There have been four major events that caused shortened seasons in Major League Baseball history. In this episode, I go through the reasons for them and how it impacted the Yankees and other teams around the league – from the 1918-19 seasons being affected by WW1, to the first players’ strike in 1972, the 1981 split season, and the infamous 1994-95 strike.
The Yankees were not affected by the 1918-19 and 1972 shortened seasons. Frankly, they weren’t good enough in those seasons to be affected. They greatly benefited from the 1981 split season – they gained a playoff berth thanks to a weird rule and advanced to World Series for the only time in the 1980s. As much as they benefited in ’81, they got royally screwed by the 1994 strike – they had the best record in the American League when play stopped and only the Montreal Expos had a better record in baseball.
