1978 Chicago Cubs season

The 1978 Chicago Cubs season was the 107th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 103rd in the National League and the 63rd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League East with a record of 79–83.

Offseason

October 13, 1977: Keith Drumright was traded by the Cubs to the Houston Astros for Al Javier.
October 31, 1977: Bill Bonham was traded by the Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago Cubs for Woodie Fryman and Bill Caudill.
December 5, 1977: Dave Rosello was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Bruce Compton and Norm Churchill.
December 5, 1977: Jesús Figueroa was drafted by the Cubs from the New York Yankees in the 1977 rule 5 draft.

Regular season

On June 14, in Cincinnati, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds singled in the first inning off Cubs pitcher Dave Roberts; Rose would proceed to get a hit in every game he played until August 1.

Notable transactions

June 6, 1978: Mike Diaz was drafted by the Cubs in the 30th round of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft.
June 9, 1978: Woodie Fryman was traded by the Cubs to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. The Expos completed the deal by sending Jerry White to the Cubs on June 23.
June 10, 1978: The Cubs traded a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Ken Holtzman. The Cubs completed the trade by sending Ron Davis to the Yankees on June 12.
June 15, 1978: Joe Wallis was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Mike Vail.
June 26, 1978: Paul Reuschel was traded by the Cubs to the Cleveland Indians for Dennis DeBarr.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		116	305	62	.203	3	36
1B	Bill Buckner	117	446	144	.323	5	74
2B	Manny Trillo	152	552	144	.261	4	55
3B		82	276	67	.243	1	22
SS		160	619	172	.278	3	35
LF	Dave Kingman	119	395	105	.266	28	79
CF	Greg Gross	124	347	92	.265	1	39
RF	Bobby Murcer	146	499	140	.281	9	64

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Larry Biittner	120	343	88	.257	4	50
Gene Clines	109	229	59	.258	0	17
	78	227	64	.282	0	15
	74	180	60	.333	4	33
	59	136	37	.272	1	10
	59	121	34	.281	2	18
Tim Blackwell	49	103	23	.223	0	7
Mick Kelleher	68	95	24	.253	0	6
	30	76	18	.237	2	9
	28	55	17	.309	1	6
Davey Johnson	24	49	15	.306	2	6
	19	36	15	.417	0	2
Rudy Meoli	47	29	3	.103	0	2
	17	25	5	.200	0	3
	4	5	1	.200	0	0
Mike Sember	9	3	1	.333	0	0
Karl Pagel	2	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	35	242.2	14	15	3.41	115
	37	223.2	7	15	3.30	73
	40	198.2	7	13	4.76	94
	27	138.0	9	3	3.91	81

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	35	142.1	6	8	5.25	54
	13	55.2	2	4	5.17	28
	23	53.0	0	3	6.11	36

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Bruce Sutter	64	8	10	27	3.19	106
	71	9	7	4	4.11	50
	54	8	2	3	3.77	38
	49	5	3	0	3.04	60
	18	1	0	0	4.24	15
	16	2	0	0	5.14	13
Manny Seoane	7	1	0	0	5.40	5

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Geneva