1998 Baseball Season Highlights

The 1998 baseball season belonged to the New York Yankees who won 114 regular-season games and beat the Padres for a 24th World Championship. But it also belonged to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who went head to head in a home run competition. In the end McGwire's 70 beat Sosa's 66.
Below, you will find the highlights from the 1998 baseball season:
  • The Yankees win 114 regular-season games, setting an all-time American League record and nearing the 1906 Cubs' record of 116.

  • The Yankees steamroll the Rangers in three straight to win their Division Series.

  • Red Sox take the American League wildcard berth, but lose to Cleveland in an exciting four-game Division Series.

  • The Indians challenge the Yankees, taking two of the first three games in the ALCS, but eventually lose in six games.

    Tom Glavine
    ©SportPic
    For the fourth time
    Tom Glavine led the
    National League in wins.

  • Atlanta's Tom Glavine is 20-6 with a 2.47 ERA, leading the National League in wins for the fourth time.

  • The Cubs win the National League wildcard berth by beating San Francisco in a one-game playoff.

  • The Braves beat the Cubs in their National League Division Series, allowing Chicago to score just four runs in three games.

  • Padres rip the heavily favored Astros and Braves to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1984.

  • The Yankees sweep the Padres in four games to win the 1998 World Series, the franchise's 24th title.

  • Stringbean reliever Mariano Rivera picks up three saves against the Padres in the 1998 World Series.

  • Third baseman Scott Brosius of New York bats .471 with two homers to win series MVP honors.

  • Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn bats .500 with a homer in a losing effort against the Yankees in the 1998 World Series.

  • Mark McGwire of St. Louis breaks Roger Maris's all-time single-season home run record by slugging 70.

  • McGwire breaks the all-time National League record for bases on balls in a season, drawing 162.

  • McGwire tops the National League in both on-base percentage (.470) and slugging (.752, highest in major league since 1927).

  • David Wells of the Yankees tosses a perfect game against the Twins on May 17, the 13th perfecto in history.

  • Trevor Hoffman of the Padres notches a major league-leading 53 saves in 54 opportunities.

  • Glavine barely edges out Hoffman for 1998 National League Cy Young honors.

  • Roger Clemens of the Blue Jays wins his second straight pitching Triple Crown, pacing the American League in wins (20), ERA (2.65), and strikeouts (271).

  • Clemens is awarded the 1998 American League Cy Young for a record-breaking fifth time, this time unanimously.

  • Clemens becomes the 11th pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts when he whiffs Tampa Bay's Randy Winn on July 5.

  • Rick Helling of Texas and David Cone of the Yankees tie Clemens atop the American League list with 20 wins.

  • Sammy Sosa cracks 66 home runs and drives in 158 for the Cubs, pacing the National League with 226 runs produced.

  • Sosa is voted the 1998 National League's MVP.

  • Texas outfielder Juan Gonzalez hits .318 with 45 homers and leads the American League with 50 doubles and 157 RBI.

  • Gonzalez is the American League MVP for the second time in three years.

  • Ken Griffey hits 56 home runs and knocks in 146 runs.

  • Cubs righty Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros on May 6, tying the all-time one-game mark.

  • Wood wins the voting for 1998 National League ROTY.

  • Ben Grieve of the A's is 1998 American League ROTY.

  • Only one player, pitcher Don Sutton, is voted into the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA.

  • The Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee selects Larry Doby, Lee MacPhail, Bullet Joe Rogan, and George Davis for enshrinement.

  • In their first season as a National League club, the Milwaukee Brewers finish 74-88.

  • Edgar Martinez's .429 on-base percentage is the American League's best.

For more 1998 baseball season highlights, see the next page.

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