By the All-Star break the Pirates had established a six-game lead and were never challenged the rest of the way as they rolled to their third straight East Division championship and a date with the Reds in the league playoffs.

Before the regular season ended, Clemente added a crowning touch to his Hall of Fame career. On September 30 he collected his three thousandth hit, a double off Jon Matlack of the Mets. It was his final hit before the playoffs began. He dedicated it to "the Pittsburgh fans and the people of Puerto Rico."

The first two playoff games were held at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, with Blass winning the opener against Don Gullett, 5-1. In the second game the Reds rebounded and beat Moose 5-3, moving the series to Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium for the remaining three games if they were needed. They were.

Pittsburgh won game three in a tight match, 3-2, behind the pitching of Briles, Kison, and Giusti, while the Reds came back in game four as left-hander Ross Grimsley smothered the Bucs 7-1 on only two hits, an infield single and a home run, both by Clemente. "This is a very surprising club," said Cincinnati manager Sparky Anderson of his Reds after game four. "Whenever people think they're down, they always come back. On the bench today, somebody must have fed those guys something. [Joe] Hague and [Hal] McRae were leading chants and cheers from the first inning. Those guys were jumping up and down. I wouldn't have used any of them as pinch-hitters. They were too worn out from cheering."

In the game five showdown, Blass started against Gullett before a crowd of 41,887 fans at Riverfront. Rain delayed the start of the game for one hour and twenty-eight minutes, and before the Reds took the field to begin the battle, Gullett and Blass had both warmed up twice.

The Pirates jumped off to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Sanguillen, a double by Hebner, and another single by Dave Cash. In the bottom of the third, Darrel Chaney singled, moved to second on Gullett's sacrifice, and Pete Rose brought him home with a double, cutting the Pirates' lead to 2-1. Rose's double hit the edge of the artificial turf and bounced over first baseman Willie Stargell's head.

Pittsburgh, however, came right back with three straight singles by Sanguillen, Hebner, and Cash in the fourth inning, boosting its lead to 3-1. Sparky Anderson pulled Gullett.

Once more the Reds rebounded, this time with a home run to right field by Cesar Geronimo off a change-up curve from Blass in the fifth inning, closing the score to 3-2. It remained that way until the bottom of the ninth inning, leaving the Pirates only three outs away from the title.

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