REGIONAL #25:  Immediately after a non-pennant winning Yankee team nailed down the first regional win for the franchise, another NY pennant winner, the ‘81 Yanks, was the only such flag-bearer in this group and was designated as the favorite by the ELO rankings.  But they only made the Series because of the weird strike-induced split season, and they would not be without some competition.  There was a Pirates squad and two different Orioles teams that were all one season removed from a pennant, and then there was the 1969 Cubs, whose infamous late-season collapse paved the way for the pennant from the Amazing Mets.  Aside from entries by the Senators and Phillies, the remaining teams looked pretty evenly matched which promised a good bracket.

The lone pennant team 1981 Yankees found themselves locked in a battle with the 1970 Pirates, with NY’s Tommy John and Bob Veale working to a 2-2 tie after 9 innings.  However, in the 11th, the Yanks break through for 3 runs on key hits from Bobby Murcer and Lou Piniella against Dave Guisti, while Goose Gossage is perfect in relief and the Yanks take the 5-2 win.  The game between the 1968 Orioles and the 1969 Cubs turns into an even greater pitchers’ duel between O’s Tom Phoebus and the Cubs’ Bill Hands.  An RBI single from Jim Hickman in the 5th, one of only 2 hits by Chicago, proves to be the sum total of offense as the Cubs take the 1-0 win.  A Cubs team from a few years later, the 1971 Cubs, also moved on to the semifinals by defeating the 1967 Senators 4-2, with a 3-run homer from Billy Williams providing Juan Pizarro with all the offense needed.   Finally, the 1972 Orioles hold the 1970 Phillies to 3 hits and manage to squeeze out a 3-2 victory courtesy of timely hits from Paul Blair and Bobby Grich.

In the semifinals, the top-seeded 1981 Yankees watch in horror as starter Dave Righetti gets pounded and last just two innings, permitting a grand slam by Don Young, and the 1969 Cubs jump out to an 8-0 lead.  The Yanks try to claw back with homers from Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble, but it is to no avail as Ferguson Jenkins pitches well enough to preserve the bullpen and finish out the 8-4 win.  The chance for an all-Cubs final is dashed in the 14th inning of the second semifinal game when Terry Crowley knocks a walk-off RBI single to give the 1972 Orioles a marathon 7-6 victory over the 1971 Cubs.  

Thus, the finals match the 1969 Cubs, who have already disposed of one Orioles team in the regional, with the 1972 Orioles, who have similarly knocked out a different Cubs team.   The game is tightly contested, with the teams trading blows and the score favoring the Cubs 5-4 after 7 innings.  However, the Cubs then decimate a succession of Orioles relievers, scoring six runs in the top of the 9th inning, and the Cubs and Ken Holtzman coast to a 12-4 win and the regional title.  Jim Hickman, with the lone RBI in round one and a homer and 5 RBI in the final, takes home honors as regional MVP, and the 1969 Cubs, mainly famous for their late season collapse that handed the NL to the Mets, find some redemption as regional champs.