There were already some similarities between the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 and the strike-interrupted version 39 years earlier, but the resemblance is even stronger now that the four division series are about to start.
In 1981, the season was split into two halves, so each division champion from the first half played the second-half champ to start the playoffs. That meant two AL East teams facing each other, two AL West teams, two NL East teams and two NL West teams.
That’s also what we have this season in the AL and NL Division Series: Rays-Yankees, Astros-Athletics, Braves-Marlins and Dodgers-Padres.