REGIONAL #134:  This week, the tournament was happy to welcome the 1947 and 2021 seasons to the party (most 1986 teams have already played using my originals), which means that the number of competing squads has now gone from 1,932 to 1,978 teams. This is why the tournament is endless, although this regional marks 1,072 different teams that have played so I am a little more than halfway through the collection.  Apparently to celebrate the occasion, my random team selector program picked a team from one of my new seasons, and not just any team, but the AL pennant winner 1947 Yankees.  Not only that, but for the first time in ages a regional draw included a second pennant winner, the 1938 Cubs, and threw in their archrivals the Cards from the same season.  There were also two entries from a Rangers franchise that had only won a regional once before; a Red Sox team deep in the curse of the Babe and an A’s team perhaps contending with the curse of Connie Mack; and a modern Mets squad in a trough between pennants.  Although my instincts told me that one of the three 21st century teams would prevail with their typically greater power and depth, I decided to go old-school and select the 1938 Cardinals in an upset over the Yankees in the final.   The ELO predicts the same two in the final, but ranks the Yankees as big favorites, with a potential semifinal matchup with the Cubs as the most highly anticipated pairing. 

First round action

The 1947 Yankees won 97 games, the AL, and the World Series, with MVP Joe Dimaggio patrolling CF behind a strong pitching staff headed by Superchief Allie Reynolds (19-8, 3.20).  Hot off the Strat printing press but long awaited, they were the 60th best team of all time according to ELO, while Neyer & Epsteins’ _Baseball Dynasties_ had them as 29th best using their standard deviation metric.  By any measure, this was a great team, but in this tournament that can be a curse.  Their opponent, the 2016 Rangers, was no slouch, having won 95 games and the AL West and sporting a core of sluggers unheard of in 1947, and Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32) had recently arrived from the Phillies to anchor the staff.  The Yanks score first when Hamels gets two quick outs, but then walks four batters in succession and New York leads 1-0 despite not having any hits in the game thus far.  In the 4th, the no-hitter ends abruptly as Yogi Berra leads off with a big fly, and then Hamels loads up the bases for Dimaggio, who hits the infamous “9” hole in his primary column to make the 3rd out, but the Yanks lead 2-0.  Charlie Keller leads off the 5th inning by barely converting a SI 1-19 with a 19 roll, then Tommy Henrich misses a HR 1-16/TR roll with an 18 but Keller scores and Berra drives in Henrich with a single that extends the Yankees lead to 4-0.  When the Yanks lead off the 6th with two straight hits, the Rangers decide Hamels isn’t the answer and they bring in their closer Sam Dyson to try to keep their fading hopes alive.  Dyson earns his keep, getting Dimaggio on a popout and inducing a DP ball from Keller and no runs cross the plate.  However, in the 8th the Yanks solve Dyson, with doubles from Berra and George McQuinn scoring two and it could have been worse but once again Dimaggio makes the final out with the bases loaded.  Meanwhile, Reynolds is cruising, and although Carlos Beltran breaks up the shutout in the 9th with a solo shot, it’s too little too late and the Yanks move on to the semifinals with the 6-1 win.  

The 89-63 1938 Cubs won the NL pennant with much the same team that had famously done so in 1935, although they had added Rip Collins from the Gas House Gang and Tony Lazzeri from Murderer’s Row which made for fond memories of those Old-Timer teams that were a big part of my childhood gaming.  The 1950 A’s, on the other hand, lost 102 games and finished last in the AL, and the record of their #1 starter Lou Brissie (7-19, 4.02) was pretty similar to that of the Cubs’ Bill Lee (22-9, 2.66), except in reverse.  Brissie doesn’t start well, walking the bases loaded in the top of the 1st, but the Cubs can only convert one run on a Collins sac fly.  They add a second run in the 2nd on a 2-out RBI single from Augie Galan, but the A’s threaten in the 3rd with three straight singles off Lee’s card to begin the inning.  However, Lee whiffs the next batter and then Cubs 2B-2 Billy Herman turns a beautiful DP and the A’s still have goose eggs on the scoreboard.  Herman adds to his heroics in the 4th with a solo shot off Brissie’s card, although Brissie hangs in there until the 8th, when the Cubs erupt for four runs with a Herman double and a Stan Hack 2-run homer (again off Brissie’s card) makes it a 7-0 lead.  In the bottom of the inning, A’s LF Paul Lehner leads off with a triple and it looks like maybe the A’s will stage a rally, but Lee bears down and the hapless A’s leave him stranded at third, and that’s the last noise that Philadelphia will make as the Cubs win easily 7-0 behind Lee’s 7-hit shutout, setting up a semifinal confrontation between the regional’s two pennant winners.

The 1938 Cardinals were a team in transition from the infamous Gas House Gang to the dynasty that would dominate the NL during the war years, but this squad was not nearly as good as either of those versions, going 71-80 to finish in 6th place.  They faced a 72-90 2002 Rangers team from a distinctly different era, with four players having SLG% greater than .500 but only two starting pitchers that had over 100 IP.  Out of those limited options, the Rangers took a gamble on Kenny Rogers (13-8, 3.84) to go against the Cards’ Bob Weiland (16-11, 3.59).  The Rogers gamble doesn’t pay off, as Enos Slaughter hits a 2-run homer in the 2nd off Rogers’ card, and later in the inning Terry Moore misses the same HR split but drives in two with the resulting double.  Jimmy Brown then singles Moore home, and the Rangers find themselves with a five run deficit heading into the bottom of the 2nd.  However, in the 5th Weiland begins the inning by dropping a groundball, and he seemingly loses composure allowing a single and then a massive 3-run shot by Carl Everett and the gap narrows to 5-3.  With the game tightening, a leadoff single by Slaughter in the 8th chases the Gambler in favor of Francisco Cordero and his 1.79 ERA, but Don Gutteridge greets him with a longball and the score moves to 7-3, although a solo shot by Rafael Palmiero recoups one of those runs in the bottom of the inning.  Weiland holds on until the bottom of the 9th, when an error by Cards SS-3 Lynn Myers is followed by a double from PH Frank Catalanotto, and there is nobody out and the tying run is at the plate with the top of the Rangers order up.  Weiland whiffs Todd Hollandsworth for one out; Everett grounds out; and it’s all up to ARod with the game on the line.   But, he hits a weak grounder and it’s game over with a 7-4 Cardinals win, and the dice mess with Texas as both Rangers entries in this bracket get bounced in the first round.  

The 2009 Mets had some notable players, but unfortunately they tended not to be in the prime of their careers, and they had little starting pitching past Johan Santana (13-9, 3.13), explaining why the team lost 92 games.  They were still ranked as much better than the 52-102 1930 Red Sox, whose hitters seemed to miss the offensive explosion that characterized that season, and whose rotation was fronted by two 20-game losers including their “ace”, Milt Gaston (13-20, 3.93).  The Mets jump out to a lead in the top of the 1st on an Angel Pagan RBI triple, although leading off the 2nd they lose SS Alex Cora to injury for the regional.  The Mets get another run in the 5th on a Carlos Beltran sac fly, but a Phil Todt RBI single in the 6th puts Boston on the board and makes it a one-run game.  The Mets defensive replacements come in for the bottom of the 8th, and when Santana issues a leadoff walk they look long and hard at the bullpen, but decide to let Santana try to finish things out, saving the pen knowing what the rest of their rotation looks like.   He gets out of the inning, and although a Daniel Murphy error in the 9th gives the Mets another scare, Santana takes care of things to finish out a 6-hitter as the Mets move on with the 2-1 win.

The survivors

The first semifinal was the matchup the fans had been waiting for, with two pennant-winners facing off in the form of the #1 seeded 1947 Yankees and the #2 seed 1938 Cubs.  The pitching matchup was a good one, with NY’s rookie Spec Shea (14-5, 3.07) going against Cubs veteran Charlie Root (8-7, 2.86).  However, the top of the 1st goes rough for Root; he walks Rizzuto to lead off the game, but Stirnweiss hits into a DP.  Then, Dimaggio singles, Keller walks, Heinrich walks, and rookie Yogi Berra brings them all home with a colossal blast onto Waveland Avenue for a grand slam; McQuinn misses a HR split for a double, but Root finally retires Billy Johnson for the third out.  Root thus issues three costly walks in the first inning–despite the fact that he only walked 30 batters all season and doesn’t have a single walk result on his card.  The Cubs respond in the bottom of the inning with two straight singles and then a Gabby Hartnett sac fly makes it 4-1,  but Stirnweiss pokes a 2-run homer off Root’s card and the Yankees are looking unstoppable.  Three straight Yankee hits to start the 4th and that’s it for Root, and in comes ol’ Dizzy Dean with the Cubs in a 7-1 hole, and he does end the inning without additional trauma.  Buoyed by the Diz, Cubs gloveman Billy Jurges atones for an earlier error with a 2-run homer in the 5th off Shea’s HR 1-8/flyB split, and it’s 7-3.  However, the Yanks get an unearned run in the 6th off the Cubs third error of the game, although the Cubs get it back in the 7th on a Frank Demaree sac fly.  The game moves to the bottom of the 9th; Shea retires the first batter but then walks two straight, and a Billy Herman double scores one and a Jurges walk loads the bases and puts the winning run at the plate in the form of Stan Hack.  The Yanks don’t trust their pen much and stick with Shea, and he retires Hack on a run-scoring flyball and it’s two outs with two on in a two run game, Augie Galan at the plate.   A single for Galan scores another and the tying run is now 90 feet away, with Hall of Famer Hartnett at the plate.  The Yankees are forced to admit that Shea has nothing left, and Joe Page is summoned from the pen to try to get the final out.  It’s a sharp grounder to 3B-2 Billy Johnson, who makes a diving stab and gets it to McQuinn in the nick of time and the Yankees survive with an 8-7 victory in an epic battle worthy of the contestants.   

The semifinal between the #4 seed 1938 Cardinals and the #6 seed 2009 Mets featured two rebuilding teams in transition between much more successful versions.  The shallow Mets pitching staff was painfully evident as the best they could muster was Tim Redding (3-6, 5.10), while the Cards had fewer offensive weapons than the Mets but were in better position on the mound with Bill McGee (7-12, 3.21).   The Mets begin the bottom of the 1st with two straight singles, one of which is misplayed by Joe Medwick, to set up a 2-run single from Carlos Beltran.  The Cards get a run back in the 3rd on a Johnny Mize RBI single, and add two more in the 4th on Lynn Myers single and a Terry Moore sac fly to take the lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning a Mize error opens the door for three runs, including another Beltran 2-run single, and the Mets regain the lead, 5-3.  A St. Louis walk and a single to open the 6th and the Mets aren’t taking any more chances with Redding, and Pedro Feliciano comes out of the pen; one run does come in on a Don Gutteridge sac fly but the Mets get it back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an RBI single by injury replacement SS Wilson Valdez.  For the 8th, the Mets bring in their closer, Francisco Rodriguez, and he impresses by striking out the Cardinal side in the 8th and knocking them down 1-2-3 in the 9th to earn the save in the Mets 6-4 win, earning them a trip to the finals–albeit with their starting SS and C both injured.   

It was a Subway Series version of a regional final with the #1 seed 1947 Yankees and the upstart #6 seed 2009 Mets, with the seeding difference being obvious in the pitching matchup between the Yanks’ Spud Chandler (9-5, 2.46) against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (10-12, 5.03).  As in the previous game, the Mets plan was to try to stay in the game long enough to turn it over to their bullpen in the 6th inning, but that looks unlikely as Pelfrey allows three runs to the Yanks in the top of the 1st before he records an out.  However, the Yankees quickly learn that Mets teams of this vintage always punch above their weight in this tournament, as they quickly score three to tie it up in the bottom of the inning, paced by a Gary Sheffield 2-run single, and Chandler is lucky to escape with the game tied as the inning only ended when Francouer hits into a bases-loaded double play.  In the second, the Yanks load the bases with two out, and then a walk to Henrich and a sharp single by Berra that scores two and Pelfrey is gone, with Elmer Dessens summoned from the pen, and he gets the third out but it’s now 6-3 Yankees.   In the 3rd, Angel Pagan becomes the third Mets regular to be knocked out of the lineup with an injury, but they avenge him in the 4th when a David Wright double and a two-base error by Yanks 1B-2 McQuinn leads to three runs that tie the game once again.  That tie doesn’t last long, as Berra leads off the 5th exploiting Dessens’ tendency to allow the longball, and later Rizzuto triples to drive in another and the Yanks regain the lead, 8-6.  The Mets turn to setup man Feliciano to start the 6th, and Dimaggio greets him by finding his HR result; the Mets finally go to FRod in the 8th and he pitches two perfect innings, but Chandler has found his stuff by then and the top seeded Yankees live up to their billing with a 9-6 victory and the 9th regional win for the franchise.

Interesting card of Regional #134:  With the 1947 season being a brand new arrival and having the AL pennant winner representing the season as its first entrant, it seemed only fitting to feature the most impressive hitting card from that team.  Given that Joe Dimaggio won the AL MVP award, you might think that would be his card, but no–King Kong Keller bettered Joltin’ Joe in both SLG% and OBP, albeit in far fewer ABs.  Unfortunately, those limited appearances were no fault of Keller’s; on June 5th of the 1947 season Keller led the league in home runs, RBIs, and runs scored, but after collecting a pair of base hits, he complained of soreness in his lower back, and left in the sixth inning.  The pain continued to worsen, and on June 27, Keller checked into the hospital for observation.  Two weeks later doctors removed a slipped disk from Keller’s spine; he didn’t play another game that season, and although he hung on for a few seasons in a limited role, he could no longer swing the bat the way that he had previously and was never able to play a full season again.  Thus, this card freezes his abilities in time just before the injury/surgery, in his prime at age 30.