REGIONAL #31:  This group was another talent-packed collection, with three pennant winners including the ‘53 Dodgers, ranked as one of the 50 best teams of all time.  Also capturing their flags were two teams led by Hall of Fame pitchers in Walter Johnson and Sandy Koufax.   There were also two NL teams from 1961 who were both ranked better than the actual pennant winner, and the remainder were undistinguished, more recent teams from the 60s and 70s.  The ELO ranks predicted the ‘53 Dodgers over the ‘24 Senators in the finals, but with three good Dodger teams entered it seemed like one of them had to win it.

The high-profile matchup of the 1st round was between two pennant-winners, the 1924 Senators and the 1966 Dodgers, and for some reason I decided some 35 years ago to hold back the ace starters for both teams, instead pitting the Nats’ George Mogridge against LA’s Claude Osteen.  The game turns out to live up to its billing, with the Dodgers jumping to a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st, the Senators roaring back and leading 4-1 after they bat in the 5th, but LA tying the game in the 6th.  The game remains tied through 9 and after, until in the top of the 12th Muddy Ruel’s RBI single off Phil Regan gives Washington a 5-4 lead that they don’t relinquish.  Another LA squad, the 1961 Dodgers, didn't fare any better, losing to the hitless wonders 1968 White Sox 4-3, with Tommie Davis–who played for both teams–driving in two for the Sox and a Pete Ward 2-run homer being enough to send Don Drysdale to the showers.  In another 4-3 game, the 1961 Giants triumphed over the 1974 Angels led by a three run HR from Joey Amalfitano, who only had two dingers in the regular season.  Finally, the powerhouse 1953 Dodgers watch Russ Meyer allow three runs by the 1977 Tigers in the top of the 1st, then move in front 5-3 by the 3rd, and then fall behind 6-5 in the 5th to throw another scare into the Ebbets Field crowd.  However, a George Shuba solo HR in the 8th ties it and the game ends up in extra innings, where a Gil Hodges walk off RBI double enables the Bums to survive a 7-6 win and live another day.

In the semifinals, the 1924 Senators still held back ace Walter Johnson as they were confident against the punchless 1968 White Sox and Wilbur Wood, and their #5 starter Joe Martina was indeed plenty capable of managing the Sox bats, tossing a six-hit shutout as the Nats cruised to a 5-0 win.  Washington rattled off 5 hits against Wood in the top of the 1st, scoring three runs and the outcome was never in doubt as the Sox couldn’t put together more than one hit in any inning.  The other semifinal between the 1953 Dodgers and the 1961 Giants was much more tightly contested.  The Giants jumped to a 2-0 lead in the 3rd on a Matty Alou homer, but Carl Furillo responded in kind in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.  In the 4th, a Jim Davenport RBI single pushed the Giants back into the lead, but Furillo again struck back in the 7th with a bases-loaded double that gives the Bums a 5-3 lead, and all Brooklyn starter Bob Milliken has to do is get out of the top of the 9th–but that doesn't happen as PH John Orsino hits a 2-run homer to tie the game and when Brooklyn goes down quietly in the 9th it’s on to extra innings.  The two teams can’t score until the top of the 15th, when an RBI single from .211-hitting backup SS Eddie Bressoud puts the Giants on top.  Now it’s up to Giants closer Stu Miller, in the last inning of his eligibility for the game, but he doesn’t finish out the inning as a 2-run walk off double by Jackie Robinson allows the Dodgers to come from behind for the third time of the game, and gives them their second consecutive walk off extra-inning win, 7-6.

Thus, it’s two Old-Timer pennant winners in the finals, with the #2 seed 1924 Senators and their ace Walter Johnson against #1 seed 1953 Dodgers and their ace, Carl Erskine.  A Bucky Harris double in the 2nd gives the Nats a 2-0 lead, but the Dodgers claw back with a Duke Snider homer and a Jim Gilliam 2-run single to give Brooklyn the lead after five.   A Sam Rice single ties it in the 7th, but Gillam and Campanella lead a three-run charge in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-3.    A walk and a Muddy Ruel triple in the 8th narrows the gap to 6-4, but Erskine hangs on and the favorites bring the regional crown home to Ebbets.