REGIONAL #93:  This was a bracket that included a nice mix of old-school and more recent squads, with only one team from this millennium.  Trying to pick a winner from memory, I was somewhat stumped; I knew the Indians had won a pennant a few years earlier and the Blue Jays would win a pennant a few years later; I remembered 1983 being Johnny Bench's last season (celebrated at the All-Star game in Old Comiskey), and I couldn't remember if the Pirates had begun their decades-long funk by 1997.  I figured the steroid-era Indians had to have a puncher's chance so I picked them; for a change the ELO ranks aligned with mine, picking the Indians over the Jays in the final.  

First round action:

Both the 74-79 1941 Giants and the 77-85 1962 Orioles struck me as pretty decent teams that should have been capable of .500 records; the Giants had two Hall of Famers in the lineup and one--Carl Hubbell--on the mound, while the Orioles responded with their own HOFer--Robin Roberts--on the mound, another (Brooksie) in the lineup, and a third in the bullpen (Wilhelm), which doesn't even count the two HOF managers they had as bench players--Whitey Herzog and Dick Williams!  It looked like it was going to be a long day for Hubbell, as the first two rolls for the Orioles were on Hubbell's HR reading, although both missed the 1-10 split.  Nonetheless, the Orioles jumped to a 2-0 lead in the 1st, but a Mel Ott single narrowed it to 2-1 in the 3rd.  The Orioles make it 3-1 in the 6th on a Boog Powell single, although a second run is cut down at the plate to end the inning.  The Giants get 2 on with 2 out in the 8th and the O's decide to pull Roberts and go to Wilhelm to seal the deal, and he strikes out Dick Bartell to end the threat.  Brooks Robinson then leads off the 9th by rolling yet another Hubbell HR result, and this time he gets the split to push the lead to 4-1.  And they needed it--in the top of the 9th the Giants stage a furious comeback against Wilhelm, recording 4 hits with RBI singles from Ott and Johnny Rucker, and cleanup hitter Babe Young comes to the plate with the tying run on 3rd and the go-ahead run in the form of Ott on 1st.  But Wilhelm fools Young with a knuckler, and the resulting popout provides the narrow escape for the 4-3 Orioles win.

The 1988 Blue Jays won 87 games and had a number of weapons going for them, including staff ace Dave Stieb on the mound, but the 61-49 1981 Astros won the "second half" of that strike season and had a great equalizer--Nolan Ryan and his 1.69 ERA, making an appearance in his 3rd straight regional.  The game stays scoreless until the 5th, when Phil Garner misses Stieb's HR split but the resulting double sends fleet Terry Puhl home for a 1-0 lead.  Alan Ashby makes it 2-0 on a fielders' choice in the 8th, and it looks like the Blue Jays just cannot solve Ryan. However, in the bottom of the 9th a single and a walk put Jays on 1st and 2nd, and with one out George Bell hits a grounder to Houston 3B-2 Art Howe, who can end the game with a DP but throws it into the dugout for a 2-base error.  The score is now 2-1, with the tying run on 3rd and the winning run at 2nd; the Houston infield comes in and Ryan is looking for the strikeout. However, Kelly Gruber slashes a liner over the head of CF Tony Scott, both runs score, and the Blue Jays manage the come-from-behind walk off 3-2 win against perhaps the best pitcher in the regional.

When my random team selector program came up with the 1997 Pirates, I couldn't remember if they had yet begun their long residency in bad-team purgatory that persisted for at least 20 years, and the answer was "sort of":  the team was under .500 at 79-83 but still managed to finish 2nd in the NL Central.  However, they looked like the 1927 Yanks compared to the 1954 A's, a 51-103 team that couldn't hit, pitch, or field and was so bad they were evicted from Philadephia following the season.  The Pirates edged out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd on a Jason Kendall sac fly, and make it 2-0 in the 4th on a Dunston fielders choice.  However, the A's tie it up in the 5th when Pirates CF Jermain Allensworth can't get to a Jim Finegan fly that falls for a double, scoring two.  That lead doesn't last long, as A's starter Arnie Portocarrero loads the bases, and Pirates PH Turner Ward and his 1.007 OPS comes through with a single that makes it 4-2 Pittsburgh.   In the top of the 7th, a Lou Limmer solo HR narrows it to 4-3, and when Vic Power doubles with 1 out in the 8th the Pirates summon Ricardo Rincon to relieve Francisco Cordova, and Rincon records two quick strikeouts to end the threat.  Rincon continues his streak in the 9th, striking out the side to earn the save in the 4-3 Pirates win, and record the admirable pitching line of 5 BF, 5 K's.

The 2000 Indians won 90 games to finish 2nd in the AL Central, and featured steroid-fueled power throughout the lineup along with an all "1" infield, although they elected to start snakebit Chuck Finley, who had lost 4 of his 5 previous starts in this tournament.  Even so, they felt confident that they could handle the 74-win 1983 Reds, with limited offense but with Mario Soto throwing bullets on the mound.  The Indians took a 1-0 lead on a Manny Ramirez RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, but the Reds immediately tied it in the 2nd when Nick Esasky tripled in a lumbering Johnny Bench, who was on the verge of retiring.  Travis Fryman hits a 2-run HR in the 4th to make it 3-1, and the Indians add another run in the 5th on another Ramirez RBI single.  However, the Reds load the bases against Finley in the 8th with 1 out, and Cleveland closer Bob Wickman is summoned from the pen.  One run scores on a Bench sac fly, and it's 4-2 entering the 9th.  Wickman loses control in the 9th, with a single and 2 walks loading the bases with one out, and Wickman then issues another walk to make it 4-3.  After a conference on the mound, the Indians stick with Wickman with the bases still loaded, and he rewards that decision by striking out Gary Redus and Dan Driessen in succession, preserving the 4-3 win and the semifinal trip for the Tribe.  Worthy of note:  every first round game in this regional was won by a single run.

The survivors

The underdog 1962 Orioles greeted 1988 Toronto starter John Cerutti with four hits and three runs (two on a Jackie Brandt triple) to start the first semifinal game, putting the Blue Jays on notice that they faced another uphill climb if they were to survive this round.  To show that they were not intimidated, Jays leadoff hitter Tony Fernandez hits a solo HR off O's starter Milt Pappas' card, and it looks like it's game on.  But looks can be deceiving; from that point forward, both Cerutti and Pappas dominated the opposition and neither team could mount a threat.  When Pappas allows only his 3rd hit in the 8th inning, the O's turn the ball over to Dick Hall fearing Pappas' propensity for the longball, and Hall does the job, closing things out for a 3-1 Orioles win and a trip to the finals.

Slender but hittable

The 2000 Indians trotted out not-yet-portly Bartolo Colon to face Steve Cooke and the 1997 Pirates, and the Pirates treated Colon rudely in the 1st, with a leadoff hit followed by a double and then a long single by Joe Randa that made it 2-0 Bucs. A clutch hit by Sandy Alomar Jr. made it 2-1 in the bottom of the 2nd, and then a Kenny Lofton single tied it up in the 6th--all the more remarkable as Lofton had managed to hit into DPs in both of his previous at-bats. Meanwhile, Colon is struggling, allowing 10 hits in the first 6 innings but somehow repeatedly managing to escape damage. In the 7th, the Indians get runners on the corners and the Pirates turn to Rincon, the savior of the first round game--and Jim Thome takes Rincon's first offering over the wall for a 3-run shot and a 5-2 lead. However, Pittsburgh strikes back in the 8th, with Jose Guillen knocking in a run (at which point Colon exits in favor of Steve Karsay); Tony Womack then singles Guillen to 3rd and steals 2nd himself, and the tying run is now in scoring position with 1 out. However, Jermaine Allensworth rolls the dreaded LOMAX, and the Indians escape still holding the 5-3 lead. The Pirates have nothing against Karsay in the 9th, and Kenny Lofton makes a nice play in CF to secure the 5-3 Indians win and earn the Tribe a chance for a record 10th regional win for the Cleveland franchise.

Both the regional favorite 2000 Indians and #4 seed 1962 Baltimore had gained the final with narrow victories in the first two rounds, but I couldn't help get the feeling that we hadn't yet seen the Indians offense in full flower.  The pitching matchup between CLE Dave Burba and BAL Chuck Estrada also left room for plenty of scoring, although both teams had their bullpens pretty much at full strength for the game.  Nonetheless, nobody could get on the board until the 4th inning, when the Indians can only convert a bases-loaded opportunity into one run on a Travis Fryman sac fly.  History repeats itself in the 8th, when the Indians load the bases again, the Orioles summon Wilhelm from the pen, and Cleveland can only score one on a Thome sac fly.  With Burba throwing the 3-hit shutout, the Indians decide to leave him in to start the 9th, but when he walks PH Earl Robinson with one out the Tribe summons closer Bob Wickman, who fans Brandt but allows a single to Russ Snyder to bring up HOF Brooks Robinson as the go-ahead run at the plate.  The roll:  2-11, strikeout...just below that 2-10 solid HR.  The 2-0 victory gives Cleveland it's tournament-best 10th regional win and my first accurate prediction of a regional winner in a long time.  However, the unexpected MVP of the series:  the Indians defense, without a single error in the entire regional and that all-"1" infield making play after play to bail out otherwise shaky starting pitching.

Interesting card of Regional #93:  Although the Indians won the regional, it wasn't because of Manny being Manny; Ramirez didn't hit a HR in any of the games, although he had several timely singles that were more reminiscent of Manny Mota.  However, very unlike Mota, this Manny led the AL in SLG% and OPS in what proved to be his last year with the Indians.  Ramirez hit 555 HR over his career, which should have made him a lock for the HOF, but multiple positive PED test results and his consistent history of flakiness pretty much doomed his candidacy; this past year, his 5th year on the ballot, he was listed on only 28.2% BBWAA ballots.  Nonetheless, his 2000 card is something to behold.