The 1976 MLB season ushered in a new era for baseball—the era of free agency, which had previously appeared only in snippets, but now loomed over the entire sport. But before the new era could begin, the old order had to get a fitting conclusion, and so it was the Big Red Machine, the great Cincinnati Reds team, rolling to a repeat World Series championship.
THE MACHINE AT FULL POWER
Cincinnati won 102 games and coasted to the NL West title. The Reds weren’t without occasional challenges, especially from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final year of their Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston. But Cincinnati was in firm control of the race, with MVP second baseman Joe Morgan leading the way.
NEW FACES
Three fresh faces joined Cincinnati on the postseason stage. Before you raise an eyebrow at the New York Yankees being a fresh face, remember that everything is relative. The Yankees had yet to make the postseason in the era of two divisions per league—the 1964 pennant was their last October appearance. New York comfortably displaced the Boston Red Sox in the AL East and easily outran Earl Weaver’s Baltimore Orioles. Yankee catcher Thurman Munson won the American League MVP award and New York was returning to October.
The Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals would become postseason fixtures over the next several years, and they each won their first division titles of the expansion era. The Phils ended a run in the NL East where the Pittsburgh Pirates had won five of the previous six division crowns. Kansas City made an even more impressive dynasty displacement—they upended the Oakland A’s, who had merely won five straight AL West crowns, with the middle three of those season leading to World Series titles.
OCTOBER’S DEFINING MOMENTS
Kansas City and New York then staged a dramatic American League Championship Series that provided baseball its October excitement, with a then best-of-five round being settled in the decisive game by Chris Chambliss’ walkoff home run in the ninth inning for the Yanks.
But the rest of October was all about the Reds. Cincinnati became the only team since the advent of divisional play to sweep the entire postseason. They rolled the Phillies in three straight, and the Yankees in four straight. It was complete dominance—as befits a Machine.
EXPLORE THE 1976 MLB SEASON
The complete stories of the four division winners, their prime foils, the and game-by-game narratives of all three postseason rounds are at the links below. Read more and experience the 1976 baseball season through the eyes of its best teams.
DIVISION CHAMPS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 CINCINNATI REDS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 NEW YORK YANKEES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 KANSAS CITY ROYALS
CHALLENGERS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 BOSTON RED SOX
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 BALTIMORE ORIOLES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 PITTSBURGH PIRATES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 OAKLAND A’S
THE POSTSEASON
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 ALCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 NLCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1976 WORLD SERIES