REGIONAL #100:  This regional represents a milestone marking that 800 different teams have tried their luck in this tournament.  This group of 8 featured two NL pennant winners, the 1993 Phillies and the 2013 Cardinals, and four other teams were within 5 years of a pennant, so it looked to be a competitive group--although I was wondering if my random team selector program was working properly when it chose 7 consecutive NL teams, finally sneaking the Indians in as the final selection.  I had no idea who to pick to win, but I went with the Cardinals over the 1964 Giants in the finals.  The ELO ranks were pretty similar to my guesses, as they also chose theCards over the Phillies in a final matching the two pennant-winners.

First round action:

It was the current vs. the former New York NL teams with the 90-win 1964 Giants against the 75-win 2002 Mets, 21-win Juan Marichal vs. Al Leiter on the mound.  The Giants start the scoring with a run in the 3rd on a Mays single, although Hal Lanier is thrown out at the plate trying to add another.  Lanier does score in the 5th on a Jay Alou DP ball, but that run is quickly recaptured when Mo Vaughn leads off the bottom of the inning with a blast that makes it 2-1 Giants.  When the Giants start the 7th with two quick singles, Leiter is pulled for Mark Guthrie, but Guthrie allows both runners to score on singles from Alou and Cepeda, although things could have been worse as the Giants leave the bases loaded.  Marichal is cruising until the bottom of the 9th, when with 1 out he allows a walk, a single, and then a 3-run HR to Jeromy Burnitz, and suddenly it's a tie game and we're heading for extra innings.  Mets closer Armando Benitez is given the challenge of holding the Giants at bay, but McCovey leads off the 11th by finding Benitez's HR result and it's 5-4 Giants.  However, with Marichal toasted after pitching 10 innings, the Giants must turn to a shaky bullpen to try to hold the lead, with elder statesman Billy Pierce given the job.  Wigginton singles and Alou's error sends him to second, Burnitz singles, and in comes the infield to try to keep the tying run from scoring.  A grounder moves Burnitz to second as the winning run, and #9 hitter but key defensive player Rey Ordonez is up, and the Mets let him bat.  He rolls the FLY-X to CF--it's Willie Mays, and it's game over as the Giants squeak by with the 5-4 extra inning victory.

The pennant-winning 97-win 1993 Phillies and Tommy Greene faced a HOFer in Pete Alexander and his mates on the 81-72 1924 Cubs in what looked to be the best matchup in the first round of this regional.  The Phils open the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd when John Kruk races (?) home on a 2-out double by Jim Eisenreich, but the Cubs take the lead 2-1 in the 4th on RBI singles from Gabby Hartnett and Hooks Cotter.  A solo shot from Hartnett in the 6th makes it 3-1 Cubs, and Alexander has settled into a groove that renders Veterans Stadium eerily quiet.  A leadoff walk and a double by Jigger Statz makes the Phillies look to the bullpen, but with Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams as the closer, the Phils take their chance with Greene and bring the infield in.  Sparky Adams responds with a gbA++, it's now 5-1, and the Phils try Larry Andersen on the mound.  But Andersen allows three straight hits, there's still nobody out and the score is now 7-1, and the Phils figure things can't get much worse so they try Wild Thing--who retires the side with no further damage.  The Cubs score another run in the 8th courtesy of a 3-base error by Pete Incaviglia.  The Phils finally get to Alexander in the bottom of the 9th for back-to-back solo HRs from Inky and Wes Chamberlain, but it's too little and too late as Alexander finishes up with a 5-hitter and the Cubs get the 8-3 upset win in convincing fashion; the Phils commit three errors to underscore a big weakness that forces them to join the list of pennant winners eliminated in the 1st round.

The 53-64 1994 Rockies were a prime example of the Colorado teams of that era--imposing hitting and almost no credible starting pitching, further weakened by tournament IP restrictions because of the strike-shortened season.  They faced a pennant-winning 97-win team in the 2013 Cardinals, a well-balanced team who had solid starting pitching, a deep bullpen, and a strong lineup, albeit not quite comparable to the offensive capabilities of the Rockies.  The Cards had 19-game winner Adam Wainwright going against spot starter Marvin Freeman, by far the most effective Rockies starter.  Andres Galarraga puts the Rockies on top with a solo HR in the 2nd, converting a HR 1-4 split off Wainwright's card, but Colorado's Joe Girardi gets hurt in the 3rd and the Rockies have little backup at backstop.  The Cards can't get anything going against Freeman until the 5th, when a 2-out rally culminates in a 2-run double for Matt Carpenter, and the Cards now lead 2-1.  St. Louis breaks through in the 7th, loading the bases with nobody out and Allen Craig and Carlos Beltran take turns driving the runners in, and it's now 6-1.  Matt Holliday drives in an insurance run in the top of the 9th, but Wainwright doesn't need it and the Cards walk away with the 7-1 win, avoiding the 1st round jinx of the pennant winners to move to the regional semifinal.

The 1958 Indians had a mediocre 77-76 record with their awesome starting rotation from earlier in the decade largely gone, although they did have an imposing Rocky Colavito in the lineup.  Their opponent, the 73-89 2007 Nationals, had a much more shallow starting rotation than the Indians and fewer offensive weapons, but they took a 1-0 lead on a Cristian Guzman RBI single in the 3rd against Indians starter Gary Bell, who was fortunate it wasn't worse as the Nats left the bases loaded.  Nats CF Nook Logan (which sounds like a good deadball era name) drives in another run in the 4th to make it 2-0 Washington, but the Indians get the run back in the bottom of the inning when Vic Power records the first Cleveland hit of the game, a solo HR off the card of Nats starter Jason Bergmann.  Logan almost has another RBI single in the 6th, but Ryan Church is cut down at the plate to end the inning.  However, Dmitri Young's sac fly in the 7th does make it 3-1 Nationals, and the Indians are helpless against Bergmann; they don't get their second hit of the game until the bottom of the 9th when Minoso doubles, but it leads to nothing as the Nats put the Indians away with a 3-1 win and earn a matchup against a pennant-winner in the regional semifinal.

The survivors:

Both the 1924 Cubs and the 1964 Giants reached this semifinal courtesy of Hall of Fame starters on the mound; the Giants had yet another as their #2 starter in Gaylord Perry, while the Cubs would need to win with the more pedestrian 15-game winner Vic Keen.  And Keen allowed an RBI single to Mays and a 3-run HR to Jim Ray Hart before he got anybody out, and the Giants give Perry a quick 4-run pad in the 1st inning.  Keen settles down quickly and tosses 5 scoreless innings, but the Giants strike again in the 7th with a Jay Alou RBI single and a Cepeda 2-run shot that makes it 7-0.  Meanwhile, the Cubs are busy racking up injuries, losing Cutter and Statz with a very shallow bench unable to offer much help.  Regardless, none of the Cubs are able to solve Perry's mystery pitch, as he fans Gabby Harnett to end the game with a 4-hit shutout and the Giants cruise to the regional final with the 7-0 victory.

Moving into the semifinal round of the regional, going deeper into the starting rotation wasn't a problem for the pennant winning 2013 Cardinals with 15-game winner Shelby Miller, but the 2007 Nationals sent 7-game winner Matt Chico to the mound with considerable trepidation.  Their anxiety proved justified when the first batter of the game, Jon Jay, belted a HR off Chico's card, and Allen Craig added a 2-run shot that was also off Chico's card in the 4th.  A Beltran RBI single in the 5th makes it 4-0 Cards, and the Nationals decide they better call Saul Rivera out of the bullpen.  Saul manages to hold the fort until the 9th, when Matt Holliday singles in two runs to push the St. Louis lead to 6-0, but it doesn't really matter as Miller is killer and he ends up with a 4-hit CG shutout to propel the Cards to the final with the 6-0 win.

Matches 2 HOF teammates

The regional final paired two good teams, the 2013 Cardinals pennant winners against a good 1964 Giants team that boasted 5 HOFers on the roster, with Jack Sanford and Lance Lynn as the starters.  The Giants jump to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd when Harvey Kuenn converts a HR 1-5/flyB split off Lynn's card for a 2-run shot, and the Cards attempt to respond in the bottom of the inning falls short when Allen Craig is nailed at the plate for the final out.  SF adds two more in the 3rd with a leadoff HR by Cepeda, and Mays doubled and scored on a Hart single.  A 2-run blast from Tom Haller makes it 6-0 Giants in the 5th, and the Busch Stadium faithful that expected to celebrate the regional win have fallen deathly silent.  When Lynn allows two straight hits to begin the 7th, the Cards try Kevin Siegrist and his microscopic 0.45 ERA, and he retires the side with no damage.   The Cards then load the bases in the bottom of the inning but Cepeda turns a key double play to end the threat, and that was the high-water mark for St. Louis as Sanford wraps up the Giants second CG shutout in a row, and the regional title with the 6-0 victory.  This is the 8th regional win for the Giants franchise, although their first for a team from the 1960s.

Interesting card of Regional #100:  Although Willie Mays had a great card, I selected this particular card instead to illustrate the inconsistency as to how the game company lists sub-1.00 ERAs.  Sometimes there is a leading zero, sometimes not, but the omission used on this card makes me think of the pre-Astros team name for Houston more than an ERA value.   Regardless, it's quite a card for a reliever, with a remarkable H/IP ratio and decorated with plenty of K's.  2013 was Siegrist's first year in the majors, and of course from there his career ERA had nowhere to go but up; he had a good year in 2015 leading the NL in appearances, but never recaptured that 2013 dominance.  When he was sent to the minors after spring training to begin the 2018 season, Siegrist refused to report, and he never pitched again in the majors.