As we inch closer to the end of 2023, we go back 45 years this week on MLB Monday to look at a fun season in everyone’s collective baseball memory—mostly because of this. We continue to see the fragility of even the most-famous “dynasties” in the sport, sneaking through by the smallest of margins in the key moments of telltale games that could have gone either way. That’s the beauty and the heartbreak of this game, truly.

1978 World Series MVP: Bucky Dent, SS, New York (AL) (original); Reggie Jackson, RF, New York (AL) (revised)

For the second October in a row, the New York Yankees outlasted the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic over 6 games, and this time it was N.Y. shortstop Bucky Dent (.417 BA, 7 RBI, .898 OPS, 2 errors) who claimed MVP honors. He didn’t deserve this at all, but perhaps the lingering effects of his famous home run in the AL East playoff game against the Boston Red Sox had some impact on this vote. We won’t fall for that.

Yankees right fielder Reggie Jackson (.391 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1.196 OPS) was more deserving; we’re not sure why he was overlooked by the voters at the time. Dent was maybe third in line among N.Y. hitters for this award, behind catcher Thurman Munson (.320 BA, 7 RBI, .833 OPS, 1 SB), too. As for pitchers? This was a matchup where the Yankees outscored the Dodgers, 36-23, over 6 games, so no pitchers get consideration.

The Dodgers actually won the first 2 games at home by a 15-8 combined score, before New York just steamrolled L.A. in the next 4 games. Yankees starting pitcher Ron Guidry, who won the AL Cy Young this season, got his only start of the Series in Game 3, and it turned everything around for New York. Alas, he didn’t pitch again in the matchup, as a Game 7 never happened. So Jackson gets our nod here once again.

1978 AL Championship Series MVP: Reggie Jackson, RF, New York

Jackson helped the Yankees dispose of the Kansas City Royals, again for the third season in a row here, in 4 games this time, as he hit .462 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI for a 1.529 OPS in the matchup. Those are crazy numbers, when combined with the World Series. Mr. October, indeed. New York won Games 3 and 4 by 1 run each, after the teams split the opening games; Jackson had 2 RBI in Game 3, but he was quiet in Game 4.

1978 NL Championship Series MVP: Steve Garvey, 1B, Los Angeles (original, confirmed)

Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey (.389 BA, 4 HRs, 7 RBI, 1.611 OPS) won the vote here, as L.A. beat the Philadelphia Phillies in 4 games. Overall, three Dodgers posted 1.000-plus OPS marks, but Garvey was the best of them in a matchup where L.A. won the first 2 games on the road before losing Game 3 at home. In Game 4, the Dodgers won in extra innings at home. We confirm the vote on this one, readily, as a result.

1978 AL MOTY: Bob Lemon, New York

This is a unique situation as the Yankees had three different managers during the season: Billy Martin, Dick Howser, and Bob Lemon. But the famous comeback from 14 games down in July belongs to Lemon, and overall, the Yankees managers combined for a plus-1 PPP mark while winning the AL East by 1 game over the Red Sox. We really can’t specify individual PPP marks, but guesstimates tell us Lemon did the leg work.

Boston Manager Don Zimmer (plus-3) and Baltimore Orioles Manager Earl Weaver (plus-7) also deserve some consideration, don’t they? The Orioles won 90 games and finished fourth, somehow, though. And Zimmer didn’t lose the division as much as Lemon won it, really. Meanwhile, in the AL West, there really were no deserving candidates here, so we’re going with an interim manager who posted a 48-20 record.

Lemon won our 1948 AL Cy Young nod, too, which is always kind of a fun thing to point out. Of course, Martin won our 1953 World Series MVP trophy, and Weaver already has won three of these honors from us. A pretty crazy award to analyze, for sure, but we think we did it correctly, in the end. The Yankees would not have been able to come back from that huge deficit in the standings without Lemon’s deft guiding hand.

1978 NL MOTY: Sparky Anderson, Cincinnati

Both division winners received negative leadership from their managers, so we have to dig deeper on this one. The best winning team with a positive-impact manager in the NL East was Pittsburgh with Chuck Tanner (plus-2 PPP), but Cincinnati Reds Manager Sparky Anderson (plus-9 PPP) topped that effort by quite a bit in the NL West. Both division races came down to the final week, so we anoint Anderson, again.