REGIONAL #106:  For the 3rd regional in a row, there were no pennant winners in this group of eight, but five of those teams were within 4 seasons of winning their league, including three NL teams from the 50s:  the Braves, Reds, and Dodgers.   With four of the aforementioned contenders comprising the bottom half of the bracket, I had a feeling that the squad that could survive there would take the regional, and on a whim I picked an all-Dodgers final, with the ‘57 Dodgers prevailing over the 2006 version.  The ELO ranks also selected the ‘57 Dodgers as the favorite, with the ‘53 Braves expected to face them in the finals.

First round action

The 78-win 1987 Mariners and the 75-win 2003 Pirates had similarly mediocre ELO rankings and had many other things in common--a core of solid players, several holes in the lineup, and each had exactly one really good starting pitcher:  Mark Langston for the M’s, Kip Wells for the Pirates.  The Pirates also had an additional handicap in that they seemingly traded a number of key parts of their team before the end of the season, meaning that Strat carded those players on other teams and left the Pirates bereft of quite a few at-bats.   However, the Pirates didn’t look too handicapped when Reggie Sanders blasts a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 1st, and Seattle also gets to play shorthanded when RF Mike Kingery is injured for the remainder of the game in the 2nd.  Langston then issues two walks in the bottom of the 2nd, and yields a 3-run shot by Tike Redman off Langston’s card, and the Mariners are looking at a 5-0 deficit after two innings.  Seattle scores a run in the 3rd on a Phil Bradley fielders’ choice, and in the 5th their other Bradley, Scott, contributes a sac fly and the M’s are trying to climb back into the game.  They clearly do so when Jim Presley finds Wells’ HR result in the 6th for a 2-run dinger, and now the Pirate lead is only 5-4 and Langston seems to have recovered his stuff, only to falter and allow an RBI single to Craig Wilson in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4.  Wells allows 2 hits to lead off the 8th, and Pittsburgh eyes the bullpen but doesn’t like what they see, so Wells is left to get out of his own jam, which he does unscathed, and Matt Stairs leads off the bottom of the inning with an insurance HR that makes it 7-4.  In the 9th, a Scott Bradley single and an Abraham Nunez error puts the tying run at the plate with two outs in the form of Harold Reynolds, but Reynolds lines out to third and the Pirates head to the semis with the 7-4 win, in a game in which they were outhit 11 to 7.

When the 1953 Braves were selected by my random seeding program, I did remember that Hammerin’ Hank wouldn’t come along until the next season, so I underestimated how good this team was.   Turns out they won 92 games to finish second to the legendary Dodgers of that season, and they had a monster year from Eddie Mathews (2nd in the MVP voting) and had Warren Spahn in his prime (23 wins, 5th in the MVP voting).   The 2006 Dodgers tied the Padres for the NL West, winning 88 games and making a brief appearance in the postseason, and had 15-game winner Derek Lowe on the mound in support of a lineup where everyone exceeded .400 SLG%, so Spahn was expecting to get tested.  In the early innings, both starters get in trouble but work their way out of jams, although when Lowe loads the bases in the 5th with nobody out, he does get touched for a Mathews sac fly, although the 1-0 margin could have been much worse.   Del Crandall then leads off the 6th with a HR, but the Dodgers finally get to Spahn in the bottom of the inning with a Kenny Lofton triple followed by an Andre Ethier single to make it 2-1 Braves, but Garciaparra hits into a DP to cut the rally short.   However, in the bottom of the 8th Spahn walks the first two batters and then Ethier delivers another RBI single, and the game is tied heading into the 9th.  In the bottom of the 9th, Spahn gets the first two out but then Wilson Betemit doubles; Jason Repko comes in to pinch run, but Spahn retires Furcal and the game heads to extra innings with both starters still in the game--but with the Dodgers boasting a much deeper bullpen.  Out of that pen in the 11th comes Dodgers closer Takashi Saito, but Johnny Logan rips one into the gap and Lofton can’t get to it; it falls for a double, and a rattled Saito then is tagged by a Bill Bruton TR 1 flyB 2-20 result that Bruton converts, and the Braves have the lead.  Saito keeps Bruton from scoring, and so it’s now up to the Dodgers to come back against Don Liddle, on in relief of the exhausted Spahn.   Jeff Kent hits a one-out double, but Liddle whiffs Ramon Martinez, who replaced Betemit, and it’s all up to Furcal--and he comes through, smashing a hard single that scores Kent, and it’s game tied.   AA stealer Furcal promptly steals second, and Liddle faces Dodger #9 hitter Russell Martin, who smashes one off the LF wall of Dodger Stadium and the crowd erupts as Furcal scores the winning run in the Dodgers’ walk-off 4-3 win.  For the Braves, Spahn allows 5 hits in 10 innings; Liddle allows 3 hits in 2/3rds of an inning.

Setting the lineups for the matchup between the 76-78 1958 Reds and the 83-win 1985 Orioles, I found that neither team was quite as good as I expected; the Reds didn’t have the power that I remembered from earlier Reds teams from that era, while the Orioles starting pitching had some impressive names (Scott McGregor, Mike Boddicker, Dennis Martinez) having fairly terrible seasons.  I ultimately chose swingman Ken Dixon as the O’s best shot against the Reds’ 17-game winner Bob Purkey.  Things don’t start well for Dixon when errors by Rick Dempsey and Gary Roenicke lead to two runs in the top of the 1st, but Baltimore responds with three straight hits to start the game and they take the lead 3-2 after one eventful inning.  Doubles by Alan Wiggins and Floyd Rayford give the O’s another run in the 3rd, but they give the run right back in the 4th courtesy of Roenicke’s (a LF-2) second error of the game.  However, Mike Young leads off the bottom of the 4th with a homer and Baltimore’s lead is now 5-3.  The Reds punch back in the 5th when a Pete Whisenant triple scores Jerry Lynch to make it 5-4, and a Johnny Temple sac fly ties it up in the 6th.  When Lynch smacks a leadoff HR in the 7th off Dixon’s card to give the Reds the lead, Nate Snell comes in to relieve and he stops the bleeding.  The bottom of the inning sees Lacy lead off with a double off Purkey’s card, so Purkey’s out and Alex Kellner gets the job of preserving the lead; but Honey Bear Rayford sends his first offering into the cheap seats for a 2-run homer and the Orioles regain the lead 7-6.  They summon Don Aase to try to lock down the 9th, but that goes terribly wrong, with a Ripken error followed by four straight hits, two run doubles by Whisenant and Gus Bell, and when the dust settles the Orioles trail 10-7 entering the bottom of the 9th.  Now it’s the Reds turn to pick a closer, and they go with Willard Schmidt, who set the O’s down in order to give Cincy a 10-7 come from behind win and a trip to the semis.

Shuttin' out the Bums

Although they were ELO favorites in this bracket, the 84-70 1957 Dodgers were a third-place team in transition--between Brooklyn and Los Angeles (this was their last year in Ebbetts), and between the slugging Boys of Summer and the Koufax/Drysdale southern California set.  Many of the former were on still on this team but were in noticeable decline--notably Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, and Carl Erksine--but Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo and the Duke were still formidable, and 20 year old Don Drysdale had emerged as a staff ace to be reckoned with.  However, their opponents, the 95-win 2016 Nationals, were no slouch either as they won the NL East and would send NL Cy Young Award and 20-game winner Max Scherzer to the mound to counter Drysdale.  Both pitchers live up to their reputation, and the game remains scoreless through seven, but in the 8th light-hitting Ben Revere converts a SI 1-4, and then Trea Turner follows it up with a 2-run homer and the Nats carry that lead into the bottom of the 9th.  Scherzer must face the heart of the Dodgers order, and Furillo pops out, both Snider and Hodges fan, and Ebbetts Field goes dark as the Nationals win 2-0 behind Scherzer’s masterful 4-hit shutout.

The survivors

Two underdog winners from the first round faced off in the semifinal between the 2003 Pirates and the 2006 Dodgers, with the starters involving Pittsburgh’s Jeff Suppan against a rather over-the-hill Greg Maddux for the Dodgers.   Maddux immediately gets into trouble in the top of the 1st, starting the game with two straight singles and a walk allowed, but only one run scores when Matt Stairs hits into a DP.   The Dodgers, who came from behind twice in their 1st round win, didn’t blink a bit, with a 2-run double from Nomar Garciaparra and an RBI single from JD Drew in the bottom of the inning makes it 3-1 Dodgers after one.  LA adds another run in the 2nd when Kenny Lofton singles, steals second, and scores on an Ethier base hit, and Ethier adds two more RBI on a double in the 4th that sends Suppan to the showers and Julian Tavarez to the mound.  However, Wilson Betemit rips his second double of the game in the 5th to score Drew, and the Dodger lead extends to 7-1.  Meanwhile, the Pirates continue to scratch out hits against Maddux, but the veteran keeps them from scoring, and Oldmedo Saenz adds an RBI single in the 6th and it’s now 8-1.  That’s way more support than Maddux needs, as the crafty 40-year old righty finishes out the 8-1 victory that sends the Dodgers to the regional finals.

The 2016 Nationals won the NL East on the arms of a strong starting rotation, and after defeating Don Drysdale in round 1 they were hardly intimidated by Joe Nuxhall and the 1958 Reds with the Nats sending 15-4 Stephen Strasburg to the mound.   Washington moves to the early lead in the bottom of the 3rd when Trea Turner, who had provided all their offense in game one, doubles off Nuxhall’s card to score Zimmerman.  However, the Reds had come from behind multiple times in their first round game, and they did so immediately in the top of the 4th with George Crowe and Pete Whisenant driving in runs to make it 2-1 Reds.  However, the Nats counterpunch with four hits and three runs, including a 2-run Ben Revere double, and it’s now 4-2 Nationals and it’s looking like this will be one of those semifinal games where both teams refuse to lose.  Sure enough, Frank Robinson drives in a run in the 5th to narrow the gap to 4-3, and when in the 7th the Nats try to add some insurance runs, Ed Bailey throws out both Turner and Bryce Harper trying to steal to squelch that plan.  However, when Washington leads off the 8th with two straight hits, Nuxhall is gone and Alex Kellner comes in to try to recapture the magic that earned him the win in round one.  Kellner records three quick outs, and it’s now up to Strasburg, who hasn’t allowed a hit since the 5th inning, to try to stop the Reds in the top of the 9th.  He does allow a hit to Bailey to put the tying run on base, but he fans Gus Bell to seal a 6-hit CG, the 4-3 win, and a trip to the finals for the Nationals.

Despite the efforts of three tough NL teams from the 50s in this regional, the final matched two 21st century division-winning NL squads, a 2006 Dodger team that came from behind in both prior games to reach the finals, and a 2016 Nationals team that only allowed their opponents 10 hits total in their first two games.   Both teams were able to send out a 16-game winner as their #3 pitcher for the final, although the Nats Tanner Roark had an ERA that was a run and a half lower than LA’s Brad Penny.   And, it’s Penny who gets damaged first, as he yields an infield single and a couple of walks, and then Ben Revere clears the bases with a triple that gives Washington the 3-0 after two innings.  Being comeback artists, the Dodgers immediately load the bases in the top of the 3rd on three Roark walks, but Anthony Rendon makes a brilliant play on a Drew grounder to turn the double play and Roark escapes the inning unscathed.  The Dodgers finally do get on the scoreboard in the 5th, when Turner boots a Kenny Lofton grounder, Lofton steals second successfully for the third time in the game, and Garciaparra drives him home with a sharp single.  When Roark gives up three singles to load the bases in the 6th, the Nats want to squelch another comeback from the Dodgers and go early to closer Mark Melancon in hopes he can fend off the rally, but Andre Ethier comes through with yet another clutch hit to drive in two and tie the game.  However, the Dodgers hand the Nats a run in the 8th when C Russell Martin drops a Bryce Harper popup, and Daniel Murphy singles Harper home to give Washington the 4-3 lead.  That means it’s up to Melancon, pitching at the end of his endurance, to lock out the Dodgers in the 9th.  But Melancon boots an Ethier grounder, yields a single to Garciaparra, and then grooves one to JD Drew, whose 3-run homer results in the 5th comeback of the regional for the Dodgers and gives them the 6-4 lead.  Now it’s Penny’s turn in the bottom of the 9th, and he proves that he's not spare change, striking out the side to give the Dodgers a 6-4 win and the regional crown, the 7th for the Dodgers franchise but the first from this millennium.  Andre Ethier, with multiple RBI in every game in the regional, is awarded the bracket MVP, although he should share it with Kenny Lofton, who stole six bases in the three games and who typically was the one Ethier was driving home.

Interesting card of Regional #106:  After showing the first, unimpressive, cards of a few recent Hall-of-Famers in the last installment of this feature, I figured I would highlight one of the last cards of another Hall-of-Famer this time around.  I admit that I don’t think that the card is particularly interesting, as it looks like countless other modern Strat cards, which is why I like the look and feel of the older cards.   This selection is more about an interesting player on the regional winner.  The Dodgers traded Cesar Izturis to the Cubs for Maddux at the end of July 2006 to help in their bid for the postseason, and it worked as the Dodgers tied San Diego for the NL West title; after managing this team through the regional I can confirm that the team needed all the starting pitching help they could get.  As he did for LA in 2006, Maddux did his job in this regional, holding the Pirates to a single run in winning the Dodgers’ second round game, and while his card is certainly not Cy Young Award material, it isn’t bad for a 40-year old.  In fact, it got me wondering whether Maddux would make the starting rotation of the all-time 40+ Senior All-Stars, so as I dug around a little I decided...probably not.  Who had better seasons at 40+?  For starters, I’d go with Randy Johnson, Clemens, Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan, big Bartolo Colon, and of course the aforementioned Cy Young.  Even so, Maddux gets the last laugh because his team won this regional, defeating Spahn and the Braves in the first round.