For the fourth time in five seasons, Kansas City and New York squared off to determine the American League Champion. The Royals, after taking the initial 2 games of the series in Kansas City, stunned a Yankee Stadium crowd by edging New York, 4-2, in Game 3 to complete a convincing sweep of the 1980 rematch. Kansas City's first pennant was secured when George Brett blasted a three-run homer into the upper deck off Rich Gossage in the seventh inning of the final contest.
| Game 1 • at Kansas City • Wednesday, Oct. 8 | |||||||||||||
| Yankees | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 10 | 1 |
| Royals | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | x | - | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| GUIDRY, Davis (4), Underwood (8) and Cerone; GURA and Porter. HR: Cerone, Piniella, Brett. T-3:00 A-42,598. | |||||||||||||
| Game 2 • at Kansas City • Thursday, Oct. 9 | |||||||||||||
| Yankees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Royals | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | - | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| MAY and Cerone; LEONARD, Quisenberry (9) and Porter. HR: Nettles. T-2:51 A-42,633. | |||||||||||||
| Game 3 • at New York • Friday, Oct. 10 | |||||||||||||
| Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | 4 | 12 | 1 |
| Yankees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Splittorff, QUISENBERRY (6) and Porter; John, GOSSAGE (7), Underwood (8) and Cerone. HR: F. White, Brett. T-2:59 A-56,588 (141,819). | |||||||||||||
