REGIONAL #120:  This group looked pretty competitive; there were a couple of Orioles teams that were both within a season or two of a pennant, a Braves team a few seasons away from a dynasty, versions of the Angels and Dodgers that should both be good, and a pitching-rich White Sox team trying to win a second regional in a row with a squad of what I remember as hitless wonders.   Other than the ‘62 A’s, it seemed to me like any of these teams could win and I wouldn’t be surprised.  I decided to choose the 1980 Orioles over the Braves in the final, although I also suspected that the 2010 Reds might sneak in as the only new millennium squad in the bracket.  The ELO ranks predicted an all-Orioles final, agreeing with me on the 1980 squad as the favorite but portraying my runner-up pick, the Braves, as the worst team in the regional.

First round action

I guess I knew there was a bit of a lull for the Braves between the Murphy/Horner years and the great 90’s team with the killer rotation, but I apparently didn’t remember just how bad those years were; with Murphy too old and Glavine and Smoltz too young, the 1988 Braves went 54-106 and earned a spot in the worst 100 ELO team ranks of all time.  In thinking about their matchup with the 2010 Reds, I also seemed to have forgotten that the 2009 version of the Reds had recently won Regional #117, defeating a championship Yankee team in the finals, and the 2010 squad was a better version of that team with 91 wins and they captured the NL Central title.   The Braves sent a 22-year old Tom Glavine to the mound, who led the NL with 17 losses, while the Reds went with Johnny Cueto, who had bested Nolan Ryan in that prior regional.  Glavine gets off to a rough start in the bottom of the 1st, when a Scott Rolen double is followed by a blast from Joey Votto into the far reaches of Great American ballpark, but he does get out of a jam in the 3rd when Jay Bruce hits into an inning-ending DP with the bases loaded.  The Reds break through in the 5th for another run on back-to-back doubles from Drew Stubbs and Rolen, but the Braves finally get things going in the 7th when Ron Gant leads off the inning with a HR off Cueto’s card, followed by a Murphy double, but Cueto regains his composure and the Reds hang on to a 3-1 lead, and when the Reds threaten in the bottom of the inning Glavine yields to Paul Assenmacher, who records two quick strikeouts of Rolen and Votto to end the threat.  The Reds sense the momentum shifting, and when Ken Oberkfell leads off the 8th with a double Cueto is gone and it’s time for Arthur Rhodes, a relief star of Regional #117 who retires the side without incident.  A 2-run blast from Johnny Gomes in the bottom of the 8th puts the Reds up comfortably, but it proves unnecessary as Rhodes shuts down the Braves in the 9th to earn the save in the 5-1 Reds win.

The matchup between the 1964 Orioles and the 1962 A’s featured two franchises that entered the 60’s after years of futility and ended the decade as emerging dynasties.   The Orioles were much further along in their development, winning 97 games to finish 3rd in the AL, with building blocks for their pennant winners like Brooks Robinson, Dave McNally, and Boog Powell already in place.   In contrast, the 90-loss A’s were still years from competing, and even their top weapon, 1B Norm Siebern, wasn’t much of an advantage since he also played 1B for the Orioles.  The A’s get their first run off O’s starter and 19-game winner Wally Bunker in the 3rd when Dick Howser singles, steals second, and is driven in by catcher Heywood Sullivan, but Baltimore responds in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run blast from Brooks Robinson and it’s 2-1 for the Orioles.  Then, in the 4th things fall totally apart for KC starter Ed Rakow, who allows a 2-run homer to Jerry Adair and then a 3-run shot to Powell; Orlando Pena comes in and closes out the inning but Baltimore is now up 7-1.   A’s DH George Alusik leads off the 8th with a solo shot, but Bunker easily closes out the remainder of the game and the Orioles head to the semis with the comfortable 7-2 victory.

According to the ELO ranks, the 100-win 1980 Orioles were actually the best team in baseball that season, even though they finished three games behind the Yankees in the AL East.  They certainly had a strong rotation and a lot of weapons in the lineup, headed by Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton.   The 1994 Dodgers actually “won” the NL West in that strike year, but they only went 58-56 and were the only team in the division over .500.  Still, the Orioles weren’t taking any chances and went with Cy Young Award winner Steve Stone (25-7, 3.23) against Ramon Martinez (12-7, 3.97), but the Dodgers greet Stone in the bottom of the 1st with a colossal 2-run homer from Raul Mondesi.  The Dodgers load the bases against Stone in the bottom of the second, but only convert for one run on a Brett Butler single when Henry Rodriguez is cut down trying to score.  The Orioles respond in the top of the 3rd with three hits and two Dodger errors leading to three runs to tie the game, but the O’s leave the bases loaded.  Three Stone walks and a Piazza sac fly give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the 4th, and the Orioles bullpen is throwing frantically hoping that their ineffective ace Stone can survive the 5th.  He does, and the O’s put up a game-tying run in the 6th on a Lowenstein RBI single, but Murray hits into his second rally-killing DP of the game to end the inning.  When Doug Decinces hits a solo HR in the 7th to put Baltimore in the lead for the first time in the game, Martinez exits in favor of Ismael Valdes; when Piazza leads off the bottom of the inning with a hard single off Stone’s card, Stone is gone and Tim Stoddard quells the threat.   However, Rodriguez takes Stoddard deep to lead off the 8th, and the game is tied heading into the 9th inning; Stoddard walks two to begin the bottom of the 9th but is bailed out when Mark Belanger turns a key DP, and we head to extra innings.  In the 12th, new LA reliever Rudy Seanez allows three straight singles to start the inning, the last an RBI for Rich Dauer, and with a one run lead it’s up to O’s Tippy Martinez to try to close out the Dodgers.  He sets them down in order, and the Orioles take a nailbiter 6-5 win to survive and advance, but with a sorely taxed bullpen.

The ELO ranks pegged the game between the 1986 Angels, who won 92 games and the AL West, and the 83-win 1966 White Sox as the best first round matchup in the bracket, with both teams featuring some good pitching, speed, and defense, although the Angels seemed to have the superior offensive lineup.  However, the Sox did have Gary Peters (12-10, 1.98) on the mound, with Mike Witt (18-10, 2.84) a strong counterpart that suggested a pitching duel would be forthcoming.  Things did go that way, with both teams trading zeros; the first sign of action was in the 4th, when Bobby Grich missed a HR 1-9/DO split but got stranded at second.  Finally, in the bottom of the 6th with two out, 39-year old pinch hitter Smokey Burgess draws a walk, and then Jerry Adair converts a HR 1-7/flyB off Witt’s card to give the Sox a 2-0 lead--Adair’s second unlikely blast of the regional, since he also hit one for the ‘64 Orioles.  Meanwhile, Peters is cruising until the top of the 9th, when he walks Reggie Jackson to begin the inning, retires Decinces, and then Bobby Grich singles and Jackson heads to 3rd.  The Sox play the infield back for Dick Schofield, and sure enough he rolls the gbA++, which is game over and Peters wraps up the 2-0 shutout with a 5-hitter--three of them by Grich.

The survivors

The semifinal between the 1964 Orioles and the 2010 Reds paired teams from decidedly different eras, but both had some motivation with the Orioles hoping for an all-Baltimore finals, and the Reds wanting to follow up on the regional win by their 2009 predecessors.  It would be Baltimore’s Milt Pappas (16-7, 2.96) against the Reds’ Bronson Arroyo (17-10, 3.88), who sported the exact same 5-9 solid HR result that was hit repeatedly on his 2009 self in Regional #117.  The Reds take the lead in the 3rd when Drew Stubbs leads off by finding a HR result well-hidden at 1-2, but they give that run back immediately when their SS Orlando Cabrera allows a single and commits an error that ties it at 1-1.  Undaunted, the Reds pound Pappas in the 4th for 5 hits and 4 runs, with Jim Edmonds (back after a game 1 injury) hitting a bases loaded double resulting from a missed HR 1-8 split.  However, as often happens in semifinal games, the Orioles refuse to lay down, and Jack Brandt hits a 3-run homer in the bottom of the inning to narrow the Reds lead to 5-4, and there is still plenty of baseball left to be played.  Of course, the Reds retaliate in the 5th with a 2-run blast from Ramon Hernandez, although Brooks Robinson finds Arroyo’s 5-9 HR result right after Boog Powell misses a HR 1-7/flyB split, so the score is 7-5 heading into the 6th and both pitchers are on extremely short leashes.  Pappas walks Joey Votto to start the 6th and is immediately yanked for Harvey Haddix, who holds the Reds scoreless for the first time since the 2nd inning.  Similarly, Arroyo is gone when he allows a double to Charley Lau in the bottom of the inning, with closer Francisco Cordero coming in and he prevents any damage.  The Orioles do score in the 7th when Aparicio draws a leadoff walk, steals second, and scores on a Norm Siebern double, but the rally is cut short when Reds defensive replacement SS Paul Janish turns a key DP to end the inning, and the Reds still cling to a one-run lead heading into the 9th.  Cordero is in prime form and retires three straight, the final out on an X-chart play by Janish that Cabrera would have booted, and the Reds win a hard fought 7-6 battle to gain the finals.

The semifinal between the 1980 Orioles and 1966 White Sox boasted a pitching matchup between Scott McGregor ( 20-8, 3.32) and Sox swingman Bruce Howard (9-5, 2.30), and though the Orioles looked to have significantly better offensive weapons, Eddie Murray needed to stop hitting into rally-killing DPs if the O’s hoped to get very far in this tournament.   The O’s score in the top of the 3rd when Ken Singleton doubles with two on, converting a DO 1-7/flyB on Howard’s card, but the split dice taketh away when Lowenstein’s 2-out 1-17 dash for home comes up with an 18, so Baltimore settles for the 1-0 lead.   In the bottom of the 6th, Don Buford singles, records his second SB in three tries, and Floyd Robinson singles him home to tie things up, and then in the 7th Ken Berry leads off by converting McGregor’s HR 1-8 split and the Sox lead 2-1 heading into the 8th.  However, Lowenstein leads off the 8th with his third hit of the game, Murray grounds out but not into a DP this time, and then Singleton crushes one into the upper deck of old Comiskey and the O’s regain the lead.  Things stay that way into the 9th, and McGregor hangs on to complete the 3-2 win with a 7-hitter, and the Orioles head to the finals trying for their 4th regional win, while the Sox quest for a second consecutive regional title comes to an end.

Stubbing the O's

The regional final matched the top-seeded 1980 Orioles against the 5th seed 2010 Reds, although just three regionals ago a #6 seeded 2009 Reds team that was essentially the same triumphed over a World Series champion, so anything could happen here.  It was underwear salesman Jim Palmer (16-10, 3.98) against capable Reds spot starter Travis Wood (5-4, 3.51), with both bullpens a bit depleted from close early round games.  In the bottom of the 2nd, after Singleton walks, Decinces gets a knock on Wood that goes deep into the stands at Memorial Stadium, but Drew Stubbs responds with a solo shot in the top of the 3rd for the Reds.  Thus challenged, the O’s retaliate as a double from red-hot John Lowenstein scores Bumbry, and then Eddie Murray gets his first hit of the regional (off Woods’ card, no less) to drive in Lowenstein and it’s 4-1 O’s.  The Reds promptly load the bases in the 4th, but Rich Dauer turns a beautiful DP to erase any rally.  However, in the 5th Stubbs hits his 1-11 HR 1-18/flyB result for a second time and converts the split again for a 2-run shot, and it’s now Orioles 4, Stubbs 3.  A hit and a walk to lead off the 7th drives Palmer from the game, and Tippy Martinez is summoned to try to maintain the slim lead.  Scott Rolen greets Martinez with a pitcher’s card single that ties the game, but Martinez then fans Votto and defensive replacement Belanger converts a DP to end the rally with the game now tied.  Martinez and Wood both then toss perfect 8th and 9th innings, and the final heads to extra frames.  Martinez enters the 10th with one inning left in him, and it isn’t a good one, as the Reds crack four hits, including a Jay Bruce double, to score two and Cincinnati leads for the first time entering the bottom of the 10th, ahead 6-4.  The Reds stick with Wood, who hasn’t allowed a hit since the 5th, for his final inning and Lowenstein, Murray, and Singleton go down 1-2-3 to give the Reds their 11th regional win, and a clear Endless Tournament dynasty featuring 2009, 2010, and 2012 Reds all as regional winners.  Although Stubbs and his three homers (all on his own card, all at weird roll numbers) deserves regional MVP recognition, it was a genuine team effort with all nine starters contributing at least one RBI in the three games.

Interesting card of Regional #120:  If you pay attention to these posts, you’ve heard me extol the virtues of the old die-cut cards, but there was a downside--quality control was a bit more uneven with them.  In addition to the occasional missing (although more often extra) card, there were times when the old die-cutter wasn’t quite cutting in the right spot, and as a case in point I present 1986 Ron Romanick, or at least some of him.  It seems that if they’re only going to show 75% of his card, his ERA should be reduced to 4.12.  This is one of the more egregious examples I have; over the years, I did manage to replace this Romanick with one that was legible, but I suppose that if old Strat cards are ever worth as much as old postage stamps, such a misprint should be worth a fortune.

REGIONAL #119:  Unlike the previous bracket that was comprised primarily of terrible teams, this regional looked to be stocked with some strong teams.  There were the 1955 Indians, one year after their all-time great 1954 squad; the 1960 Dodgers, one year after a Series championship; the ‘48 Cards, two years after their great 1946 champs, and also teams from the Royals, Giants, and Pirates that I thought might be pretty solid (okay, I was apparently one for three there).  Given the success of the ‘54 Indians in blowing through Regional #30, I had to go with the 1955 version over the Cards in the final.  The ELO rankings agreed with my guess for the finals, and when that happened two regionals ago we picked neither team correctly, so I’m not placing any bets.  

First round action

The 82-72 1960 Dodgers were in the midst of a transition from their great slugging squads of the mid-50s to the pitching/speed/defense teams of the mid-60s, and having elements of both pushed them to a Series win in the previous season but a more disappointing 4th place finish in 1960.  Still, this was a team with a decent lineup and 23-year old Don Drysdale on the mound.  They faced the 2018 Giants, a team that I thought would be better given their success earlier in the decade as well as in this past season, but many of their key players were a bit past their prime and their top starter, Madison Bumgarner, battled injuries much of the season, resulting in an anemic 73-89 record.  Still, in the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, anything can happen, and what happens first is that the Dodgers rap four straight hits off Bumgarner’s card in the 1st, including a 2-run Frank Howard single, for a quick LA lead.  Both pitchers then assert themselves, and there’s no scoring until Dodger defensive replacement Norm Sherry leads off the 8th with a double and Maury Wills singles him home to make it a three-run LA lead.  Meanwhile, the Giants just can’t dig in against Drysdale, and he finishes things out with a 2-hit shutout and the Dodgers move on to the second round with the 3-0 win.  

The 1955 Indians were coming off one of the greatest seasons in baseball history, and although they weren’t nearly as successful as they had been the previous year, they still went 93-61 to finish second in the AL, and sported a formidable pitching staff and lineup with big years from Larry Doby and Al Smith.  The 1990 Royals only won 75 games, but had a lineup fronted by George Brett and Bo Jackson, and a decent pitching staff that would send Kevin Appier up to face Early Wynn in this first round matchup.  The Indians move to a lead in the top of the 1st when Al Smith converts a TR 1-2 to drive in Ferris Fain, but the Royals dodge a bullet in the 3rd when Doby grounds into a bases-loaded DP to end the inning.  Appier hangs tough but puts two baserunners on to start the 8th inning, so Steve Farr is brought in to keep things close, and he shuts down the Indians with no damage.  The Royals celebrate in the bottom of the 8th when they finally get to Wynn, as Bo knows longball and crushes a 2-run homer into the fountains to put KC on top 2-1.  It’s then up to Farr, and he sets down two quickly to face aging Ralph Kiner, pinch-hitting as the final obstacle.  After a protracted battle, Kiner draws a walk and another PH, Hal Naragon, comes up as the potential winning run--but Naragon grounds out and the Royals take a comeback 2-1 win over the ELO regional favorites in a game where the two teams only combined for 11 hits.

The 1948 Cardinals had an all-time great squad two seasons prior, and although they were beginning to decline after Branch Rickey left for the Dodgers they still went 85-69, good for 2nd place in the NL, and they had an MVP-winning year from Stan Musial and a killer season from 20-game winner Harry Brecheen that earned him 5th place in the MVP voting.  This all added up to them being prohibitive favorites over the 71-88 1966 Senators, but the ‘67 Nats won regional #28 suggesting that this Washington team could have a few surprises in them; they were sending veteran Mike McCormick to the mound.  The Cards get a gift run in the top of the 1st when an Enos Slaughter double is followed by back-to-back errors by Ken McMullen and Ed Brinkman, and that lead holds for a while as Brecheen has a no-hitter going until McMullen breaks it up in the 6th--but is immediately eliminated by a DP.   In the 7th, Fred Valentine misses a HR 1-3/DO split, Don Lock heads for home (1-14) with the tying run--but is cut down at the plate; however, big Frank Howard singles Valentine home and it’s 1-1.  It stays that way through 9 innings, as neither team can sustain a rally against the starters, and McCormick walks the first two batters of the 10th but guts it out and completes his maximum 10 innings, allowing only 6 hits.  Brecheen similarly survives the bottom of the inning, and heading to the 11th the Senators are feeling pretty good about getting past Brecheen armed with a more modern, deep bullpen than the Cards.  That feeling doesn’t last long, as reliever Bob Humphreys is racked for 5 hits (4 off his card) and 5 runs, keyed by a Schoendienst bases-loaded double, and the Cards take a commanding lead into the bottom of the 11th.  They bring Jim Hearn in to mop up, and he does the job as the Cards survive a scare to move to the semis with a 6-1 win.

I had somewhat misremembered the two teams in this first round matchup, with the 58-86 1995 Pirates having declined further that I thought from the Bonds/Bonilla (both gone by then) squad of a few years earlier, and the 79-win 2011 White Sox were not quite as bad as I expected; they still sported a few useful remnants from their 2005 champions and fortunately they would not be forced to play the truly dreadful Adam Dunn, who was indeed done by then.  Pittsburgh sent Denny Neagle against Gavin Floyd for the Sox, and the Sox get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the 2nd when Alexei Ramirez misses a HR 1-8/DO split, but ultimately scores anyway on an Alex Rios sac fly.   Neagle starts to lose his grip in the 5th, allowing 4 hits that the Sox turn into two runs, but it could have been worse as he does retire AJ Pierzynski with the bases loaded to end the inning.  However, when Brent Morel converts a TR 1-3 off Neagle’s card in the 6th, the Pirates bring in Dan Plesac to try to keep things within reach, but another Brent, this one Lillibridge pinch-hitting for Rios, brings him home on a sac fly and the Sox lead 4-0.  The Pirates rally in the 7th, courtesy of errors by Ramirez and Pierzynski that set up an RBI single for Orlando Merced, but Jeff King misses a SI 1-11 split to end the inning stranding the bases loaded.   When Al Martin leads off the 8th with a double, the Sox yank Floyd for a hotshot young reliever named Chris Sale, who sets the Pirates down in order.  However, in the 9th Sale gets two outs but walks Steve Pegues to bring up Merced, who puts it in the New Comiskey grandstands and makes it a one-run game.  But Sale gets Jeff King to ground weakly to short, and the Sox survive with a 4-3 win and a date with the Cardinals in the semifinals.  Meanwhile, Dan Plesac did not manage to earn the win, but he did pop up in my feed as a Facebook friend suggestion.

The survivors

Bo brings boom

The 1990 Royals upset the regional favorites and Early Wynn with a single swing from Bo Jackson, and now they were facing their second Hall of Fame starting pitcher in a row in Sandy Koufax and the 1960 Dodgers.  The Royals decided to counter the still-wild Koufax with control-pitcher Bret Saberhagen, and it looks to be an interesting matchup when five of the six outs in the first inning are strikeouts.  The suspect KC defense lets Saberhagen down in the 2nd when errors by Brett and Kevin Seitzer set up a 2-run double for Charley Neal, but the Royals get one of those back in the bottom of the inning when Danny Tartabull leads off with a colossal homer.  However, the Dodgers respond in the 3rd with a two-out rally involving four straight hits, with RBI singles from Neal and Norm Larker, and it’s 4-1 LA.  In the 6th, three more hits for the Dodgers, including a Frank Howard RBI single, chase Saberhagen and Jeff Montgomery ends the inning without further damage, and KC gets the run back when Bo goes deep for a solo shot that makes it 5-2.  In the 7th, a two-out double by Gilliam scores defensive replacement Demeter for another run, but the Royals get things going in the bottom of the 7th when Koufax walks the first two batters of the inning, Willie Wilson delivers as PH single, and then Jim Eisenreich singles home two, Brett doubles another one in, and Tartabull rips a 2-RBI single past Maury Wills, and suddenly the Royals lead 7-6 and the Dodgers won’t pull the trigger on a bad bullpen.  As is often the case in the semifinal games, neither team is willing to give up, and the Dodgers put up two straight singles to start the 8th, and then Demeter rips a double that scores both baserunners and the Dodgers reclaim the lead.  In the bottom of the inning, a double and two more Koufax walks and the bases are loaded with one out, but Koufax fans Eisenreich and Brett for strikeouts number 11 and 12 and LA heads into the 9th clinging to a one-run lead.  Montgomery holds in the top of the 9th; in the bottom, Koufax fans Bo, but walks Danny Tartabull.  Brian McRae then converts a TR 1-2 to tie the game, and Mike MacFarlane is up with the winning run on 3rd and the infield in.  Koufax delivers, and MacFarlane smacks a deep fly to CF, McRae tags and scores easily, and the Royals stage their second straight upset with a comeback 9-8 win to push them into the regional final.  

The 1948 Cardinals survived an extra inning scare against a weak team in round one, and they were now facing a better team in the 2011 White Sox, and the Cards weren’t taking any chances with swingman Ted Wilks getting the nod against Chicago’s Phil Humber.   Humber gets himself in trouble in the 2nd, walking the first two batters and then allowing a 2-out RBI single to Marty Marion to give the Cards a 1-0 lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning Wilks loads the bases on two singles and a walk, and then Alex Rios misses a HR 1-7 split but still drives in two on the resulting double.   A squib single by Gordan Beckham and a 2-run triple from De Aza, and the Sox lead 5-1 after two and the St. Louis manager is trying to piece Wilks back together because unfortunately he is also the team’s best reliever.  Wilks does settle down, and a Musial RBI single in the 8th chases Humber for Sergio Santos, who gets the inning-ending DP ball from Ron Northey, and the score is 5-2 Chicago heading into the 9th.  Santos makes things interesting in the 9th by committing a 2-base error on a Schoendienst grounder, but he then whiffs PH Whitey Kurowski for the final out to earn the save, and the Sox head to the finals attempting to be the first Chisox squad since 1978 to win a regional.

By the ELO ranks, the regional final between the 1990 Royals and the 2011 White Sox matched #4 and #5 seeds, with the Sox tapping veteran Mark Buehrle to go against KC’s Storm Davis.  Buehrle gets lucky in the top of the 1st, allowing two hits and a Konerko error, but no runs score mainly because (a) Eisenreich misses Buehrle’s HR 1-13/DO split, and (2) Eisenreich is then cut down at the plate trying to score on a Brett single.   Things go further south for the Royals in the bottom of the inning, as three Sox hits off Davis’s card and a Kevin Seitzer error lead to four Chicago runs--and it could have been worse as Pierzynski missed Davis’s HR 1-12 split.   In the 4th, RBI singles from Juan Pierre and Paulie Konerko chase Davis for game 1 winner Steve Farr, but Farr promptly allows another RBI single off his own card to Carlos Quentin, and although the Royals have come from behind in every game in the regional thus far, the 7-0 Sox lead looked pretty daunting.   KC starts to chip away in the 6th by opening the inning with three straight hits, including a Danny Tartabull RBI single, but Brent Morel turns a key DP for the Sox to end the inning with the score 7-1.  Morel then doubles and scores on a fielder’s choice in the 7th to provide additional insurance, although the Royals get that run back in the 8th on a Bo Jackson solo shot, his 3rd homer of the regional.   PH Terry Shumpert adds a solo HR off Buerle’s card in the 9th, but that’s not enough and the Sox take their fourth regional title with an 8-3 win, joining the 1954, 1961, and 1978 teams.  No regional MVP is awarded as the win was very much a team effort, but the “2” defensive infielders at 3rd (Morel), ss (Ramirez), and 2b (Beckham) were instrumental in bailing out the Sox starters on many occasions.

Interesting card of Regional #119:   He was the NL MVP in 1948, but Stan Musial couldn’t lead his team to the regional finals, contributing a lone RBI in their two games despite this imposing card.   However, this isn’t the only 1948 Musial in my collection.  I also present my well-worn example of Musial as included in Hall of Fame “Series A”--although when I purchased these as a kid, there was only one such “series”.  These are the original HOF cards that had the player’s best year (Basic) on one side, and a card based upon their entire career stats (also Basic) on the other, and I believe that they are still available from the game company very cheaply (unfortunately, perforated cardstock only).   The HOF card uses Musial’s 1948 season as his best, and it may just be nostalgia but I remember that card, which I probably bought in the early 1970s, doing a lot better for me than the ‘48 season version (printed in 2005) did in this regional.  Thus, although the more modern card might actually be better (it certainly is in the fielding department), as I put the eliminated ‘48 Cardinals back into their storage drawer I can cling to the belief that they would have won the regional if I could have just used Musial’s original HOF card--based on the same season--instead.

REGIONAL #118:  This allotment looked like an undistinguished one, with some teams that I knew were bad, and others where I only strongly suspected that they would be bad, and nobody with a binocular-assisted view of a pennant-winning season.   That certainly narrowed down my choices for regional favorites, restricted to those teams about whom I remembered very little.  One of the teams that I knew was bad was also a huge sentimental favorite for me, so there was no way I was going to jinx them by predicting a win for them, although I could always hope.  Ultimately I decided that the finals would be between the 2016 Rockies and the 1992 Angels, both of whom I suspected must have had a couple of good players in their lineup, with a guess that the Rockies would prevail for only their second regional win.   The ELO ranks suggested that this was the weakest regional since I started tracking those rankings, with no teams included within the top 1000 of all time.   Still, somebody has to win, and the ELO favorite was the oldest team in the group, the 1930 Indians, who probably look like a gem amidst this competition.

First round action

The 81-73 1930 Indians certainly looked like they deserved their designation as ELO favorites in this weak regional, with each of the first five hitters in their lineup hitting over .325, some power from Earl Averill and Eddie Morgan, and 25-game winner Wes Ferrell as the staff ace.  In contrast, the 90-loss 1992 Angels looked far worse than I initially thought once I got a good look at the team, as they had terrible defense (e.g., an all-”4” outfield), remarkably little power (Gary Gaetti leading with 12 HR), although they had a decent starting rotation that deserved more support.  It’s the Angels who get off to a quick start in the bottom of the 1st, with Luis Polonia drawing a walk, stealing second, and scoring on a Rene Gonzales single--although Gonzales is subsequently cut down at the plate on a Luis Sojo double to end the inning.  In the 3rd a two-base error by Angels 1B Lee Stevens sets up a Bibb Falk RBI single to tie things up, but the Angels immediately reclaim the lead in the bottom of the inning when Chad Curtis leads off with a homer.  Angels CF Junior Felix then gives a run back in the 5th with a two base error that scores Averill, and then Angels starter Mark Langston allows a double to Charlie Jamieson that gives the Indians their first lead, 3-2.  However, the Angels have been hitting Ferrell steadily all game, and in the 7th they finally put together four hits, including a 2-RBI single from Lee Stevens to atone for his fielding miscues, and the Angels retake the lead 5-3 heading into the 8th.   Langston bears down, but with two out in the 9th Morgan smacks a homer to pull the Indians to within a run; Hodapp then singles and the Indians let Langston pitch to Falk, who gets a SI 1-14 with a split roll of 15 to end the game and give the Angels a 5-4 upset win, in which they racked up 14 hits but also committed three costly errors.

After the previous game, the 2006 Padres had the dubious honor of being the team with the best remaining ELO rank in the regional, and after looking at them I thought they were underrated, winning 88 games and the NL West, sporting a lineup with three .500+ SLG%s and a killer bullpen fronted by Trevor Hoffman’s 46 saves, good enough to push him to second place for the Cy Young award.   I will say that their opponents, the 100-loss 1985 Giants, didn’t look quite as terrible as might be expected but with only two hitters in the lineup with a batting average over .245, it didn’t seem like runs would come easy to them.  It was SF’s Mike Krukow against SD’s Chris Young, and Young’s defense lets him down in the 2nd when Brian Giles misplays a Manny Trillo single that allows Bob Brenly to score.  In the 5th, Dan Gladden converts a TR 1-3/flyB on Young’s card and scores on a Chili Davis sac fly, and Young ends the inning by getting injured on a Rob Deer grounder, so the Padres turn it over to Cla Meredith and his 1.07 ERA.  The Giants continue their trend of picking up cheap splits, leading to a run on a Trillo sac fly in the 6th and another on a Rob Deer sac fly in the 7th.  In desperation, the Padres try Hoffman in the 8th but he gets lit up for two runs to push the score to 6-0, and Krukow is giving no quarter.  The Giants finally get a rally going in the 9th and Mike Cameron knocks an RBI single with two out, but that was all the Padres could muster as Krukow tosses a CG 7-hitter and with the 6-1 win the Giants are the second bad underdog team in the regional to advance to the semis.

After setting their lineup, I felt pretty good about my pick of the 2016 Rockies for regional winner even though they only won 75 games, as they had power up and down the order with five .500+ SLG% hitters, and a pitching staff that by Colorado standards didn’t look so bad.  In contrast, the 95-loss 2011 Mariners had one batter with a SLG% over .400, nobody with an OBP over .325, and limited starting pitching fronted by a decent if unsupported Felix Hernandez, but given that both previous games in the regional were won by 90+ loss underdogs, I wasn’t placing any bets.  Sure enough, things start badly for the Rockies in the top of the 1st when their second batter, 1B Mark Reynolds, is injured for 8 games with little on the bench to replace him.  A squib single by David Dahl off Hernandez’s scores Trevor Story and the Rockies move out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd, but Dahl gives the run right back when he misplays a Chone Figgins (batting average: .188) single that scores one, followed by an Ichiro single that scores another although Figgins manages to end the inning getting cut down at the plate, even though he’s 1-19 with two out.  Miguel Olivo drives in another in the 3rd, although once again the rally is cut short with a runner cut down at the plate, this time Casper Wells, and the Mariners post an ad for a new third base coach.   A solo moonshot by Charlie Blackmon in the 4th narrows the Seattle lead to 3-2, and Nolan Arenado leads off the 6th with another long blast that ties the game.  Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood tosses his first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the bottom of the frame, and the momentum seems to have shifted to Colorado, but when Adam Kennedy hits a double off Chatwood’s 6-9 result (which is the 4th time in the game it’s been rolled), the Rockies have seen enough and bring in Boone Logan who squelches the rally and sends the game into the 9th still knotted at three apiece.  Trevor Story breaks the tie immediately in the top of the 9th, leading off with another tape measure homer, and the M’s must try to claw back against Logan, but he puts the top of the Seattle order down in order and the Rockies survive a 4-3 comeback win.

The 1970 White Sox are a substantial sentimental favorite for me, as I had the dubious good fortune to attend many of their games in person.  See, at the time the Cubs were good, the Sox were terrible, and the South-siders couldn’t sell many tickets, so they had a ton of free ticket giveaways.  For me, an enterprising youngster who had only begun playing Strat a year or two before, this was an opportunity that I couldn’t resist, so I managed to procure those tickets nearly every time they came available and dragged my dad (who was not a baseball fan) to the games in the decaying old Comiskey Park.  Yes, they went 56-106, and the ELO ranks put them as the 2nd worst White Sox team of all time, but I remember their lineup to this day and I always had the feeling that they were better than that record.  Now it was time for me to confront reality in this tournament, but fortunately, their first draw was the 54-100 1953 Browns, who were so bad they had to leave St. Louis for Baltimore the following season, so it appeared to be a “balanced” matchup between two of the worst 150 teams of all time.   A couple of starters having mediocre seasons during decent careers faced off in STL’s Harry Brecheen against the Sox and Tommy John, but both pitch like it’s their prime and the game remains scoreless after seven innings.  In the 8th, errors by Aparicio and Carlos May give the Browns an unearned 1-0 lead, but in the bottom of the inning PH Gail Hopkins gets a hit and Ken Berry drives him in with a clutch 2-out single to tie it back up heading into the 9th.   John retires the side in the top of the 9th, and when the Sox lead off the bottom with two straight singles by May and Bill Melton, Brecheen is replaced by Hal White, and the Sox can’t touch him so the game heads to extra innings.   After 10 innings, John is toast and the Sox turn to Wilbur Wood to start the 11th, but the knuckler isn’t knuckling and Dick Kokos goes yard with a 2-run homer to give the Browns a 3-1 lead--although Vic Wertz is hurt to end the inning, which will be a major loss if the Browns can advance.  In the bottom of the 11th, Bill Melton finds White’s HR result with one out to narrow the deficit to 3-2, but White retires the next two in order and the Browns move to the semifinals.  And, unfortunately my White Sox head back into storage, confirming that they were indeed as bad as their record suggested.

The survivors

A semifinal between the 90-loss 1992 Angels and the 100-loss 1985 Giants proves that every dog gets their day in this tournament, although despite their records the pitching matchup between the Giants Atlee Hammaker and Jim Abbott for the Angels wasn’t a bad one.  In the bottom of the 2nd, the Giants load the bases on some sloppy fielding plays by the Angels, but leadoff hitter Dan Gladden makes the 3rd out and gets injured in the process, and the game remains scoreless.   The Angels finally break the ice in the 5th when Mike Fitzgerald finds and converts Hammaker’s HR split for a solo shot, and then the normally surehanded Manny Trillo boots a Luis Polonia grounder, Polonia steals second and scores on a Chad Curtis single and it is 2-0 for the Halos.  When Luis Sojo launches a solo HR in the 8th to make it 3-0, Garrelts comes in to relieve Hammaker and does his job, but it doesn’t matter as Abbott finishes out the shutout, scattering 8 hits in a 3-0 that puts the Angels in the finals in pursuit of their 4th regional win.  As remarkable as Abbott's pitching was given his disability, I find it even more amazing that he was a "1" fielder in 1992.

The 1953 Browns may have lost 100 games, but here they were in the semifinals with a chance to be the first Browns team to ever win a regional--and to give them their best shot they decided to start a guy who would have a memorable game three years later for a much better team--Don Larsen.  The 2016 Rockies, although they still finished under .500, were better than the Browns in pretty much every way, and starter Jon Gray had a much better WHIP than Larsen and didn’t seem to suffer from the gopher ball issues that beset most Colorado pitchers.  Both teams were missing key players due to injuries, Vic Wertz for the Browns and Mark Reynolds for the Rockies, but the Browns had fewer alternative sources of power with Wertz out of the lineup.  To prove the point, the Browns load the bases in the bottom of the 1st on two walks and a Nick Hundley error, but Wertz’s replacement, Jim Dyck, whiffs to end the potential rally.  A couple of bad Larsen fielding plays sets up a 2-run double for Daniel Descarlo to put Colorado ahead in the 3rd, and things stay that way as both pitchers settle in.  The Browns put two men in scoring position in the 8th on a Clint Courtney double with one out, but the Rockies play the infield back and avoid the gbA++ that is subsequently rolled, and the score remains 2-0 heading into the 9th.  However, an error by Dyck and yet another bad fielding play by Larsen lead to two insurance runs for the Rockies in the top of the inning.  The Browns then proceed to load the bases on a single and a couple of walks off Gray, with Dyck coming to the plate with two out.  The Rockies eye their bullpen, but don’t want to burn Boone Logan and don’t like their other options, so Gray remains in to pitch to PH Les Moss.  Moss singles to put the Browns on the board, but then DJ Lemahieu makes a highlight-reel play on a Courtney grounder to seal the 4-1 win for the Rockies and earn a trip to the finals.

No Logan's Run here

The regional final matching the 2016 Rockies against the 1992 Angels was one where I predicted both teams blindly but accurately, while the ELO ranks predicted neither--the first time that has occurred as far as I can recall.  In general, the teams in this weak regional had been having difficulty scoring runs, but with rather lackluster starting pitchers facing off--Julio Valera for the Angels, Tyler Anderson for the Rockies--this game could provide more fireworks.  Not so--both pitchers start out sharp and the game remains scoreless through 5 innings.  In the top of the 6th, however, Anderson, a “1” fielder, drops a Junior Felix grounder, and then Lee Stevens finds the rattled pitcher’s HR 1-11/DO result.  The split is missed, but the speedy Felix scores on the resulting double, and then Anderson loads up the bases, so the Rockies have to go to game 1 savior Boone Logan in the hopes of preventing further damage--which he does, but the Angels lead 1-0.  Meanwhile, Valera is in control, but after recording one out in the bottom of the 9th, Valera allows a single to Trevor Story and a double to Charlie Blackmon to put the tying and winning runs in scoring position, and the Angels have to turn to Bryan Harvey, a reliever who doesn’t allow many hits, but when he does they go a long way.  With the infield in, Harvey delivers to Carlos Gonzalez, and it’s a 1-9:  HR 1-3/DO, and the resulting double scores both runners and gives the Rockies the walk-off 2-1 win and the regional title.  This is only the second regional win for a Rockies team, joining the 2003 team, and the regional MVP goes to Boone Logan, the Rockies’ only decent reliever, who wins 2 of the 3 games by tossing five scoreless innings.   

Interesting card of Regional #118:   His team didn’t get past the semifinals, and he didn’t really do much of anything in the regional other than strike out, but I had to pick Rob Deer of the ‘85 Giants as a trendsetter, a 3-result guy (whiff, walk, homer) who seemingly was the forerunner of the cards of roughly half of current major league players.  Admittedly, there were some earlier versions of Mr. Deer (Dave Kingman and Swish Nicholson come to mind), but none of them seemed to combine his propensity to whiff with his inability to clear a .200 batting average.  I have to admit that Deer was always a favorite of mine and I’d invariably draft him (admittedly in the late rounds) in Strat leagues I played in back then.  After all, he was a record-setter; when he retired, he held the MLB record for the lowest qualifying season batting average in history at .179 (which he managed in 1991, 6 years after this card), a milestone of futility since broken in 2018 by Chris Davis’s .168.  However, Davis and many other modern players should owe royalties to Rob Deer, who blazed the trail for hapless sluggers everywhere.

REGIONAL #117:  For the first time in 14 regionals, this group included a pennant-winner, the 1951 Yankees, who would be facing a bevy of Astros teams (a couple of them probably pretty good), a few 21st century teams that didn’t make much of an impression on me, and a Brooklyn team from almost 100 years ago.  Although the Yankees seemed like the obvious choice to win, their pennant winners from the 50’s have a dismal record in this tournament, and I had a feeling they would go down again in this regional, maybe in the first round to their hated rivals, the Red Sox. Instead, I figured that my random team selector program was trying to tell me something by tapping three Astros squads, so I decided that this was going to be the bracket of the Astros and that one of them was bound to win an all-Houston final.  Not certain which one, I picked the one in the middle, the 1985 team, to best the 1996 Astros team in the finals.  Interestingly, the ELO ranks for all three Astros teams were quite similar, portraying all three teams as “decent”, but those rankings had the Yanks as huge regional favorites over the old-school Dodgers (actually Robins at the time).

First round action:

The first and oldest of three Astros teams in this regional, the 82-80 1973 Astros boasted a great year from Cesar Cedeno, supported by a couple of guys named Wynn and Watson, and although their starting rotation wasn’t as good as I’d imagined an Astrodome team to be, they did have this young kid in the bullpen named JR Richard who might have some promise.  Their similarly mediocre opponents, the 78-84 Reds, were also was lacking in pitching but had some boppers like Joey Votto and Johnny Gomes, but it is the Astros who lead off the game with a homer by Tommy Helms, courtesy of Reds starter Bronson Arroyo’s solid 5-9 HR result.  But the Reds tie it in the second when slow-footed Reds catcher Ramon Hernandez manages to score from first on a two-out double by Paul Janish, and in the 3rd the Reds record two straight hits off Astro starter Jerry Reuss’ card to make it 2-1 Cincy.  That lead is short-lived, as in the top of the 4th Bob Gallagher finds Arroyo’s 5-9 for a 2-out 2-run shot that vaults Houston back into the lead.  The Reds tie it in the 7th on a pinch-hit solo HR by Edwin Encarnacion, and then decide to pull Arroyo before that 5-9 comes up again, turning to Arthur Rhodes to try to give Houston a problem.  However, the Reds defense lets Rhodes down, committing two straight errors in the 8th that put the Astros back on top 4-3, but in the bottom of the inning Reds defensive replacement catcher Ryan Haniger delivers a two-out RBI single that ties the game once again heading into the 9th.  The Astros can’t score off Rhodes in the top of the 9th, and then Reuss delivers to the leadoff batter in the bottom of the inning--defensive replacement CF Drew Stubbs, who converts a HR 1-5/flyB split for a walk-off 5-4 victory for the Reds that saw five lead changes.  

My selection of the 1985 Astros to win the regional was based upon a vague memory of the Mike Scott/Nolan Ryan years being good ones.  They did finish over .500 at 83-79, and while Scott and Ryan were indeed solid starters, the offense was typical of Astrodome teams--decent speed and defense, little power.  They were ELO underdogs against 92-62 1924 Brooklyn, the NL runner-up that boasted .375 hitter Zack Wheat, Jack Fournier and his 27 homers, and 28-game winner Dazzy Vance, who won the NL MVP award as a pitcher (with Wheat coming in 3rd and Fournier 9th).   However, the Astros get to Vance in the 2nd when Craig Reynolds hits a 2-out triple, and then Phil Garner pushes a single past Brooklyn 2B-3 Andy High, and Scott has a one run lead to work with.  That turns into a 2-0 lead in the 3rd when Terry Puhl doubles and Kevin Bass singles him home.  Meanwhile, Scott has the scuffball working until the 6th, when he walks Wheat and Fournier, bringing up Hank Deberry, in the game to replace catcher Zack Taylor who was injured in the 4th.  Deberry takes advantage of his shot, lacing a triple to tie the game, but the Astros move back in front in the top of the 8th when Glenn Davis leads off with a double and Bass singles the runner home once again.  That lead holds into the bottom of the 9th, when Scott walks the bases loaded with two outs and is pulled (although he has only allowed 3 hits all game) in the hopes that Dave Smith can record the final out.  It’s Deberry at the plate again, with yet another chance for glory, but he grounds out and the Astros pull off the 3-2 upset against what is almost certainly the best pitcher in the regional.

Although ranked slightly worse than the other two Houston teams that had gone 1 for 2 in the regional thus far, the third version, the 1996 Astros, were over .500 at 82-80 and had the beginnings of the “killer bees” lineup in Bagwell and Biggio that would lead them into the postseason within a few years.   Their opponents, the 73-89 2018 Blue Jays, seemed even worse than their ranking suggested and confirmed by a 93-loss Pythagorean projection--bad defense, little starting pitching, and a lineup that hadn’t seemed to learn that on-base percentage is a good thing.  The matchup of Houston’s Danny Darwin against Jays Aaron Sanchez did not suggest a pitcher’s duel would be forthcoming, and Jays DH Teoscar Hernandez confirms that by leading off the bottom of the 1st with a monster homer.  In the 4th, Astros SS-4 Orlando Miller gifts the Jays with a 2-base error that sets up a 2-run single by Devon Travis, and the Jays lead is now 3-0.  Derek Bell gets the Astros on the board when he leads off the 6th with a HR, which is followed by a walk and a Sanchez error, so the Jays waste no time in going to their bullpen for Seung Hwan Oh, who promptly commits a 2-base error himself and the score is now 3-2 Toronto.  The Jays strike back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-out RBI single by Russell Martin that chases Darwin for Billy Wagner; Wagner promptly walks Hernandez to load the bases and then grooves one to Billy McKinney for a grand slam that makes it 8-2.  The Jays lead off the 7th with a HR by injury replacement SS Lourdes Gurriel, and sporting a seven-run lead the Jays give Ryan Borucki a turn on the mound to preserve their pen for later rounds.  Although a Bell double does drive in Biggio in the 9th, it’s far too little too late as the Blue Jays coast to the 9-3 win and the semifinals.

The World Series champs 1951 Yankees won 98 games and were prohibitive ELO favorites in this regional.  Not since Regional #103 had a pennant winner made an appearance--however, that pennant winner was the 1953 Yanks, and they were unceremoniously dumped in the first round.  Nonetheless, these Yankees sported five Hall of Famers on the roster, a pair of 20-game winners to choose from to start, solid defense, and a surplus of great outfielders with names like Dimaggio and Mantle to choose from.  In contrast, their opponents, the 1960 Red Sox, won only 65 games and they had a bunch of holes in their team, but they did have Ted Williams, and the NY-Boston rivalry was especially poignant in this matchup as it paired Dimaggio and Williams both in their final year with one last chance to see who comes out on top.  The Red Sox decided to try swingman Billy Muffett against 21-game winner Eddie Lopat, and the game remains scoreless until the 5th, when Boston CF Willie Tasby misplays a Johnny Mize flyball into a double, opening the door for an RBI single by Jerry Coleman and a sac fly from Gil McDougald that makes it 2-0 Yanks.  Meanwhile, Lopat is masterful, and he carries a 2-hitter going into the bottom of the 9th for Boston’s last chance.  With one out, Tasby hits a grounder to 3B Billy Johnson, a fielding downgrade by the Yanks that allowed a fielding upgrade at 2B by McDougald, and Johnson boots it to bring up Williams.  The result is predictable, a shot deep into the bleachers that ties the game, and we head to extra innings.   Both starters get through the 10th and must turn it over to the bullpens with identical strong pitching lines (10IP, 5H, 2R), and here the Sox have the advantage with Mike Fornieles over the Yanks Bob Kuzava.  They both get through the 11th, but in the top of the 12th Gene Woodling leads off with a triple, followed by a walk, a Joe Collins RBI single, and a Rizzuto sac fly and once again the Red Sox are facing elimination with a 2-run deficit.  Vic Wertz leads off with a walk, but McDougald then turns a DP (that Coleman would have dropped) and Kuzava whiffs Green to seal the extra-inning 4-2 win and doing what the 1950, 1953, and 1956 pennant-winning Yanks couldn’t do--getting past the dreaded first round.  

The survivors

Of the three Astros teams in this bracket, the 1985 Astros were the only version to survive round one, and they felt pretty good about having Nolan Ryan going for this semifinal matchup against the 2009 Reds and Johnny Cueto.  The Reds draw first blood in the top of the 3rd when Brandon Phillips misses a HR 1-5/DO split with a 6 roll, but Joey Votto singles him home to make it 1-0.  They push it to 2-0 in the 5th when Willie Taveras singles, steals second, and Scott Rolen provides the two-out RBI single.  In the 7th, the Reds call upon a succession of pinch-hitters and defensive replacements, which yields no runs but does result in injuries to Phillips and PH Chris Dickerson.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Astros get a walk, a squib single, and a Scott Rolen error to load the bases with one out, and the Reds call on Arthur Rhodes again to face Houston cleanup hitter Glenn Davis.  The result:  LOMAX, double play, threat over, and you can hear a pin drop in the Astrodome.  However, the fans come back to life when Kevin Bass leads off the 9th with a huge blast into the cheap seats, but that was all she wrote for the Astros as Rhodes sets the next three down in order to save the 2-1 victory and send the Reds to the finals--but seriously shorthanded, with Phillips still hurt and Rhodes burnt.

Rhodes Scholar of Relief

The 2018 Blue Jays pulled off a modest upset in the first round, but they had a much bigger fish to fry in their semifinal game against the World Champion 1951 Yankees and 17-game winner Allie Reynolds, who had an ERA two and a half runs lower than Jays starter Marcus Stroman.  The Yanks have Hank Bauer miss a HR 1-15 split with a 16 in the 2nd inning, and Stroman strands him to keep the game scoreless.  However, a Mize double in the 4th sets up a Rizzuto 2-run single that gets by Jays 2B-4 Devon Travis, and Stroman loses composure, walking a couple and then allowing a 3-run blast to Gil McDougald that puts the Yanks up 5-0.  The Jays try Thomas Pannone on the mound, and Bauer misses his HR 1-15 split again, this time with a 19, but two runs score on the resulting double and it’s NY 7-0 after five.  Russell Martin gets the first Toronto hit in the 6th, but he goes nowhere, and in the 8th both Martin and Billy McKinney get injured for the Jays, perhaps to get a head start on traffic.  Justin Smoak finally gets the Jays on the board in the 9th by leading off with a homer, but an annoyed Reynolds retires the next three in order to finish out a 4-hitter, striking out nine and sending the Yanks to the finals with a dominating 7-1 win.  

The 2009 Reds, with the worst ELO rank in the top half of this regional, had the unenviable task of facing the 1951 Yankees, the best ranked team, with their starting SS and one of their best relievers out, and having to face 21-game winner Vic Raschi with 8-game winner Homer Bailey.  Of course, the Reds had been thriving on being underestimated the entire regional, and in the top of the 1st they take a 1-0 lead on a 2-out solo blast from Johnny Gomes.   However, the Yanks respond in the bottom of the inning when Berra converts a TR 1-2/SI that scores Jensen and ties the game.  The Reds regain the lead in the 5th when Scott Rolen smacks a 2-out double and Joey Votto singles him home, but once again the Yanks tie it immediately without even garnering a hit when a walk and a Bailey error set up a Rizzuto sac fly.   Raschi walks the first two Reds in the 6th, but Joe Collins, who had just been brought in to replace the aged Johnny Mize and his “4” rating at 1B, turns a crucial DP to end the threat.  However, the Reds move ahead in the 7th 3-2 on Rolen’s second double of the game; the Yanks chase Bailey in the bottom of the inning for closer Francisco Cordero when Rizzuto and Billy Johnson hit consecutive singles, but Cordero whiffs McDougald and retires Dimaggio on a popup to preserve the slim lead.  The Reds add some insurance in the 8th when Rizzuto commits a 2-base error (the Yanks 3rd of the game) that scores two runners, and they pile on 2 more in the 9th when another Gomes solo HR and another 2-base Rizzuto error make it 7-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th.   It’s time for the Yanks to prove their mettle, but they go down to Cordero 1-2-3 and the improbable Reds win their 10th regional, making them one of the most successful franchises in the tournament.  How did the Reds do it?  The formula here seemed to be good team defense, a deep bench, and a couple of relievers in Rhodes and Cordero who got the job done when needed.

Interesting card of Regional #117:   So his team didn’t make it past the first round, but it certainly wasn’t his fault, as his two-run homer in the bottom of the 9th broke a shutout and he single handedly sent that first round game into extra innings.   This is the card of a 41-year old Ted Williams in his final season, who by this time had given up on fielding and running but still had the best hitting card in the regional.  It is fairly well known that Williams hit a home run in the final at-bat of his career, in a game on September 28, 1960 against the Orioles, appropriately punctuating one of the greatest hitting careers of all time.  But we Strat-heads can also appreciate this card as a fitting swan song for his career.  He only came back for the 1960 season because he didn’t want to leave the game after a disappointing 1959, and he certainly put up a year to remember him by.  I’ve tried to think of anyone who might have had a better card in his final year before retiring; Barry Bonds had a monster card in his last season in 2007, but Williams outhit Bonds by 40 points and outslugged him by 80 points, for an OPS of almost 1.100.  I can’t think of anyone else who is even close--maybe Koufax as a pitcher?

REGIONAL #116:  The draw for this regional looked like a fun one, with some notorious teams that were each a season away from a pennant, such as the trashcan-banging Astros, the “Once Upon a Time in Queens” Mets, and the expansion-to-pennant Diamondbacks; add in a couple of Pirates and Braves teams in classic form sporting names like Clemente and Aaron, and there were plenty of interesting stories that could develop from this batch.  My prediction was that the finals would pair the only 21st century teams in the bracket, with the banging Astros over the upstart Dbacks, but I hoped that I was wrong.  The ELO rankings were in alignment with my picks, which hadn’t happened in four regionals and the last time those predictions agreed they were correct, so it seems like the cheating Astros are the team to beat unless karma catches up to them.

First round action

The first round game between the 79-75 1920 Pirates and the 86-76 1970 Angels paired two “okay” teams from fifty years apart, both of which had some serious holes but both of which had 20-game winners ready to roll--Clyde Wright for the Angels and Wilbur Cooper for Pittsburgh.  It starts out as a 70s show when Angel DH Billy Cowan nails a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 1st, but the Pirates score two in the 4th led by a Possum Whitted triple.  Wright is struck by a line drive in the 5th and has to leave the game, replaced by Mel Queen, who turns in two scoreless innings so the Angels then turn to Greg Garrett in the 8th to try to close out the win.  That proves disastrous as Garrett walks the bases loaded in the top of the 9th, and then #9 hitter Jolly Charlie Grimm smacks a single that scores two to give the Pirates their first lead of the game.  It’s then up to Cooper, and he does his job to give the Pirates the come-from-behind 4-3 win.

The matchup between the 51-101 last place 1948 White Sox and the 98-win, NL West winning 2002 Diamondbacks was the most lopsided pairing of the regional, with the Dbacks sporting a potent lineup and two killer starters in Johnson and Schilling--in fact, the Sox would have been happy to start most of the Arizona reserves instead of their own lackluster crew.   The pitching matchup was the battle of the Randys, Gumpert for the Sox and the Cy Young-winning Johnson for Arizona.  It doesn’t take long for things to get ugly for the Sox, as 2b-3 Don Kolloway drops the grounder from Dback leadoff hitter Junior Spivey, Greg Colbrunn doubles Spivey home, and Luis Gonzalez singles Colbrunn in for a 2-0 1st inning lead.  However, in the top of the 3rd the crowd at Bank One Ballpark is stunned into silence when Sox DH Pat Seery nails a 3-run homer off Johnson’s card to put Chicago on top, and they open the 4th with three straight hits that they convert into two runs for a 5-2 Sox lead.  The Diamondback get back one of those runs with a Gonzalez solo shot in the bottom of the inning, and in the 5th a Colbrunn FC scores another, although McCracken (1-14) is nailed at the plate trying to tie the game on a Steve Finley single.  However, the Sox lead off the 6th with two straight hits, and it is clear that Johnson just doesn’t have his stuff today, so he’s pulled after allowing 10 hits in 5 innings, with closer Byung-Hyun Kim summoned to try to keep the baserunners from scoring.  But Kim walks 41-year-old pinchhitter Luke Appling and then walks Aaron Robinson to give the Sox a 6-4 edge.  Arizona gets a clutch 2-out RBI single from Tony Womack in the bottom of the 6th to narrow it to 6-5, but from there the Dbacks largely spend their time in Gumpert’s vacant six-column, and he sets them down in order in the 9th to record the upset win, shocking the pundits who felt that “wasting” Johnson on a last-place team in the first round was a mistake.

Sign-stealers or not, the 103-win 2018 Astros were AL West winners and perhaps could live up to an ELO rating that puts them as the 35th best team of all time:  a strong rotation capped by Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, great defense, and a solid offensive lineup.    However, the 80-82 1964 Pirates had a lineup that might have been just as good, with Clemente, Stargell and Clendenon leading the way, and with 18-game winner Bob Veale on the mound the Pirates were not to be taken lightly, particularly after the upset in the previous game.   Sure enough, the Pirates take the lead in the top of the 2nd with a 2-out, 2-run double from Bill Virdon, although in his next at-bat Virdon has to leave the game with an injury.  That seems to energize Clemente, who puts a solo shot into the Crawford Boxes, but Carlos Correa matches that feat in the bottom of the inning to make it Pirates 3-1 after five.   In the 7th Correa walks and #9 hitter Martin Maldonado doubles him home, but Veale strands Maldonado and the Pirates still cling to a 3-2 lead going into the 8th.   When Clemente leads off the 8th with a hit off Verlander’s card, I think about going to the pen but let him pitch to Stargell.  Big mistake--5-5 roll, solid HR result, two-run HR for Pops and the Astro bring in Roberto Asuna, perhaps one batter too late.  It doesn’t seem to matter, as the trash cans are silent as Veale continues to mow down the Astros order, and he wraps up a complete game 6-hitter and a 5-2 win, marking a second consecutive upset in which a highly favored team pitching a Cy Young winner gets bounced in the 1st round.

With both of the top ELO-ranked teams eliminated already in the first round, it looked like the winner of this matchup between the 1985 Mets and the 1962 Braves would have a clear path towards the regional crown.  The infamous Mets won 98 games with essentially the same team that would win the Series the following year, and Cy Young winner Doc Gooden was a force to reckon with on the mound.  However, the 86-win Braves still had their core from their great teams of the late 50s with Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, and Joe Adcock bringing the lumber, and Hall of Famer Warren Spahn starting, so it promised to be a good one.  The Mets jump to a 2-0 lead when Darryl Strawberry nails a bases-loaded double, although Gary Carter is cut down at the plate trying to add another run.  A two-out Rafael Santana double scores Mookie Wilson in the 4th to push the lead to 3-0, a padding that Gooden looks like he might not need, and when the Mets begin the 6th with four straight hits to make it 6-0, Shea Stadium is rocking to the sounds of ‘80s hair metal.  Another Santana double, off Spahn’s card as was his previous one, scores Wilson again in the 8th, but by this point it’s academic as Gooden finishes out a masterful 3-hit shutout and the boys from Queens notch a 7-0 win and a trip to the semis as the new regional favorite.

The survivors

The 1920 Pirates were pleasantly surprised to be facing the 1948 White Sox in the semifinals, which gave Pittsburgh a large advantage offensively as well as on the mound with 17-game winner Babe Adams going against 4-game winner Howie Judson for the Sox.  Judson loads the bases up in the top of the 2nd with nobody out, but pitches masterfully out of the jam to keep the game scoreless.  The luck of the Sox makes an appearance in the bottom of the 4th, when Don Kolloway manages to convert a DO 1/flyB 2-20 on Adams’ card, and is then driven home by a Taffy Wright single--followed by an error by Bucs SS-4 Howdy Catton and an RBI single by Tony Lupien that makes it 2-0 Sox.  A Pat Seery triple, also off a split on Adams card, drives in another in the 5th and its 3-0 Sox after five, although the Sox luck well appears to have run dry when Wright is nailed at the plate in the 6th.  With two out in the 7th, the Pirates appear to gain momentum when Max Carey singles, steals second, then Sox defensive replacement Luke Appling makes an error followed by a Fred Nicholson 2-run double, and it’s a one-run game.   However, the Pirates give a run back in the bottom of the inning when 3B-3 Clyde Barnhardt, in for an injured Charlie Grimm, drops a Wright grounder that allows a run to score, making it 4-2 heading into the 8th.  Judson then walks the bases full in the top of the 8th, but again escapes the inning without allowing a run.  The Pirates finally come up in the 9th, which is when they had won their first round game, and begin the inning with a walk and a Nicholson single that puts runners on 1st and 3rd with no out.   A Billy Southworth sac fly makes it 4-3, with the tying run held on 1st.  Possum Whitted raps a sharp grounder to 2B-3 Don Kolloway, who fields it cleanly, flips to Appling and on to Lupien at first--game ending DP, Sox win 4-3 and advance to the finals with a chance to be one of the worst teams ever to capture a regional.  

Born to DH, 10 years too early

The 1964 Pirates became the agents of karma that put away the cheating Astros in the first round, and now they had their chance to do the same to the cokeheads on the 1985 Mets.  However, doing so would require them to cope with a good card from Mets starter Sid Fernandez, one that looked much more formidable than that of Pirate Vern Law.  Law issues a couple of walks in the 2nd and then Mookie Wilson rips an RBI single past Pirate 3B-4 Bob Bailey, and the Mets have an early lead.  Things remain quiet until the 7th, when Pittsburgh DH Jerry Lynch converts a TR 1/DO to lead off the inning; Fernandez then records a strikeout, defensive rep Lenny Dystra makes a great play in CF and the runner has to hold, and then Bailey pops out and the Mets still cling to their 1-0 lead.  When the Mets garner two straight hits in the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates bring in closer Al McBean, who induces an inning-ending DP from Strawberry and the teams head into the 9th separated by one run.  Fernandez just has to get through the meat of the Pirates order to record the win, but after retiring Stargell on a HR 1/flyB 2-20 split for the first out, Lynch finds Fernandez’s HR split to tie the game, and then a walk, a hit, and a Mazeroski RBI single puts the Pirates on top for the first time in the game.  With Fernandez collapsing, the Mets try Jesse Orosco and he promptly is torched for a 2-run triple by Dick Schofield, and the Pirates lead 4-1 with the Mets coming up for their last chance in the 9th.  McBean sets them down in order to record the win, and the Pirates head to the finals seeking to become only the 4th Pittsburgh team in franchise history--none after 1960-- to win a regional.

This was hardly the regional final that the ELO rankings would have predicted, with the lowest ranked team from the top of the bracket, the 1948 White Sox, facing the lowest ranked squad from the bottom of the bracket, the 1964 Pirates.  In fairness, the Pirates were an okay team that upset their way through a group of good teams; in contrast, the Sox were a terrible team that had the chance to be the lowest ELO-ranked regional winner in tournament history, a distinction held by the 1957 Kansas City A’s at ELO rank 2246.  The pitching matchup was an interesting one for a final--two beleaguered workhorses, 20-game loser Bill Wight for the Sox and 18-game loser Bob Friend for the Bucs.   Things begin ominously for Pittsburgh when 2b-1 Bill Mazeroski boots the first ball of the game, but Friend strands the runner at second and the game remains scoreless.  Disaster strikes for the Pirates in the 4th when Clemente is injured for 6 games, but two batters later an irate Jerry Lynch parks a solo shot to put them up 1-0, and a Mazeroski sac fly in the 5th makes it 2-0.  In the 6th, defensive replacement Luke Appling (ss-3) makes a two-base error that sets up a two-RBI single by Bob Bailey; meanwhile in the 7th the Sox leave the bases loaded for the second inning in a row and their frustration is beginning to show.  They manage to scratch out two split singles in the 9th, but Friend fans Sox leadoff hitter Dave Philley to put the 8-hit shutout in the books, with the 4-0 victory giving the Pirates their 4th regional win, joining 1941, 1956, and 1960 in the winners circle.  

Interesting Card of Regional #116:  His team got bounced from the tournament in the 2nd round, but it wasn’t the fault of this Cy Young winner, who tossed a three-hit shutout to get them past round one.  This was Doc’s second year in the majors, and what a year it was:  he led the league in wins, innings, ERA, complete games, and strikeouts, and also finished 4th in the MVP voting.  In addition to being a great performance card, I just think it’s a great _looking_ card:  die cut with no perforations, a classic pitcher’s pattern with a killer six column, and a nice legible font for aging eyes.  Unfortunately, this was the next-to-last year for these classic old-school Strat cards; afterwards they, like Dwight Gooden, were never quite as good again.