1978 Kansas City Royals season

March 2026 November 2013 Kansas City Royals 1978 American League West champions Kansas City Royals Insignia (1969–2001).svg American League West Royals Stadium Kansas City, Missouri 92–70 (.568) 1st Ewing Kauffman Joe Burke Whitey Herzog (third full season) KBMA–TV 41(Denny Matthews, Steve Shannon, Fred White) WIBW–AM 580KMBZ–AM 980(Denny Matthews, Fred White) 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 Kansas City Royals Record vs. opponents KC Notable transactions April 4, 1978: John Mayberry was purchased from the Royals by the Toronto Blue Jays.John Mayberry at Baseball Reference 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.Gary Lance at Baseball Reference August 3, 1978: Gerry Ako (minors) and cash were traded by the Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jamie Quirk.Jamie Quirk at Baseball Reference Draft picks June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball draft Jeff Cornell was drafted by the Royals in the 8th round.Jeff Cornell at Baseball Reference Frank Viola was drafted by the Royals in the 16th round, but did not sign.Frank Viola at Baseball Reference Roster 1978 Kansas City Royals Roster Pitchers 29 Doug Bird 40 Steve Busby 48 Jim Colborn 16 Steve Foucault 38 Rich Gale 37 Larry Gura 16 Andy Hassler 39 Al Hrabosky 22 Dennis Leonard 28,31 Randy McGilberry 23 Steve Mingori 43 Bill Paschall 33 Marty Pattin 34 Paul Splittorff 35 George Throop Catchers 37 Jim Gaudet 21 Art Kusnyer 15 Darrell Porter Infielders  5 George Brett 31 Dave Cripe  8 Pete LaCock  2 Fred Patek 10 Jamie Quirk  1 Jerry Terrell 30 U L Washington 12 John Wathan 20 Frank White Outfielders  3 Steve Braun 18 Al Cowens  9 Clint Hurdle 10 Joe Lahoud 11 Hal McRae 26 Amos Otis 25 Tom Poquette 17 Luis Silverio  6 Willie Wilson 19 Joe Zdeb Other batters  7 Randy Bass Manager 24 Whitey Herzog Coaches 14 Steve Boros 36 Galen Cisco  4 Chuck Hiller 27 Charley Lau Game log Regular season Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; 1978 regular season game log: 92–70 (Home: 55–26; Away: 47–34)1978 Kansas City Royals Schedule & Results https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCA/1978-schedule-scores.shtml Baseball Reference 23 July 2026 y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; April: 14–5 (Home: 8–2; Away: 6–3) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; May: 11–14 (Home: 6–5; Away: 5–9) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; June: 13–17 (Home: 9–7; Away: 4–10) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; July: 20–8 (Home: 13–3; Away: 7–5) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |-style=background:#bbbfff | — || July 11, 1978 || 7:30p.m. CDT || colspan=9|49th All-Star Game in San Diego, CA |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; August: 13–16 (Home: 7–4; Away: 6–12) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; September: 20–10 (Home: 12–5; Away: 8–5) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; October: 1–0 (Home: 1–0; Away: 0–0) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Record Box/Streak |- |- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:      #bfb darkgray = Royals win      #fbb darkgray = Royals loss      #bbb darkgray = Game postponed      #090 darkgray = Clinched division     Bold = Royals team member Postseason Game log Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; 1978 Postseason game log: 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2) y Kansas City Royals 1969thru1992; AL Championship Series: vs. New York Yankees 1–3 (Home: 1–1; Away: 0–2) # Date Time (CT) Opponent Score Win Loss Save Time of Game Attendance Series Box/Streak |-style="background:#fcc;" | 1 || October 3, 1978 || 7:30p.m. CDT || Yankees || L 1–7 || Beattie (1–0) || Leonard (0–1) || Clay (1) || 2:57 || 41,143 || NYY 1–0 || L1 |-style="background:#cfc;" | 2 || October 4, 1978 || 2:30p.m. CDT || Yankees || W 10–4 || Gura (1–0) || Figueroa (0–1) || — || 2:42 || 41,158 || Tied 1–1 || W1 |-style="background:#fcc;" | 3 || October 6, 1978 || 2:30p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || L 5–6 || Gossage (1–0) || Bird (0–1) || — || 2:13 || 55,445 || NYY 2–1 || L1 |-style="background:#fcc;" | 4 || October 7, 1978 || 7:30p.m. CDT || @ Yankees || L 1–2 || Guidry (1–0) || Leonard (0–2) || Gossage (1) || 2:20 || 56,356 || NYY 3–1 || L2 |- |- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:      #bfb darkgray = Win      #fbb darkgray = 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 Frank White (baseball) 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 Willie Wilson (baseball) 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 Steve Braun (baseball) 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 George Throop (baseball) 1 1 0 0 0.00 2 ALCS 1978 American League Championship Series Game 1 October 3: Royals Stadium Team123456789RHENew York0110200307160Kansas City000001000122W: Jim Beattie (1–0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0–1)  S: Ken Clay (1)HRs: NYY – Reggie Jackson (1) Game 2 October 4: Royals Stadium Team123456789RHENew York0000002204121Kansas City14000032X10161W: Larry Gura (1–0)  L: Ed Figueroa (0–1)HRs: KCR – Freddie Patek (1) Game 3 October 6: Yankee Stadium Team123456789RHEKansas City1010100205101New York01020102X6100W: 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 Team123456789RHEKansas City100000000170New York01000100X240W: Ron Guidry (1–0)  L: Dennis Leonard (0–2)  S: Goose Gossage (1)HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles (1) Roy White (1) Farm system Minor League Baseball 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 Notes 2 References Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 External links 1978 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference 1978 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac Category:Kansas City Royals seasons Kansas City Royals season Category:American League West champion seasons Kansas City