1978 Cleveland Indians season

The 1978 Cleveland Indians season was the 78th season for the franchise, the 64th as the Indians and the 47th season at Cleveland Stadium. They failed to improve upon their 71–90 campaign from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season, finishing the season at 69–90.

Offseason

December 5, 1977: Bruce Compton and Norm Churchill were traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Dave Rosello.
February 28, 1978: Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Willie Horton and David Clyde.
March 15, 1978: Rico Carty was traded by the Indians to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dennis DeBarr.
March 30, 1978: Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall were traded by the Indians to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Wise, Mike Paxton, Ted Cox, and Bo Díaz.

Regular season

On May 12, pitcher Nolan Ryan of the California Angels struck out Buddy Bell for the 2500th strikeout of his career.

Notable transactions

June 14, 1978: Dennis Kinney was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dan Spillner.
June 15, 1978: Mike Vail was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Joe Wallis.
June 15, 1978: Joe Wallis was traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Gary Alexander.
June 22, 1978: Bill Laxton was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dave Freisleben.
June 26, 1978: Dennis DeBarr was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Paul Reuschel.
July 3, 1978: Willie Horton was released by the Indians.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
	90	324	39	76	14	3	17	62	.235	0
	142	556	71	157	27	8	6	62	.282	1
	70	193	19	49	10	0	2	20	.254	0
	15	49	4	8	0	1	1	1	.163	0
	36	98	11	24	6	1	4	13	.245	1
	60	174	21	50	8	0	4	16	.287	1
	82	227	14	53	7	0	1	19	.233	0
	93	307	37	78	12	1	3	20	.254	12
	44	127	12	30	4	0	2	11	.236	0
	5	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.500	0
	113	378	54	100	16	6	14	61	.265	5
	25	74	5	15	0	0	2	9	.203	2
	50	169	15	42	7	0	5	22	.249	3
Jim Kern	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
	149	547	52	155	18	6	0	43	.283	4
	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	0
	148	566	65	149	27	3	3	50	.263	12
	113	315	41	89	14	5	2	27	.283	12
	71	187	17	44	6	1	6	17	.235	2
	70	106	13	24	4	1	0	4	.226	2
	145	508	97	133	22	4	33	105	.262	4
	14	34	2	8	2	1	0	2	.235	1
	130	421	48	114	18	4	1	32	.271	1
Team Totals	159	5365	639	1400	223	45	106	596	.261	64

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
	8	11	4.28	28	25	0	153.1	166	80	73	60	83
	0	1	6.28	7	0	0	14.1	19	10	10	7	5
	1	4	7.11	12	10	0	44.1	52	37	35	31	19
	2	3	7.89	6	6	0	29.2	43	27	26	16	13
	5	6	4.48	36	19	0	154.2	166	82	77	77	73
	10	10	3.08	58	0	13	99.1	77	36	34	58	95
	0	2	4.42	18	0	5	38.2	37	21	19	14	19
	0	0	3.86	6	0	0	9.1	6	4	4	3	7
	4	3	2.76	48	2	6	84.2	71	36	26	51	54
	12	11	3.86	33	27	1	191.0	179	89	82	63	96
	2	4	3.11	18	6	0	89.2	95	33	31	22	24
	3	1	3.67	36	0	3	56.1	54	26	23	21	48
	13	15	3.20	34	33	0	230.1	206	97	82	86	97
	9	19	4.34	33	31	0	211.2	226	116	102	59	106
Team Totals	69	90	3.97	159	159	28	1407.1	1397	694	621	568	739

Awards and honors

'''All-Star Game'''