REGIONAL #104:  For this regional, my random team selector pulled out a bunch of squads that were unfamiliar to me.  The 2002 Marlins would win the NL pennant the following season, but I remembered that team being disassembled and rebuilt so quickly during those years that I wasn't sure whether they were Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde that season.  For the 1997 Blue Jays, I knew they were quite good earlier in the decade but suspected that they had begun a dropoff by 1997.   There were also a couple of Cubs teams, one probably with a great Ernie Banks and little else, a Mariners team close to the one I had overestimated in Regional #99, and some modern squads about whom I knew little.  I ultimately picked the Marlins to win, because of their subsequent pennant and also because they represented the maximum dose of the steroid era, guessing that they would top the Blue Jays in the final.  The ELO rankings disagreed but they did confirm my suspicion that this was a rather undistinguished group of teams, with the ELO favorite, the 2008 Cubs, being the only squad ranked among the top 1000 teams of all time.

First round action

I was interested to see the lineup for the 2008 Cubs, as they were the only “good” team in the regional according to the ELO ranks, and good they were--a 97-win team that won the NL Central and boasted Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez at the heart of the order, a deep bullpen, and 17-game winner Ryan Dempster on the mound.   They faced the 79-75 1955 Tigers, ranked as the second-best team in the regional, whose main weapon was a 20-year old named Al Kaline, with 16-game winner Billy Hoeft as the starter.   That Kaline kid singles in a run in the bottom of the 3rd to put the Tigers up early, while the Cubs are getting baserunners but no runs--including Fukudome being cut down (1-16) at the plate trying to score on a Soriano single in the 5th.   A Kaline double drives in another run in the bottom of the 5th, but the Cubs finally respond with a DeRosa RBI double and a sac fly from low-AB pinch hitter Micah Hoffpauir that ties the game at 2-2.  When Ray Boone doubles to lead off the bottom of the 6th, the Cubs decide to try out that bullpen, replacing Dempster with Carlos Marmol, but Marmol allows a single and three walks and the Tigers move back in front, 4-2.   Hoeft continues to allow baserunners, but the Tigers have little in the pen and they let Hoeft try to gut it out, but a Theriot sac fly in the 8th narrows the margin to 4-3.   A leadoff single by Jim Delsing in the bottom of the 8th and Marmol yields to Kerry Wood, who quickly dispatches the Tigers to give the Cubs a shot in the 9th.  But Hoeft, facing the meat of the Cubs order, sets them down in order and yet another ELO favorite exits in the first round.  The win is sweet redemption for the Tigers, who had two squads from a similar vintage eliminated in round one of the previous regional.

Not enough juice

With their more contemporary version having already been eliminated as the regional favorite, it was up to the 1964 Cubs to carry the banner for the franchise; with Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and Billy Williams as the nucleus of an emerging good team and 24-game winner Larry Jackson on the mound, they looked like they might be somewhat better than their 76 wins would suggest.   Even so, they were still slight ELO underdogs to the 1997 Blue Jays, who also won 76 games, probably because the Jays were starting 21- game winner and AL Cy Young award recipient Roger Clemens, whose ERA was nearly a full point less than Jackson’s and who had roughly 100 more strikeouts to his credit.  However, Banks welcomes Clemens to Wrigley by crushing a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 1st, although Benito Santiago narrows the gap to 2-1 with a solo shot to lead off the top of the 3rd.  Jays LF Jose Cruz Jr. gives the run right back with a 3-base error in the bottom of the inning, and Len Gabrielson adds another Cub run in the 4th with an RBI double to make it 4-1.  Meanwhile, Jackson is cruising until the 9th, when Carlos Delgado leads off the inning with a HR, and after two quick outs a Joe Carter single brings up Santiago as the potential tying run.  However,  Banks makes a fine play on Santiago's rip towards first and it’s Cubs win, Cubs win, 4-2, sending Clemens and the Jays back into the storage drawers.

Although I had blindly picked the 2002 Marlins to win the regional, in setting their lineup it was certainly not obvious that this 79-83 team would win the pennant in the following season--although in A.J. Burnett the Marlins were at least sending out a capable #1 starter.  Their opposition, the 99-loss 2011 Twins, was a motley crew with little starting pitching and few real offensive weapons, and the ELO ranks concurred with my view that the Marlins had the advantage in this matchup.  However, Burnett’s Achilles heel, his control issues, show early as three walks off Burnett’s card in the top of the 1st followed by a Danny Valencia double gives the Twins a quick 2-0 lead.  The Marlins don’t get a hit off Twins starter Scott Baker until the 4th, when they then load the bases but fail to score, and they bungle another opportunity when slow-footed Mike Redmond is cut down at the plate to end the 5th.  Baker continues to thwart the Marlins until the bottom of the 9th, but when Florida leads off with two straight hits the Twins bring in Glen Perkins to try to close things out.   First pitch by Perkins to Juan Encarnacion---LOMAX, triple play to end the game as Perkins gets the most efficient save in history and the Twins survive and move on with the 2-0 win.

The 76-85 1998 Mariners were not without flaws--how about two “5” fielders in the starting lineup?--but with ARod and Griffey Jr. contributing nearly 100 homers between them, and Randy Johnson still throwing bullets on the mound, they certainly looked a lot better than the opposing 2018 Reds.  The 95-loss Reds were ranked as the worst team in this generally unimpressive regional, a team that lost 15 of their first 18 games to get manager Brian Price fired; there weren’t a lot of bright spots to describe on that squad, although they did have a couple of strong relievers ready to bail out starter Luis Castillo if he faltered.   However, the Reds got to Johnson quickly in the top of the 1st with 3 hits, although only one run scored on a Votto single when Casali was nailed trying to score to end the inning.  Another three hits in the 3rd, including a Jose Peraza RBI single, and the Reds lead is 2-0, but Glenallen Hill leads off the 5th inning with a long homer that narrows the gap to 2-1.  The Reds are warming up a couple of strong relievers in the hopes of preserving the lead, but some additional relief comes in the 6th in the form of a Billy Hamilton RBI triple followed by a Casali single that expands the margin to 4-1.  ARod’s second error of the game opens the door for a two-run double by Jesse Winker, and the M’s can’t take any more of Johnson, who exits the game with 7 IP and 12 hits allowed.   Seattle then opens the 8th with a David Bell double and a Dan Wilson walk, and the Reds summon David Hernandez from the pen to try to quell the threat, but that proves disastrous as Hernandez allows both baserunners to score, and adds two more of his own courtesy of a Griffey Jr. 2-run HR, and it’s now 6-5 with just one away--so the Reds call on Jared Hughes and his 1.94 ERA to try to save the day.   Hughes allows two straight hits and the Seattle fans are roaring, but Hill hits into a DP to quiet the crowd and send the game into the 9th.  Mike Timlin sets the Reds down in the top of the inning to keep things close, and the Cincinnati defensive replacements come in for the Mariners’ last chance in the bottom of the 9th.  However, Reds SS Jose Peraza boots a Bell grounder to put the tying run on base, but Hughes keeps his cool and dispatches the Mariners to give Cincinnati the 6-5 win and an unexpected trip to the semis.

The survivors

The 1955 Tigers finished barely above .500, but they were the only team still surviving in this regional that had a winning record, having defeated the only other such squad in their first round game.  They sent Frank Lary against the 1964 Cubs and Bob Buhl, two solid starters from that era although neither had one of their best seasons.   The Tigers started the scoring with a 2-run homer from Earl Torgeson in the top of the 3rd, but the Cubs get one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Lary walks the bases full and a run scores on a Billy Williams fielder’s choice.  However, the Tigers don’t let up, as Ray Boone and Jim Delsing both smack solo HRs in the 4th to make the Detroit advantage 4-1, and the 5th inning is similar with solo shots from Charlie Maxwell and Torgeson’s second blast making it 6-1.   Buhl heads to the showers having allowed 7 hits in 5 innings, 5 of them homers, and the Cubs try Lindy McDaniel on the mound.  He does his job, but the Cubs can’t sustain any sort of a rally against Lary, and the game ends with that 6-1 score;  Lary allows as many walks (6) as he did hits in the CG win.

This Scooter does the driving

Teams that lost 95+ games typically don’t make it to the regional final, but that outcome was guaranteed this time around as both contestants in this semifinal matchup, the 2011 Twins and the 2018 Reds, had achieved that dubious loss total.  With Minnesota’s Francisco Liriano starting against the Reds’ Matt Harvey, and both teams having some serious fielding flaws, this one did not have the making of a pitchers duel.   Sure enough, the game started in the top of the 1st with the Twins leading off with a double allowed by Reds’ LF-4 Winker, followed by a triple by Joe Mauer off Harvey’s card, and then a single from Cuddyer that gives the Twins a rapid 2-0 lead.  They extend it to 4-0 in the 3rd when punchless Ben Revere punches Harvey’s solid 6-9 HR result, and Jason Kubel later adds a sac fly.  The Reds load the bases in the bottom of the 3rd, but their best hitter, Eugenio Suarez, hits into an inning-ending DP that includes an injury result that puts him out for the rest of the tournament--which looks like it will end pretty soon for the Reds.   Two more RBI singles from Mauer and Alexi Casilla in the 4th makes it 6-0 and sends Harvey to the bench, and when reliever Michael Lorenzen holds the Twins scoreless in the 5th the Reds take heart and score two in the bottom of the inning, keyed by a Casili RBI double.   Lorenzen continues to hold the fort, and the Reds roar back to score five in the 7th to take a 7-6 lead, keyed by a bases-loaded double by Scooter Gennett (a missed HR split for a grand slam).  Liriano is out and Glen Perkins comes in to try to salvage the game for the Twins; he holds the Reds but Cincy counters with Jared Hughes, who sets down the Twins to record his second straight save and preserves the Reds 7-6 comeback win to earn them a trip to the finals.

The 67-95 2018 Reds were a longshot to be in this regional final, let alone win it; the worst ELO ranking in the regional (and in the bottom 10% of teams all-time), their best hitter injured and out for the tournament, two of their best relievers burnt, and their remaining starting pitchers all had more home run chances on their cards than did most any of the hitters on the opposing 1955 Tigers.  The Reds tapped Sal Romano and his 5.31 ERA as the least bad starting option, while the Tigers went with 13-10 Steve Gromek.  Things start out ugly in the top of the 1st for Romano, as Charlie Maxwell misses a HR split on Romano’s card but Kaline scores on the resulting double; Romano then issues three straight walks to score another run and the Tigers jump to a quick 2-0 lead.   However, this was a Reds team that clawed back from a 6-0 deficit in their semifinal game, and they waste no time here, ripping four straight singles to start the bottom of the 1st that quickly tie things up.   A Ray Boone solo shot in the 3rd makes it 3-2 Tigers, but once again the Reds come back in the bottom of the inning in a big way:  THREE rolls on Gromek’s solid 5-9 HR result and the score is now Reds 7, Tigers 3, and Gromek is yanked for Cristante.   The shell-shocked Tigers had never been behind in this regional, and they can only watch stunned as the Reds add two more in the 4th on a bases-loaded double by Jose Peraza.  Another RBI double from Scooter Gennett in the 5th makes it 10-3, and Cincy adds yet another run on a Winker RBI single in the 7th--but in the process they lose SS Peraza to injury for the remainder of the tournament.   That’s how it ends, with the unlikely Reds capturing the regional with an 11-3 blowout, becoming the 8th (and certainly the worst) Reds team to do so.  Although their chances in their super-regional don’t seem good with two key regulars injured, at this point it should be obvious that it is unwise to count them out--it isn’t often where the worst team in the regional according to the ELO rankings came out on top, as I only remember it happening once before.

Interesting card of Regional #104:  So his team got blown out in the regional final, but I still wanted to take the opportunity to honor one of the many great players we lost in 2020.  The past two regionals have included Tiger teams from 1955, 1960, and 1964, and there was one constant:  Al Kaline was arguably the best player on all three teams.   One of my favorites when I was a kid, Kaline combined hitting prowess (in this 1955 season he won the AL batting title) with great defense, as he won 10 Gold Gloves over the course of his career.  For you non-Basic buffs, his throwing arm for this card was -4, underscoring the fact that opponents didn’t want to see him either at the plate or out in the field.   Finally, let’s not overlook that 1-16 running rating; although not much of a base stealer, he could stretch hits with the best of them, despite the fact that he suffered from a chronic bone disease that forced the removal of diseased bone from his left foot as a child--forcing him to run on the side of his foot for the rest of his life.  None of the three aforementioned Tigers teams got very far in this project, but give me eight more Al Kalines and I think I’d go a long way.