The opener was played on a bright Saturday afternoon at Royals Stadium and pitted Yankee ace Jim "Catfish" Hunter against left-hander and ex-Yankee Larry Gura.

While the Royals were able to halve that margin going into the ninth, Roy White's two-run double in the top of the frame gave the Yanks two insurance runs that were the final scoring in a tidy 4–1 win.

Lefty Paul Splittorff was solid with 5+2⁄3 innings of work in relief of Brooklyn native Dennis Leonard, while Yankee reliever Dick Tidrow was ineffective and permitted three more Kansas City runs to score in the eighth after relieving starter Ed Figueroa with one out in the sixth.

The first Yankee post-season home game since 1964 started ominously for the Bombers, as the Royals tagged righty Dock Ellis for three runs in the first.

The Yankees narrowed the margin to one in the fourth on a Chris Chambliss two-run homer off Andy Hassler and then tacked on three more in the sixth, as Kansas City manager Whitey Herzog carted in four relievers in that inning alone.

Though the Yankees' bullpen was able to hold Kansas City to only two runs over six innings, winning pitcher Doug Bird only gave up one in 4+2⁄3, while lefty Steve Mingori pitched 2+1⁄3 and allowed only one tally, picking up the save.

The deciding game was a fitting ending to a thrilling series, as both teams fought tooth and nail to bring home the AL flag.

The Royals jumped out on top in the first, as Brett doubled and scored on John Mayberry's two-run homer.

The Yankees quickly countered in their half, with Mickey Rivers tripling and scoring on Roy White's infield single.

Herzog removed Leonard and brought in Game 2 winner Paul Splittorff, who limited the damage by allowing only Chambliss' sacrifice fly.

Brett then stunned the sell-out crowd of 56,821 by planting Jackson's second pitch just over the short right-field wall, tying the game at six.

All this was a prelude to the bottom of the ninth inning, when, at 11:43 pm, Chris Chambliss turned on Kansas City reliever Mark Littell's first pitch and sent it over the right center field wall.

He then proceeded to make a beeline towards the safety of the clubhouse, as the area around home plate and much of the field was covered with celebrating fans.