1983 American League Championship Series

15th edition of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series

The 1983 American League Championship Series was played between the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles from October 5 to 8. The Orioles won the series three games to one. Although the White Sox took Game 1 by a score of 2–1, the Orioles came back to win the last three games of the series. The Orioles went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the 1983 World Series. In the regular season the White Sox won the West Division by 20 games with a 99–63 record. The Orioles won the East Division by six games with a 98–64 record.

In the early 1980s, the sports scene in Chicago was not pretty. The White Sox had not been to the post season since losing the 1959 World Series, the Cubs had not been to a World Series since losing in 1945, the Blackhawks had not won a Stanley Cup since 1961, the Bears had not won a championship since 1963, and the Bulls had moderate success with a defensive first approach under Dick Motta but they could never get over the hump against the more talented Lakers or Celtics they had also never won a championship. By 1983, the city was starved for a winner of any kind. The 1983 White Sox AL West division crown was the city of Chicago's first baseball championship of any kind (division, league, or world) in twenty four years. Their “win ugly” nickname was given to them by Texas Rangers manager Doug Rader. The club rattled off a modest win streak around the All Star break, but according to Rader their success would be short lived. "They're not playing that well. They're winning ugly." Behind manager Tony La Russa, catcher Carlton Fisk, outfielder Harold Baines, and designated hitter Ron Kittle, the "Winning Ugly" Sox finished the season 60 25.

1983 was the Orioles' first in nearly 15 years without manager Earl Weaver, who retired after the Orioles missed the playoffs in the final game of the 1982 season. The Orioles replaced Weaver with Joe Altobelli, who had been an Orioles manager in the Baltimore's farm system from 1971 1976. The Orioles went 58 31 from July through the end of the regular season, winning the AL East by 6 games over the Tigers.

1983 marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, Major League Baseball recognized a problem with this due to the emergence of cable superstations such as WTBS in Atlanta and WGN TV in Chicago. When TBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local" Braves broadcast of the 1982 NLCS, Major League Baseball got a Philadelphia federal court to ban them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS couldn't have a nationwide telecast competing with ABC's.

The Orioles would finish off the job, beating a veteran Philadelphia Phillies ballclub in a competitive five games in the World Series. The Orioles never seriously contended in the AL East again until 1989, and did not get back to the playoffs until after realignment in 1994 created a three division format and wild card. As of 2023, the city of Baltimore still awaits a return to the World Series. The 1983 White Sox success was also short lived. The team did not win 90 games again until 1990 nor make a playoff until 1993. By that time, Tony La Russa was winning pennants and a World Series managing the Oakland Athletics, Carlton Fisk was 42 years old still playing at a high level with the team, Harold Baines was in Texas playing for the Rangers, and Ron Kittle finished the season in Baltimore. 1990 was also the team's last year playing at Comiskey Park. The White Sox success in 1983, coupled with their lack of success in the seasons preceding and following it, put them in the conversation of one of baseball's best one season wonders. 34 years after being let go by the White Sox, Tony La Russa was hired to be the team's manager again in 2020 at the age 76 years old. In between those 34 years, La Russa won three World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1989 and St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and 2011. He was also inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, so his return made him the first manager in baseball history to manage a team after being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He managed two seasons with the club, winning a division title in 2021 before repeating himself in the 2021 American League Division Series that saw Chicago lose in four games.