The Los Angeles Dodgers have won four consecutive National League West titles, and the Washington Nationals were NL East champions in 2012, 2014 and 2016. On Friday in Game 1 of the NL Division Series, the two clubs will meet for just the second time in the postseason.
But even that comes with a caveat as the first matchup — in the 1981 NL Championship Series — pitted the Dodgers against the Montreal Expos. Los Angeles finished the season with a 63-47 record, good for fourth-best in the Majors, during the strike-shortened season.
Montreal went 60-48, and edged the Philadelphia Phillies in five games of the NLDS. Similarly, the Dodgers eliminated the Houston Astros from the NLDS, also in five games.
That set the stage for an NLCS matchup between the Dodgers and Expos, with Games 1 and 2 played at Dodger Stadium.
Burt Hooton threw 7.1 scoreless innings, and he was backed by Bob Welch and Steve Howe. Ron Cey’s RBI double and Bill Russell’s sacrifice bunt gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Pedro Guerrero and Mike Scioscia combined for back-to-back home runs in the eighth to cement a 5-1 victory in the series opener. Montreal got the better of a duel between Ray Burris and Fernando Valenzuela in Game 2, coming away with a 3-0 win to tie the series.
A Warren Cromartie RBI double and Tim Raines RBI single gave the Expos a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Garry Carter drove in another run off Valenzuela in the seventh on a base hit. Playing the next three games at Stade Olympique was but a minor detail for the Dodgers.
They overcame loss in Game 3 to eliminate the Expos. Dusty Baker’s RBI double in the third inning broke a scoreless tie in Game 4, Los Angeles went on for a 7-1 win; they scored three runs in the ninth.
Game 5 saw Rick Monday deliver the iconic, go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning. He hit it off Steve Rogers, who entered in relief and had been 3-0 in the postseason.
After winning the 1981 NLCS, the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in six games in the World Series. The championship was the first of two Tommy Lasorda won as manager of the Dodgers.
