REGIONAL #37:   The lone pennant winner in this bracket was also a high profile one:  the legendary ‘31 A’s, ranked according to ELO as one of the 25 best teams of all time and a squad often mentioned among the top five.  At least as far as those rankings were concerned, their opponent in the final would be another A’s team from 50 years later, one from the strike-shortened 1981 season.  Probably the most competitive entries among the remaining squads was a Reds team on the verge of becoming a Big Machine, and a Yankee team one year after they had “won” the AL pennant in that ‘81 strike year.  

In a showdown between two teams with terrible ELO ranks, the 1979 Mets and 1972 Padres engaged in a see-saw battle, with both teams scoring four runs in the first inning, shredding starters Craig Swan and Clay Kirby.  The Mets score in the top of the 6th to take the lead, but a 2-run Cito Gaston double in the bottom of the inning puts the Padres on top until the top of the 9th, when Lee Mazzili blasts a 2-run homer and reliever Ed Glynn shuts the Padres down in the bottom of the 9th to seal the Mets 7-6 win.   The 1981 A’s overcome the efforts of Ron Guidry and defeat the 1982 Yankees 4-1, with Steve McCatty tossing a 5-hitter.   1969 Reds starter Gerry Arrigo only lasts one-third of an inning as the underdog 1961 Phillies cruise to a 6-3 win, and the vaunted 1931 A’s put up five runs in the 2nd inning on homers by Haas and Simmons and Lefty Grove coasts to a 5-2 victory over the 1977 Expos.

In the semifinals, the 1981 A’s get an RBI single from Dave McKay in the 2nd and a solo shot from Dwayne Murphy in the 6th, and Matt Keough takes a shutout into the top of the 9th in a tight pitching duel with Andy Hassler of the 1979 Mets.  But, the Mets’ bats come alive in the 9th and tie things up, so it’s now Hassler’s turn to hold off the A’s and send things to extra innings.  However, he fails to record an out, with a walk and a walk-off Murphy double, and the A’s head to the final with the 3-2 win.  The other A’s entry, the 1931 A’s, once again jump to an early lead over the 1961 Phillies in the first on a 2-run Al Simmons single, and when Tony Gonzalez hits a solo shot in the 5th against Rube Walberg, the A’s strike back with a three-run blast from Mickey Cochrane, and from there it’s academic as a 5-2 A’s win makes it an all-Athletics final.

For the finals, it’s the same franchise, but two distant cities and eras with the #1 seed 1931 A’s facing off against the #2 seed 1981 A’s.  It’s Rick Langford against George Earnshaw, and the Philadelphia team takes a 1-0 lead on an Eric McNair RBI single in the 2nd.  In the bottom of the 3rd, the Oakland fielding comes apart, and three errors and two extra-base hits later it’s 1931 6, 1981 0, Langford is gone, and from there Earnshaw is on cruise control as he wraps up a 5-hit shutout to give the ‘31 A’s the 6-0 win and, as predicted, a regional crown for one of the most storied teams in baseball history.