Steve, it could be of the Whirlpool 200 design, which intentionally did spin/drain, but Whirlpool & Sears had so many problems with this design, they ended up replacing trannys.
OR, I could be like my LK and the first load is usually a spin/drain as something in the tranny gets a bit weaker (a design flaw--where is GANSKY1 when I need him) and it will spin/drain until things warm up in the tranny. Subsequent load does total neutral drain, unless ya open the lid just as it starts to drain, pause it for about 5 seconds, and then close lid and it will spin./drain.
OH, BTW, thank you so very much for taking the time to post all the beautiful things, food, and people from your family in this thread. Very informative. Mouthwatering too.