REGIONAL #32:  This grouping included a great pennant winning Yankees team as well as one of the 25 worst teams of all time according to the ELO ranks–the expansion 1969 Expos.  But the Yanks would have plenty of hurdles to overcome.  There were two very good Red Sox teams, one the 1975 pennant winner of Carlton Fisk HR fame, the second the 1978 squad (by ELO ranks, even better) that lost the pennant due to another infamous homer, this one by Bucky Dent.   Also included was a 1956 Braves team that, like the Red Sox, came within one game of the pennant, and then a Phillies team from the strange 1981 season that had just won the NL the prior year.  The rankings predicted the Yanks to prevail over the Braves in an all-1956 final.

In the first round, the 1975 Red Sox made the 1981 Phillies wish they had started Steve Carlton instead of Marty Bystrom, as Bystrom only lasts ⅓ of an inning while allowing four runs, with a 2-run double from Jim Rice being the big blow.  However, the Phils respond and tie the game at 4-4 by the 5th inning, and the game turns into a closer battle between Tug McGraw and Dick Drago.   That battle is won by Drago, as Fred Lynn takes McGraw deep in the 7th and that’s the final margin in Boston’s 5-4 win.  The 1956 Braves have little trouble disposing of the 1980 White Sox and Britt Burns, with Hank Aaron homering and Bill Bruton contributing a couple of RBI in their 5-1 victory.  The Braves won’t be facing the regional favorite 1956 Yankees in the finals as predicted, as 1977 Indians’ Jim Bibby shackles the Yankee lineup and a homer by CF Jim Norris is enough for the Indians to win, 3-1.  Finally, the legendarily bad 1969 Expos fall behind to the 1978 Red Sox 4-0 in the first, but by the end of the 5th the score is tied 6-6 and the Canadians are not going quietly.  Carl Yazstremski finally breaks a tie in the 8th with a solo shot, his second homer of the game, and the Red Sox send a second team to the regional semifinal by winning the 8-7 squeaker.

In the semifinals, a 2-run homer by Joe Adcock is enough for the 1956 Braves to put down the 1975 Red Sox as Warren Spahn tosses a 7-hit complete game for a 5-1 win.  The other Boston squad, the 1978 Red Sox, find themselves locked in a battle with the 1977 Indians, with the Sox jumping out to a 3-0 lead, but the Indians climb back into it and a Rico Carty homer in the top of the 7th knots the game at 5-5.  However, in the bottom of the inning Indians reliever Don Hood issues a couple of walks, and Rick Burleson doubles to bring them both in and the Red Sox head to the finals with a 7-5 victory.

That sets up a final between two teams that both finished one game from a pennant–the 1956 Braves and the 1978 Red Sox.  A Braves error and a Jerry Remy single gives the Red Sox an unearned run against Bob Buhl in the 3rd, and then a Dwight Evans homer in the 5th makes it 4-0 Boston.  In the meantime, Dennis Eckersley holds the Braves to three hits through 8 innings, but in the top of the 9th the Braves scratch out a walk and a single, and then Hank Aaron puts one over the Green Monster and it’s a one-run game.   Boston sticks with Eckersley, and he finishes things out as the Red Sox survive a third straight game where they let the opponents stage a furious comeback, capturing the regional title with the 4-3 win and erasing some of the sting of the Bucky Dent incident.