L.A. can blame ’96 for team’s quandary

MLB saw Dodgers-Padres finale situation that year and made sure winning division had bigger reward.

As this final week of the regular season dawns, with the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants fighting one another for first place, you will hear a lot about 1951 and 1962. You will not hear as much about 1996, but you should.

That season could come back to haunt the Dodgers, 25 years later.

If the Dodgers can win two more games than the Giants this week, the teams would play a tiebreaker for the National League West championship. If San Francisco wins the division, the Dodgers’ postseason could be limited to one game, in part because of the indifference they showed to one particular game in 1996.

The Dodgers and Giants played tiebreakers in 1951 and 1962, but both times for the league championship. The term “postseason” had not been invented. There were two leagues, and the winner of each league advanced to the World Series.

In 1969, leagues split into two divisions, and the league championship series was born. In 1994, leagues split into three divisions, and the wild card was born — one in each league, so as to complete an eight-team postseason field. In 1996, the Dodgers and San