Benny Ayala's sacrifice fly offJuan Agosto capped the scoring at 3–0 Orioles.^[7]

Chicago scored one run in the final 31 innings of the series, hitting .211 as a team with no homers. Four of the team's starters,Harold Baines,Carlton Fisk,Vance Law andGreg Luzinski, hit below .200. Baltimore hit but .217 and had the same number of hits (28) as the White Sox did, but outscored them 19-3.

The 1983 ALCS was the first post-season series in the Orioles' history in which they lost the first game--in their 11 post-season series going back to 1966 the team had always won Game 1. Similarly the O's would lose Game 1 of the 1983 World Series before coming back to sweep the remaining four games.

This is the Orioles' most recent pennant to date.

1983 ALCS(3–1):Baltimore Orioles overChicago White Sox

On television,NBC Sports broadcast the series in the United States, concurrent with its coverage of theNLCS. Local coverage of the series was also provided by the White Sox and Orioles' respective flagship stations: Then-independentWFLD-TV in Chicago and then-NBC affiliateWMAR-TV in Baltimore, with the latter station pre-empting NBC's network coverage in favor of its own.

The 1983 postseason marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, MLB recognized a problem with this due to the emergence ofcable superstations such asWTBS inAtlanta andWGN-TV inChicago. WhenTBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local"Braves broadcast of the1982 NLCS,^[8] MLB got aPhiladelphia federal court^[9][10] to ban^[11] them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS couldn't have a nationwide telecast competing withABC's.

The Orioles would go on to win the World Series, beating a veteranPhiladelphia Phillies ballclub in a competitive five games in the World Series. Despite a return from all-time franchise wins leading managerEarl Weaver in 1985-1986, the Orioles never seriously contended in the AL East again until1989, and did not get back to the playoffs until1996. By 1996, MLB had created a three-division format and wild-card (best non-division winning record), thus the Orioles did not win the AL East in 1996, but still qualified for the postseason via the wild card. As of 2024^[update], Baltimore has yet to return to the World Series.

The 1983 White Sox success was also short-lived. The team did not win 90 games again until1990 nor make a playoff until 1993. By 1990,Carlton Fisk was 42 years old still playing at a high level with the team,Tony La Russa had won pennants and aWorld Series managing theOakland Athletics,Harold Baines was in Texas playing for the Rangers, andRon Kittle finished the season in Baltimore. 1990 was also the team's last year playing atComiskey Park. The White Sox success in 1983, coupled with their mediocrity in the seasons preceding and following it, ultimately made the 1983 season an anomaly.

LikeEarl Weaver, La Russa would retire and later return to managing. 34 years after being let go by the White Sox, La Russa was hired to be the team's manager again in 2020 at age 76. In the interim, La Russa won three World Series with Oakland in1989 and theSt. Louis Cardinals in2006 and2011. He was also inducted into theBaseball Hall of Fame in 2014, so his return made him the first manager in baseball history to manage a team after being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.^[12] He managed two seasons with the club, winning a division title in 2021 before losing theAmerican League Division Series to theHouston Astros.

• 1983 ALCS at Baseball-Reference

• 1983 Major League Baseball season
• American League Championship Series
• Baltimore Orioles postseason
• Chicago White Sox postseason
• 1983 in Illinois
• 1983 in sports in Maryland
• 1980s in Baltimore
• 1980s in Chicago
• October 1983 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in Baltimore
• Baseball competitions in Chicago
• Events at Comiskey Park

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