REGIONAL #18:  There was one pennant winner in this group–the 1970 Orioles–and the ELO ranks pegged those O’s as one of the 20 best teams of all time, making them huge favorites among a collection of seven other teams that weren’t in the top 1000.  There was a Mets team that had won a pennant in the preceding season, but their ranking suggested that they were mediocre at best; the other teams were ranked from “meh” to “miserable”.

The first game of the first round paired the #2 and #3 seeds in this regional, the 1979 Astros and the 1979 Cardinals, winners of 89 and 86 games respectively, and thus two evenly matched and reasonably decent if not well-ranked teams.   Also, looking at my scoresheets, I believe that this was the first game played in this tournament back in 1980, as I scattered games throughout what I thought was a huge bracket to try to assure a more random distribution of teams until I could get some of my older squads out of storage.   At any rate, it was a close one until a George Hendrick RBI single in the bottom of the 8th broke a tie and gave starter John Fulgham and the Cards the 3-2 win.   Then, a battle between the 1974 Mets and 1972 Cardinals is tied 1-1 after 9 innings with Bob Gibson and Jerry Koosman locked in a duel, but it ends in the 10th when .627 OPS St. Louis OF Luis Melendez hits a walkoff 2-run homer for a 3-1 win, setting up an all-Cards semifinal.  The “next” matchup between the 1980 Twins and the favorite 1970 Orioles was probably played at least a year later than the first game of the regional, given that a 1980 team was in it, but the Orioles wished I would have waited even longer to play it as they got overconfident, went with #4 starter Tom Phoebus, and the Twins rack up a 5-0 lead on Phoebus before he’s pulled in the 4th after a bases-loaded double by Ken Landreaux.   The O’s try to make a comeback with a 2-run shot from Boog Powell but Twins closer Doug Corbett comes in to pitch flawless 8th and 9th innings and the Twins score a 5-3 upset.  The final first round game pit a terrible 104-loss 1978 Mariners team against the almost-as-bad 96-loss 1974 Cubs, and Rick Reuschel loses no sleep in Seattle with a 6-hit shutout, with a homer by Andre Thornton really being all the Cubs need in their 6-0 win.

The first semifinal was the battle of the Cards, with the 1972 Cardinals and the 1979 Cardinals vying for an appearance in the finals.  Several players like Lou Brock and Ted Simmons played for both teams, and Brock in fact had RBI for both teams, but ultimately it was sloppy defense by the 72s in the 8th and 9th innings that allowed the 79s to come back from a 2-1 deficit to take a 5-2 decision against 72s starter Scipio Spinks.  Meanwhile, the 1974 Cubs nip the 1980 Twins 2-1 with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 9th by George Mitterwald–whom they had just acquired from the Twins that season.  

That sets up a final between the #3 seed 1979 Cardinals and the #7 seed 1974 Cubs.  The Cubs jump out to a 3-0 lead behind a Mitterwald homer, but the Cards claw back to tie it in the 6th with timely hits from Garry Templeton and Ken Reitz.  However, the Cards defense falls apart in the 8th, setting up a Jose Cardenal grand slam off Cards closer Mark Littell and the Cubs win their regional by cruising to the 8-3 victory, with 22-game loser Bill Bonham getting some redemption with the complete game win.  The Cubs' 96 losses are the most by a regional winner to date.