The World Series opened in Baltimore, and O's starter Dave McNally was brilliant. He did allow three Pittsburgh runs in the second inning, but all were unearned and McNally would permit just three Pirate base hits in the game. The Orioles took a 4-3 lead in the third on Merv Rettenmund's three-run homer, and wound up with a 5-3 decision. Game 2 was no contest, as the O's pounded six Pirate hurlers on their way to an 11-3 blowout.

Home cooking did wonders for the Pirates, who rode a complete-game three-hitter from Steve Blass to a 5-1 triumph, Bob Robertson's three-run homer the big blow.

In Game 4, the first night contest in Series history, the Orioles knocked out Pirates starter Luke Walker with three runs in the first inning but wouldn't score again thanks to effective relief work by Bruce Kison and Dave Giusti. Meanwhile, the Bucs tallied two of their own in the bottom of the first, tied things up in the third, and went ahead for good on pinch-hitter Milt May's RBI single in the eighth. Final score: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 3.

The story in Game 5 was Pirate right-hander Nellie Briles, who tossed a two-hit shutout as the Bucs won, 4-0. Back in Charm City for Game 6, Brooks Robinson's sacrifice fly plated Frank Robinson in the bottom of the 10th, to give the O's a 3-2 victory and force a seventh game.

Orioles starter Mike Cuellar allowed just four hits and two runs in eight innings in Game 7, but he couldn't match the Pirates' Steve Blass, who carried a two-hit shutout into the eighth. Baltimore manufactured a single run that inning, but Blass retired the O's in order in the ninth to clinch Pittsburgh's second World Series since 1925.

Managers: Danny Murtaugh, PIT; Earl Weaver, BAL

MVP: Roberto Clemente, PIT: .414, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Path to the World Series
ALCS: Baltimore over Oakland (3 games to 0)
NLCS: Pittsburgh over San Francisco (3 games to 1)