Fansided

Top 25 MLB pennant races of all time

By Joshua Sadlock

(Original Caption) Bucky Dent is a happy fellow as he jumps on home plate and is greeted by Roy White and Chris Chambliss after he hit a three-run home run in the 7th inning at Fenway Park.
(Original Caption) Bucky Dent is a happy fellow as he jumps on home plate and is greeted by Roy White and Chris Chambliss after he hit a three-run home run in the 7th inning at Fenway Park. /
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ST. LOUIS, MO – CIRCA 1981: Dave Concepcion #13 of the Cincinnati Reds slides into third base safe against the St. Louis Cardinals during an Major League baseball game circa 1981 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. Concepcion played for the Reds from 1970-88. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – CIRCA 1981: Dave Concepcion #13 of the Cincinnati Reds slides into third base safe against the St. Louis Cardinals during an Major League baseball game circa 1981 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. Concepcion played for the Reds from 1970-88. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

15. The players’ strike hurts the Reds, 1981

The 1994 Montreal Expos are the team that comes to mind when most MLB fans think of an MLB team that got screwed out of winning a World Series by a work stoppage. The Expos were the small-market darlings who fell apart almost immediately after play resumed in 1995. Before Montreal was robbed of their World Series glory, the Cincinnati Reds were hurt by an eight-week strike in the middle of the 1981 season.

After losing games in June, July and August, the league decided to go with a strange hodge podge playoff format that looked like something out of short-season Single-A ball. In each division, the team with the best record in the first half would play the team with the best record from the second half in a five-game playoff at the end of the year to decide the winner of the division.

In the National League, Los Angeles and Philadelphia won their divisions in the first half and Montreal and Houston won the divisions in the second half. The Reds did not win the division in either half, but actually had the best record in the entire league by 2.5 games. Thanks to the absurd playoff format, the Reds were left out of the playoffs altogether.

Cincinnati finished the year 66-42, led by Tom Seaver and George Foster. They are listed as having finished in first place in the NL West, but did not get to play in the playoffs. This season just defies logic on so many levels. While it’s clear the Expos lost out in a big way in 1994, no one was hurt more by a strike than the 1981 Reds.

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