1970 National League Championship Series | ||||||||||
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Dates | October 3–5 | |||||||||
Umpires | John Grimsley, Fred Blandford, Hank Morgenweck, George Grygiel (Game 1); Stan Landes, Paul Pryor, Doug Harvey, Bob Engel, Harry Wendelstedt, Nick Colosi (Games 2–3) | |||||||||
Broadcast | ||||||||||
Television | NBC (national broadcast) KDKA-TV (Pirates' broadcast) WLWT (Reds' broadacast) | |||||||||
TV announcers | NBC: Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek (in Pittsburgh) Jim Simpson and Sandy Koufax (in Cincinnati) KDKA-TV: Nellie King and Bob Prince WLWT: Joe Nuxhall, Pee Wee Reese, Jim McIntyre, and Ed Kennedy | |||||||||
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The 1970 National League Championship Series was a match-up between the East Division champion Pittsburgh Pirates and the West Division champion Cincinnati Reds. The Reds swept the Pirates three games to none and went on to lose the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles. The series was the second NLCS.
The series was notable for featuring the first postseason baseball played on artificial turf (which was used in both ballparks, which both also opened at midseason). It was also the first of ten NLCS series between 1970 and 1980 that featured either of the Pennsylvania-based MLB clubs representing the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates.[1][2] The only time neither team appeared in the NLCS during that period was in 1973, when the New York Mets won the NL East.
Due to a one-day strike by major league umpires, the series was begun using four minor league umpires, with the regularly assigned crew—including union president Wendelstedt—returning for Games 2 and 3.
From 1974–80, the Phillies and Pirates won all seven National League East titles (Phillies four, Pirates three).
The Pirates...won three (NL East titles) in a row from 1970–72.