REGIONAL #141:  The random team selector pulled one that I’ve been dreading–the pennant winning and World Series champion 2005 White Sox, the only time in my lifetime that I’ve been able to describe the Sox that way.  So why dread it?  It’s because my favorite teams tend to tank in this tournament, and the more “favorite” they are, the quicker they exit–and this team holds a special place for me, so I’m pretty certain that they are doomed.  Given that eventuality, there were a host of interesting teams that could win the bracket instead.  There was another pennant-winner, an A’s team from the “Bash Brothers” years; there was a Bambino-led Yankees team that would face a steroid-era Dback team that would win a pennant the following year; there was a Marlins team that would win a pennant in two years, although that’s like 30 in Marlins’ years; and with probably competitive entries from the Mariners and Nationals, this seemed like one of the strongest regionals in a long time.  My guess was that the A’s would defeat the Yankees in the finals to join their 1989 A’s brethren as regional winners.   The ELO ranks predicted exactly the same outcome, even agreeing with me that the Sox would have trouble getting past the Nationals in the first round.   We can only hope.

First round action

It was a good thing the Mariners won their first regional in the previous bracket, because after setting their lineup it did not seem like the 2004 Mariners would be able to compete in this strong group.  Losing 99 games after multiple seasons with 90+ wins, the team had a killer leadoff hitter in Ichiro and his .372 batting average, but it was all downhill from there and their rotation was dreadful, with swingman Ron Villone (8-6, 4.08) better than the alternatives.  They faced the regional favorite, the 1990 A’s, who won 103 games and the AL pennant; somehow they got swept in the Series but they had the Bash Brothers for offense, strong defense, and a very good pitching staff headed by Bob Welch (27-6, 2.95), the runaway winner in the Cy Young voting.  In the 2nd, an error by M’s 1B-5 Bucky Jacobsen sets up Mike Gallego, who misses a HR split and then the trailing runner is cut down on the resulting double, so the A’s only get one run out of the sequence as Gallego is then stranded at third.  The A’s get another run in the 4th on a Harold Baines RBI single, but they squander another opportunity as Jose Canseco leaves the bases loaded.  In the 6th, Welch issues a 2-out walk and then 2B-2 Gallego commits an error, which Bret Boone makes the A’s pay for with a 3-run homer and the Mariners suddenly have the lead.  In the top of the 8th, Randy Winn leads off with a single and Jacobsen doubles, scoring the speedy Winn and Welch is gone and Dennis Eckersley and his 0.61 ERA is summoned in desperation.  Eck gets two quick outs but then Edgar Martinez singles to drive in the pinch runner, and the A’s now have six more outs to make up a 5-2 deficit.  Villone sets the A’s down in order in the 8th, but in the 9th Baines leads off with a single and Rickey Henderson walks, so it’s Canseco at the plate as the tying run with nobody out.  The M’s look at Eddie Guardado and his gopher balls in the bullpen and decide to stick with Villone for the time being; it doesn’t matter as the roll is on Canseco’s card:  3-7, HR 1-15/flyB, the split roll:  16.  One away, and now it’s McGwire as the tying run at the plate.  The roll:  6-5, whiff.  So, it all comes down to Dave Henderson against Villone for the game, Villone delivers:  1-5, whiff, game over, and the Mariners continue their winning ways with the 5-2 upset of the region’s top seed.

I followed the exploits of the 2005 White Sox very closely at the time, and I even attended Game 3 of the World Series, which turned out to be the longest game in Series history up to that point.  Still, it had been a long time since I dug out their Strat cards and it was interesting to take a close look at the team after having played hundreds of different squads in this tournament.  They had strong defense, a lineup with some pop in it, and they would be buoyed in that respect by Frank Thomas, who was injured for much of the season and sadly missed the lone successful postseason in his storied White Sox career; here, he squeaked over the 100 AB threshold for DHing in this tournament and I was pleased that he’d get his chance to shine in my tournament.  However, although it was spectacular in postseason play, I found that the starting rotation was good, deep, but not great and had no real dominating ace, although Mark Buehrle (16-8, 3.12) did finish 5th in the Cy Young voting.  The Sox had drawn a very tough first round opponent in the 2014 Nationals, who won 96 games and the NL East and who had a rotation at least as good as that of the Sox, with Tanner Roark (15-10, 2.85) getting the starting nod. Both starters are in control for the first pass through the lineups, but in the bottom of the 4th Tadahito Iguchi draws a leadoff walk and Paul Konerko follows by converting a HR 1-13 split to give the Sox the early lead.  Of course, the tournament curse against my favorites has to retaliate, and Konerko is promptly injured for four games in his next at-bat.  When Ryan Zimmerman leads off the 7th with a double, the Sox smell trouble and call for Neal Cotts to replace Buehrle, but Bryce Harper singles to score Zimmerman and it’s 2-1 Sox at the 7th inning stretch.  It stays that way until the 9th, and the Sox face the decision to burn up Cotts or try to save him for later rounds; then Ozzie Guillen comes out and issues the “fat guy” signal, so it’s Bobby Jenks coming in with the game on the line.  The first batter, Adam LaRoche, singles off Jenks’ card; the second, Ian Desmond, homers off his own card, the Nats take the lead, and the air goes out of New Comiskey like a bad Walmart tire.  Jenks then issues a single to Zimmerman, followed by another 2-run homer, this one by Bryce Harper, and Jenks is gone after recording no outs, four hits, four runs, and 2 homers allowed.   Roark shuts down the Sox 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th, and the curse continues as the Nationals move on with the 5-2 win, and the Sox head back to storage with an angry mob chasing Jenks the entire way.

The 1924 Yankees won 89 games to finish 2nd in the AL, but they were clearly a few years away from legendary status.  The Babe was the dominant player in the league, but he didn’t have much to protect him in the lineup with Gehrig still basically at Columbia at the time, so it was easy to see why Ruth walked 142 times.  The Yanks did have a very good starter in Herb Pennock (21-9, 2.83), but he would have his hands full with the steroid-packed lineup of the 2000 Diamondbacks, an 85-77 team that had power up and down the line–even Steve Finley hit 35 homers that year.  Furthermore, the Dbacks had an imposing Randy Johnson (19-7, 2.64), the NL Cy Young winner, on the mound, and Johnson goes through the top of the 1st in typical form, walking two and striking out three.   The Dbacks take a lead in the 2nd when Danny Bautista triples and scores on a sac fly from C Damien Miller (is it an Omen that Damien doesn’t have his name on his card?).   However, the Yanks begin the 3rd with two singles to bring up the Babe, and he knocks one into the desert for a 3-run homer, although the Dbacks get one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning when a Jay Bell triple is followed by an Erubiel Durazo double.  Arizona then ties it in the 6th when Steve Finley converts a HR 1-2 split for a solo shot, and the game then heads into the 9th with the score still knotted at three.  Bob Meusal leads off the top of the 9th with a double, but the latter half of the Yankee order can’t bring him home, so the Dbacks have their chance for a walkoff in the bottom of the 9th but Pennock sets them down in order and we head to extra innings.  Johnson is perfect in the top of the 10th and completes his eligibility with 6 hits allowed and 16 strikeouts; Pennock sets AZ down noiselessly and the game now is handed over to the respective bullpens–a clear advantage for the modern team.  Dan Plesac comes in and sets down the heart of the Yankee order in order, so it’s Sad Sam Jones’ turn in the bottom of the 11th and he does likewise.  Plesac then issues two walks in the top of the 12th, and Everett Scott makes him pay with a 2-out RBI single so now it’s up to Jones to hold serve.  And he becomes Happy Sam after setting down the Dbacks in order and the Yankees take the tight 4-3 win to move on.

Although they would win a pennant two years later, the 67-76 1995 Marlins were nowhere near the same team, but they did have Gary Sheffield with a 1.054 OPS and a pretty good #1 starter in Pat Rapp (14-7, 3.44).  Still, I was surprised to find that they were slight ELO underdogs to the 90-loss 1992 Royals, who had a largely punchless offense somewhat offset by decent pitching, and ace Kevin Appier (15-8, 2.46) had a formidable card.   Neither team can mount much offense until Chuck Carr leads off the bottom of the 4th with a double, and scores on a Jeff Conine fielder’s choice to give the Marlins a lead.  Meanwhile, Rapp doesn’t allow a hit until two are out in the 5th when Jim Eisenreich singles off Rapp’s card; Rapp then allows two more singles off his card, with the last one by Brian McRae tying the game.  However, in the bottom of the inning Marlin’s DH, 40 year old Andre Dawson, gets hold of one for a solo shot and Florida regains the lead.  In the 6th, Mike MacFarlane misses a HR 1-11 split to get a double, but he’s cut down at the plate with two out trying to score on a Gregg Jeffries single.  Disaster strikes for the Marlins in the bottom of the 6th when Sheffield is injured for 7 games; stung by the loss of their biggest offensive weapon, they respond by expanding their lead to 5-1 when Gregg Colbrunn hits a 3-run homer, and add another when Charles Johnson scores on a single by Sheffield’s replacement, Russ Morman, although 1-19 Quilio Veras is nailed at the plate with a roll of 20.  In the 8th, MacFarlane finally converts that HR 1-11 split for a solo homer, but that’s all the Royals have left in them as the Marlins close out the 6-2 win–even though they only managed seven hits off Appier.

The survivors

The regional had two pennant winners, and both were eliminated in the first round by identical 5-2 scores; this semifinal featured the two teams that eliminated them, the 2004 Mariners and the 2014 Nationals.  Although a Mariners team from 14 years earlier had won the previous regional on the strength of their starting pitching, that wasn’t the case with this version as Joel Pineiro (6-11, 4.67) seemed to be the best of bad options, while the Nats’ Jordan Zimmermann (14-5, 2.66) was just one of several good arms available.  Still, Zimmermann lets up four straight hits on his card in the top of the 2nd, including a 2-run single by Scott Spiezio, and the M’s take the early lead.  However, Spiezio makes a rapid transition to goathood when his error in the bottom of the inning opens the door for a 3-run homer from Bryce Harper, and then Spiezio hits into an inning-ending double play with the tying run on third in the top of the 4th.  But from there both pitchers settle in, and it remains a one-run game to start the 9th inning.  Zimmermann gets the first two outs quickly and faces, you guessed it, Scott Spiezio with the game on the line.  But Spiezio converts a DO 1-3, Willie Bloomquist comes in to pinch run, and the tying run is in scoring position.  Dave Hansen is then summoned by the Mariners to pinch hit for Rich Aurelia, and the Nats decide to counter with Drew Storen and his 1.12 ERA out of the pen.  Storen delivers, FLY X to CF-1 Denard Span, and it’s game over as the Nationals head to the finals, escaping with the 3-2 win despite being held to 5 hits by Piniero.

The 1995 Marlins were not optimistic given that they would have to face the top remaining seed in the bracket without Gary Sheffield, while those 1924 Yankees with Babe and company were at full health.   The pitching matchup was more balanced than one might expect, as Waite Hoyt (18-13, 3.79) and the Marlins’ Chris Hammond (9-6, 3.80) had similar decent-but-not-great cards, and the Yanks ended up on Hammond’s card for the first four rolls of the game, resulting in a double and two walks that set up a 2-run single by Wally Pipp for a quick lead.  In the 3rd, Ruth doubles off the wall and his young legs (1-15, not bad Babe) take him home on a Bob Meusal single, but Meusal gives the run back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-base error on a Jeff Conine fly ball that scores Charles Johnson.  However, the Yanks load the bases in the top of the 4th on a series of squib singles, and Whitey Witt adds one more to score a run and keep the bases loaded for the Bambino with one away.  The roll is on Hammond’s card, but it’s good for a sac fly and the boys from the Bronx lead 5-1.  Hammond loads up the bases again in the 6th with one out to bring up Ruth once again, and this time the Marlins have seen enough and summon Robb Nen from the pen to face the predicament.  Ruth again rolls on the pitcher’s card, but it’s a FLYX to LF-4 Jeff Conine, who turns it into a two-run single, Pipp adds another RBI single, and the rout is on.  The Marlins get a run in the 7th when Johnson triples and Quilio Veras singles him in, but the Yanks punish them for their efforts with solo HRs from Ruth and their own Johnson, Ernie, in the top of the 8th.  From there, Hoyt is on cruise control to give the bullpen a rest and the Yankees coast to the finals with a 10-2 blowout.

The regional final comes down to the #3 seed 1924 Yankees and the #4 seed 2014 Nationals, two good teams separated by 90 years. With both teams now down to their third starter, each were able to field decent candidates, with the Nats’ Stephen Strasburg (14-11, 3.14) and NY’s Bob Shawkey (16-11, 4.12) among the better pitchers of their respective times. The Nats’ defense lets Strasburg down in the bottom of the 3rd, with two errors and a double allowed by RF-3 Jayson Werth resulting in a 2-0 Yankees lead. Washington charges back in the 5th with three runs, which includes an RBI single from Werth, and it could have been worse as they left the bases loaded as Shawkey struggled to record that third out. Shawkey struggles along until the 8th, which he begins by allowing a single off his card and then a 2-run homer by Bryce Harper, again off Shawkey’s card, and Sad Sam Jones comes in as a last gasp with the Yankees now down 6-2. Bob Meusal drives in Combs in the bottom of the inning to get one run back, but it’s academic as in the top of the 9th the Nats wreck Jones to score four, including a Werth solo shot and a 2-run triple from Harper. Strasburg thus only needs to get through the feeble bottom of the Yanks order in the bottom of the 9th, which he does to seal the 10-3 Nationals win and the regional flag. Strasburg allows seven hits and records seven strikeouts, but it’s Bryce Harper who gets regional MVP honors, homering in all three games and driving in 10 runs in the process. This squad joins the 2012 team as the second Nationals-branded regional champion, creating another mini-dynasty of certain runs of teams that have success in this tournament.

Interesting card of Regional #141: Although the Bambino’s card may have been better, I thought I’d go with a somewhat less obvious selection this time around. His team fell short in the regional final, but because of his AB limitations there was only so much that Earle Combs, getting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues at age 25, could do to help his team–he did knock a pinch-hit double (not surprisingly) and subsequently scored in the losing effort. Those few ABs provide insight into why these 1924 Yankees just weren’t great yet–they were still assembling a supporting cast for the Babe that would really flower a couple of seasons later. With Combs being 25 years old, I wondered why they took so long to make him the regular CF, given that CF-4 Whitey Witt obviously wasn’t much with the glove and his 1 HR suggested that he wasn’t in there for his power, either. At any rate, Combs' performance in these limited appearances apparently convinced management as he promptly became the full-time CF in 1925, going on to hit .325 for his career and he was selected to the Hall of Fame in 1970. Even so, this card nonetheless reflects the highest batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage he would ever attain in his illustrious career.

REGIONAL #140:   No pennant winners in a group dominated by 21st century squads; the closest was an A’s team from the 70’s that had been a dynasty just a few seasons prior but I figured that they were in the process of getting dismantled by Charlie Finley.  However, there was the first 2021 team to be selected for the tournament, and they were matched against a team just over 100 years older than them.  I wasn’t feeling a lot of strong teams here, and I thought that the 2013 Tigers might still have their strong top of the rotation intact, so I picked them to break the hearts of the Mariners in the final.   The ELO ranks agreed with my pick of the Tigers, but identified the A’s as still being a threat, with an Arizona team forecast to make the finals from a weak bottom half of the bracket.

First round action

The 1976 A’s were more competitive than I gave them credit for, winning 87 games and coming in second after five straight divisional wins.   What I also didn’t remember about them was that they stole a record 341 bases as a team–this squad had four AA and two A stealers in the starting lineup!  With a strong Vida Blue (18-13, 2.35) on the mound, they were heavy favorites against the 94-loss 2016 Padres.  These Padres were a strange team, with gaping holes in the lineup left by traded players and only four starting pitchers with 100 innings–but one of them, 102 IP Drew Pomeranz (8-7, 2.47) had a killer card.   The A’s don’t need to do any running in the top of the 1st, with a Joe Rudi walk followed by a Gene Tenace HR giving them a quick lead.  However, the Padres retaliate in the 2nd in a big way, with a 2-run homer from Melvin (aka BJ) Upton and then a 3-run blast from Wil Myers, and they add another four runs in the 3rd and it’s 9 to 2, no more Blue, with Rollie Fingers trying his hand.  He asserts control and Rudi pokes a solo shot in the 6th as the A’s try to narrow the gap, and in the 7th Rudi comes back around with the bases loaded and clears them with a double, and now it’s 9-6.  However, in the bottom of the 7th Jon Jay and Derek Norris get to a tiring Fingers with RBI singles, and although the A’s give it a try in the 9th when Joe Rudi hits his 2nd homer and 6th RBI of the game, they can’t catch up and the Padres move on with the 11-8 upset.  The fleet A’s did manage to steal two bases but neither led to any runs.  

The 2013 Tigers were worthy bracket favorites, winners of 93 games and the AL Central and coming within two games of a pennant in the ALCS.   They boasted a strong top of the rotation, headed by AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer (21-3, 2.90) and a lineup anchored by AL MVP Miggy Cabrera.   They faced a 96-loss 2001 Reds team that had a steroid-era starting rotation (i.e, bad) but lacked true steroid-era power in the lineup; their best pitching option was swingman Jim Brower (7-10, 3.97).  The Reds’ Adam Dunn crushes a solo shot in the top of the 1st to give Scherzer notice that anything can happen in this tournament, but the Tigers tie it in the 2nd on doubles from Prince Fielder and Austin Jackson.  A Cabrera RBI single in the 3rd gives the Tigers the lead, but Alex Avila misses a HR 1-17 split and gets stranded at second.  In the 6th, Ken Griffey Jr. does not miss his HR 1-17 split, and it’s good for a 3-run shot that gives the Reds a 4-2 lead and the Tigers are thinking that their ace just doesn’t have it today.  That is confirmed in the 8th when Scherzer walks the first two batters of the inning and then allows a double to Sean Casey, which scores one although Aaron Boone is cut down at the plate, and Scherzer yields to Joquin Benoit.  The Tigers threaten in the bottom of the inning but Fielder ends that threat with the Tigers’ 4th GIDP of the game, and fittingly the game ends when Omar Infante grounds into the Tigers’ fifth DP and the Reds double their fun with a 5-2 upset over the regional’s top seed.

The 2013 Diamondbacks were the definition of mediocrity, finishing 81-81 but to me they looked like a better team than that, with MVP runner-up Paul Goldschmidt their main weapon, very solid defense, and a reasonable rotation headed by Patrick Corbin (14-8, 3.41).   The 1990 Mariners were a bit under .500 at 77-85, and although they had some holes in their lineup they did boast perhaps the best father/son combination on a single team that I can remember seeing up to this point in the tournament–the Ken Griffeys, although with limited ABs dad wouldn’t be getting into the game until after the 5th inning.  The M’s also had a strong #1 starter in Erik Hanson (18-9, 3.24), but the omens don’t read well when Seattle’s second batter of the game, Edgar Martinez, gets injured and leaves the game.  Even so, Jay Buhner leads off the 2nd with a homer to give the Mariners an early edge.  Meanwhile, Hanson is looking strong, so when the Dbacks get men on 1st and 3rd in the 7th with one away, the Mariners stick with Hanson and he responds with two straight strikeouts to maintain the narrow lead.  In the top of the 9th, Arizona SS-2 Didi Gregorius makes a two-base error, his second error of the game, and PH Griffey Sr. knocks in the runner so the Mariners carry a 2-run margin into the bottom of the 9th for Hanson.  Hanson allows a leadoff single to Parra, then retires a pinch-hitter before dropping a Gregorius grounder to put the tying run on.  A fielder’s choice puts men on 1st and 3rd with two out and Goldschmidt up, who already has two doubles in the game.  Goldschmidt misses a DO 1-11/SI split, but a run scores and the tying run is now 90 feet away and Eric Chavez is at the plate.  Hanson delivers, Chavez grounds out and the Mariners survive and move on with the tight 2-1 win, despite committing four errors.

The final first round game matched two bad teams from a century apart.  The 2021 Rangers were the first team from that season to enter the tournament, and it would have been hard to pick a worse representative as they went 60-102.  You have to wonder if Rangers’ management needed to schedule a screening of “Moneyball” as they had five players in the starting lineup with an OBP less than .300, and after a good spot starter in Kyle Gibson (6-3, 2.87) their starting rotation would get ugly really quickly.  Their opponents, the 1920 Phillies, finished last in the NL with a 62-91 record, but they had a core of pretty good players like Cy Williams, Casey Stengel, and Irish Meusal, and Lee Meadows (16-14, 2.84) was a plenty capable #1 starter.  However, the Phils weren’t helped by the game company’s decision to not make a card for HOFer Dave Bancroft, who had 171 ABs and batting .298 playing SS, while making a card for 1B Pete Luderus, who had 32 ABs and hit .156.  The Rangers strike in the top of the first with three singles, with Willie Calhoun getting an RBI on the third one, and Charlie Culberson adds a sac fly to make it 2-0.  In the 3rd, Adolis Garcia extends the Texas lead with a solo homer, but Meadows then beans the next batter, DJ Peters, knocking him out for seven games and initiating a bench-clearing brawl; fortunately, nobody was injured as both teams were too inept to connect on any of their swings.   The Phils start to battle back in the 4th with an RBI single from Johnny Rawlings and a sac fly from #9 hitter Ralph Miller makes it 3-2, but in the 5th a Rawlings error opens the door to a 2-out rally and Calhoun gets his second RBI single of the game to extend the Texas lead to two.  However, when Cy Williams leads off the 8th with a double on a missed HR split and Meusal follows with a squib single, the Rangers bring in nearly unhittable reliever Joe Barlow to try to quell the rally.  But Art Fletcher shoots a single past 3B-2 Culberson and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th.  Rangers C Jose Trevino opens the top of the 9th with a 15-game injury, and this time Texas takes it out on Meadows, with Leody Taveras drawing a walk, stealing second, and scoring on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa single.  The Phillies are powerless against Barlow in the bottom of the frame and the Rangers move on with a 5-3 win and two tournament-ending injuries.

The survivors

The semifinals begin with the top three seeds in the regional eliminated, with the first semi between the squads that upset the top two.  Neither teams had many options for starting pitching, with the 2016 Padres’ Colin Lea (5-5, 4.82) perhaps marginally better than the 2001 Reds and Chris Reitsma (7-15, 5.29), and perhaps the most frightening thing was that one of these teams would need their #3 starter next game.  Nonetheless, both starters look good on their first pass though the orders, but in the 4th Reds RF-4 Adam Dunn manages to turn Ryan Schimpf’s flyball into a triple, and the next batter hits a grounder to 3B-3 Aaron Boone, who commits a two-base error which is followed by a Yangervis Solarte double and the Padres lead 2-0.  Adam Rosales adds a 2-run homer off Reitsma’s card in the 6th and Jon Jay adds an RBI single, but Solarte gets injured for 7 games to put a damper on the Padres celebration.  Meanwhile, Rea takes a no-hitter into the 6th, but loses it when his bad fielding (P-5) allows a single to Dunn.  It gets worse when Ken Griffey Jr, hoping for an all-Griffey final, hits a 3-run homer following a walk, but in the 7th injury replacement Luis Sardinas contributes an RBI single to extend the Padres lead to 6-3.  The Reds fight back in the bottom of the inning when a run scores after CF-2 Travis Jankowski misplays a Sean Casey single, so the Padres bring in Ryan Buchter to replace Rea, and he picks up two strikeouts to prevent further damage.  The Reds bring in John Riedling to pitch the top of the 9th, but that goes awry and Melvin (aka BJ) Upton swats a 2-run shot to provide additional padding for the Padres’ lead.  SD then summons Brad Hand to pitch the bottom of the 9th and preserve Buchter for the final, and Hand strikes out the side to send the Padres to the finals with the 8-4 win.  

In addition to two good Griffeys, the 1990 Mariners had a pretty good starting rotation and would call upon a young and wild Randy Johnson (14-11, 3.65) to try to get them to the finals, although Edgar Martinez would not be available for this game.  For their part, the 2021 Rangers were short two players to injury, although the Rangers’ lineup was such that the replacements weren’t much different from the starters; their bigger issue was frightening starting pitching, with Dane Dunning (5-10, 4.51) as good an option as they had.   Surprisingly, things start out as a pitching duel and the game is scoreless after five.  In the top of the 6th, Brian Giles leads off with a walk and Griffey Jr. singles him to third; the Rangers bring the infield in and Griffey responds by stealing second and then Alvin Davis singles both runners in and Dunning is pulled for Spencer Patton.  That doesn’t help, and after a Henry Cotto RBI single and a 2-run double from Dave Valle that got past Rangers CF-2 Leody Taveras, the M’s have a 5-0 lead.  Seattle threatens again in the top of the 9th, but Joe Barlow is brought in and he prevents any damage, so the Rangers come up against Johnson in the bottom of the 9th with only one hit to their name.  And they don’t get any more, and the Nick Solak single in the 4th is the only hit against Johnson who nails down the 5-0 shutout and send the Mariners to the finals in search of their first regional title.

The finals feature the #4 seed 1990 Mariners, now at full strength with Edgar Martinez back from injury, against the #6 seeded 2016 Padres, the worst-ranked team from their half of the bracket.  The difference in the rankings was most evident in the depth of their starting rotations, with Seattle able to go with an underrated Matt Young (8-18, 3.51), while the Padres were hoping Christian Friedrich (5-12, 4.80) could get the game to the bullpen.  In the 3rd, Padres’ LF-2 BJ Upton drops a Jay Buhner fly ball, and Buhner scores on a Henry Cotto triple; Cotto then scores on Derek Norris passed ball and the Mariners hold the early lead.  In the 5th, Friedrich has a streak of wildness that keeps the bases loaded all inning, but the M’s only convert two runs on two sac flies by Griffey Jr. and Buhner.  A two out single in the 6th by Harold Reynolds chases Friedrich for Brad Hand, who retires the side without further damage but the Padres are having trouble against Young, who strikes out the side in both the 5th and 6th innings.  He keeps cruising until the 9th, beginning the inning by striking out Ryan Schmipf, but then he gets overconfident to Adam Rosales, who crushes a solo shot to get the Padres on the board.  But Young retires the next two in a row to close out a 5-hitter for the 4-1 win and, for the first time in the history of this tournament, the Seattle Mariners are regional champs.  The regional MVP is awarded collectively to the M’s starting rotation of Hanson, Johnson, and Young, who allowed on average only 0.67 runs and 4.33 hits to opponents in their three complete games.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #140:  Perhaps the Bonds tandem may qualify as the best father-son duo over the course of their respective careers, but when it comes to a single season–furthermore, on the same team!!--nobody compares to the pair of cards for the Ken Griffeys on the regional-winning 1990 Mariners.  Junior was 20 years old, in his second season, during which he was an All-Star, a Gold Glove, and finished 19th in the MVP voting after being 3rd in the Rookie of the Year balloting the previous season.  So how about his 40 year old dad?  Well, hold my beer, son.  After beginning the season with the Reds with a dismal .206 average in limited at-bats, he manages to get traded to the Mariners to play with his son, and upon his arrival he apparently needed to show the kid how it was done:  for the M’s, he hits .377 and his OPS of .963 was better than Junior’s by more than 100 points.  Senior would play one more season with Junior and the Mariners, bowing out with a respectable .780 OPS; Junior, of course, would go on to win the MVP in 1997 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.

REGIONAL #139:  This draw looked like a lot of fun with a bunch of interesting teams.  For the second bracket in a row, there was a pennant winning Braves team of the 90s, with this one seeking to better the limited success of the version that lost in the second round in the prior regional.  There was also a 2009 Rangers team that would win two pennants in a row beginning the following year, and some teams from the 60s that would include names like Mays, McCovey, Stargell and Clemente.  I had unsuccessfully picked the Braves to win the last regional, but I figured I’d stick to my guns and pick them again, guessing that they would best the Rangers in the final.  The ELO ranks portrayed this as a strong group, with six of the eight teams in the top 1000 and the Braves as favorites in the top 100; however, those ranks identified the Rangers as actually the weakest team in the loaded upper half of the bracket, forecasting that the 2013 Rays would be the Braves’ victim in the finals.

First round action

The first game of the regional looked like a fun one with two good teams from the 60s NL, the 2nd place 91-win 1967 Giants against the 92-win, 3rd place 1966 Pirates:  Mays, McCovey and Hart against Clemente, Stargell, and Clendenon, with SF’s Cy Young Award winning Mike McCormick (22-10, 2.85) against Pittsburgh’s Bob Veale (16-12, 3.02).   However, the Giants look on in horror as McCormick is injured for 8 games upon recording the last out of a perfect 1st inning, and Ron Herbel is called from a shallow Giants bullpen to provide innings.  The Giants give Herbel a lead in the 5th when Jim Davenport misses Veale’s HR 1-5/DO split, but Hal Lanier (1-12) sneaks under the tag at the plate to score…although Davenport is then erased on a Mays lomax.  The Pirates immediately tie things up in the bottom of the inning on a 2-out Stargell single, but Clemente makes the last out by getting injured for 6 games and league officials have to summon more ambulances.  The Giants come alive in the 6th when McCovey leads off with a tape-measure blast and Ollie Brown contributes an RBI single to give SF a 3-1 lead; with Herbel now burnt for the regional the Giants call for their best reliever, Frank Linzy, to replace him.  In the 7th, the unbelievable injury barrage continues, with McCovey knocked out of the game although he could return for the finals if the Giants can make it that far.  With the game tight, they have to stick with Linzy and he enters the 9th in his last inning of eligibility for the regional; he gets two quick outs but then a Mota single and a walk, and the winning run is at the plate in the form of Matty Alou…with his brother Jesus staring at him from left field.  Matty flies out, albeit not to his brother, and the Giants limp on with the 3-1 win, with their best pitcher and hitter injured and their best reliever burnt for the bracket.

The only two 21st century teams in the regional were matched in the first round, with the 2009 Rangers facing the 2013 Rays.  The Rangers won 87 games to finish 2nd in the AL West, but had many of the pieces in place that would lead to pennants in their next two seasons–although as was typical for those teams they were lacking in starting pitching, with Scott Feldman (17-8, 4.08) their top option.  Still, the ELO ranks favored the Rays, who won 92 games to finish 2nd in the AL East, and who were excellent defensively in support of a good rotation with Alex Cobb (11-3, 2.76) getting the round one start.  The Rays open the scoring in the bottom of the 1st on a Wil Myers RBI double, and Myers comes through again in the 3rd with an RBI single that makes it 2-0.  However, in the top of the 5th aging Rangers DH Andruw Jones deposits a 2-run homer into the dim reaches of the Trop, and the game is tied.  When Desmond Jennings rockets a liner past Rangers 1B-4 Hank Blalock for a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, the Rangers need a strikeout and bring in reliever Neftali Felix as that is his specialty. Sure enough, he whiffs Evan Longoria to bring up Wil Myers, who dribbles a grounder to 2B-2 Ian Kinsler, but Kinsler muffs it and the Rays retake the lead.  A rattled Feliz then walks James Loney to load the bases, and Matt Joyce converts a HR 1-7 for a grand slam and suddenly it’s Tampa 7, Texas 2.  With that lead, Cobb asserts himself to close out the complete game 4-hitter and the Rays head to the semis with the 7-2 win.

In the last regional, I tried to take advantage of the rotation depth of the ‘96 Braves by starting Greg Maddux in the first round to save an awesome John Smoltz for a tough round two matchup.  Although Maddux did his job, Smoltz was defeated in the second round; even so, with the 90-54 WS Champion 1995 Braves now up in this regional, I thought I’d try the same thing, this time saving Maddux by starting Tom Glavine (16-7, 3.08) in the first round.  The Braves faced another NL team impacted by the same work stoppage, the 1994 Pirates, who were probably glad that the season ended early given their 53-61 record–although former Brave Zane Smith (10-8, 3.27) was a solid #1 starter.  The Braves strategy is looking like it’s backfiring right away when an Al Martin double in the top of the 1st sets up a 2-out, 2-run single from Orlando Merced to give the Pirates a lead.  The Pirates get two more in the 4th with a two out rally involving a Don Slaught RBI single followed by Andy Van Slyke’s double that scores one, with Slaught nailed at the plate to end the inning, and the 5th inning also ends for the Pirates in a similar fashion, with Al Martin (1-16) cut down to keep the score at 4-0.  When Glavine allows a double to Dave Clark in the 7th, his 10th hit allowed, the Braves turn to closer Mark Wohlers and he strikes out two straight Pirates to do his job.  Still, Atlanta can’t muster anything against Smith, and Pittsburgh brings in the defensive replacements in the 8th to try to close out the upset.  Finally, with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Fred McGriff finds Smith’s HR result for a solo shot, but that is far too little and far too late as Chipper Jones flies out and the Pirates win 4-1 and send yet another pennant winner back into storage with a first round loss.  And, once again I find that attempting to “save” a team’s ace starter for later rounds is usually ill-advised.

The 1987 Brewers won 91 games assisted by their Hall of Famers Yount and Molitor, and with the possibility of facing Greg Maddux in the semis eliminated they could start their ace Ted Higuera (18-10, 3.85) with no misgivings.  That is probably fortunate, because they would be facing an imposing Mike Cuellar (12-10, 2.22) of the 1966 Astros, a team that lost 90 games and were discovering that it was very hard to hit homers in their new domed stadium.   Both pitchers begin the game strong, but the long-term hopes of the Brewers take a crushing blow in the 3rd when Yount gets injured for 8 games in his second AB of the tournament.  In the 4th, Jim Gentile manages to reach the stands in the Astrodome for a solo shot that is the Astros’ first hit of the game.  However, in the 6th Mike Felder, in for Yount, singles, steals second, and scores on a 2-out hit by Greg Brock to tie the game, and in the bottom of the inning the injury bug hits Astros C John Bateman, out for 2 games.  The dice leave no doubt in the 8th that it is open season on all-stars in this regional, as Molitor goes down for 2 games, and to add injury to injury Bateman’s replacement, Bill Heath, gets knocked out for the rest of the game in the bottom of the inning.  To recap, entering the 9th inning, the score is 1-1, there have been 5 total hits in the game, and 4 total injuries.  To lead off the top of the 9th, Bill Schoeder singles for the Brewers and Jimmy Wynn misplays it, sending Schroeder to second where he scores on a Brock single to give Milwaukee their first lead.  That means it’s Higuera’s game to clinch, but after getting one out in the bottom of the 9th Wynn singles and 1B-3 Brock mishandles a Lee Maye grounder, so the tying and winning run are now aboard for Rusty Staub.  Higuera walks Staub to load the bases and the Brewers summon Dan Plesac from the pen to try to bail things out.  With grounder-prone Chuck Harrison at the plate, the Brewers play for the game-ending double play, but Plesac whiffs him and there are two out, and Bob Aspromonte is up.  It’s a sharp grounder to injury replacement Jim Gantner; he fields it cleanly and the battered but unbowed Brewers head to the semis with a 2-1 win on a combined 3-hitter from Higuera and Plesac.   

The survivors

The 2013 Rays were feeling pretty good about their chances in this regional, with their main competitors either eliminated or wracked by injuries while the Rays were at full strength with a fully rested bullpen to support Chris Archer (9-7, 3.22) if that should be necessary.  Meanwhile, with their bullpen depleted after their first round game, the 1967 Giants were relying on a complete game from workhorse Gaylord Perry (15-17, 2.61) and were hoping to survive this semifinal game and get McCovey back for the finals.  But things just keep getting worser for the Giants, and their now-leading HR hitter with McCovey out, Jim Hart, goes down with a 10 game injury in the top of the 1st.  An irate Giants team comes out charging in the 2nd, loading the bases for a 2-out double from .213 hitting Hal Lanier, but what should happen in the bottom of the 2nd but Rays DH Kelly Johnson rolling the 6-12 for a 2-game injury to Perry.  The Giants seem to take it in stride, rallying for two more runs in the 3rd on a Willie Mays single and a Jack Hiatt fielder’s choice, and SF leads 4-0.  A double by Hart’s replacement Bob Schroeder sets up a sac fly by Mays in the 5th, and meanwhile Lindy McDaniel tosses four innings of no-hit relief.  In the 7th Jim Davenport homers off Archer’s card, and he’s sent to the showers for Fernando Rodney, while Joe Gibbon has to come in to relieve the depleted McDaniel in the bottom of the inning.   Gibbon starts out great guns, but with two out in the 8th he allows three straight hits, the last an RBI single for Ben Zobrist, and the Giants lead is 5 heading into the 9th.  Rodney puts the Giants down in order, so it’s up to Gibbon, who retires the side to preserve the 6-1 Giants win and a berth in the finals, with McCovey returning but Hart, Perry, McCormick injured and an empty bullpen with four relievers burnt.

The #7 seeded 1994 Pirates managed to eliminate the regional favorite in the first round, although the strike-shortened season made for a limited pitching staff with Jon Lieber (6-7, 3.73) their best remaining option.  Fortunately for them, they faced a depleted 1987 Brewers team whose primary claim to fame was two Hall of Famers–both of whom would miss this game due to injury.   The Brewers opted to go with swingman Chuck Crim (6-8, 3.67) as their best bet to get to the finals, but the Pirates greet him with back to back doubles from Andy Van Slyke and Al Martin to begin the game, and a Jay Bell RBI single makes it 2-0 before the Brewers can bat.  A Greg Brock sac fly in the bottom of the 1st narrows the gap to 2-1, but in the 3rd Martin singles, steals second and scores once again on a Bell single to restore the two run lead.  That lead evaporates when a Don Slaught error opens the door to 2-out RBI singles from BJ Surhoff and Jim Gantner, and we enter the 5th inning with the game reset to even and both teams leading off with the top of their orders.  That works best for the Brewers, as Glenn Braggs hits a solo HR in the bottom of the 5th to give Milwaukee their first lead, and Gantner (in for the injured Molitor) continues to prove his mettle by doubling home Surhoff with two out in the 6th.  The Pirates look at a bullpen, vainly hoping to see someone who isn’t terrible, but there’s nobody home and they decide to stick for a while longer with Lieber, who does end the inning without further damage but with the Pirates now down by two.  When Brock adds an RBI single in the 7th, the Pirates can take no more and try Randy Tomlin in relief, but SS-2 Jay Bell boots a grounder for the Pirates’ second error of the inning and the Brewers take a 7-3 lead into the 8th hoping that Crim can hang on and rest closer Plesac for the final.  That isn’t looking promising when Al Martin leads off the 8th with a homer, and then Crim loads the bases setting up a 2-out single by Carlos Garcia that scores one, but lumbering Lance Parrish is nailed at the plate and it’s now a 2-run game.  But Crim recovers and sets down the Pirates in order in the 9th to preserve the 7-5 win and push the Brewers into the finals.

One might think that a single elimination tournament would minimize the importance of team depth, but the finals of this regional demonstrate otherwise, as two injury-wracked teams manage to survive with clutch performances by players like Jim Gantner and Bob Schroder off the bench.  The 1987 Brewers had to reach the finals without any contribution from their two Hall of Famers, Yount and Molitor, while the 1967 Giants were an even sadder story:  they lost their two top HR hitters, McCovey and Hart, and ALSO managed to lose their #1 and #2 starting pitchers, McCormick and Perry, before the second inning of each game was over–totally depleting their bullpen for the final.   Fortunately for the Giants, starter Juan Marichal (14-10, 2.76) seemed perfectly capable of going nine if he could avoid injury, and they were also bolstered by the return of McCovey.  Similarly, the Brewers were getting Molitor back, and although Bill Wegman (12-11, 4.24) was not an inspiring starter, they did have a fully rested Dan Plesac ready to go out of the pen.  The Brewers start things off in the bottom of the 1st when DH Bill Schroeder finds Marichal’s HR split for a solo shot, and then of course in the second their 3B Ernest Riles goes down with a 2 game injury, meaning that Jim Gantner only missed one AB on the bench before he’s back in the game.  Meanwhile, Wegman takes a perfect game into the 6th but finally allows a double to Tito Fuentes with one out, and Plesac starts warming up in the pen.  Wegman gets one more out but then allows another double to Jim Davenport, and the game is tied and Plesac is summoned to try to keep it that way.  But he allows a single to Tom Haller, Davenport is running with the pitch, and he scores to give the Giants their first lead.  That lasts until the bottom of the 8th when Schroeder clouts a long solo shot, this time off his own card, and then Marichal absolutely disintegrates, allowing a walk and 5 straight hits as the Brew Crew bats around and Schroeder finally flies out to end the inning with Milwaukee having put up seven runs in the inning.  For the 9th, the Brewers take a risk and pull Plesac to try to preserve his innings for future rounds, even though the rest of their pen is terrible with Mark Clear given the job of getting three outs.  Clear comes in and strikes out Haller, McCovey, and Mays and the Brewers win 8-2 to capture only their second regional crown (joining the 2003 team) and doing so without the services of arguably their best player, Robin Yount, who was knocked out of the tournament almost immediately.

Interesting card of Regional #139:  He may have been injured for most of the regional, and his fielding was a source of concern (he was a 2b-4 e11 in advanced, which helps a little), but I still  quite like this Paul Molitor card, based on a season in which he finished 5th in the MVP vote.  To me, this is an ideal #2 batter.  He gets on base, he has plenty of extra base potential, he doesn’t hit into a lot of DPs, and he’s a serious base stealing threat that can cause additional disruption for the heart of the order.  Aside from the fact that the injury-plagued Brewers won the regional, I also wanted to show the card to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the least-legible cards ever printed by the game company.   These things were such a challenge to read at the time that the company, not known for their eagerness to change, immediately altered the appearance of the cards the next year to make them more easy to read.  This was also the first season of the perforated cards, of which I’ve never been a fan, but after three and a half decades I guess I’m used to it.  I’m just happy that the blue-print-on-blue-background experiment was a brief one.

REGIONAL #138:  The attention-grabbers in this group were two pennant-winning squads, the 1996 Braves with that great rotation that dominated the NL in that era, and the power-laden 2004 Cardinals.  In addition, there is another representative from the Braves franchise–Milwaukee variant–that I suspected would be pretty strong, as well as a pair of Cubs teams and another 2004 team from KC that was probably bad.  I put my money on an all-Braves final, with the ‘96 squad riding their pitching staff to the crown.  The ELO ranks were quite enthusiastic about those ‘04 Cards, however, and picked them over the ‘99 Rangers in the final.

First round action

The pennant-winning, 96-win 1996 Braves were such prohibitive favorites over the 103-loss 1962 Cubs, I decided to do something I sort of stopped doing years ago in this tournament:  save their best pitcher for a tough matchup anticipated in the second round.  Of course, it helps when your alternative pitcher is Greg Maddux (15-11, 2.72).  Upon grabbing the Cubs and setting their lineup, I thought to myself “hey, this isn’t a bad team for one that had trouble staying in front of the ‘62 Mets”--but then I realized I had grabbed the wrong Cubs team, ‘67 instead of ‘62, and upon further review, yes indeed they were not good.  However, they did have a core of the same players–Banks, Santo, Billy Williams–and their starting pitcher, Bob Buhl (12-14, 3.87) was decent, so I was a little nervous about the Maddux strategy.  I didn’t get less nervous in the top of the 1st when Chipper Jones hits into a DP that scores a run, but he gets injured for 5 games in the process.  Maddux then allows three straight hits in the bottom of the 1st to load the bases, then walks Ron Santo and the score is tied and the second-guessing is in full swing.  However, Buhl issues a couple of walks in the 5th to load the bases, and then Mark Lemke squibs a single past Ron Santo, and Dave Justice adds a sac fly to make it 3-1 Braves, but in the bottom of the inning Maddux again allows three hits, including an RBI single by Banks, and the lead is narrowed to 3-2.  In the 6th, Jermaine Dye singles to score McGriff, and they add another in the 7th when LF-4 Billy Williams (I remember him being a better fielder than that) turns a McGriff fly into a double.  When Dye doubles in the 8th and Lemke singles him home, the Cubs run up the white flag on Buhl and Barney Schultz gets his turn.  Schultz does his job, so it comes down to Maddux against the Cubs in the bottom of the 9th.  Lou Brock (probably shouldn’t have traded him) singles, but Maddux gets two outs to face RF George Altman–who misses a TR 1-4/DO split but with 2 out Brock is 1-19 going home and I figure it will at least make the final score look closer.  But, of course….split roll is 20, game over, and yet another bad decision by me sends a team back to the drawers and the Braves advance with the 6-2 win.  

The top-seeded 2004 Cardinals won 105 games and the NL, although they infamously lost to the Red Sox in the Series to break the curse of the Bambino–despite honoring the Babe with a slew of homer hitters like Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen.   The 1953 A’s were getting ready to pack up and leave Philadelphia for Kansas City, and aside from Gus Zernial there wasn’t much in the way of offense, although starter Alex Kellner (11-12, 3.93) was a decent option to go against the Cards’ ace Chris Carpenter (15-5, 3.46).  The A’s issue a wake-up call in the top of the 1st when Eddie Joost scores on a Ray Murray single, but the Cards quickly tie things up on a Pujols RBI single and almost take the lead, but Larry Walker gets nailed at the plate.  Walker is thrown out again in the 3rd trying to score on Pujols single, and the St. Louis thirdbase coach receives revised instructions about Walker’s baserunning.  In the 4th, Cards LF John Mabry turns a Joe DeMaestri flyball into a double, scoring Eddie Robinson as the A’s regain the lead, but a 2-run homer by Cards DH  Reggie Sanders in the bottom of the inning and the Cards now lead 3-2.  A nervous Cards team moves to closer Jason Isringhausen to begin the 8th, and after a perfect inning his job gets a lot easier when Scott Rolen pokes a 2-run HR in the bottom of the inning to pad the St. Louis lead.  To preserve Izzy, the Cards move to Steve Kline for the 9th inning, and he is also perfect to wrap up the 5-2 win and send the Cards to the semifinals.

After having previously set their lineup when I confused them with their hapless 1962 brethren, I could now play a much better 1967 Cubs that won 87 games with the core of a team that consistently competed for pennants for several years, sporting 20-game winner Ferguson Jenkins (20-13, 2.80) on the mound.  However, they were ELO underdogs against the seriously juiced lineup of the 1999 Rangers, who won 95 games and the AL West and had Rafael Palmiero (5th in the MVP votes), Juan Gonzalez, and Ivan Rodriguez fortified to provide Aaron Sele (18-9, 4.79) with run support.  That support begins with a solo shot by Pudge in the 2nd to give the Rangers their first run, and Tom Goodwin finds Jenkins’ HR result to lead off the 3rd for a 2-0 lead.  However, CF-2 Goodwin then gives up a double to Ted Savage in the bottom of the inning for the first Cubs hit and the first Cubs run, but in the 7th Rusty Greer leads off and also finds Jenkins’ homer, and the Ranger lead 3-1 going into the 7th inning stretch.  Sele hangs tough but when the Cubs get two straight singles to begin the bottom of the 9th, they head to the pen for Jeff Zimmerman, who has no complete hits on his card.  Zimmerman walks Randy Hundley, and then Glenn Beckert’s sac fly makes it a one-run game with the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on first.  Cubs DH Clarence Jones then singles past 3B defensive replacement Jon Shave to tie the game and put the winning run 90 feet away.  Zimmerman then walks #9 batter Don Kessinger and the bases are loaded for Adolpho Phillips; the infield stays in and Phillips whiffs to bring up Ted Savage for all the marbles.  Zimmerman delivers, Savage lines out, and the game heads to extra innings.  The 10th inning goes quietly, so the Cubs have to move to Chuck Hartenstein out of the pen in the 11th; he does the job, but Clarence Jones misses Zimmerman’s HR 1-14/flyB split in the bottom of the frame and the game proceeds to the 12th.  In the top of the inning Greer hits his second solo HR off the pitcher’s card in this game, and the Rangers take a one run lead into the bottom of the inning, summoning John Wetteland to try to preserve some eligibility for Zimmerman, but Adolpho Phillips finds Wetteland’s HR result to tie the game back up and we head to the 13th.  Roberto Kelly leads off with a double and scores on Palmiero’s long single to give the Rangers the lead once again, and although the Cubs get Beckert into scoring position when Royce Clayton fails to convert a DP, Wetteland hangs on and the Rangers take the 5-4 marathon win.

When I saw that a Braves team from the early ‘60s was involved in the regional, I figured that with Hammering Hank, Eddie Matthews, and Warren Spahn, the 1963 Braves had to be pretty good.  Yet, although those three led them to a winning record of 84-78, after setting the lineup it was clear that there wasn’t much of a supporting cast.  However, it didn’t seem like much support would be needed against the 104-loss 2004 Royals, a team with too many DHs and too little of anything else.  The pitching matchup was quite an age contrast between 20 year old Zack Greinke (8-11, 3.97) and Spahn (23-7, 2.60), who at age 42 was more than twice Greinke’s age.  However, the Royals show no respect for the elder Spahn when they begin the 2nd inning with three straight hits, the third one a 2-run double for Joe Randa, and Tony Graffanino singles in Randa and the Royals have a 3-0 lead.  In the 3rd, a two-base error by RF-2 Hank Aaron sets up a sac fly by Randa, and one inning later Graffanino finds Spahn’s HR result and Denis Menke boots a two-out grounder and the Royals lead is up to 6-0, and Milwaukee fans start looking for real estate in Atlanta.   From there it’s academic as the Braves can’t solve Greinke, who ends up with a 6-hit shutout as the Royals head to the semis with the 6-0 upset win.

The survivors

The first semifinal is the most anticipated matchup of the regional between two pennant winners.  The 1996 Braves must go without their injured HOF 3B Chipper Jones, but they saved another HOFer, Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz (24-8, 2.94), for this game.  In contrast, the 2004 Cardinals were at full strength with their power-laden lineup although Jason Marquis (15-7, 3.71), coincidentally just acquired from the Braves, was hardly a Cy Young candidate.  Both pitchers dominate until the top of the 5th, when Cards LF-3 John Mabry allows a double to Jeff Blauser that scores two, but in the bottom of the inning Mabry atones by swatting a solo HR, the first hit off Smoltz.  Smoltz then loses his composure, allowing three straight hits plus a 2-base error by RF-3 Jermaine Dye, and the Cards take a 3-2 lead.  They add another run to their lead when Pujols leads off the 5th with a homer, but they then lose Mabry to injury for two games and bring in defensive replacement Taguchi.  Smoltz settles down, but Marquis is steady and the Cards enter the top of the 9th with a two-run lead.   With one out, Braves PH Jerome Walton singles, but Mark Lemke hits into a game-ending DP and the Cardinals take the clash of the titans with a 4-2 win, despite a 5-hitter from Smoltz.

This semifinal matches the #3 seed 1999 Rangers and the #7 seed 2004 Royals, with neither team being blessed with an abundance of adequate starting pitching.  The Rangers were banking that their huge offense would feast on Royals swingman Dennys Reyes (4-8. 4.75) while hoping that their own swingman Esteban Loaiza (9-5, 4.56) could keep the Royals in single digits.   The Rangers strike quickly in the top of the 1st with back to back triples from Royce Clayton and Mark McLemore and grab a 2-0 lead, and a Pudge Rodriguez RBI single in the 2nd makes it 3-0.  However, the Royals were lucky in round one and continue that trend in the bottom of the inning, with Texas 1b-2 Rafael Palmiero making a 2-base error with the bases loaded and when David Dejesus follows with a 2-run single KC takes a 4-3 lead.  However, Reyes begins the 4th allowing five straight baserunners, including a 2-run poke by Rodriguez that gives Texas their lead back, and the Royals move to Jaime Cerda out of the pen but by the time the inning ends the Rangers lead 8-4.  Unfazed, the Royals retaliate in the bottom of the inning with a Graffanino RBI single and a Dejesus sac fly to cut the Texas lead to two, and fourteen runs have been scored with the game less than half over.  In the 5th, Angel Berroa hits a 2-out single and, counting on their luck, John Buck (1-11) stomps home from second and it’s a one-run game entering the 6th, with the Royals summoning their supersubs to try to match the Rangers’ firepower.  One of those subs, C Kelly Stinnett, contributes an RBI single in the 6th and we have a tie game and the Rangers are sweating with their bullpen seriously depleted following their extra-inning game in the first round.  But the Rangers load the bases in the top of the 7th assisted by two Royals errors, and Todd Zeile clears them with a 2-out double, and Cerda ends his eligibility for the regional by handing Texas a 12-8 lead.  Of course, the Royals immediately load the bases against Loaiza in the bottom of the inning and the Rangers have seen enough, bring in Mike Venafro, who promptly walks in a run but then induces a double play from Matt Stairs to prevent further damage.  Thus, Loaiza leaves the game with 9 runs charged to him, meaning that he did manage to avoid double-digits.  The Royals start the 8th with the best of their terrible remaining relievers, D.J. Carrasco, and the KC faithful give him a standing ovation when he tosses a perfect inning, but the adulation ends when Palmiero leads off the 9th with a homer that pushes the Texas lead to four.  In the bottom of the 9th, the Royals get two hits off Venafro, but he makes a nifty play on a Carlos Beltran grounder to end the game and preserve the 13-9 win and a berth in the finals.

The finals pair two offensive juggernauts, the #1 seeded 2004 Cardinals (214 team HR) and the #3 seed 1999 Rangers (230 team HR), and with neither team boasting a great rotation the number three starters for the two teams, Rick Helling (13-11, 4.84) for the Rangers and Woody Williams (11-8, 4.18) were both likely to be on a short leash.  The pitchers begin things decently, but in the 4th Helling allows a single and two walks, all off his card, and then allows a 2-run single to Renteria–also off Helling’s card.  The hits keep coming, including a two-run double from Jim Edmonds, and the Rangers get their starter the Helling out of there after 3+ innings, with a rested Zimmerman coming in to try his luck.  He retires Pujols to end the inning, but the Cards lead 5-0.  The Rangers move to their closer Wetteland in the 8th, and that goes off the rails as he allows four hits, including a 3-run blast by Edmonds, and Texas has two innings left to make up an 8-run deficit.  They do nothing in the 8th, and Williams takes a 2-hitter into the bottom of the 9th.  He gets one out, but then the Rangers reel off four straight hits, including RBI singles from Rodriguez and Rusty Greer, and the Cards bring closer Jason Isringhausen just to be safe.  He makes one pitch to Todd Zeile, who hits into a DP, and it’s game, set, and regional to the Cards with the 8-2 win over the Rangers–exactly as the ELO ranks predicted.  

Interesting card of Regional #138:  With a homer, a double, and five RBI in the final, this guy merited consideration for the MVP of the regional, as he did for NL MVP this season.  However, he only finished 5th in that 2004 voting, but talk about splitting the vote:  his teammates Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.  Although he hit a few homers less than Pujols, he actually had a higher OBP and the OPS for the two was very close, with a slight edge to Albert.   Even so, anybody who watched the Cards during those years (or the Angels before them) knows that Edmonds would have been quite valuable even if he couldn’t hit a lick, mainly because he was one of the best centerfielders in recent memory–a mainstay on the highlight reels with incredible catches.  Of course, Rolen was also a great fielder but wasn’t quite the hitter that Edmonds was this season.  I’m not sure how the voters sorted it all out, but it’s easy to see how the Cards won the pennant and this regional with three strong MVP candidates.   With better pitching, this team could have been one of the all-time greats.