Quick trivia question – who won the 1981 World Series?  It was the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers who beat the New York Yankees in six games.

To this day, the Dodgers are regarded as the World Series champions much in the same fashion as the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, 1986 Mets, or the 2017 Houston Astros.

Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, and Steve Yeager are regarded every bit as legitimate World Series MVPs as George Springer or Curt Schilling or Randy Johnson. That is the case even though the 1981 baseball season was unlike any other.

For those who have forgotten, the 1981 season was disrupted by a strike. With the strike lasting well over a month, baseball had to figure out what to do. After deliberation, the decision was to have a split season much in the same fashion we’ve become accustomed with the minor leagues. That meant whoever was in first place when the strike happened would make it to the postseason in baseball’s first ever LDS.

That meant the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Los Angeles Dodgers made it to the postseason despite having played between 55 – 60 games. It also gave teams 53 games to qualify for the LDS. At the end of those 53 games, the aforementioned teams would be joined by the Milwaukee Brewers (then an AL team), Oakland Athletics, Montreal Expos, and Houston Astros.

Missing the postseason would be the St. Louis Cardinals, who had the best combined record in the NL East, and the Cincinnati Reds, who had the best record in baseball. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers would have the second best records overall in their respective divisions, but they would miss out on the postseason as well.

Despite the National League missing the two best overall teams, and the American League missing the second best teams in each division, there was a postseason format closely akin to what we’ve become accustomed. There was a best-of-five LDS, best-of-five LCS, and then a best-of-seven World Series.

The Dodgers, who would have missed the postseason under normal circumstances, faced off against the Houston Astros, who had the third best record in their division, in the LDS. The Dodgers beat the Astros in five games to win the NL West side of the LDS. Again, this happened while the best team in baseball missed the postseason.

The Dodgers then faced off against the Expos. The Expos beat the Phillies in five games. Like the NL West, this series featured the second and third best teams in the division while the best team in the division, the Cardinals, missed the postseason. The Dodgers then beat the Expos in five games to win the pennant.

The Dodgers faced off against the Yankees in the World Series. Notably, the Yankees had the third best record in the AL East tied with the Detroit Tigers, who did not qualify for the postseason. As noted above, the Orioles, who had the second best record in the division, also missed the playoffs.

As a result, the 1981 World Series featured two teams who would not have qualified for the postseason under rules in place at the time. Despite that, to this day, the 1981 Dodgers are seen as World Series champions much in the same fashion as literally any other team.

That includes the 1919 Reds who won when the White Sox threw the World Series, the Astros who were found to have stolen signs, or literally any other World Series winner in Major League history. That may not have been the case in 1981, but as time passes, and we forget or never knew about it, fact is people will treat that Dodgers team like any other team.

The same will be said for whomever wins the 2020 World Series. If after 50 games, there are some surprise teams in the postseason, and those teams win it, fans in 2020 and over the next decade may well look at that World Series with skepticism. The people who won’t are fans of that team, and eventually, everyone as time passes, and people no longer care to dig through the minutia to put asterisks on that title.

In the end, all anyone is going to care about is there was a season, and there was a winner. Hopefully, that will lead to the New York Mets winning the World Series trophy. If they do, that trophy will wind up counting every bit as much as the 1969 or 1986 World Series.

If you don’t believe me, just go ask the 1981 Dodgers.