1983 Los Angeles Dodgers season explained

Los Angeles Dodgers
Season:	1983
Misc:	National League West Champions
League:	National League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Dodger Stadium
City:	Los Angeles
Owners:	Peter O'Malley
General Managers:	Al Campanis
Managers:	Tommy Lasorda
Television:	KTTV (11) Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter ONTV Geoff Witcher, Al Downing
Radio:	KABC Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter KTNQ Jaime Jarrín, René Cárdenas

The 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers rebounded from being eliminated from the playoffs on the final day of the previous season to win their second National League West title in three years, but lost in the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies 3 games to 1.

Offseason

• December 28, 1982: Acquired Pat Zachry from the New York Mets for Jorge Orta.
• January 20, 1983: Acquired Vance Lovelace and Dan Cataline from the Chicago Cubs for Ron Cey.
• March 28, 1983: Acquired Ivan Mesa from the Minnesota Twins for Tack Wilson.
• March 29, 1983: Acquired Steve Walker, Jody Johnston and cash from the New York Mets for Mark Bradley.

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

Opening Day Starters

Name	Position
	Second baseman
	Center fielder
	Left fielder
	Third baseman
	First baseman
	Right fielder
	Shortstop
Steve Yeager	Catcher
	Starting pitcher

Roster

1983 Los Angeles Dodgers
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders		Manager Coaches

Notable transactions

• May 2, 1983: Tom Klawitter was released by the Dodgers.^[1]
• May 9, 1983: Acquired Rafael Landestoy from the Cincinnati Reds for Brett Wise and John Franco
• August 19, 1983: Dave Stewart, Ricky Wright and cash were traded by the Dodgers to the Texas Rangers for Rick Honeycutt.^[2]

Game log

Regular season

Legend
	Dodgers win
	Dodgers loss
	Postponement
	Clinched division
Bold	Dodgers team member

|-|-|-|-style=background:#bbbfff| — || || || colspan="9"|54th All-Star Game in Chicago, IL|-|-|-|-

Postseason Game log

Legend
	Dodgers win
	Dodgers loss
Bold	Dodgers team member

|- style="background:#fbb;"| style=";" |1 || || 5:20p.m. PDT || style=";" |Phillies|- style="background:#bfb;"| style=";" |2 || || 5:20p.m. PDT || style=";" |Phillies|- style="background:#fbb;"| style=";" |3 || || 12:05p.m. PDT || style=";" |@ Phillies|- style="background:#fbb;"| style=";" |4 || || 5:20p.m. PDT || style=";" |@ Phillies|-

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		113	335	68	.203	15	41
1B		146	455	102	.224	20	66
2B		155	623	175	.281	5	41
SS		131	451	111	.246	1	30
3B		160	584	174	.298	32	103
LF		149	531	138	.260	15	73
CF		141	481	135	.281	17	66
RF		140	465	132	.284	17	65

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
	118	192	48	.250	2	8
	99	178	44	.247	6	20
	54	148	37	.250	2	22
	81	145	32	.221	2	12
	61	115	19	.165	1	2
	64	64	11	.172	1	1
	42	62	12	.194	1	6
	24	55	13	.236	2	11
	47	53	15	.283	3	8
	12	35	11	.314	1	7
	19	31	5	.161	0	0
	13	17	6	.353	0	0
	15	11	2	.182	0	2
	20	11	3	.273	0	1
	7	8	0	.000	0	1
	10	4	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
	35	257.0	15	10	3.75	189
	32	223.1	12	11	2.94	143
	31	204.0	15	12	2.65	156

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
	34	177.0	12	9	2.75	120
	33	160.0	9	8	4.22	87
	9	39.0	2	3	5.77	18
	2	6.0	0	1	6.00	9

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
	46	4	7	18	1.44	52
	66	8	3	11	1.90	66
	46	5	2	8	2.96	54
	42	3	4	1	3.55	50
	40	6	1	0	2.49	36
	8	0	0	1	3.38	5
	7	0	0	0	1.93	5
	6	0	0	0	2.84	5
	4	0	0	0	1.29	5

1983 National League Championship Series

See main article: 1983 National League Championship Series.

The National League West champion Dodgers faced the National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies in the 1983 NLCS and lost the series 3 games to 1. Noteworthy was that the Dodgers had won 11 of 12 games against the Phillies during the regular season.

Game 1

October 4, Dodger Stadium

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Philadelphia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
Los Angeles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
W: Steve Carlton (1-0)  L: Jerry Reuss (0-1)  SV: Al Holland (1)
HRs: PHI – Mike Schmidt (1)

Game 2

October 5, Dodger Stadium

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Philadelphia	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	2
Los Angeles	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	X	4	6	1
W: Fernando Valenzuela (1-0)  L: John Denny (0-1)  SV: Tom Niedenfuer (1)
HRs: PHI – Gary Matthews (1)

Game 3

October 7, Veterans Stadium

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Los Angeles	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0
Philadelphia	0	2	1	1	2	0	1	0	X	7	9	1
W: Charles Hudson (1-0)  L: Bob Welch (0-1)
HRs: LAD – Mike Marshall (1); PHI – Gary Matthews (2)

Game 4

October 8, Veterans Stadium

align=left width=28%	Team	width=6%	1	width=6%	2	width=6%	3	width=6%	4	width=6%	5	width=6%	6	width=6%	7	width=6%	8	width=6%	9	width=6%	R	width=6%	H	width=6%	E
Los Angeles	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	10	0
Philadelphia	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	X	7	13	1
W: Steve Carlton (2-0)  L: Jerry Reuss (0-2)
HRs: LAD – Dusty Baker (1); PHI – Gary Matthews (3), Sixto Lezcano (1)

Awards and honors

• 1983 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
  • Steve Sax starter
  • Pedro Guerrero reserve
  • Fernando Valenzuela reserve
• Silver Slugger Award
  • Fernando Valenzuela
• NL Pitcher of the Month
  • Burt Hooton (June 1983)
• NL Player of the Month
  • Dusty Baker (July 1983)
• NL Player of the Week
  • Dusty Baker (July 11–17)
  • Mike Marshall (Sep. 5–11)

Farm system

Teams in BOLD won League Championships

Major League Baseball Draft

See main article: 1983 Major League Baseball Draft.

The Dodgers drafted 35 players in the June draft and 17 in the January draft. Of those, six players would eventually play in the Major Leagues. They received two extra picks in the 2nd round as compensation for losing free agents Steve Garvey and Terry Forster.

The first round pick in the June draft was pitcher Erik Sonberg of Wichita State University. He played six seasons in the minors and was 19-38 with a 6.20 ERA in 107 games. None of this years signings amounted to much of anything in the Majors.

References

• Baseball-Reference season page
• Baseball Almanac season page

External links

• 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers uniform
• Los Angeles Dodgers official web site

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/klawito01.shtml Tom Klawitter page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stewada01.shtml Dave Stewart page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1983&draft_type=janreg& 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Regular Phase
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1983&draft_type=jansec& 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB January Draft-Secondary Phase
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1983&draft_type=junreg& 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Amateur Draft
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=franch_year&team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1983&draft_type=junsec& 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers Picks in the MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase