The Split Season Controversy

Remembering the last time the Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series

The Split Season Controversy

It’s been 43 years since the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers last met in the World Series.

One thing that we’ve forgotten over time is just how controversial that meeting really was.

1981, as you undoubtedly remember, was the year of the baseball strike — a complete summer without baseball.

For reasons that still strike me as strange, the powers that ruled baseball decided to split the season into two halves, expanding the postseason from 4 teams to 8 and making everybody upset in the process.

We forget about this today, but there were rumors at the time that the split season might become a permanent fixture if it were successful:

From The Salt Lake Tribune, August 5, 1981, pages C-1 and C-2

In the end the idea of permanently splitting the season was abandoned. Among other reasons, it proved to be unpopular with fans:

From The Palm Beach Post, August 21, 1981, page D4

Another problem, though, was that four teams knew already that they were in the postseason no matter what. Here are the final standings from the first half of the split season:

From The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 15, 1981, page 24

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers secured their 1981 postseason berths almost completely by accident. Because they happened to be in first place at the arbitrary break period in the season, they wound up guaranteed a ticket to October regardless of what happened in the second half.

Note in particular that the Cincinnati Reds missed out on first place by half a game. It’s because they played one fewer game than the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is crazy to think about.

And then there was another scandal that baseball faced, at least in theory:

The problem here, of course, is that the second playoff berth in each division would belong to the team with the next best overall record if the same team finished in first place in both halves.

The Kansas City Royals of the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s were known for their slow starts. They were a team that would gain momentum as the season progressed, taking full advantage of the famous 162 game schedule. Dividing the season in half left them with an odd disadvantage — and led to these bizarre rumors of a possible fix.

In the end, the Royals did make the postseason — and controversy abounded. The final combined standings looked like this:

A few things to note:

• Neither the New York Yankees nor the Los Angeles Dodgers would have gone to the postseason has the overall standings been used. In fact, the split season meant that a potentially exciting AL East race never came to fruition. We had to wait until 1982 for the big Milwaukee - Baltimore showdown.

• The Chicago White Sox did finish ahead of the Kansas City Royals, but behind the Texas Rangers. The Royals, however, made the postseason after winning the division in the second half.

• The Cincinnati Reds had the best record in baseball, but did not make the postseason.

• The St. Louis Cardinals had the best record in the National League East, but won one game fewer than the Montreal Expos due to the uneven schedule.

The whole thing was a complete mess. There’s a reason why replayers love to play out the 1981 season. What happened in real life was anything but satisfactory.

Keep that in mind as you see media reports of the glory days of the Yankees - Dodgers rivalry. The last time it happened, neither team really belonged.