REGIONAL #92:  This regional had no pennant winners, nor did it have any teams from the classic era, with teams mainly ranging from the disco era to the steroid era.  I didn't have sharp memories of any of these teams (turns out there were three good division winners here), although I seemed to recall some strong pitching from the mid-80s Astros and two other teams, the 1978 Royals and the 2000 Angels, who would each win the AL pennant two years later.  Given that an Angels team had won the prior regional and the 2000 version was smack at the peak of the steroid era, I figured I'd put my money on them.  The ELO rankings suggested that I (as usual) chose unwisely, tapping the Angels as the second-worst team in the regional; instead, those rankings pick the 2012 Nationals over the Royals in a very tight matchup.  I haven't correctly predicted a winner since Regional #82 anyhow, so being wrong here would maintain the status quo.

First round action

I had figured the 2000 Angels (82-80 W/L record) to be a prototypical steroid-era team, and I was right:  6 guys in the lineup with at least 25 homers, and not a decent starting pitcher in sight.  By the ELO ranks, they were slight underdogs against the similarly-.500ish 1981 Giants (56-55), who not surprisingly had better pitching but had Jack Clark leading the club with only 17 homers (albeit in a strike-shortened season).  The question of this Bay-area faceoff appeared to be whether the Giants' Vida Blue could keep the power of the Angels in check.  The Giants start off with a quick 1-0 lead on a Jeff Leonard solo HR in the bottom of the 1st; however, back-to-back shots by Mo Vaughn and Ron Gant to lead off the 5th put the Angels up 2-1.  A sac fly by Leonard in the 6th ties the game, and both Blue and Angels starter Ramon Ortiz keep the rest of regulation scoreless, and we head to extra innings tied 2-2.  Blue blanks the top of the Angels order in the top of the 10th.  In the bottom of the inning, Ortiz gets two quick outs, then singles by Joe Morgan and Larry Herndon put the winning run on 3rd and Jeff Leonard up again.  Ortiz delivers, the roll is 5-7, TR 1-2/flyB; split die for Leonard.....it's a 2!  The Giants get the walk-off win behind Vida Blue's 5-hit, 10-inning performance and Leonard's one-man show offense, and my pick for the regional goes down in round one.

As the second millennial team of the regional, the 73-win 2000 Brewers were an inferior version of the Angels team we just saw; 3 guys hitting 30+ homers and a pitching staff littered with stiffs.  The 92-win 1978 Royals won the AL West and were the polar opposite of the Brewers; excellent pitching and defense but an offense built around singles hitters and speed.  The speed of the Royals was apparent early, when in the 2nd inning Amos Otis doubled and Hal McRae singled him home for a 1-0 Royals lead.  Meanwhile, Larry Gura allows no Brewer hits until the 5th, when Henry Blanco singles in a run.  Blanco, as a C-1, is also holding the Royals speed in check, so KC tries a different tack:  the longball, and a 2-run shot by Darrell Porter and a 3-run blast by Frank White contribute to a 7-1 lead, and that is the final score as Gura completes the 3-hit victory.

Putting together the lineup for the 2012 Nationals made me understand why they won 98 games and the NL East, and why the ELO ranks would favor this team; good pitching both starting and relief, solid defense, and four guys hitting over 20 HR in the lineup.  The 83-win 1988 Padres were an okay team--decent pitching, but no hitters with 20 HR and some guys who could neither field nor hit in the starting lineup (Keith Moreland, we're looking at you).  Roberto Alomar put the Padres up in the 2nd when John Kruk raced (?) home from second on a long single.  The Nats immediately responded with four straight hits against Eric Show in the top of the 3rd, including a 2-run Bryce Harper double, that made it 3-1 Washington.  The Nationals add four more in the 4th, including a bases loaded double by Harper that scores 3, and with the last out of the 4th Show is mercifully injured and he must turn the ball over to Padres relief ace Mark Davis.  Davis does his job, holding Washington scoreless for 4 innings while the Padres chip away at Gio Gonzalez and narrow the lead to 7-3.  However, Davis is burnt after 4 and new reliever Lance McCullers is greeted with a 5-hit barrage in the top of the 9th that includes a 2-run Harper homer (making 7 RBI for him), and afterwards the shell-shocked Padres go down in order to give the Nationals the dominating 11-3 victory.

As I had vaguely remembered, the 96-win 1986 Astros did indeed have a very strong pitching staff, including Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott at his scuffball best, which enabled them to win the NL West.  Turns out that their opponent was pretty good also--the 2019 Brewers won 89 games and finished 2nd, making the postseason as a wild card team largely because of a power-packed lineup led by Christian Yelich's 1.100 OPS.  However, Scott keeps the Brewer lineup in check, allowing only a Moustakas RBI single in 10 innings, but the Milwaukee staff keeps pace, with starter Zach Davies eventually giving way to Josh Hader and Junior Guerra who collectively keep it deadlocked at 1-1 through 10 innings.  To begin the 11th, Scott must yield to Charlie Kerfeld, and a Billy Hatcher error and two Brewer hits give the Brewers a 2-1 lead; in the bottom of the inning Guerra retires the 'stros in order to give Milwaukee the 2-1 extra-inning win and a trip to the semifinals.

The survivors

The 1981 Giants and Doyle Alexander faced off against Dennis Leonard and the 1978 Royals in the first semifinal; Leonard was a 21-game winner, but he was also a 17-game loser and his card was not as dominating as KC might have preferred.  The Giants found his weaknesses early, with 3 hits in the 2nd leading to a 1-0 lead, and a Jack Clark double in the 3rd making it 2-0.  However, the Royals then woke up and rapped 5 hits in the bottom of the 3rd, including a John Wathan homer, and took a 3-2 lead--which was extended to 5-2 in the 5th after a 2-run double by Darrell Porter.  The teams trade runs in the 8th, but by this time Leonard is in control, and he finishes with the 6-3 complete game victory.

The semifinal between the 2012 Nationals and 2019 Brewers featured two teams with loads of offensive weapons, but Washington's Stephen Strasburg had the clear edge on the mound against Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff.  That edge was evident before Strasburg threw a pitch, as the Nats explode for 5 runs in the top of the 1st highlighted by a bases-clearing double from Ryan Zimmerman.  Zimmerman adds a 3-run homer in the 5th to extend his RBI count to 6, and the Nats have a 9-1 lead.  Homers by Hiura and Moustakas chip away at the lead, but Strasburg doesn't even break a sweat and easily finishes out the game, allowing 7 hits en route to a 9-4 Nationals win.  The Nats thus enter the finals having outscored the opposition 20-7 in the first two rounds.

Solano: unlikely hero

The regional finals between the 1978 Royals and the 2012 Nationals featured two divisional winners who were the two best teams in the bracket by the ELO ranks, which also indicated that the two teams were nearly evenly matched.  The Royals jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 2nd on doubles from Porter and Wathan--both of which involved a missed 6-5 HR split on Nats starter Jordan Zimmerman's card, and in the bottom of the inning Nats SS Ian Desmond is lost to injury for the remainder of the game.  Amos Otis singled home a run in the 3rd to make it 2-0, although it could have been worse as Zimmerman retired Hal McRae to end the inning with the bases loaded.  Again, in the bottom of the 3rd, the Nats respond with C Kurt Suzuki going down with a 3-game injury, meaning that after 3 innings Washington has 2 injuries and 0 hits.  However, back-to-back errors by the Royals in the 5th lead to a Washington run, and then the Nats tie it up in the 8th on a Jason Werth double--a missed split on KC starter Paul Splittorf's 6-5 HR result.  The score remains 2-2 after nine, and we head to extra innings.  Jordan Zimmerman retires the Royals in order in the top of the 10th, having pitched flawlessly after a shaky start.  In the bottom of the inning, Washington's other Zimmerman, Ryan, doubles after missing his HR split, bringing up injury replacement reserve catcher Jhonatan Solano--who lines a SI** for the walkoff 3-2 victory and the first regional win for a team wearing the Nationals uniform.

Interesting card of Regional #92:  I have to admit that I don't think there is anything particularly interesting about George Brett's card(s), and he didn't really come through for the Royals when they needed him.  However, he does serve as an example of the first Strat season that I ever purchased when they released a season for which I already had an Advanced version of that year--1978.  In fact, I believe it was the first time that Strat ever re-released a season that had already been done in Advanced.  I purchased the re-release, and it was the last time I did so.  This may be a controversial viewpoint, but I just don't like the perforated cards, thin cardstock, light blue print with shading (now thankfully abandoned), or the (to me) ugly card patterns that characterize most Strat releases since the 1980s.  Because I prefer to play Basic when I play C&D solo and never attempt to replay entire seasons, I see little reason to shell out for a new set that may admittedly include some additional guys with 25 at-bats or 15 innings, but who were obviously not a critical part of their team.  So no 1972 or 1956 for me this year, thanks--as old school as they are, this curmudgeon prefers the even older ones that I already have!