Entering the final day of the season on Sunday, October 1, the Yankees had a one-game lead; they lost 9–2 to Cleveland while Boston shut out Toronto 5–0 to force the playoff.

The Red Sox scored two more runs, but the Yankees ultimately won the game when relief pitcher Goose Gossage got Yastrzemski to pop out to third baseman Graig Nettles to earn the save.

With the victory, the Yankees finished the regular season with a 100–63 (.613) record and clinched the AL East championship, en route to winning the World Series.

[2] Before the season, the Red Sox acquired Dennis Eckersley to join Torrez, Bill Lee, and Luis Tiant in their starting pitching rotation.

[4] The Yankees, meanwhile, acquired Goose Gossage and Rawly Eastwick to join Sparky Lyle, 1977's AL Cy Young Award winner, in their bullpen during the offseason.

[6][7] The Yankees experienced injuries to Willie Randolph, Catfish Hunter, Bucky Dent, and Mickey Rivers,[8] and fell to fourth place in the division, as Baltimore moved into third.

[9][10] After a shake-up engineered by owner George Steinbrenner, with Munson moving from catcher to right field,[11] the Yankees fired their combustible manager Billy Martin on July 24, replacing him with Bob Lemon.

[12][13][14][15][16] The Yankees had lost four of five after the All-Star break, including a three-game sweep by Kansas City in New York which ended with a club suspension of Reggie Jackson;[17][18] at 47–42 (.528), they trailed Boston by 14 games on the morning of July 19.

Clinging to a one-game lead with seven remaining, New York won six straight,[37] but dropped the finale at home to struggling Cleveland on Sunday, October 1.

[21] With one out in the seventh inning, Chris Chambliss and Roy White of the Yankees both singled off of Torrez, and pinch hitter Jim Spencer flied out.

[48] Dent then hit a fly ball that cleared the Green Monster wall in left field for a three-run home run to give the Yankees a 3–2 lead.

[46] The Red Sox cut New York's lead to just one run in the bottom of the eighth against closer Goose Gossage on RBI singles by Fred Lynn and Yastrzemski.

[51] But the Yankees would hold off the Red Sox, thanks in part to a heads-up defensive play by right fielder Lou Piniella with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

Locally in the home markets, WINS in New York City and WITS in Boston fed the game to the teams' respective radio networks.

In the Red Sox' broadcast booth, Dick Stockton and Ken "Hawk" Harrelson worked the television side while Ned Martin and Jim Woods were heard on radio.