SUPER-REGIONAL A:  With 64 teams now having competed in 16 different regionals, this is the equivalent of an NCAA March Madness tournament, and I'm calling these groups of 64 "super-regionals".  Years ago I played out the first of these super-regionals, designated as Super-Regional A, a matchup of 8 regional winners from a talent-rich pool of 64 teams that originally included 15 different pennant-winners, a result of the density of Old-Timer teams in those early brackets.  Of those pennant winners, exactly one survives:  Ty Cobb’s 1909 Tigers.  According to the ELO ranks, four of the 20 greatest teams of all time were eliminated in this group of 64:  the 1906 Cubs (2), the 1909 Pirates (4), the 1911 A’s (7), and the 1905 Giants (13), establishing a pattern that tends to be replicated throughout this tournament–namely, deadball era teams simply do not fare well against more modern competition.  With respect to the super-regional, it is important to remember that the first round of the super-regional is the 4th game for these teams, meaning it's time to see just how deep their starting rotation is with their #4 starter on the mound.  The ELO ranks of the 8 remaining teams favors the lone pennant winner, the 1909 Tigers, but having seen the attrition rate of squads of that vintage I would not bet on them.  Even so, all of these teams have proven they can come through when necessary against some tough competition, and any of them could pull off the win here.

The first matchup of round 4 featured two seemingly mediocre 1975 teams that swept through their regionals, each defeating a pennant winner.  The 1975 Indians had knocked off the aforementioned 1905 Giants of John McGraw, while the 1975 Giants had bested the 1971 Pirates.  The Giants went with swingman Charlie Williams as their #4 starter, while the Indians countered with Roric Harrison, and both of them are in the groove as the game remains scoreless through 5 innings.  However, a three-run homer by Frank Robinson in the top of the 6th puts the Indians up, but Bobby Murcer nails a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning to cut the Cleveland lead to 3-2.  An RBI single by Buddy Bell in the 8th chases Williams for Dave Heaverlo, and he keeps the Indians off the scoreboard with the Giants coming up for their last opportunity in the bottom of the 9th.  Harrison, who had only allowed 5 hits to that point, picks a bad time to fall apart, and loads the bases so the Indians summon closer Dave Laroche to try to salvage the win.  That doesn’t happen; Laroche fails to get an out and RBI singles from Dave Rader and Steve Ontiveros give the Giants a come from behind, walk-off 5-4 win.

The second game featured the 1977 Twins, who had vanquished the 1940 Reds among others, against the 1981 Royals, who had outscored their opponents 23-6 in their regional.   The Royals did continue to score, with Frank White hitting two 2-run homers, but that was not enough as the Twins knock out Royals starter Jim Wright and then rake Dan Quisenberry for 9 hits and 5 runs and the Twins move on with an 8-5 win behind starter Paul Thormodsgard and a pinch-hit 3-run blast from Glenn Borgmann.

The 1909 Tigers faced Doc Medich and the 1980 Rangers, who had already defeated two Old-Timer greats in the 1921 Yanks and the 1934 Gas House Gang Cardinals.  Rusty Staub drives in a run in the 1st to put the Rangers ahead, but Tigers DH Tom Jones ties it with a sac fly in the 5th.  In the bottom of the inning, an error and a Mickey Rivers double puts the Rangers back on top, and a Bud Harrelson RBI double in the 7th makes it 3-1 Texas.   The Tigers try to mount a comeback in the 9th and an Oscar Stanage RBI single narrows the lead to 3-2, but the Rangers summon John Henry Johnson from the pen and he wraps up the 3-2 win for the Rangers–their third in a row over a great Old-Timer squad.

Nolan Ryan and the 1980 Astros held the 1968 Braves at bay for seven innings, creeping to a 2-1 lead behind an Art Howe 2-run double in the 6th.  However, Ryan made a mistake to Henry Aaron in the bottom of the 8th for a 3-run homer that put the Braves on top, and although the Astros managed a few hits off Atlanta reliever Jim Britton in the 9th, they couldn’t push any runs across and the Braves head to round 5 with the 4-2 win.

Most valuable for both sides

For round five, most teams were now looping around back to their #1 starters, so it was the 1975 Giants and John Montefusco against Geoff Zahn and the 1977 Twins before a boisterous crowd at Metropolitan Stadium.  However, that crowd gets real quiet real fast, as Zahn only lasts 1+ inning, closer Tom Johnson is even worse, and the Giants lead 13-0 after three innings en route to a 16-0 blowout win.  The Count only allows 5 hits in his shutout performance, while eight different Giants contribute RBI, including a pinch-hit 3-run homer by Glenn Adams–who also was on the 1977 Twins and had been named MVP in their regional win!  The other game in this round also proves to be a shutout, as Ferguson Jenkins scatters seven hits in leading the 1980 Rangers to a 6-0 whitewashing of the 1968 Braves.  Phil Niekro allows all six runs in only 3 innings of work, with RBI doubles from Bump Wills and Mickey Rivers leading the damage.

The super-regional final thus matched two unlikely and seemingly mediocre contenders for the crown, the 80-81 1975 Giants and the 76-85 1980 Rangers.  On the mound, it’s Texas spot starter Danny Darwin (13-4, 2.63) against the Giants’ Ed Halicki (9-13, 3.49), and this stay scoreless until the Giants take a 3-0 behind an RBI single from Gary Matthews and a pinch-hit double from Glenn Adams.   The Rangers cut the lead to 3-1 on a sac fly from Jim Sundberg, and they mount a rally in the 9th, with Billy Sample nailing an RBI single that drives Halicki from the game in favor of Dave Heaverlo.  Heaverlo does his job, notching three straight outs to earn the save and making the 1975 Giants the unlikely winners of Super Regional A, a .500-level team that did something that 15 pennant winners in this group of 64 couldn’t–win six straight games.