REGIONAL #171:  Pondering this bracket draw entirely from memory, as I always do initially, and considering who might be the quality teams here, I decided that they might be Giants.   As in two Giants teams:  one from 1989 that I remembered as a pennant winner who was a participant in the infamous Bay Area Earthquake World Series, and one from this past season, 2021, who I remembered as winning a ton of games in the regular season but faltering in the post-season.  The 2021 Giants had a tough first round draw in a Yankees team that had won the AL the preceding season, and the winner of that matchup was certainly the odd-on favorite to take an otherwise weak-looking bottom of the bracket.  For the ‘89 Giants, I figured that maybe the ‘91 Mets might provide a challenge as they could still have some remnant of their infamous pennant winners from half a decade previously.  Still, I predicted an all-Giants final, picking the 2021 version to finally get their due and take the regional.  The ELO rankings saw things just as I did, and indicated that the first round 2021 Giants vs. Yankees matchup paired two very good teams that were by far the best in the group.

First round action

The 1989 Giants captured the National League pennant by winning 92 games, with Kevin Mitchell being the NL MVP and a strong rotation that had Scott Garrelts (14-5, 2.28) finishing 6th in the Cy Young voting.  However, they had some defensive holes and the back end of their lineup was pretty weak, and they got swept by the A’s in the Earthquake Series.   They were considerable favorites over the 1996 Royals, who went 75-86 with limited power although spot starter Jose Rosado (8-6, 3.21) looked like a solid game one selection.  With the last regional featuring a bunch of MVPs who didn’t prove very valuable in the tournament, Mitchell decides to quickly break that trend with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 1st to put the Giants up.  However, the Royals strike back immediately in the top of the 2nd, with an RBI double from Keith Lockhart tying the game.  Things stay knotted until the top of the 7th, when Offerman walks, steals second, and scores on another double from Lockhart and KC moves out in front by a run.  Garrelts allows a hit off his card in the 8th and the Giants move to Goose Gossage out of the pen, and he gets out of the inning with no damage.  But it is to no avail as the Giants are stymied by Rosado, who whiffs PH Greg Litton to wrap up a 5-hitter and the Royals upset the pennant winner by a 3-2 count.  

The 1991 Mets had a pretty decent ELO ranking, but it was hard to understand how as they sported a 77-84 record, with Howard Johnson as their main offensive weapon and a collection of good pitchers having mediocre years, David Cone (14-14, 3.29) as the best of them.  Their opponents, the 2005 Orioles, had an offense fitting the tail end of the steroid era, although the beginnings of enforcement seemed to result in some declines for some of their sluggers like Rafael Palmiero and Sammy Sosa; however, their starting rotation still tended to allow the longball, with Bruce Chen (13-10, 3.83) being no exception.  The O’s take the lead in the top of the 2nd when Mets RF-4 Hubie Brooks can’t get to a Sal Fasano single that scores Brian Roberts, and NY’s efforts to respond in the bottom of the inning are thwarted by the split die when Kevin McReynolds misses a HR 1-16 split and then is nailed trying to score from 2nd as a 1-14 runner.  However, the splits work for Vince Coleman in the 3rd as he gets on, steals second, and races home on a HoJo single to tie the game…although McReynolds ends the inning by hitting Chen’s HR 1-7/flyB result and rolling an 8 split.  The O’s quickly regain the lead on a 2-out, 2-run moonshot by Fasano in the top of the 4th, but again the Mets respond with a couple of hits and a C-3 Fasano error and it’s tied 3-3 after 4.  Cone strands two Orioles on 2nd and 3rd in the top of the 5th, and in the bottom of the inning solo homers from Hojo and Mackey Sasser and the Mets lead again.  That proves to be short-lived, as with two out in the top of the 6th Fasano homers again, Javy Lopez doubles and scores on a Palmiero single and Cone is out and Jeff Innis comes in to walk two to load the bases, but gets the final out without additional damage–but the game is tied once again.   When Chen walks the leadoff batter in the 6th he’s pulled for Todd Williams, and he retires the side so it’s a game reset entering the 7th with things in the hands of the bullpens.  Innis holds the top of the 7th, while Gregg Jeffries leads off the bottom of the inning with a single and he races home on a HoJo double and the Mets retake the lead and O’s closer BJ Ryan is summoned with nobody out; he sets them down but the Mets have a one-run edge entering the 8th.  That lasts two batters as Javy Lopez nails a solo shot to tie the game, although O’s CF Luis Matos ends the inning by being knocked out of the game with an injury.  In the 9th, Innis is tiring and the Mets turn to their former wunderkind Sid Fernandez to hold the fort, which he does to bring the tie game to the bottom of the 9th.  Coleman draws a leadoff walk and steals second; Ryan then delivers to Jeffries, who rips one into the gap and Coleman trots home to give the Mets a walkoff 7-6 win in which they continuously responded to adversity.

With the opportunity for an all-Giants final now gone, it was up to the top-seeded 2021 Giants to carry the brand on their own, and given that they won 107 games, had a lineup with everyone above .400 SLG%, carried more good relievers than some entire leagues that have played, and a decent rotation with Kevin Gausman (14-6, 2.81) finishing 6th in the Cy Young votes, their chances looked pretty good.  However, they faced the regional’s #2 seed 2010 Yankees in another instance of a bracket’s two best teams facing off in the first round.  The 95-win Yankees boasted a formidable lineup and CC Sabathia (21-7, 3.18) finished 3rd in his Cy Young vote, and the Jeter-era Yankees were starting to run out of opportunities for a regional win so they were hungry.  The Giants suffer a big blow in the top of the 3rd when their leading hitter Brandon Belt is lost to injury for the rest of the regional, but Mike Yastrzemski makes grandpa proud by leading off the 4th with a homer to push the Giants into the lead.  ARod retaliates by leading off the bottom of the 5th with a long homer, but when Sabathia issues a leadoff walk and then a long single to Posey in the top of the 6th the Yankees recognize that there may be no tomorrow and move to Mariano Rivera to try to keep the runner on third from breaking the tie.  Rivera is masterful, striking out two straight and then retiring the side on a popup and the score remains 1-1.  The Yanks take a risk and remove Rivera after two hitless innings in the hope of preserving him for future use in the regional, and turn the game over to Kerry Wood to begin the 8th.   He provides two strong innings and brings the game tied to the bottom of the 9th with Gausman against the heart of the Yankee order; he sets them down in order and we head to extra innings.  Both sides go quietly in the 10th, but in the 11th the Giants knock a couple of singles; the Yanks decide to stick with Wood but then Kris Bryant crushes a three-run moon shot that quiets the entire borough.  With Gausman burnt, the Giants hand the ball to Zack Littell to close things out, but after getting one out Robinson Cano doubles and then Nick Swisher parks a 2-run homer and the Giants quickly yank Littell and try Tony Watson in what is now a 1-run game.  ARod misses a SI 1-15, and then Marcus Thames misses a HR 1-6/flyB and the Giants breathe a huge sigh of relief, surviving the epic 4-3 battle and moving on.  

The 1947 Pirates and the 1965 Cubs were similar mediocre teams that had a couple of Hall of Famers without much of a supporting cast.  For the 62-92 Pirates, it was Ralph Kiner and Hank Greenberg, while the 72-90 Cubs had Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks at their core.  Both teams had decent starters with identical ERAs for round one, Dick Ellsworth (14-15, 3.81) for the Cubs and Kirby Higbe (13-17, 3.81) for the Pirates, so it seemed to come down to which set of stars would come through when needed.  The Cubs come up short in the bottom of the 3rd when Don Kessinger doubles but is nailed at the plate (1-13) trying to score on a single by Ed Bailey, and neither team can muster much of a threat in the innings that follow.  Finally, in the bottom of the 7th Don Landrum leads off with a triple; the Pirates have nobody in the bullpen so Higbe tries to work out of it with the infield in, but after one out Jimmy Stewart decides that it’s a wonderful life after he knocks a squib single that scores Landrum and gives the Cubs a lead.   Stewart then steals second and scores when Ed Bailey pushes a single under the glove of Pirates 2B-3 Jimmy Bloodworth to make it 2-0, but the Bucs immediately tie it in the top of the 8th when Kiner parks one onto Waveland Avenue.  A walk to Greenberg and submariner Ted Abernathy is summoned from the pen to retire the side, and the game heads to the 9th inning with things knotted at two apiece and the bottom of both lineups up; neither can do anything and the game moves to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th, the Pirates get runners on 2nd and 3rd with two away; Abernathy delivers to Wally Westlake, and he crushes it for a three-run blast and the Pirates lead for the first time in the game.  So it’s now up to Higbe, in his last inning of eligibility, against the top of the Cubs order.  He gets two quick outs but then Billy Williams singles and Don Pavletich doubles after missing Higbe’s HR 1-13 split, bringing up Santo as the tying run.  He lofts a flyball to Bucs CF-2 Jim Russell, who chases it down and seals the 5-2 extra inning win for the Pirates.

The survivors

After marveling that the 1996 Royals had defeated the regional’s sole pennant winner in the first round, I realized that I had mistakenly looked up the ELO ratings for the 1998 team, and the ‘96 version wasn’t quite as bad so their upset was not as surprising as I first thought.  Furthermore, Kevin Appier (14-11, 3.62) wasn’t a bad second round starter, although the Royals were still underdogs to the 1991 Mets and Doc Gooden (13-7, 3.60).  In the 2nd, an error by Mets 3B-4 Howard Johnson sets up a Keith Lockhart RBI single, and a solo homer from Craig Paquette extends the lead to 2-0 in the 3rd.  Another Royals run in the top of the 4th results from a Tom Goodwin groundout, and in the 6th KC puts up some crooked numbers when a 2-base error from Mets CF-3 Vince Coleman sets up a 2-run single by Royals DH Bob Hamelin.  A leadoff double in the 7th by Joe Randa and the Mets decide the Doc isn’t in, summoning Tim Burke, who promptly yields consecutive doubles to Michael Tucker and Jose Offerman, and a run scoring single to Lockhart and it’s 8-0 Royals heading into the 8th.  Although everything seems to be going the Royals way, Tucker is knocked out of the game with an injury in the 8th and he’ll miss the regional final as well–if they can hang on.  That looks in doubt in the bottom of the 9th, when Appier, who has a 2-hitter up to that point, suddenly can’t get anybody out.  Mackey Sasser hits a 2-run single with the bases load and Keith Miller adds a sac fly, and the Mets again load the bases back up and the Royals decide to let Appier pitch to one more batter to get the final out.  That batter is Coleman, and he grounds out to end the game and the Royals head to the finals with the 8-3 win.  

This semifinal was a mismatch between the top seeded 2021 Giants and Logan Webb (11-3, 3.03) and the bottom seeded 1949 Pirates and swingman Rip Sewell (6-4, 3.57), but the Giants would be without the services of their injured top HR hitter and with a bullpen stretched by their extra-inning battle in the first round.  The Giants strike in the 2nd when Austin Slater singles, steals second, and scores on a bloop double by Alex Dickerson, but that lead evaporates quickly when Hank Greenberg leads off the bottom of the inning with a tape measure shot to tie it.  The Giants respond in the 3rd with a 2-run blast from injury replacement Darin Ruf, but Webb gets wild in the bottom of the 4th and the Pirates narrow the deficit to 3-2 on a bases-loaded grounder from Billy Cox.  A Webb error and a walk and a single load the bases for the Pirates with two out in the bottom of the 6th, and the Giants reluctantly move to their bullpen for game one save artist Tony Watson, who retires DH Clyde Kluttz to preserve the lead.  The Giants pull Watson in the 7th to try to keep him eligible for the final, but that almost turns to disaster as Dominic Leone manages to load the bases with Pirates before retiring Greenberg as the final out with no damage.  Kris Bryant leads off the 9th by finding and converting Sewell’s HR result to give the Giants a little extra padding going into the bottom of the 9th, and they give the ball to closer Jake McGee to wrap things up; he fans Jim Russell for the final out and the Giants move to the finals with a 4-2 win.  Four Giants pitchers allow only three hits, but their defense commits three errors, which needs improvement for the finals.

Both the #1 seeded 2021 Giants and the #6 seed 1996 Royals would be missing a key player for the regional final, although both were able to trot out a solid #3 starter, with Tim Belcher (15-11, 3.82) for the Royals against Anthony DeSclafani (13-7, 3.17) of the Giants.   However, the Royals knock three hits off DeSclafani’s card in the top of the 1st, one of them a 2-run homer from Mike McFarlane and the underdogs jump out to a quick lead.  The Giants get on the board when Brandon Crawford leads off the bottom of the 4th with a HR, but the Royals get the run back when injury sub Johnny Damon also finds and converts DeSclafani’s HR result to make it 3-1 KC.  In the top of the 6th, an error by injury sub 1B-3 Darin Ruf and a Joe Randa single and the Giants move to the pen, looking for Tony Watson to work his 1-inning magic for the third straight game with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out.  And he does the job, assisted by great consecutive fielding plays by C-1 Buster Posey and SS-1 Crawford, but the Giants are still down by two and struggling against Belcher.  In the 7th, a walk and a double by Posey puts the tying run in scoring position with one away, and the Royals check their pen but don’t like what they see and leave it to Belcher; who comes through to prevent any SF runs.  The Giants pen holds, and so it comes down to the bottom of the 9th for the Giants, who had come up short at the end in real life and were hoping to atone here.  Ruf begins the inning with a walk, and then Austin Slater hits Belcher’s HR 1-13/DO result but misses the split, putting the tying run on 2nd with nobody out and Royals HR-prone closer Jeff Montgomery warming up in the pen.  But it’s still Belcher’s game for the time being, and he delivers to Mike Yastrzemski; it’s a single off Belcher’s card, Ruf scores, Slater (1-15) heads for home to tie–and he’s out on a split roll of 20.  Yaz takes 2nd on the throw, and the Royals finally yank Belcher for Montgomery with one away and the tying run in scoring position.  Posey then rolls Belcher’s HR result, but on Mongomery it’s a SI 1-8–but the split is converted and the tying run is 90 feet away.  In comes the infield for PH Thairo Estrada, and it’s exactly the nightmare the Royals feared:  the 5-9 roll, solid HR on Montgomery for a 3-run pinch hit walk off homer for a 5-3 win that clinches the regional for the Giants.  San Francisco thus does in this regional what they couldn’t do in reality–come through big at the end with the season on the line.  The Giants award regional MVP honors to reliever Tony Watson who appeared in all three games, pitching 2.6 hitless innings in tight jams with one save and allowing no inherited runners to score; the Giants pen collectively kept the team in three tight games to allow the offense to score just enough to win.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #171:  For this feature I couldn’t find a way to decide between these two sluggers, so I just decided to include both.   Despite their apparent similarities, one of them won the NL MVP while the other came in 6th; on the other hand, one of them made it to the Hall of Fame in his final year of eligibility, squeaking in by a single vote, and the other received two votes in his first year of eligibility and none thereafter, so it all balances out.  Both also remained in baseball somewhat infamously after their playing days were over:  Kiner best known for fracturing the language as the announcer for the terrible early Mets; Mitchell making his mark as a manager in the Western League who was suspended on two separate occasions for assaulting the owner of an opposing team, and later for punching that team’s third base coach for allegedly stealing signs.  Whatever their differences, if I had to pick between these two cards for my left fielder, it would be a difficult choice.

REGIONAL #170:  There weren’t any pennant winners in this group, but I knew there were a number that were close.  There were two Boston entries that were each one year off:  the 2008 Red Sox had won the AL the prior season, while the ‘66 Red Sox would win one the following season, although I remembered that they did so with a miraculous improvement over the prior season.  The ‘73 Reds had won the NL the prior year but were switching gears between different versions of the Big Red Machine, and the 2005 Yanks had won a pennant two seasons earlier although their turn of the millennium dynasty was in decline.  The ‘87 White Sox were four seasons past winning their division, while the brand new expansion Royals weren’t likely to last long here.  My guess is that there would still be enough gas in the tank of the Big Red Machine to get to the finals and prevail over the Yankees; I didn’t expect that the ELO rankings would portray the ‘08 Red Sox as the best team in MLB and in this bracket, predicting that they would top the Reds in the final after a challenge from the Yankees in round one.  

First round action

Because the 1987 White Sox were not a particular sentimental favorite of mine, I figured they might have some chance in this regional although they were a mediocre 77-85 team that had some remnants of past (e.g. Fisk, Baines) and future (e.g., Ozzie G.) Sox teams that were favorites.  They also had Floyd Bannister (16-11, 3.58), who didn’t allow that many hits but when he did, they tended to go a long way.  The Sox were slight ELO underdogs to the 2008 A’s, although I wasn’t sure why as the A’s had a worse 75-86 record and for a Billy Beane moneyball team, they really weren’t very good at getting on base.  The A’s did come armed with a huge pile of cards, many of them quite bad, but one good card was possessed by starter Justin Duchscherer (10-8, 2.54) whose career ended shortly thereafter with arm problems.  The A’s quickly put up two in the top of the 1st with a Mark Ellis RBI single followed by a run-scoring error by Sox 2B-4 Donnie Hill, and a solo HR from A’s DH Emil Brown extends the lead to 3-0 in the 3rd.  Three straight two-out singles give the A’s another run in the 4th, but in the bottom of the 5th the Sox bats come alive, with RBI doubles from Gary Redus and Ivan Calderon tying up the game.  When Greg Walker leads off the bottom of the 6th with a homer, the Sox take the lead for the first time in the game, old Comiskey is rocking, and the A’s show they mean business by turning the game over to reliever Joey Devine with his 0.59 ERA, without a hit on his card, and he retires the side.  Sensing a bullpen battle from here out, the Sox bring in Dave Lapoint to begin the 7th, which turns out nicely since one of the A’s rolls in the inning would have hit one of Bannister’s HR results.  Calderon does hit one of his for a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to provide a little insurance, which is quickly cashed in as SS-2 Guillen makes TWO 2-base errors in the top of the 8th to hand the A’s a run and make it a one-run game entering the 9th.  The Sox decide to stick with Lapoint over erratic closer Bobby Thigpen even though this will force a one-game rest on him, and that works out as Lapoint retires the A’s in order and earns the save in the 6-5 Sox win.

The 1973 Reds won 99 games (most in the NL) and the NL West, but were upset in the NLCS by the upstart Mets.  This version of the Big Red Machine featured big years from Morgan, Perez and Rose, and Jack Billingham (19-10, 3.04) earned 4th place in the Cy Young vote.  They faced the 1966 Red Sox, who lost 90 games (although somehow they managed to win the AL the following season); this team was led by Yaz and Tony Conigliaro with Lee Stange (8-9, 3.30) getting the game one start.  The Reds quickly load the bases in the top of the 1st with Stange having trouble finding the strike zone, but only come away with one run on a Johnny Bench sac fly.  Don Demeter answers in the 4th, putting a solo shot over the Green Monster to tie the game, and a 2-out rally in the 5th that includes RBI singles from Yaz and Demeter puts Boston up 3-1.  The Reds close to within one in the 7th when a run scores on a fielder’s choice from PH Phil Gagliano, but the Sox get it back in the bottom of the inning when Demeter once again comes through, this time with a two-out RBI single.  A leadoff hit by George Scott in the bottom of the 8th and the Reds are forced to admit that their ace simply doesn’t have it, and they move to Dick Baney from the pen and he retires the side without incident, bringing the game to the 9th with Boston up by two.  However, the Red Machine is making Stange noises, and Lee closes out a 4-hitter to send the Red Sox to the semifinals with the 4-2 upset.

The ELO ranks for this round one game suggested that this could perhaps be the worst matchup in the history of the tournament.  In one corner was the freshly minted expansion 1969 Royals, who lost 93 games but did rank as the best of the four expansion teams that season, with a decent rotation with Roger Nelson (7-13, 3.31) getting the start. In the other corner was the 47-114 2019 Tigers.  The source that I use for the ELO ratings provides a composite rank that melds the peak, season end, and season average ratings for each team, but only does so through the 2015 season, so for later seasons I just use the season-ending rank since that is basically what the Strat cards represent.  Impressively, the season-ending ELO rating for the Tigers was considerably worse than the composite ELO rating for any other team in MLB in 1900 through 2016, meaning that they merit consideration as the worst team in baseball history.  The Tigers combined bad fielding, little power (their leading HR hitter had 13), and a sorry rotation with Matt Boyd (9-12, 4.56) drawing the short straw for the start.  The game begins with Royals RF-3 Bob Oliver turning a Victory Reyes flyball into a double, and Nick Castellanos drives him home with a single off Nelson for a quick lead.  The Royals respond when Oliver atones by finding Boyd’s solid HR result for a solo shot, and then Jerry Adair singles and scores on an Ellie Rodriguez double and KC takes a 2-1 lead.  However, doubles by Castellanos and Niko Goodrum tie it up in the top of the 3rd, and in the bottom of the inning AA stealer Pat Kelly gets thrown out trying to steal second, for the second time in the game, by Tigers C-4 John Hicks.  However, Hicks apparently threw out his arm in the efforts, as he has to leave the game in the 4th with an injury that will end his tournament appearances.   In the 5th, twin doubles from Castellanos and Goodrum strike again–the second courtesy of another botched flyball from RF Oliver–and the Tigers regain a 3-2 lead.  All the failed base stealing from Kelly seems to have also gotten to him, as he comes up lame in the bottom of the 5th and is out until the regional final.  In the top of the 6th, the Tigers get a single followed by a double from injury replacement Grayson Greiner, off Nelson’s card, and the Royals fetch Moe Drabowsky from the pen to try to get out of the jam and keep the game close.  He fans one but then a sharp single from Reyes scores both runners to extend the Detroit lead to 5-2.   In the 8th, Joe Foy narrows the lead by leading off with a HR off Boyd’s solid HR result, and the Tigers are eyeing their one good reliever but decide to give Boyd a bit more time; when Mike Fiore then doubles off the pitcher’s card, this Boyd has flown and closer Shane Greene and his 1.18 ERA replaces him.  With two out, Oliver singles and Fiore (1-14) races home successfully and it’s a one-run game heading into the 9th.  Drabowsky is perfect in the top of the 9th, so it’s up to Greene and a bunch of defensive replacements to stave off the Royals in the bottom of the inning.  PH Paul Schaal does squib out a single with one out to put the tying run aboard, but injury replacement Bob Taylor hits into a double play and the Tigers survive with a 5-4 win in which their terrible defense was entirely untested by any X-chart result.  

The best matchup of the regional was also between two bitter rivals, the #1 seeded 2008 Red Sox and the #3 seed 2005 Yankees.  The Yankees won 95 games and tied the Red Sox for the AL East crown, but lost the ALDS; the Jeter-era Yanks have made a poor showing in this tournament but this version had AL MVP ARod and also had big Randy Johnson (17-8, 3.79) on the mound.  The Red Sox also won 95 games but were eliminated in a 7-game ALCS, and they also had the AL MVP in Dustin Pedroia, and Daisuke Matsuzaka (18-3, 2.90) came in 4th in the Cy Young balloting and may have deserved more votes.   In the top of the 1st, Johnson watches Manny being Manny as Ramirez hits a 2-run homer and then Johnson falls apart, allowing three more Boston hits including a 2-out 2-run single from Jacob Ellsbury, and the Red Sox jump to a 4-0 lead before New York can swing a bat.  Johnson settles down quickly, although the Yankees don’t get their first hit off Matsuzaka until the 4th, but that’s followed by a second hit from Gary Sheffield that drives in a run to narrow the gap to 4-1.  In the 6th, Johnson allows a single to Jason Bay and that’s followed by a JD Drew homer off Johnson’s solid 5-9 result, and in desperation the Yankees turn to Mariano Rivera to try to turn things around.  In the 8th, Yankee PH Matt Lawton draws a walk that starts a 2-out rally that leads to RBI singles from Hideki Matsui and ARod, and Boston finally turns to closer Jonathan Papelbon with the bases loaded and he whiffs Sheffield and it’s still 6-3 Boston heading into the 8th with both closers in the game.  The Red Sox get a two-out rally of their own in the top of the 8th with a Drew double followed by a Mike Lowell RBI single, so the Red Sox take their three run lead into the bottom of the 9th, and then things start to unravel.  The Yankees get two hits off the card of the nearly unhittable Papelbon, and 2B-1 Pedroia does the unthinkable and makes an error, and one run is in, nobody is out, the tying run is at the plate in the form of ARod, who draws a walk and the bases are loaded.  Papelbon delivers to Jason Giambi, and the result is a HR 1-8/flyB; the split is a 13, and the grand slam is missed but a run scores on the sac fly.  Up comes Sheffield, and it’s another squib single off Papelbon’s card and the bases are loaded with the winning run at 1st.  The pitch to Robinson Cano is a beaut, and it’s a gbA, the Red Sox turn the DP to eliminate their rivals and move on with the 7-5 nailbiter.   

The survivors

After their first round upset of the Big Red Machine, the 1966 Red Sox were determined to keep hopes alive for an all-Boston final, with swingman Bucky Brandon (8-8, 3.31) getting the semifinal start.  He would face the 1987 White Sox, who had to rely on bullpen help to survive round one and so they were hoping for a prolonged appearance by workhorse Richard Dotson (11-12, 4.17).  The Chicagoans strike in the top of the 1st with a leadoff double from Gary Redus and another timely hit from Ivan Calderon that drives in a run, but the Pale Hose don’t convert further and they leave the bases loaded.  Thus, their lead dissipates immediately in the bottom of the inning when a leadoff walk is followed by a 2-run homer from Joe Foy, and then George Smith adds another two-run blast in the bottom of the 3rd.  Dotson can’t recover from this onslaught, and he loads the bases for a 2-run single by Don Demeter and the Sox move to closer Bobby Thigpen with one out in the 2nd, never a good sign.  Thigpen then delivers a softball to Tony Conigliaro, who puts it in the Fenway stands for a three-run blast and by the time Thigpen gets the final out, Boston has knocked out 7 hits and 7 runs in the inning and lead 9-1 after two.  Yaz adds an RBI single in the 5th to push Boston into double digits, and in the 7th defensive replacement Dalton Jones hits a solo shot off Chisox #3 starter Jose Deleon to add to the dogpile.  Chicago makes some noise in the 8th with a rally started by a Greg Walker triple, with RBI singles from Carlton Fisk and Ozzie Guillen narrowing the Boston lead slightly, but Brandon is still handed the ball in the 9th and closes things out in order, with Calderon getting injured on the last out of the game just to put the exclamation point on the Boston 11-4 win.

The second Boston team in the semifinals, the top-seeded 2008 Red Sox entered this second round game as overwhelming favorites against the truly bad #8 seed 2019 Tigers.  Although Red Sox closer Papelbon would have to rest after an extended outing in their first round battle, it didn’t seem that he would be necessary as starter Jon Lester (16-6, 3.21) was so much better than Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull (3-17, 4.61) that Fenway fans were looking for a drubbing.  The Red Sox take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st without recording a hit, as a couple of walks and a Manny Ramirez sac fly produce a score.  The Bosox don’t get their first hit until the 5th, but it turns into a run when the bad Tiger defense finally gets tested and SS-3 Niko Goodrum’s 2-out error allows a run to score.  Pedroia follows that with an RBI single and it’s 3-0 Boston after five.  However, in the top of the 6th the Fenway crowd looks on in disbelief as 2B-1 Pedroia and 3B-2 Mike Lowell make errors that allow one run to score and then load the bases with one out; the Tigers summon PH Jordy Mercer and he rolls and converts Lester’s HR 1-4 split for a grand slam and suddenly the not-so-tame Tigers lead by two.  In the bottom of the 7th, Big Papi David Ortiz comes off the bench to PH and crushes a solo shot that narrows the lead to one.  However, in the 8th Pedroia makes his second error of the game and then 3rd string Tiger catcher Jake Rogers rolls Lester’s HR split, missing it but scoring the runner on the resulting double, and Lester is gone in favor of Hideki Okajima but the Tigers lead by two.  That buys Turnbull a little more time but a leadoff single from Jason Bay in the bottom of the inning and it’s time for closer Shane Greene, who saved game one and was probably the Tigers’ most valuable player.  And Greene is perfection, retiring Pedroia for the last of six straight outs to propel the unlikely Tigers to the finals with the 6-4 win over the stunned bracket favorites–but with Greene burnt for the regional.  

This regional final seemed to come from some sort of inverse mirror baseball universe, with the 90-loss 1966 Red Sox against the 114-loss 2019 Tigers each having pulled consecutive upsets to reach this point.  The setup seemed reminiscent of the semifinal game with a Red Sox team boasting a much better starting pitcher in Jose Santiago (12-13, 3.66) as compared to Detroit’s seemingly terrible Daniel Norris (3-13, 4.49) but by this point it was clear the unexpected was to be expected in this regional, and Vegas wasn’t even accepting bets.  And the bottom of the 1st reveals that the Tigers’ magic isn’t over, as they bat around knocking five hits that score five runs, with a Nick Castellanos triple getting things under way and a Harold Castro 2-run single capping things off.  However, in the top of the 2nd a 2-base error by Tigers 1B-5 Miggy Cabrera sets up a couple of runs from the bottom of the Red Sox order to narrow the gap temporarily, but the Tigers retaliate in the 3rd with run-scoring hits from Cabrera and Castro, and finally a 2-out 2-run homer from injury replacement Grayson Greiner off Santiago’s card chases the Boston starter for veteran reliever Don McMahon, but it’s now 9-2 Detroit.  In the top of the 5th Yaz hits a 2-run homer in an effort to climb back into the game, but in the 7th the Sox lose CF and cleanup hitter Don Demeter to injury for the remainder of the game, which does not help their cause.  The Red Sox do load the bases in the 8th on two walks and an error by SS-3 Niko Goodrum, but PH Lenny Green hits into a DP to end the rally without a run.  Although Red Sox relievers hold the Tigers hitless after Santiago was pulled in the 3rd, it makes no difference as Norris is good enough, retiring Yaz for the last out in the 9th and the incredible Tigers pull off the 9-4 win to take the regional–certainly a contender for the worst team to win a bracket in the history of the tournament.

Interesting card of Regional #170:  Interesting card of Regional #170:  This regional sported three different MVPs, and the way all of their teams crashed and burned in the bracket I was left wondering what was so valuable about all of them. I guess Pete Rose won the MVP in 1973 because he led the NL in batting average, but I didn’t think he was even the best player on his team and he annoyed me as a player, a manager, and a gambler.  The next was ARod in 2005, who probably had the best season of the three award-winners, but if he was so valuable then how did the White Sox manage to win their first championship in nine decades that season?   But the least valuable most valuable player in this regional had to be the 2008 AL MVP, who won the award by leading the league in hits and runs scored.  He also won the Gold Glove, which is ironic because in the two games that his teams played in this tournament, Pedroia made THREE errors, all of them leading to runs for the opposition.  As a reminder, on the Basic X-Chart, a 2B-1 has no chance of allowing a hit and ONE chance of making an error–with a roll of 17 on the d20 split die–and Pedroia managed to hit that error nearly every time he got an X-chance.   Pedroia was only the 4th second baseman in American League history to win the MVP, and the first since Nellie Fox nearly half a century earlier (for trivia buffs, the other two were Charlie Gehringer and Joe Gordon).  However, in this tournament he was uniquely valuable--for the other team.

 

REGIONAL #169:  The teams that initially caught my eye in this draw were the ‘84 Cubs, who I remembered winning their division, and the ‘86 Twins, who were one year away from their epic World Series win.  There were also a couple of vintage Red Sox teams that I thought would be Splinter-less, a Pirates team from the 90s that might have preceded their descent into irrelevancy, and a Braves team that most likely bore little resemblance to their great teams of the next decade.  Although I was pulling for a Cubs/White Sox final, I had the feeling that the Sox wouldn’t be able to hold up their end of the bargain, so I figured that the Cubs would instead beat the Pirates mainly to spite me.   However, the ELO rankings did actually predict a Sox/Cubs matchup, one that the Cubs, who were ranked as the only good team in the regional, should win easily with the bottom of the bracket consisting of apparent mediocrities.

First round action

The 1986 Twins would win the Series the following season, and although this version managed to lose 91 games they had the pieces in place with Kirby Puckett 6th in the MVP balloting and Gary Gaetti also getting some votes.  However, their pitching bore the signs of working in the Homerdome, with Frank Viola (16-13, 4.51) allowing 37 HR, still better than teammate Bert Blyleven’s total of 50.  The 1989 Braves were also starting to put together a great club, but they were even further away, losing 97 games with problems opposite from the Twins, with a rather punchless offense but a young staff fronted by 22 year old John Smoltz (12-11, 2.94).  Twins LF Randy Bush leads off the game with a bang, more specifically a converted HR 1-4 split,  Puckett makes it 2-0 with a solo shot in the 3rd, and in the 5th Kent Hrbek misses a HR 1-8 split but drives in two on the resulting double to extend the Twins lead.  In the 8th, Oddibe McDowell breaks the shutout by finding one of Viola’s HR results for a solo shot, and a Lonnie Smith single makes the Twins look in their pen–but they look away in horror and stick with Viola.  He walks an aged Dale Murphy, but Twins SS-3 Greg Gagne then turns a nifty DP to end the inning and prevent further damage.  Viola then survives the 9th to finish up a 6-hitter and send the Twins to the semifinals with a 4-1 win.

Once again, the top two ranked teams in the regional face off in the first round; once I discovered the ELO rankings, I briefly thought about structuring each regional according to those seedings but that wouldn’t be fair to those teams that played in this tournament 40 years ago, so random it is and the #1 seeded 1984 Cubs face the #2 seed 1953 Red Sox in round one.  The Cubs won 96 games and the NL East, barely losing to the Padres in the NLCS, and they boasted a solid lineup and a remarkable year from midseason acquisition Rick Sutcliffe (16-1, 2.69).  The Red Sox went 84-69 and Mel Parnell (21-8, 3.06) got some MVP votes; Ted Williams spent most the season in Korea but he had a killer partial card with 91 remarkable ABs that would restrict his appearances until after the 5th inning.   A walk and a Larry Bowa double in the top of the 2nd set up a 2-run single from Bob Dernier and the Cubs move out to an early lead, and then Ryne Sandberg leads off the 3rd with a homer to extend it.  Sutcliffe doesn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the 4th, but the second hit he allows is a 2-run homer by (temporary) DH Del Wilber; then with two away he gives up a solo tape measure shot to Dick Gernert and the game is tied.  The Cubs respond immediately in the top of the 5th with back to back doubles from Leon Durham and Ron Cey, and Cey races home on a Keith Moreland single to put the Cubs back up by two.  That is more than enough for Sutcliffe, who reasserts control for the rest of the game, striking out the side in the 9th (including Williams) to toss a 4-hitter to seal the Cubs’ 5-3 win.

The 1963 Red Sox went 76-85 and no longer had Ted Williams camped in LF, but as a replacement they had a promising 23 year old in Carl Yastrzemski and a 20 game winner in Bill Monbouquette (20-10, 3.81) to serve as their round one starter.  They were slight ELO favorites over the 2013 Blue Jays, who had a similar 74-88 record but were a distinctly modern team sporting five guys with 20+ homers that struck out a lot, a deep bullpen and a very shallow rotation with RA Dickey (14-12, 4.21) at the front.   The game begins eventfully for Jays SS-3 Jose Reyes, whose error in the top of the 1st helps load the bases with nobody out, but whose highlight defensive play manages to end the inning with no runs scoring.  To cap that off, he then leads off the bottom of the 1st with a solo HR.   But then Monbouquette gets stingy and although Dickey is tossing a shutout, the Jays decide to move to their stack of relievers early fearing Dickey’s gopher ball issues and Steve Delabar comes in to begin the 6th.  That doesn’t work very well, as after two quick outs Bob Tillman hits a solo shot and the game is tied.  Edwin Encarnacion matches that in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot of his own, and then Colby Rasmus misses his HR split for an opportunity to make it two in a row, but with the resulting double Boston moves to their relief ace, Dick Radatz, who strands Rasmus at second.  Now down by a run, disaster strikes for Boston in the 7th when Yaz is lost to injury for the rest of the regional, and then in the bottom of the inning Ryan Goins rips an RBI double through the legs of 1B-5 Dick “Dr. Strangeglove” Stuart, and then Reyes rips another through the wickets of P-5 Radatz to extend the Jays lead to 4-1.  In the 8th, Bob Costas’s nemesis Gary Geiger crushes a solo shot off new Jays reliever Brett Cecil and one out later Lu Clinton smacks another, and suddenly it’s a one-run game.  Radatz holds in the bottom of the inning, and the game heads to the top of the 9th with Cecil on the shortest of leashes.  Felix Mantilla draws a two-out walk to bring up the slot formerly occupied by Yaz, but injury replacement Roman Meijas is no Yaz and he flies out harmlessly to give Cecil a sloppy save and the Jays the trip to the semis with the 4-3 win.  

The years between the Black Sox and the Go-Go Sox tended to be a bleak wasteland for the South Siders, and the 65-83 1938 White Sox were not a powerhouse, although they did sport four .300 hitters at the top of the lineup, a couple more on the bench, and a promising young pitcher on the mound in Monty Stratton (15-9, 4.01), who would tragically lose his leg after a hunting accident that November, ending his major league career although he did later pitch with remarkable success in the minors.  They were slight ELO favorites against the 1993 Pirates, who went 75-87, who had won the NL East the previous season but went into a steep decline after losing Barry Bonds to free agency; Steve Cooke (10-10, 3.89) was the best of a bad rotation.  The portents are bad for Stratton in the top of the 1st when Jay Bell leads off with a single, and then Lonnie Smith finds and converts Stratton’s HR split for quick and crooked number.  One batter later, Andy Van Slyke nails a solo shot on his own card, and then in the 2nd Smith again finds’ Stratton’s longball, this time with two out and two on, and it’s now 6-0 and that’s the end of the Monty Stratton story in this tournament, #2 starter Thornton Lee coming in to relieve.  That doesn’t stop the bleeding, as in the 3rd a two-out error by Sox SS-3 Boze Berger sets up a three-run homer from #9 hitter Kevin Young, who converts a HR 1/DO for the shot, although the Sox finally get a run on a Gee Walker RBI single in the bottom of the inning.  The hits just keep coming for the Pirates, who score four more in the 4th on three extra base hits, including an Al Martin triple, and then things settle down until the 7th, when Sox PH extraordinaire Merv Conners misses a HR 1-16 split but does drive in a run with the resulting double.  In the bottom of the 9th, Luke Appling comes off the bench to contribute an RBI single but manager Jimmy Dykes pinch hits to record the final out as the Pirates coast to a 13-3 win.  

The survivors

In the semifinals it was now time for the bracket favorite 1984 Cubs to see just how good they were without their ace Sutcliffe on the mound, but their rotation was decent and Dennis Eckersley (10-8, 3.03) was a strong option.  The 1986 Twins decided to risk Bert Blyleven (17-14, 4.01) and his 50 HR allowed that resulted in two complete and one partial HR result on his card, hoping that the Cubs wouldn’t notice those outcomes.  In the bottom of the 1st, the Cubs don’t find those HR results but they do find two singles and a double all on Blyleven’s card and they jump to a 2-0 lead after one.  A two out, two run single from Kent Hrbek ties things up in the 3rd, and things remain that way until the bottom of the 6th when Jody Davis puts a 2-run shot in the Wrigley bleachers (off his own card).  When the Twins begin the 7th with back to back missed-split doubles by Randy Bush and Kirby Puckett, the Cubs summon Warren Brusstar from the pen and he rapidly quells the threat, and it’s a one-run game to enter the 9th.  The Cubs bring in defensive replacements and Lee Smith to close against the top of the Twins order, and he walks Bush but Puckett hits into a double play and Gaetti fans so it’s Cubs win, 4-3, and they head to the finals in pursuit of the franchise’s 7th regional crown.

This semifinal featured two teams with very similar mediocre records and rankings, the 2013 Blue Jays with Mark Buehrle (12-10, 4.15) on the mound and the 1993 Pirates who were going with Paul Wagner (8-8, 4.27), although interestingly each team had a fully rested reliever in their pen who had zero hits on their card.  The Pirates put up a run in the bottom of the 1st when Jay Bell scores on an Al Martin grounder, but in the top of the 2nd the Jays respond with a small 2-out rally when Melky Cabrera doubles and Macier Izturis singles him home to tie the game.  However, in the bottom of the inning an error by SS-3 Jose Reyes loads the bases for the Pirates with two outs, and Martin steps to the plate to deliver a monstrous grand slam as the Pittsburgh offense continues to churn out runs as they did in round one.  Colby Rasmus delivers an RBI single in the top of the 3rd to narrow the gap to 5-2, and the Jays give up on Buehrle and move quickly to their excellent pen and Steve Delabar, who saw some action in the first round.  Delabar survives the 3rd but begins the 4th with two walks and an error from 3B-2 Brett Lawrie, and the Jays summon hitless wonder Sergio Santos to try to get out of the bases loaded, nobody out jam.   The infield comes in and Santos elicits three straight groundouts with each runner nailed at home, and he is mobbed coming back to the dugout and the Three Rivers crowd is getting a little nervous.  However, the Jays momentum halts when their RF Jose Bautista is knocked out of the rest of the regional with an injury to end the 5th, but when they put runners on 1st and 3rd with two away in the 7th the Pirates bring in Stan Belinda and he gets the third out to preserve the lead.  In the 8th, Jays injury replacement Rajai Davis is himself injured, the third injury of the game for Toronto, and they are beginning to wonder if they will need to pull people out of the stands to finish the game.  The Pirates bring in reliever Joel Johnston in the 9th to try to close out the game, and he gets two quick outs but then allows two consecutive singles to Jays pinch-hitters, and given his gopher ball problems the Jays immediately move to Blais Minor to pitch to Reyes.  Reyes responds with hard single off Minor that scores a run, and with the tying run on and the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of dangerous Edwin Encarnacion, the Pirates are forced to bring in their own hitless reliever, Mark Dewey, to try to end this once and for all.  Dewey delivers, Encarnacion swings, and he crushes a ball that may have landed in one of the rivers, a three-run shot that puts the Jays ahead that stuns the crowd.  The decision now belongs to Jays reliever Juan Perez, and he comes out and retires the heart of the Pirates order 1-2-3, and the Jays record an epic 6-5 come-from-behind win that sends them to the finals–with three outfielders injured and three relievers burnt.  

This regional final looked like a lopsided one.  The #1 seed, division winning 1984 Cubs had a healthy lineup, a bullpen with all arms available at least for a few innings, and a strong number three starter in Scott Sanderson (8-5, 3.14) ready to go; the #4 seeded 2013 Blue Jays, who had survived two scares to get this far, sported three injured outfielders and three well-used relievers who would be unavailable for this game, and Esmil Rogers (5-9, 4.77) was the only remaining starting option for the Jays, and he wasn’t a good option.  That proves obvious quickly, as Rogers walks the first two Cubs in the top of the 1st and then finally throws a strike to Ryne Sandberg, who bounces it off the hotel windows in the SkyDome courtesy of a solid HR result on Rogers card.   After an error by Jays SS-3 Jose Reyes, Jody Davis again finds the same HR result on Rogers, meaning that Rogers has now allowed the requisite 5 runs in 2/3rds of an inning and can be pulled; a petition is immediately started by the beleaguered Toronto fans to ironically rename the ballpark the Rogers Centre, after the embattled pitcher to commemorate his tournament 67.16 ERA.  The Cubs add another run in the 4th on a Bob Dernier RBI double, but the Jays finally respond in the bottom of the inning when a 2-out error by RF-2 Henry Cotto sets up Adam Lind for a long 2-run homer that narrows the lead to 6-2.  Unfazed, the Cubs keep it going in the 5th with a 2-run single that chases reliever Darren Oliver for game 1 savior Brett Cecil, although the Jays put up a run on a JP Arencibia fielder's choice in the 7th as a reminder to the Cubs that these Jays have come back from serious deficits before.  In the bottom of the 9th, the Jays get a couple of hits to make Sanderson sweat, but he retires Arencibia on a lazy fly to end the game and clinch the 7th regional for the Cubs with the 8-3 win, with all seven teams coming from different decades.  

Interesting card of Regional #169:  This group had a number of interesting cards; 1953 Ted Williams was a marvel to behold in his 91 at bats, but he was just featured in the last regional, and while 1938 Merv Connors and his 1.146 OPS was an interesting find, neither he nor his team did much of anything.  In contrast, the 2013 Blue Jays were a sub-.500 squad that got to the regional finals in part due to a remarkable bullpen, and this card was the most remarkable of all.   If you need some help from the pen, it just doesn’t get much better than the card of Sergio Santos; the batters can only hope they roll on their own card because they won’t find any help here.  Initially drafted as a position player, Santos was converted to a pitcher in the minors and came to the majors with the White Sox.  He wasn’t entirely a low-IP one year wonder, either, as he saved 30 games with the Sox in 2011.  He was traded to the Jays after that season, but missed much of 2012 after developing shoulder problems early in the season.  This 2013 card represents his efforts to work back into form after his injury, and those efforts were remarkably successful.  However, the next season was the exact opposite, where nearly everyone he faced was either a hit or a walk, with a 2.190 WHIP in even fewer innings than he had in 2013, and the Jays released him.  In a couple of stints with different teams in 2015, it was obvious that his shoulder problems had returned and that his career was over, but for these 26 innings in 2013, he was truly untouchable.   

REGIONAL #168:   This bracket seemed to have a thing for the Twins, with three different entries that I thought could each possibly compete.  After all, there weren’t any pennant winners and although there was a Marlins team just two seasons off from a pennant, my recollection was that they had immediately dismantled their team after their Series win and so would probably be pretty bad.  I remembered the Astros from this era, three years before their first pennant, as pretty strong, and I thought that some stars like Hondo, Killebrew, and Teddy Ballgame could possibly lead their squads to victory.  My hunch was that the Astros and the most modern of the Twins teams would meet in the finals, and even though a similar Twins team had captured their bracket a couple of regionals ago (Regional #165), the same could be said about the Astros (Regional #84) and I went with Houston to win.  I was amazed to find that the ELO ranks had those Twins as first round underdogs to the Senators, and that the ELO prediction was the Splinter’s Red Sox over the Senators in the finals.

First round action

One thing that the 1957 Red Sox and the 1971 Twins had in common was that they were each the last team from their season to play in this tournament (1971 teams had won 3 regionals, while 1957 had won 2).   The Red Sox were the top ELO seed, going 82-72 to finish 3rd in the AL; by far their biggest weapon was MVP runner-up Ted Williams, but they also had a very good top starter in Frank Sullivan (14-11, 2.73) who unfortunately had one of the worst DP combinations in recent tournament history backing him up.  The 74-86 Twins had Tony Oliva getting some MVP votes and although Harmon Killebrew was beginning to decline, 20 year old Bert Blyleven (16-15, 2.82) was coming into his own.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Killebrew draws a walk, gets singled to third by Leo Cardenas, and Killer races (?) home when Sullivan uncorks a wild pitch that gets past Reds C-2 Sammy White, but Williams crushes a solo shot in the 4th to tie things back up.  That doesn’t last long as in the bottom of the inning Killebrew singles, gets to third courtesy of a two-base error by Boston SS-4 Billy Klaus, and Killer scores again on a George Mitterwald sac fly and the Twins regain the lead.  They add to that lead in the 5th on an RBI single from Cesar Tovar, and Blyleven is baffling the Red Sox, cruising until there are two outs in the 9th, when Jimmy Piersall singles and RF-2 Oliva misplays it to send Piersall to second and Teddy Ballgame to the plate as the tying run.  Although Blyleven objects, the Twins call for the intentional walk with 1st base open, even though it brings the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Jackie Jensen.  A grumbling Blyleven then walks Jensen and the bases are loaded for Dick Gernert; the Twins stick with their ace and Gernert singles off Blyleven’s card; Piersall scores and it’s up to Williams (who probably should have been pinch run for but you try telling him he’s coming out of the game) to try to score to tie the game, 1-11 with the two out boost.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t home Blyleven; the roll is a 13, Williams is out and the game is over, Twins win 3-2 in dramatic fashion and the first (and best-ranked) of the three Minnesota entries moves on.

The 2002 Astros won 84 games to finish 2nd in the NL Central behind the “Killer Bs” of Bagwell, Berkman and Biggio, and Roy Oswalt (19-9, 3.01) finished 4th in the Cy Young ballots.  They faced the 1993 Cubs, who also won 84 games (and also had Jose Vizcaino as their starting SS) but only finished 4th in their division; the Cubs got a career year out of catcher Rich Wilkins but also had Sosa, Sandberg and Grace with decent years, although with a mediocre rotation they felt that swingman Jose Bautista (10-3, 2.82) would give them the best chance of moving on.  The Cubs strike quickly as Sandberg locates and converts Oswalt’s HR split for a solo shot in the top of the 1st, but Houston ties it in the 2nd when Bagwell scores on a double play ball.  The Cubs find themselves B-hind in the 4th when Berkman doubles and Bagwell follows with a 2-run homer, and when Daryle Ward leads off the 7th with a double Bautista is pulled for 53-save closer Randy Myers, who ends the threat without incident.  However, the Cubs can never get it going against Oswalt, who finishes with a 5-hitter as the Astros win 3-1, despite only recording four hits themselves.

The second of three Minnesota entries in the regional, the 2015 Twins were a middling 83-79 team that did have 8 players in the lineup with double digit homers (although most weren’t very good at getting on base), mostly decent defense, and the recently acquired Ervin Santana (7-5, 4.00) tapped for the round one start.  I was surprised that they were slight ELO underdogs to the 1969 Senators, as my memory of that short-lived version of the franchise before they moved to Texas was that they were never competitive, but in fact manager Ted Williams managed to lead the club to an 86-76 record with big Frank Howard 4th in the MVP vote and teammate Mike Epstein getting some votes as well, and Dick Bosman (14-5, 2.19) leading the league in ERA while heading a strong rotation.   Both pitchers lock things down until the 6th, when the Twins convert a couple of singles into a run on a sac fly by Joe Mauer, although the inning ends when Eduardo Escobar misses a chance at a grand slam with a HR 1-3/flyB split.  The Twins bring in some defense for the bottom of the 7th, but Bernie Allen leads off with a triple, only the second of the game off Santana, and with the lead on the line the Twins go to the pen for Kevin Jepson and bring the infield in, electing to pitch to Howard.  Hondo grounds out but Mike Epstein draws a walk, and the Twins keep the infield in for the pitch to DH Brant Alyea, who rips an RBI single and there’s still only one out, game tied, runners on 1st and 3rd, infield still in.  Ken McMullen drills a grounder but SS-2 Escobar fields it cleanly, looks the runner on 3rd back, and records the second out.  It’s now up to the other Lee Maye with two out and two runners in scoring position, and Maye finds a 2-run single on Jepsen’s card–the only complete hit to be found anywhere on the card–and the Senators take the lead.  But Minnesota is not done yet, as Aaron Hicks promptly leads off the 8th with a triple and scores on Mauer’s second sac fly of the game, and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th with Bosman trying to hang on.  He does so in convincing fashion, retiring the Twins in order and the Senators advance with a 3-2 win, continuing the trend in the regional for pitching duels with Bosman tossing a 5-hitter while the Senators only manage four hits of their own–but three of them were in the same inning.

The third Twins team of the regional, the 1999 Twins, was the worst of the three, losing 97 and according to their ELO rank was the worst team in the AL that year.  Fortunately for them, they were playing the worst ranked team in all of baseball that season, the 1999 Marlins, who had won the Series just two years earlier but had been totally disassembled into a 98-loss squad; Alex Fernandez (7-8, 3.38) was embarrassed to be fronting the collection of misfits that passed for a rotation, while Eric Milton (7-11, 4.49) would try to keep the ball in the park for the Twins.  The Twins get a run in the top of the 1st when Marty Cordova and Jacque Jones both double off Fernandez’s card, but it evaporates quickly when in the bottom of the inning Luis Castillo leads off with a walk, steals second, scores on a Bruce Aven single, and then Aven ultimately scores on a sac fly by Kevin Millar, who is so embarrassed to be a Marlin he doesn’t even have his name on the card.  They extend their lead in the 5th in similar fashion, as with two out Castillo singles, steals second on a helpless Terry Steinbach, and scores on another Aven single.  However, in the 6th Jones gets on courtesy of the 3rd error of the game by the Marlins infield, and Chad Allen drives him home with a triple off Fernandez’s card; the Marlins scan their pen but see no answers there, so they bring the infield in but Steinbach singles over their heads to tie the game.  Marlins 2b-2 Castillo then makes his second error of the game, booting a DP ball that would have ended the inning, but instead the Twins take the lead.  Afraid of Milton’s longball issues, the Twins bring in Bob Wells to pitch the bottom of the 7th, and in the 8th they get some insurance from a Christian Guzman sac fly although the Marlins get the run back when Castillo walks, records his third steal of the game, and scores on a Cliff Floyd single.  Thus, the game enters the 9th as a one-run affair, and when the Twins go down quietly in the top of the inning they bring in 37-year old reliever Rick Aguilera and his 1.27 ERA to try to set the Florida sun.  He does so without a scratch, and the Twins take the 5-4 seesaw win to advance to the semis.

The survivors

The #2 seed 2002 Astros were the highest ranked team to survive to the semifinal rounds, although they didn’t generate a lot of offense in round one; still, Wade Miller (15-4, 3.28) was a capable number two starter who might not need a lot of run support.  However, the 1971 Twins had knocked off the #1 seed in the first round so they felt ready for the second seed, opting for swingman Tom Hall (4-7, 3.32) over a couple of workhorses in Jims Kaat and Perry.  The game remains knotted until there are two out in the bottom of the 6th, when Jeff Bagwell makes the crowd forget their bad investments in Enron with a two run homer and a Houston lead.  When the Astros get runners on first and third in the 8th, the Twins look to the pen but realize that their best reliever is the guy already in the game, so Hall delivers to Bagwell and SS-2 Leo Cardenas bails him out with a clutch DP.  So it’s up to Miller to preserve the two run lead facing the heart of the Minnesota order, and he does so in style, striking out Oliva, Killebrew and Cardenas in succession to wrap up the 5-hit shutout and send the Astros to the finals with the 2-0 win.

The last remaining of three Minnesota squads to begin the regional, the #7 seed 1999 Twins were decided underdogs against the #3 seeded 1969 Senators, who had Casey Cox (12-7, 2.77) up next in a deep rotation that Twins starter Brad Radke (12-14, 3.75) might not have made.  The Nats run themselves out of a rally in the 3rd when Ed Brinkman (1-12) is nailed trying to score on a Del Unser single, and the Twins come alive in the bottom of the inning opening with three straight singles followed by a base-clearing double from Marty Cordova and the Twins move out front by three.  In the 5th, Cordova adds a triple to his quest for a cycle and he scores on a Corey Koskie single to make it 4-0.  The Twins enter the 6th thinking about defensive replacements, but two Senator singles and an error by Twins SS-3 Christian Guzman load the bases, and Radke then loses control and walks Mike Epstein and Brant Alyea and there is still nobody out and they decide it’s time for Rick Aguilera out of the pen.  He gets Ken McMullen to line out, but then the other Lee Maye delivers a single and this time the Nats runner successfully scores from second, and it’s now a tie game.  In the 7th, Unser walks and then Twins CF-2 Torii Hunter misplays a Bernie Allen single, sending Unser to third and he scores when Frank Howard misses a HR 1-3/flyB split; two batters later, Alyea doesn’t miss his HR split for a 2-run shot and the Senators now lead 7-4.  A two-out RBI single from Howard in the 8th provides more insurance, but Cox doesn’t really need it as he finishes things out and the Senators head to the finals with the 8-4 win.

The two regional finalists got this far by playing against stereotype; the steroid era 2002 Astros only allowed a total of one run in their two games, but they only scored five themselves, while the 1969 Senators from the pitching-dominated ‘60s put up nearly three times as many runs as the Astros while allowing more runs than the the latter scored.  The #2 seeded Astros had no choice but to start Carlos Hernandez (7-5, 4.38) while the #3 seed Senators opted for workhorse Joe Coleman (12-13, 3.27), and it’s the Senators who strike first in the bottom of the first on a display of blazing speed from Frank Howard, who legs out a two-out double and then scores (1-8, +2 two out bonus) on a Mike Epstein single.  In the 2nd, Hernandez walks two straight and then Paul Casanova beats out a bunt to load the bases for Del Unser, who doubles in two; the Nats hold Casanova at 3rd and the Astros, sensing the game getting out of hand, bring the infield in for Bernie Allen, who rips a gbA++ through the infield for another two runs.  A Frank Howard single and Houston clearly has a problem, so Hernandez is gone and Octavio Dotel finally ends the inning with the Senators up 5-0.  In the top of the 3rd, the Astros load the bases with two out for Jeff Bagwell, who has provided 80% of the Houston offense in this tournament, but Coleman strikes him out to end the threat.  In the bottom of the 5th an error by 1B-3 Jeff Bagwell sets up an RBI single for Ed Brinkman for additional insurance, although Bagwell atones by leading off the 6th with a homer to get the ‘Stros on the scoreboard.  However, in the 7th it’s clear that Coleman is tiring, and he yields a three-run shot to Berkman that makes the score 6-4 and the rather mediocre Nats bullpen is on red alert.  Houston moves to their closer Billy Wagner and the Senators can’t do anything against him, and it comes down to Coleman against the Killer B’s in the top of the 9th.  After retiring Biggio, Geoff Blum walks, but Berkman whiffs and it’s two out with Bagwell at the plate.  The roll is on Bagwell’s card, HR 1-10, he converts the split and the game is tied.  That’s it for Coleman and Bob Humphreys comes in to get the third out; Wagner holds serve in the bottom of the 9th and we head to extra innings.  By this time, Wagner is toast and Tom Gordon comes in for the Astros, and in the bottom of the 11th Bagwell makes his second error of the game on a Howard grounder and Epstein walks; Ken McMullen then singles and after an agonizing decision they send Hondo (1-8) home with one away to try to win the game.  He lumbers in, performs a slide into home that registers on local seismometers, and evades the tag from Ausmus with a “2” split roll and RFK Stadium erupts as the Senators win 7-6 and earn only the second regional win for this version of the franchise.  And so Ted Williams, who as a player in this regional got his team bounced when he was nailed at the plate to end the game, decides as a manager to send his slowest runner home and this time it pays off.

Interesting card of Regional #168:  The best player on the top seeded team in the regional as well as the manager of the bracket-winning 1969 Senators (in fact, winning Manager of the Year in 1969 for getting that club over .500), this is the card of a 38-year old Ted Williams who led his league in batting average, OBP, SLG%, and of course OPS–but finished 2nd in the MVP voting to Mickey Mantle.   Back in Regional #131, I featured Mantle’s 1958 card and I wondered why he only finished 5th in the MVP voting, and I now suspect it was payback for a perhaps undeserved win in ‘57.  As evidenced in the presented newspaper clipping, the vote was quite controversial, with the outcome apparently determined by two sportswriters from Chicago not listing Williams among the top 8 players in the league.  That ballot was also the 10 year anniversary of another MVP vote in 1947, where Williams had a Triple Crown but the MVP was awarded to another Yankees centerfielder, with one “midwestern” writer leaving Williams off his ballot entirely. Although Williams mellowed some in his older years, by all accounts he was widely disliked while he played, not just in Chicago but by pretty much the entire league, including most people in Boston.  As Bill James describes him:  “He made obscene gestures at fans, carried on decades-long vendettas against selected reporters, sometimes didn’t treat his family well, sometimes didn’t hustle or even make any show of hustling in the field or on the bases, was obsessed with his own success, was contemptuous of coaches and some managers, and alternated in his dealings with the fans between rugged charm and uncharted rudeness.”  (2001, p. 652).  Although this is without question a great Strat hitting card, it is noteworthy that it was his lack of hustle, getting cut down at the plate as the tying run to end the game, that bounced his team from the tournament in the first round.  

REGIONAL #167:  The Padres won their first regional in quite a while last time out, and they apparently decided to press their luck with two entries in this grouping, one of them fairly close to the pennant winners that took the prior bracket.  However, they won’t be the featured attraction here; that honor will belong to a certain infamous home run hitter in his record-breaking year, and a certain  pennant winning team infamous for their former trashcan-bangers.  Add to the mix a Yankees team from a few seasons before they broke the MLB record for wins in a season, a Mets team the season after their most recent NL pennant, and there should be some fireworks.   I guessed that “cheaters never win” wouldn’t hold here, and that Bonds would lead the Giants to the finals but that the Astros would prevail.  The ELO season-ending ranking for the Astros also put them as the tournament favorite, but picked a different opponent in the finals as those rankings predicted that Bonds would get his comeuppance from the Yankees in the first round.

First round action

The 87-win 2016 Mets made a brief postseason appearance as a wild card team, but it seemed like they could have gone further with a lineup with some power and a strong pitching staff fronted by 23-year old phenom Noah Syndergaard (14-9, 2.60).  I didn’t see how they could be ELO underdogs to the 1989 Padres, who did win 89 games but had little pop aside from Jack Clark, although Tony Gwynn led the league in hitting and Bruce Hurst (15-11, 2.69) was a decent option on the mound.  The Mets turn on the power quickly as Neil Walker leads off the game with a moon shot; the Padres decide to play the smallball game and it works in the 4th as Bip Roberts singles, steals second, and scores on a Roberto Alomar base hit to tie the game.  When Curtis Granderson leads off the 7th for the Mets with a tiebreaking blast, the Padres waste no time and bring in Mark Davis to try to keep things close, and Chris James makes him the pitcher of record with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to tie the game back up.  In the 8th, Alomar doubles with one out to bring up Gwynn and the Mets turn to Addison Reed to try to keep him from scoring; P-4 Reed makes a miracle play on a Gwynn grounder and then he retires Clark and the game heads to the 9th with the tie in the hands of the bullpens.  Both pitchers navigate the 9th successfully, and it’s time for extra innings.  The Padres decide to burn Davis with his last inning for the regional as he’s been masterful, and he wraps up with a 1-2-3 inning, but Reed holds serve in the bottom of the inning and SD summons Greg Harris to begin the 11th and the Mets have no luck against him either.  To try to preserve Reed somewhat, the Mets move to their closer Jeurys Familia in the bottom of the 11th and both relievers continue to churn through the batters.  In the top of the 13th, Walker misses a HR 1-3/flyB to end the inning, and then in the bottom of the inning a leadoff walk to Roberts and an Alomar double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and hit machine Gwynn at the plate.  The infield comes in, the 51-save Familia delivers, and SS-2 Asdrubel Cabrera makes a highlight play to keep the runners in place and get Gwynn at first.  Familia then whiffs Clark and now with two outs, he  stares down the next batter in an attempt at intimidation.  But yelling a war cry of “I’m Chris James, b*tch”, that batter rips a liner that bounces off the wall and Roberts trots home with the winning run, giving the Padres the walkoff 3-2 win in 13 innings.   

In the marquee game of the first round, the #2 seeded 1994 Yankees faced the #3 2001 Giants, with the strike year Yankees going 70-43 for the best record in the AL, although there was no postseason for them to conquer.  There was a vote for the Cy Young Award, and Jimmy Key (17-4, 3.27) came in 2nd in it; the 90-win Giants (2nd in the NL West) would counter with their best starter by far, Russ Ortiz (17-9, 3.29).  However, the featured attraction for the Giants was the record setting Barry Bonds, who hit almost as many homers as the Yanks starters combined (albeit in a shortened season).  However, it’s not Bonds but Shawon Dunston who gets the early lead for the Giants with a long 2-run homer in the 2nd, but RF-3 Dunston immediately gives those runs back in the bottom of the inning by committing two errors resulting in two runs.  However, he tries to atone in the 4th with a 2-out solo shot that continues his attempt to account for all the runs in the game and gives the lead back to SF.  The Giants begin to get to Key in the 7th and when defensive replacement Calvin Murray knocks an RBI single, the Yanks opt for a Key change and summon Steve Howe from the powder room.  But Benito Santiago proves to be a buzzkill by greeting Howe with an RBI single, and then John Vanderwal rips a 2-run single through the drawn-in infield and by the time Howe whiffs Bonds to end the inning the Giants have pulled away to a 7-2 lead.  Ortiz is looking adequate until the bottom of the 9th, when the 4th Giants error of the game, this one by 3B-3 Ramon E. Martinez (I guess we now know what the E stands for), sets up a 2-run single for Luis Polonia and the margin narrows with nobody out.  The Giants wish to take no chances and bring in Felix Rodriguez and his 1.68 ERA to close things out, but the Yanks aren’t done yet as after an out Paul O’Neill doubles in Polonia and it’s a two-run game.  A walk to Mike Stanley and Danny Tartabull comes up as the winning run; the roll is a HR 1/flyB on FRod but the split is a 17 and there’s two out.  It’s up to longtime Yankee Bernie Williams, but Rodriguez blows it past him for strike three and it’s game over, the Giants hang on for the 7-5 win–with no help from Bonds. 

At the time of this writing, the 2021 card set was the most recent available and the 95-win 2021 Astros were the AL pennant winners from that set; of course, it turned out that they went on to win both the AL and the Series this yet-to-be-printed season.  The 2021 version didn’t have quite the same pitching without Verlander, but Lance McCullers (13-5, 3.16) came in 7th in the Cy Young voting (while leading the league in walks issued) and the lineup had pop from top to almost bottom (sorry, Martin Maldonado).  The 1995 Padres went 70-74 in a strike year, but they had many of the same players as the ‘98 team that captured the previous regional, with Andy Ashby (12-10, 2.94) getting the round one start here.  The Padres serve notice of their capabilities in the top of the 1st, when after two quick outs they grab a 1-0 lead when Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti hit back-to-back doubles–the former hit past CF-3 Chas McCormick, and does anyone want to bet that he’s a better fielder in 2022 after his WS catch??  The Padres add another run in the 3rd when Bip Roberts doubles and scores on a Gwynn single, and when Gwynn strokes a one-out double in the 6th for his 3rd hit of the game, McCullers is pulled for Kendall Graveman, who escapes the inning without incident.  With their offense struggling, the Astros move to their bench and pinch hit Jason Castro for Maldonado to lead off the bottom of the 6th, and Castro responds by putting the ball in the Crawford boxes to make it a one-run game; two outs later and Kyle Tucker does the same and the game is tied.  The Padres load the bases with one away in the top of the 7th but Graveman escapes with no damage, and in the 8th the Astros bring in closer Ryan Pressly who sets the Padres down in order and we head to the 9th with the game still deadlocked.  In the top of the 9th PH Marc Newfield leads off with a double and Ray Holbert comes in to pinch run as the go-ahead run in scoring position; after two outs another PH Archi Cianfrocco singles, the fleet Holbert races for home and scores easily, and it’s now up to Ashby in the bottom of the 9th as the Astros face elimination but have the meat of the order scheduled to bat.  Altuve grounds out; Tucker grounds out; and Yordan Alvarez then rips a grounder to 2B-2 Jody Reed, who gobbles it up, tosses to first, and Padres magic continues with the 3-2 win as Ashby finishes out a 3-hitter.  The Astros’ loss means that both 2021 pennant winners were first round casualties, not a good showing for the current card set.   Worthy of note:  in playing this game the cardstock for the 1995 team was so much thicker than that for the 2021 team that I had to keep checking the ‘95 cards because I thought two of them might be stuck together!

The 2000 Reds won 85 games and were a representative steroid-era team with five .300 hitters and eight guys with double-digit homers in the lineup, but a starting rotation that had mainly bad options, with swingman Scott Williamson (5-8, 3.29) looking like the best bet to get them past round one.  Although from a similar period in baseball history, the 94-loss 2004 Blue Jays didn’t have quite the lineup that was seen in their opponents, but they did share the problem of the sorry pitching staffs of that era, with Ted Lilly (12-10, 4.06) as the opening round starter.  The Reds move on top when Ken Griffey Jr. leads off the 2nd with a long blast, but Alexis Rios and Reed Johnson knock back-to-back doubles to begin the bottom of the inning, and after Williamson walks the bases loaded Carlos Delgado rips a 2-run single past 1B-4 Sean Casey and the Jays take a 3-1 lead.  The Reds get one of those runs back in the top of the 3rd when Barry Larkin scores on an Alex Ochoa sac fly, but both pitchers then settle in.  However, in the bottom of the 8th, Williamson has been struggling with control all game and he walks the leadoff batter, and Reed Johnson follows with a triple, his third extra base hit of the game, and the Jays extend their lead.  That brings it to the top of the 9th with a two run Lilly pad, but Lilly allows a leadoff double to PH D.T. Cromer off the pitcher’s card, and then Lilly drops a Michael Tucker grounder to put the tying run on.  The Jays check their pen but don’t like the alternatives much, and decide to give Lilly the chance to work his way out of the jam.  That proves unwise, as Eddie Taubensee then finds and converts Lilly’s HR 1-17 split and the Reds take the lead, and the Jays belatedly summon their closer Jason Frasor, who yields a solo shot to Barry Larkin before the side is retired and in a turnabout it’s now the Reds who take a 2-run edge into the 9th.  However, Williamson as usual can’t find the strike zone and walks the first two batters of the inning, and now it’s the Reds who make the decision to lead their starter in.  So Williamson winds and delivers to Vernon Wells, it’s a 2-12 roll, LOMAX, triple play and the game is over; the Reds win a see-saw 6-4 battle and Williamson survives a 6-hitter in which he walks 8.

The survivors

The 13-inning marathon that got the 1989 Padres to this semifinal game took a serious toll on their bullpen, so they were hoping for a performance from Ed Whitson (16-11, 2.66) that was both strong and long.  The 2001 Giants would start Jason Schmidt (13-7, 4.07) and were mainly hoping that Barry Bonds would wake up after he seemed to nap through most of their round one win.  Their worries continued when Bonds misses a SI* 1-16 split in the bottom of the 1st to kill the inning,  Former Giant Jack Clark shows how it’s done in the top of the 4th with a solo shot that gives the Padres a 1-0 lead; Bonds leads off the bottom of the inning with a feeble groundout but after a whiff, Dunston/Galarraga/Benard/Santiago go double/triple/double/double and the Giants move ahead 3-1.  In the 5th, Giants DH John Vanderwal is knocked out of the game with an injury, but Jeff Kent then singles and Bond hits one out of Pac Bell Park that might have actually reached Candlestick, pushing the Giants lead to 5-1 and to stave off further injuries the defensive replacements begin coming in for the 6th.  Of course, what should happen but one of those replacements, JT Snow, promptly gets injured leading off the inning, but another replacement, CF Calvin Murray, doubles and scores on a single by Ramon E. Martinez and the Giants extend their margin.  However, the Padres magic is not dispelled yet, and a 2-base error by SS-3 Rich Aurelia in the 7th sets up an RBI single from the SD version of Benito Santiago, who is starting for both teams, and then it’s the Padres’ Martinez, Carmelo, blasting a 3-run homer and suddenly it’s a one-run game and there’s still nobody out.  The Giants have seen enough of Schmidt and they turn to Robb Nen to try to hold the lead, and although he allows two more hits the Giants escape when 3B-3 “E” Martinez makes a highlight play on a Gwynn grounder to end the inning.   Fortune smiles on the Giants in the bottom of the inning, as Kent scores from third on a Dunston SI* 1-16 split for which the roll is “16”, but in the 8th the Padres come roaring back as Jack Clark leads off with a double and he scores on a screaming single by Chris James; Nen then drops a Santiago grounder and he’s pulled for game one savior Francisco Rodriguez having recorded no outs in the inning.  FRod shuts down the Padres in order and the game heads to the 9th with SF still clinging to the one-run lead.  Garry Templeton misses a SI* 1-15 split to lead off, but then Alomar gets aboard as Ramon E. Martinez again lives up to his middle name; Alomar is held, and although the Padres think about sending him on the steal they let Gwynn bat, and he singles with Alomar racing to third with only one out.  With Jack Clark up, the Giants opt to hold the A-stealer Gwynn at first to try for the DP; Clark rolls a SI* 1-13 split on FRod but misses the split and there are now 2 outs with game one hero Chris James at the plate.  FRod delivers, a line drive is snared, and the Giants survive and move on to the finals with the 7-6 win; FRod records his second consecutive save but is now burnt for the regional.   

With one Padres team eliminated in the semifinals, it’s up to the 1995 Padres to carry the torch for the second straight regional win for the franchise, and Joey Hamilton (6-9, 3.08) would have a fully rested bullpen if he were to get in trouble.  The 2000 Reds, who only got here because of a 4-run 9th inning comeback, were the ELO favorites here, although after Denny Neagle (8-2, 3.52) the starting pitching options would get ugly fast if they were to make the finals.  The Padres make a statement in the top of the 1st with a long 2-run homer from Ken Caminiti, but the Reds get one back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an Alex Ochoa RBI triple, although Ochoa gets stranded on 3rd when Dante Bichette misses a 2-out SI* 1-10 split.  Caminiti adds an RBI single in the 3rd, and then in the 5th Neagle commits his second error of the game, putting Tony Gwynn on 2nd and he scores when Reds LF-4 Dmitri Young misplays a Caminiti single, giving Ken his 4th RBI of the game.  In the bottom of the inning, Ochoa hits his second triple of the game and scores on a Griffey Jr. sac fly, and the score is now 4-2 Padres.  A leadoff single by Young in the bottom of the 7th and the Padres check their bullpen but are horrified to discover that closer Trevor Hoffman is a gopher ball waiting to happen, so they stick with Hamilton and he gets a DP ball out of Pokey Reese to quiet that threat.  Two straight hits to begin the top of the 8th and it’s the Reds turn to eye the pen, and Neagle is yanked for closer Danny Graves, and he escapes with no damage.  It then becomes a one run game when Barry Larkin leads off the top of the 8th with a homer, and when Chris Stynes singles to bring up Ochoa the Padres feel like they have no choice but to go to their closer Hoffman.  Hoffman gets Ochoa to line into a DP and then whiffs Griffey Jr. so the game heads to the 9th with both closers in and the Padres still up by a run.  Graves survives the top of the inning, and so it’s time to see if the Reds can pull off more 9th inning magic.  Two quick outs, but then Eddie Taubensee singles and Gookie Dawkins comes out to pinch run as Dmitri Young steps to the plate.  But Young grounds out harmlessly and the Padres continue their quest for two straight regionals with the 4-3 win; Ken Caminiti accounts for all the Padres runs and he guarantees that he will give Barry Bonds a dose of his own medicine in the finals.

The finals matched the #4 seeded 2001 Giants and the #7 seed 1995 Padres, and featured two infamous examples of the consequences of the steroid era in Barry Bonds and Ken Caminiti.   Considering the era, both teams were able to field okay #3 starters, with the Giants’ Shawn Estes (9-8, 4.02) against the Padres’ Andy Benes (4-7, 4.17).  In the bottom of the 1st, the Padres rap two singles to start the game, and although Tony Gwynn then hits into a DP, Bip Roberts is able to score to give SD an early 1-0 edge.  In the top of the 4th, Benes whiffs Bonds for the second time in a row, but gets overconfident to the next batter, Rich Aurelia, whose solo shot promptly ties the game, but that doesn’t last long as in the bottom of the inning Brad Ausmus singles, and the rare A-stealing catcher steals second and scores on a Jody Reed double.  Andujar Cedeno then singles in Reed and the Padres lead 3-1, but the inning ends with sparkplug Bip Roberts getting knocked out of the game with an injury that could prove costly.  Both pitchers control things for a while, but in the bottom of the 8th Gwynn leads off with his 3rd hit of the game and Caminiti walks, so the Giants pull Estes for Robb Nen, who gets out of the jam and sends it to the top of the 9th with SF down by two and the heart of the order coming up.  Jeff Kent starts the inning with a single, bringing up Bonds, and the Padres confer but decide an intentional walk that puts the tying run on base is not a good idea, and Benes is instructed to pitch cautiously.  However, he’s struck out Bonds twice already and isn’t afraid to go after him again, and sure enough Bonds whiffs and the Padres are two outs away from the regional win. Next up, Aurelia–whiff, two away.  The adrenaline is roaring in Benes and Shawon Dunston digs in, it’s strike three, and Benes is mobbed as the 3-1 win claims the second straight regional for 90s Padres squads.  And it’s back to the drawers, or perhaps the medicine cabinet, for Bonds and his teammates.

Interesting card of Regional #167:  When I saw that my little random team selector program had spit out the 2001 Giants as an entry in this bracket, I had no doubt what the featured card of the regional was going to have to be.  Has there ever been a more infamous individual season in the history of baseball?  Obviously, this was the season that smashed the home run record.  This card got me thinking about the old-school Strat Hall of Famer set, the ones that were all Basic only (which I obviously appreciate); those cards had a player's career stats represented on one side and their “best” season on the other.  I’m not sure if Bonds will ever make the HOF, but if he did and if Strat ever updated that old set (probably less likely than Bonds getting into the Hall), I wonder what they would select as Bonds’ “best” season?  In terms of OPS, his best season offensively was actually in 2004; however, by that time he had apparently become so musclebound that his fielding (LF-4) and speed (C 1-12) suffered, and to make matters worse he wouldn’t cooperate with the MLBPA and thus the game company couldn’t put his name on the card, seriously spoiling the aesthetics for me.  For me, I’d have to go with this card for his “best season” side, and it would be difficult to imagine that, in a draft involving that set, there would be any left fielder selected before him.