This was the first World Series since 1956 in which the teams did not use air travel, as Baltimore and Philadelphia are approximately 100 miles (160 km) apart.
This was the first World Series in which no umpire worked behind home plate using the outside chest protector, which had been mandatory in the American League from the 1920s through 1974.
Altobelli inherited a lineup led by first baseman Eddie Murray (.306 BA, 33 HR, 111 RBI), who finished second in the 1983 MVP voting, and shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. (.318 BA, 27 HR, 102 RBI), who out-pointed Murray, 322–290, and won the 1983 MVP.
Veteran outfielder Ken Singleton settled into the DH role, while the rest of the team was a corps of platoon players.
He won one game in this World Series and would be released by the O's at the beginning of 1984 after struggling early, retiring shortly afterwards.
The team was led offensively by 33-year-old Mike Schmidt, who would have another MVP-type year with 40 home runs and 109 RBIs.
Closer Al Holland would finish second in the league with 25 saves and win the NL Rolaids Relief Award.
The Phillies outpaced their intrastate rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, by six games to win their fifth National League East division title in eight years.
Phillies starter John Denny gave up a first-inning homer to Jim Dwyer, but that would be it for the Orioles as 40-year-old Joe Morgan tied it with a home run in the sixth off Scott McGregor.
The O's got their runs in the fifth on a John Lowenstein homer, a Rick Dempsey RBI double, and a sacrifice fly by Boddicker, helping his own cause.
Carlton shut out the Orioles through five innings, buoyed by homers from Gary Matthews and Joe Morgan.
[9] Carlton looked to be cruising with two outs in the seventh, but Rick Dempsey belted a double and went to third on a wild pitch.
Al Holland relieved Carlton to try to close out the inning, but John Shelby singled Ayala to put runners at first and second.
Ayala scored the go-ahead run from second on an error by shortstop Iván DeJesús on a ball hit by Ford.
With Palmer and Carlton earning the decisions, this was the last World Series game in which both the winning and losing pitcher were later inducted into the Hall of Fame until 1992.
It was the first World Series game in which three Cy Young Award winners, Carlton, Palmer and Orioles' starter Mike Flanagan, pitched.
[12] The Orioles added an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Dauer, who would collect three hits and three RBIs.
[13] The Philadelphia Eagles were originally scheduled to play the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, October 16, at Veterans Stadium.
Baltimore became the first visiting team to win Games 3, 4 and 5 since 1961, when the New York Yankees did so vs. the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field.
Two years later, Cosell was scheduled to be in the booth but he was removed at the last minute due to the controversy surrounding his book I Never Played the Game and was replaced with Tim McCarver.