REGIONAL #148:  This group was another draw where I didn’t recognize any of the contestants as being a particularly great team.    There were entries from the Braves, Brewers, Padres, Tigers and Angels that I thought were all a number of years past having been very good teams.  I had a feeling that the Pirates probably weren’t competitive, as I don’t remember any such Pirate teams from recent years, and as for the 2013 Cubs, I had picked the 2012 version to win the previous regional, and as Pete Townsend put it, we won’t get fooled again.  Having no clue who might emerge here, I went with the 2000 Padres, who had won a pennant only two years earlier and would get that peak steroid-era boost, over the Braves in the final.  The ELO ranks suggest that I undersold a number of teams, including the Pirates and the Brewers, with the latter actually pegged as the best team in the AL that season.   Those ranks predicted the Braves over the ‘73 Tigers in the final.   On an irrelevant note, I will say that I was pleased to see the Brewers housed in the AL, the Astros in the NL, and the Angels in “California” in this bracket, which in my opinion is the way it should be.

First round action

The 92-win 1992 Brewers were the second best team in the regional and the best AL team that season according to the ELO ranks, but I wasn’t very impressed; although they had some memorable names like Yount, Molitor, and Greg Vaughn in the lineup, their stars didn’t have particularly great years and Molitor (12) and Vaughn (23) were the only ones in the lineup with double digit homers.  However, they had a solid starting rotation and a couple of stellar relievers, so they were looking to win low-scoring games, giving the first round start to the very tough Cal Eldred (11-2, 1.79).   They faced the another team I seemed to have underestimated, the 2013 Pirates, who were seeded #3 and won 94 games with a postseason appearance.  As I figured they had Andrew McCutcheon as a weapon, but they also had Starling Marte, Marlon Byrd, and Pedro Alvarez with strong seasons and a good rotation with Francisco Liriano (16-8, 3.02).  The Brewers open the tap in the top of the 1st when Yount doubles and scores on a hard single by Vaughn, but Byrd nails a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to quickly tie it back up.  When Scott Fletcher doubles home speedy Darryl Hamilton in the 2nd, it’s beginning to look like this game may live up to its billing as the one to watch in the first round.  From there, both aces turn off the tap, and nobody can mount a threat until the top of the 8th, when a single and a walk push the Pirates to move to Mark Melancon out of the pen to keep it close.  He ends the threat, and the Bucs have six more outs to get to Eldred and try to make up the one-run deficit.  In the bottom of the 8th, Pittsburgh gets a single and two walks to load the bases with two away, and after a conference at the mound the Brewers decide to let Eldred pitch to Neal Walker.  It’s a sharp grounder to 2B-2 Fletcher, who fields it cleanly and Milwaukee takes their one run lead into the 9th.  Melancon shuts down the Brewers in order, so it's now the bottom of the Pirates order standing between Eldred and the win.  With one out, DH Gary Sanchez converts a split single and Alex Presley comes in to pinch run, representing the tying run.  But Russell Martin rolls a gbA to seal the deal for Eldred and the Brewers squeak by with the 2-1 win.

I had been surprised to find that the 2004 Braves were the top ranked team in the regional, as my recollection of great Braves teams was in the 90s and I figured there had to have been decline from those.  But these Braves won 96 games and the NL East with a different type of team, one where every starter in the lineup had a SLG% over .400 but with a starting rotation that was past the glory days of Maddux and Glavine; Smoltz was still around but in the pen and Jaret Wright (15-8, 3.28) would get the first round start.  They were solid favorites over the 76-86 1987 Astros, a team built for the Astrodome around pitching and speed, with Nolan Ryan (8-16, 2.76) insisting on starting even though teammate Mike Scott had won the Cy Young in the prior season.  Nobody can muster a hit until Adam LaRoche leads off the top of the 5th with a fly that Houston LF-2 Billy Hatcher turns into a single and then misplays, and that seems to unsettle Ryan as Johnny Estrada then rips a double to score LaRoche.  A couple of walks then loads the bases, Rafael Furcal singles, JD Drew walks and the Braves move out to a 3-0 lead.  In the bottom of the inning Denny Walling breaks up Wrights no-hitter with a 2-out double, but he gets stranded, and in the 7th Furcal converts a HR 1-7/flyB for a 2-run shot that chases an angry Ryan for Dave Smith.  Meanwhile Wright is on cruise control until the 9th, when a single and a couple of walks loads the bases for the Astros.  A sac fly by Walling gives Houston their first run, and then another walk loads the bases again for Craig Reynolds as the tying run with two out,  It’s a fly to left, defensive replacement Charles Thomas is under it, and game over as Wright finishes out a 3-hitter and the Braves move on, winning 5-1 while only managing 5 hits themselves.

I had blindly selected the 2000 Padres to win the regional, but after actually looking at the team and setting the lineup, I thought that they looked even worse than the 76-86 squad that they were–largely terrible fielding, not much punch for the height of the steroid era, and a lousy rotation fronted by an okay Woody Williams (10-8, 3.75).  Still, they were ELO favorites against the 1993 Angels, who had slightly worse offensive numbers but better pitching and defense, with Mark Langston (16-11, 3.20) having a minutely better card than Williams.  In the top of the 4th, Phil Nevin rolls a HR 1-5 but the split die is a 6 and Nevin gets stranded at second; in the bottom of the inning Tim Salmon leaves no doubt about it, leading off with a solid HR and the Angels take a 1-0 lead.  The Padres threaten in the 7th when an error by Angels SS-2 Gary Disarcina and a walk put the tying run in scoring position, but 3B-2 Rene Gonzales turns a DP to end the inning, and then Torey Lovullo leads off the bottom of the inning by converting a HR 1-2 and Williams hits the showers in favor of closer Trevor Hoffman.  He does his job, but it doesn’t matter as Langston is in control; in the 9th 40-year old DH Tony Gwynn gets only the third hit of the game for the Padres, but Langston quickly retires Nevin and Ryan Klesko and the Angels move on with a 2-0 win in which they only “outhit” the Padres 4 hits to 3-both runs coming on leadoff homers.  

The 1973 Tigers went 85-77, largely on the remnants of their championship 1968 team, but much of their lineup was getting old; still, they had a great year from Joe Coleman (23-15, 3.53) and were big favorites over the 2013 Cubs.  The Cubs were actually chronologically closer to their championship than the Tigers were to theirs, but this team lost 96 games although they were beginning to get key piece in place and Travis Wood (9-12, 3.11) was a solid starter for round one.  However, Wood has a rough start when Dick McAuliffe wraps a leadoff HR just around the foul post in the top of the 1st, but in the bottom of the inning Nate Schierholtz converts a HR 1-12 off Coleman’s card for a two run shot that puts the Cubs on top.   That doesn’t last long, as in the top of the 2nd Aurelio Rodriguez goes ARod and nails the HR split on Wood’s card for a three-run blast, and in the 4th big Frank Howard leads off with a homer that extends the Detroit lead to 5-2.   In the 7th, Cubs PH Donnie Murphy crushes a 2-out solo shot to narrow the lead to two, which is only the second hit allowed by Coleman–both of them longballs.  However, when Coleman drops the ball for a leadoff error in the 8th, the Tigers move to closer John Hiller, and he finishes out the inning with no issues.   However, he makes it exciting in the 9th, as Anthony Rizzo singles and then Starlin Castro rolls his HR 1-2/DO, and the split roll of 13 puts the tying run at second with two outs.  The Cubs bring in Darnell McDonald to pinch hit, and Hiller strikes him out to earn the save in the Tigers 5-3 win.  

The survivors

According to the ELO ranks, this semifinal between the #1 seeded 2004 Braves and the #2 seed 1992 Brewers constituted the premier matchup of the regional.  Given the great Braves rotation of the 90s, it was surprising to note that the Brewers Jaime Navarro (17-11, 3.33) looked to have the advantage over Braves starter John Thomson (14-8, 3.72), although Atlanta did have one of those 90s starters, John Smoltz, in the pen ready to go if Thomson should falter.  And some faltering is evident immediately, as Brewer Pat Listach leads off the top of the 1st with a single, steals second, and then he scores on a Robin Yount single, but Thomson escapes the inning without further damage.  However, in the 2nd Dante Bichette singles, Darryl Hamilton singles him to third, Hamilton steals second and Kevin Seitzer brings them both home with a single; the Brewers continue to threaten but Listach gets caught stealing to end the inning with the Brewers lead at 3-0.  That lead dissipates immediately, as in the bottom of the inning Andruw Jones hits a 2-run homer and then with two out, CF-2 Yount can’t get to a Marcus Giles single and the Braves take a 4-3 lead.  Giles continues his heroics in the 5th, leading off with a double and eventually scoring on a pitch that gets past Brewer C BJ Surhoff.  A one out double in the 6th by Chipper Jones and the Brewers pull Navarro for Mike Fetters to try to keep things close, and he gets the job done, striking out Giles for the third out.  Meanwhile, Thomson is holding his own, but when Yount singles to lead off the 8th the Braves decide to take no chances and summon Smoltz from the pen to close things out.  But Smoltz allows a double off his card to Greg Vaughn, Yount scores on a Bichette fielder’s choice and the tying run is on 3rd with two out, but Smoltz retires Hamilton on a deep fly and the Braves cling to a one run lead.  But in the bottom of the inning Fetters walks two, Surhoff drops a popup for an error to load the bases with two out, and Braves defensive replacement Charles Thomas rolls a DO 1-12/flyB on Fetters–the split roll is 11, two runs score, but 1-16 JD Drew is gunned down at the plate for the final out.  Still, the Braves head into the 9th with a padded lead, and Smoltz sets down the bottom of the Brewers lineup in order to send Atlanta into the final with the 7-4 win.  

The 1973 Tigers and the 1993 Angels were starting a couple of workhorses in their semifinal matchup, with Mickey Lolich (16-15, 3.82) and Chuck Finley (16-14, 3.15) accounting for 61 decisions between them.  The game is knotted in a scoreless tie until the top of the 5th, when Angels’ #9 hitter Gary Disarcina knocks a 2-out RBI double, and they extend the lead to 3-0 in the 6th on a JT Snow RBI single.  Two Angels singles to start the 7th and Lolich is pulled for John Hiller, who comes in to both end the threat and, in a bad omen, California DH Damion Easley is injured for the rest of the tournament.  But the Angels retaliate by torching Hiller in the 8th, with defensive replacement Stan Javier nailing a 2-out, 2-run triple and Rene Gonzales knocking in Javier with a single to blow the game open.  Tim Salmon drives in another run against Tigers mop up man Lerrin Lagrow, and Finley closes things out with a 1-2-3 ninth to finish out the nifty 4-hit shutout and send the Angels to the finals with a 7-0 win.  Finley’s gem is a nice reward for a guy who has had multiple tough-luck losses in this tournament; and even here three of the four hits he allowed were fielding lapses by his defense.

The regional final looked like a mismatch, featuring the #1 seeded 2004 Braves against the #7 seed upstart 1993 Angels, who had the added disadvantage of an injured DH.  Neither team could send out a very good #3 starter, with the Braves’ Russ Ortiz (15-9, 4.13) and the Angels’ Scott Sanderson (7-11, 4.46) both having quite hittable cards.  In the bottom of the first, Tim Salmon goes upstream on Ortiz for a solo shot and a 1-0 California lead, but it’s a different picture when JD Drew nails a 2-out 2-run homer in the 3rd to put the Braves ahead.  But in the bottom of the inning, two straight walks are followed by a double from injury replacement Stan Javier, Salmon fishes out an RBI single, and the Angels regain a 4-2 lead after three.  When JT Snow leads off the 6th with a single off Ortiz’s card, the Braves move to their pen and bring in Juan Cruz, who spins a quick end to the inning.  When Drew draws a leadoff walk in the 8th, the Angels look at their bullpen and there is no relief there, so Sanderson is on his own–and with two out Andruw Jones finds and converts Sanderson’s HR result for a two-run shot that ties the game.  Atlanta then summons Smoltz from the pen to hold the line for his two remaining innings, and he does exactly that, and the game heads to extra innings.  In his last inning of eligibility, Sanderson allows two straight long singles off his card to begin the 10th, but the infield comes in to nail the potential go-ahead run at the plate, and Sanderson escapes with the game still tied.  With Smoltz burnt, the Braves have to go deeper into their pen and Horatio Ramirez gets the call; he retires the side and we head to the 11th with the Angels forced to go to the pen for the ominously named Mike Butcher.  But he shuts down the top of the Braves order, and in the bottom of the 11th Salmon grills the first pitch from Ramirez into the cheap seats for a walkoff 5-4 win and the unlikely regional win, the 5th for the Halos joining 1977, 1983, 1989, and 2004.  Salmon gets the regional MVP ribbon with his big performance in the final and driving in key runs in all three games.

Interesting card of Regional #148:  This edition’s official Strat card may not look particularly interesting, other than being one of the nice classic die-cut cards from the 70’s.   However, on closer inspection it might seem a bit weird that the backup catcher for the 1973 Tigers, Bob Didier, actually has 1971 printed on his card–and no, it’s not a misprint, those are his 1971 stats.   See, the real backup catcher for those Tigers, Duke Sims, was traded to the Yankees for a whole four games at the end of the season, but game company policy dictated that when a player was traded to a team within the league, the player was carded with the team he played for at the end of the season.   Thus, the Tigers would have had no backup at catcher without Didier, so he was included on the core 20-player Tigers team set.  Thing is, Didier only had 22 at-bats, and 22 very good at bats they were.  The game company, being no fun and apparently having no inkling of the situation they would face in 2020, decided that no, Bob wouldn’t be permitted to get his rightfully-earned killer card and go down in Strat history as one of the great low-AB wonders.  So, as the note on the original roster sheet (seen below the cards) indicates, they used his far worse 1971 stats to produce a 1971 card and included THAT with the Tigers.  Furthermore, when they reproduced 1973 in SADV format in 2014, the game company doubled down and DID THE SAME THING!   According to Baseball Reference, Bob is still with us at age 73, and I believe that this injustice should receive a long overdue correction during his lifetime.  As such, as one of my homemade efforts, I present to you:  the REAL 1973 Bob Didier.