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The longest active playoff streak in Major League Baseball belongs to Louisville at four seasons. The Lynx had been a lower wild card in the prior three seasons, but they had the National Association’s best record in 1978 at 105-57. This earned them their first Midwest League title since 1958. Louisville was also the only NA team in last year’s playoff field to make it back in 1978. The top two wild cards came out of the MLB with Kansas City at 96-66 and Chicago at 95-67. This was the fifth berth in five years for the Cougars, while the Cubs snapped a two-year skid.

Boston won the Eastern League at 97-65 for their second EL title in three years. Philadelphia was second at 91-71, which earned them the third wild card and snapped a five-year playoff drought. The fourth wild card went to 89-73 Minneapolis, who finished one game ahead of defending National Association champ Indianapolis. This gave the Moose their first playoff berth since winning the NA title in 1971. St. Louis and Columbus both were wild cards with 90+ wins the prior year, but both fell to the very bottom.

In his MLB debut, Hugo Vegas won National Association MVP, becoming one of a select few to win MVP in multiple leagues. The 29-year old Costa Rican 3B was the Caribbean League MVP with Panama in 1976, then signed with Montreal for the 1978 season. With the Maples, he led with 58 home runs and 126 RBI, adding 102 runs and 7.8 WAR. Pitcher of the Year was Louisville’s Val Moscow. The 32-year old lefty in his third season with the Lynx was the ERA leader at 1.89, adding 196 strikeouts and 6.7 WAR over 257.2 innings with an 18-6 record.

In the wild card round, Chicago swept Philadelphia and Minneapolis upset Kansas City 2-1. The Cubs continued on to oust Boston 3-1, while Louisville survived in five against the Moose. This gave the Lynx their sixth National Association Championship Series berth, but first since 1936. For the Cubs, it was their fifth NACS appearance with all five coming in the last 15 years. Louisville would win the NACS 4-1 over Chicago, giving the Lynx their third-ever NA title (1906, 1933).



For the second straight season, Las Vegas had the best overall record in MLB. The Vipers earned a third straight playoff berth and won the Western League title at 108-54. Houston took the Southern League at 99-63 for their fourth playoff spot in five years. The Hornets set a still-standing American Association record with 91 triples as a team. They by far had the most runs scored at 942, while Las Vegas had the fewest allowed at 571 and the best run differential.

Atlanta (93-69) had the first wild card with the next two going to Portland and Nashville, both at 91-71. The Aces ended a five-year playoff drought, the Pacifics snapped a seven-year one, and the Knights ended a 19-year skid. Calgary at 89-73 narrowly took the final spot, finishing one better than Tampa, two ahead of defending World Series champ Dallas and Oakland, and three ahead of Albuquerque.

San Francisco DH Joziah Perry won the American Association MVP. The 24-year old lefty set the MLB single-season record with 147 runs scored, passing the old mark of 142. Perry’s mark would stand as the MLB record until 1994. He added an AA-best 238 hits, 45 doubles, 450 total bases, .372 average, .704 slugging, 1.142 OPS, 195 wRC+, and 10.1 WAR, adding 49 home runs and 137 RBI. His 450 bases was second-best all-time behind Sebastian Lunde’s 476 in 1949. Perry managed to overshadow Tampa’s Will Brenneisen, who powered his way to 53 home runs and 168 RBI. The 168 RBI was the third most in a MLB single season, behind only Aitor Cerda’s 175 in 1913 and Blake Wynn’s 171 in 1940. No one would hit more in MLB until 2036 and it wouldn’t be until 2005 that a player had 150+. Meanwhile, fourth-year Las Vegas righty Jonah Mors won the Pitcher of the Year. He led the AA in wins at 23-5, as well as ERA (2.23), quality starts (30), FIP- (67), and WAR (9.1), adding 255 strikeouts over 283 innings.

Portland beat Nashville 2-1 and Atlanta topped Calgary 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs. Both league champs prevailed in round two with Houston sweeping the Aces and Las Vegas outlasting the Pacifics in a five-game battle. This set up an American Association Championship Series rematch from two years prior, which saw the Vipers sweep the Hornets. Las Vegas would win again, although this time they had to go all seven games to do so. It is the third AA title for the Vipers, who also won it in 1959.



The 78^th World Series was the third appearance for both Louisville and Las Vegas, both of which were 2-0 in the Fall Classic. It was also one of the seemingly rare times that the team with the top record from both associations got to the finale. The Lynx won the series 4-2 for their third title with the last one all the way back in 1933. Journeyman RF Bray Farwick was a surprising World Series MVP, as he only made 41 starts all season. In his one year with the Lynx, the 34-year old made 16 playoff starts with 23 hits, 11 runs, 5 home runs, and 11 RBI. Louisville’s win also gave the National Association its first title in a decade, as the American Association had the top team from 1968-77.



Other notes: Ottawa’s Tyrone Funk became only MLB’s third pitcher to strike out 21 or more in a game. He did it over a 16 inning marathon against Baltimore. All three pitchers to fan 21+ did it in extras. Julius Jordan of Houston became the seventh MLB pitcher to 300 career wins. It wouldn’t be until 1998 that the next player reached the mark. This would be Jordan’s last season and he’d retire with 312, fourth on the all-time list. Jordan also fell just short of 5000 strikeouts, retiring MLB’s all-time leader at 4988. As of 2037, he remains the MLB Ks king. Luke Peters became the sixth to 4000 strikeouts. Peters would retire after 1979 with 4157, fifth all-time. 3B B.J. Orwig won his 12^th and final Gold Glove. SP Wayne Mitz won his eighth Gold Glove.