Butler BlueSox, meet the 1981 Cincinnati Reds.

You may wind up with something in common.

The Reds had the best record in the National League in 1981, yet failed to qualify for the playoffs because of a split season.

Cincinnati was 66-42 in that strike-shortened season. Major League Baseball decided to turn the season into two halves, with the first half’s division champion facing that of the second half to determine the overall division champ.

The Reds finished a half-game behind Los Angeles in the first, a game and a half behind Houston in the second half and failed to receive an invitation to the postseason party.

Fast forward to the 2012 Prospect League season.

This league carries that same format. First half division winner plays second half winner to determine which teams advance to the league championship series.

Butler was 18-12 in the first half of the season, finishing three games behind the West Virginia Miners. The BlueSox are battling Richmond for the division lead right now.

The BlueSox were 27-16 overall through Wednesday, tying the Miners for the league’s best record.

Certainly, the possibility exists that Butler will put together two strong halves of baseball and not qualify for the playoffs.

In a 12-team league, that just shouldn’t happen.

Rather than just have four teams reach postseason play, the Prospect League should look at an alternative.

Here are some possibilities:

• Have the top four teams in each division convene for an eight-team, double-elimination tournament to determine the league champion. The tournament could be hosted by the team with the best overall regular season record.

• To save on travel costs, have the top four teams in the East convene for a double-elimination tournament at the home of the overall first-place team, the top four teams in the West do the same. The East champ and West champ then play a best-of-three series for the league crown.

• Have the top eight teams in the league qualify for the playoffs, seed them, and play single-elimination playoff rounds before having the two surviving teams play a best-of-three final.

Baseball is an every day sport. Consistent, daily performance should be rewarded.

Even if a team gets off to a shoddy start in the first portion of a season, it would have plenty of games remaining to get hot and work itself into the top four in its respective division.

The more teams involved in the playoffs, the more interest there is in any league.

The Prospect League draws well in many of its markets. The prospect of Pullman Park or Critchfield Park hosting a league tournament at the end of the season is intriguing.

The team with the best record deserves to play on.

If that’s the BlueSox, they hopefully will.

1981 Reds? We don’t need to see that again.