REGIONAL #149:  This was an eclectic group that didn’t have any pennant winners, but there looked to be a bunch of teams that I suspected would be pretty good.  The Braves were a couple of years after a pennant, the Phillies were a couple before one, and there were three squads from the mid-1950s that I thought could be competitive, particularly the Indians.  I figured that the one clinker in the bunch would be the 1938 A’s, who I thought had largely been disassembled from their great teams at the beginning of that decade and would be entering years wandering in the wilderness.  Given the strong performance of the 2004 Braves in the previous regional, and knowing that this team would be even more related to their great teams of the 90s, I guessed it would be the 2001 Braves over the Phillies in the final.   The ELO ratings agreed with the Braves as favorites, but suggested that many of these teams were a lot worse than I thought they might be.

First round action

The 2019 Reds only went 75-87 but they had some big boppers like Eugenio Suarez and his 49 round trippers, and Sonny Gray (11-8, 2.87) was a solid staff ace.  They were favored over a 1938 A’s team that had fallen far from their all-time great squads at the beginning of the decade, losing 99 games with a terrible pitching staff from which 20-game loser George Caster (16-20, 4.35) seemed to be the best option.  In the top of the 2nd, A’s 2B-4 Dario Lodigiani can’t get to a 2-out Tucker Barnhart single through the infield, which drives in a run, but the A’s respond in the 3rd when C Earle Brucker converts Gray’s HR 1-7/flyB result with a split of 5 and Mr. Mack’s squad leads 2-1.  That lead lasts until the next pitch from Caster, as Yasiel Puig leads off the 4th with a long blast, but in the bottom of the inning Gray walks three straight batters to load things up and then Billy Werber rolls that same HR 1-7/flyB on Gray–but this time the split is a 9 and the A’s have to be content with the sac fly that gives them back the lead.  The Reds respond once again in the 6th, with Aristides Aquino smacking a 2-run shot, and after two more hits Nick Senzel misses a HR 1-11 split with a 12, but he scores nonetheless as Barnhart knocks another single past Lodigiani, and by the time Caster secures the third out the Reds now lead 7-3.   Brucker narrows the gap slightly in the 7th with an RBI single, and in the 8th a Sam Chapman 2-run shot makes it a one-run game, and when the next batter Lou Finney doubles, the Reds have to accept that their ace no longer has his stuff, and Michael Lorenzen is summoned from the pen.  Lorenzen gets two quick outs, but then A’s SS Wayne Ambler nails a hard single off Lorenzen’s card and the game all tied up heading into the 9th.  In the 9th, both teams get a leadoff single but nothing develops and the game heads to extra innings.  Caster gets through his final inning in the 10th with no problems, but in the bottom of the inning Reds SS-2 Galvis drops the leadoff grounder, and then Lorenzen walks two straight to load the bases with nobody out and Ambler at the plate.  For added defense, the Reds decide to bring in SS-1 Jose Iglesias and move Galvis to second as a 2B-2.  Lorenzen delivers, and sure enough it’s a groundball 2B(X), the split roll is a 1, and Galvis can’t get to it and the runner he allowed with the error scores the walkoff run on a single that he allowed–at two different positions.   The A’s win 8-7 and advance to the semis as a #7 seed, with frightening prospects for the next starter in their rotation. 

This bracket was one of those where the marquee matchup occurs in the first round, with the top seeded 2001 Braves facing off against the #2 seed 1957 Indians.   For the second straight regional, a Braves team from the early 2000s was favored in the group, and these Braves were seeking to atone for the loss by their 2004 cousins in the finals of the previous regional; although this team was not as good according to the ELO ranks they still won the NL East with an 88-74 record (getting eliminated in the NLCS) and they had a better rotation headed by Greg Maddux (17-11, 3.05).  Like the Braves, the 76-77 1957 Indians were a team that once had one of the all-time great starting rotations but were in decline, with Mike Garcia (12-8, 3.75) getting the start and Woodling, Wertz and Colavito counted on to provide the offense.  With one out in the bottom of the 2nd, Vic Wertz singles and 22-year old rookie outfielder Roger Maris follows by missing a HR 1-8/DO split, and I’m faced with the decision to hold or send lead-footed Wertz (1-8) to home with the bottom of the order coming up.  I put up the stop sign, and at least future manager Dick Williams hits a sac fly and the Indians lead 1-0.  In the 3rd, a 2-out error by 1B-3 Wes Helms seems to rattle Maddux, and he allows two straight singles off his card, including an RBI hit from Wertz, and the margin widens.  In the 4th, Marcus Giles, who had been a major weapon for the Braves in the prior regional, nails a solo HR to get Atlanta on the board, and another solo shot from Chipper Jones in the 6th knots the score at two apiece.  In the 7th, Braves PH Ken Caminiti hits a 2-out double to put men on 2nd and 3rd, and the Indians decide to bring in reliever Cal McLish to face another PH in Julio Franco.  Franco rolls a 6-6 popout, which would have been a solid single on Garcia, for the third out and the score remains tied.  Meanwhile, the Indians are stymied by rally-killers, with Woodling hitting into the fourth Cleveland DP in the bottom of the 8th.  Neither team can score in the 9th and we head to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th, McLish walks Franco and with two out, Brian Jordan nails a double and the aging legs of the 1-11 Franco propel him home with the go-ahead run.   It’s thus Maddux’s game to lose in his final inning of eligibility, and he blows through the bottom of the Indians’ order, fanning Bobby Avila to seal the 3-2 extra-inning win.

This game was unusual in matching two bottom-dwelling teams from the same league in the same season, with the next-to-last 1955 Cardinals against the last place 1955 Pirates.  The 68-86 Cardinals had Stan the Man but sparse support otherwise, with Tom Poholsky (9-11, 3.81) getting the starting nod.  The 60-94 Pirates didn’t really have anything to brag about other than a 20-year old kid name Roberto Clemente who hadn’t really come into his own, but Bob Friend (14-9, 2.83) was a strong staff ace who probably deserved better.   The Pirates loses 2B Johnny O’Brien to injury in the 3rd, but avenge him in the 4th when Gene Freese chills a double that scores the other Frank Thomas (1-12) from 1st to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead.  Meanwhile, the Cards’ Ken Boyer goes down to injury in the 6th, but they retaliate in the 7th when 3B-4 Freese makes a 2-base error on an Alex Grammas grounder and Solly Hemus singles him home to tie things up.  However, Pittsburgh squeezes out another run in the 8th when Dick Groat perfectly executes a squeeze play to score Dale Long, and they head into the 9th leading by a run and with Friend still looking strong on the mound.  Sure enough, Friend sets the Cards down in order to wrap up the 6-hitter and the 2-1 victory to earn the #8 seeded Pirates a trip to the semis.

The 2005 Nationals had the best ELO rank in the bottom half of this bracket and looked like an okay team, reflected in their symmetrical 81-81 record, but perhaps a bit better with their ace John Patterson (9-7, 3.13) on the mound.  I had thought that their opponents, the 78-84 1991 Phillies, might be better, but that was not the case, with aging stars, poor fielding, and troubles getting on base, it was going to be a challenge to generate support for a decent Tommy Greene (13-7, 3.38).  The Nationals waste no time as the second batter of the game, Nick Johnson, smacks a solo shot to give Washington the quick lead, although their efforts to put up another one in the 2nd fails when Ryan Church (1-12) had no prayer in trying to score on a Brian Schneider single and is out by a mile on a 20 roll.  Their luck continues to go south when C-2 Schneider drops a popup for an error on the leadoff hitter in the 3rd; Von Hayes doubles and then Lenny Dykstra walks to load the bases.  Patterson retires Morandini on a shallow fly and then faces big John Kruk, who crushes it into the far reaches of Veterans Stadium for a grand slam, and the Philadelphia fans briefly cease booing.   Darren Daulton gives them something else to cheer about with a solo shot in the 4th, and Patterson is quickly yanked for closer Chad Cordero.  The Nats cut the lead to 5-2 in the 6th when Phils LF-4 Wes Chamberlain hands an RBI double to Jose Vidro, but Daulton adds an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th, and Greene shuts down the Nats in the 9th to seal the 6-2 win for the Phillies.

The survivors

A seemingly lopsided semifinal between the regional favorite 2001 Braves and the #7 seed 1938 A’s looked even more one-sided when considering that Atlanta would be grilling with John Burkett (12-12, 3.04) against the eminently hittable Bud Thomas (9-14, 4.92) of the A’s.  However, the game begins as a pitching duel, with nobody threatening until Brian Jordan doubles in the bottom of the 4th but Marcus Giles (1-12) is nailed at the plate trying to score on a 13 split, and the game remains scoreless.  That seems to spur the A’s offense, as in the 5th Sam Chapman doubles and then scores on a Lou Finney single to give the underdogs the 1-0 lead.  However, Thomas drops a Jordan grounder in the 7th, and after another grounder advances him to second Mark Derosa pinch hits and comes through with a single to tie the game.  When the A’s lead off the 8th with a walk and a squib single, the Braves decide to go to Rudy Seanez out of the pen, and that doesn’t go well, as Seanez walks Billy Werber and then Wally Moses rips a 2-run single and the A’s lead, still with nobody out.  However, to disrupt their celebration, the next batter, A’s DH wunderkind Earle Brucker, rolls an inconvenient 3-8 meaning he strikes out and gets injured for 5 games in the process, severely impacting their limited offense for any future games.  When Seanez walks the next batter, he’s gone and John Smoltz comes in with the bases loaded and the game getting out of hand, and he does the job, getting two quick outs to leave all the runners stranded.  In the bottom of the inning, LF-3 Chapman commits a two base error on a Rafael Furcal flyball and PH Julio Franco knocks the speedy Furcal in with a single, and the A’s cling to a one run lead heading into the 9th.  Smoltz sets the A’s down in order in the top of the inning, and so it comes down to Bud Thomas to preserve the game; the Braves go down 1-2-3 and Thomas wraps up an unlikely 6-hitter as the upstart A’s squeak into the finals with a 3-2 win, but with their best hitter down for the count and their remaining pitching options ugly.

With the #7 seed already having earned a spot in the finals, it was now up to the #8 seeded 1955 Pirates to see if they could make it an all-terrible team culmination to the regional.  Standing in their way was the #4 seed 1991 Phillies, who would be starting Terry Mulholland (16-13, 3.61) against the long arm of Vern Law (10-10, 3.81).  In the top of the 1st, the Pirates are driving on Mullholland with three straight hits, including a 2-run single by Dale Long, and in the 2nd they continue their trip with a 2-out rally consisting of an RBI double from Dick Groat and another run when Jerry Lynch singles him in, good for a daunting 4-0 lead.  In the bottom of the 4th, Phils DH Dale Murphy drives in a run to put them on the scoreboard, but Dick Groat turns a key DP to end the inning with no further damage.  Eddie O’Brien recoups the run with a 2-out RBI single in the 6th, but although everything seems to be going the Pirates’ way, DH Lynch leads off the top of the 7th by getting injured for 5 games, a real blow to the meager Pittsburgh offense.  Phils PH Dave Hollins leads off the bottom of the 8th by converting a split HR off Law’s card, but Dale Long smacks a 2-out RBI double in the top of the 9th to drive Mulholland away and welcome Wild Thing Mitch Williams, who promptly allows a single to the other Frank Thomas and Long ambles home with more insurance.  Law wraps up the 9th with a 7-hitter and the bottom seeded Pirates head to the finals with an easy 7-2 win, but with starting 2B Johnny O’Brien and DH Lynch both injured, it’s hard to imagine that their streak will continue much longer.

For the regional final, it’s the battle of the bads as the #7 seeded 1938 A’s take on the #8 seed 1955 Pirates, with both teams missing big parts of their offense due to injuries and both down to the depths of their rotation, although Pirate swingman Roy Face (5-7, 3.58) looked like a far better option than the A’s Buck Ross (9-16, 5.32).  In the bottom of the 1st Dale Long finds Ross’s HR result for a 2-run shot that puts the Pirates ahead, but the A’s finally figure out Face on the second pass through the order and rap three straight hits to lead off the 5th that ties up the game.  That tie doesn’t last long, as in the bottom of the inning Clemente doubles and Dick Groat singles him home and the Pirates are again up by a run.  In the 7th the already depleted A’s lose C Frankie Hayes to injury for 10 games, and the Bucs add an insurance run in the bottom of the frame with Groat’s RBI double.  So it comes down to the 9th, and Lou Finney gets on base on an error by defensive replacement 1B-3 Preston Ward; a walk to Ambler is followed by an RBI single from Lodigiani and it’s a one run game with the tying run on third and one out.  The infield comes in for injury replacement C Hal Wagner, and with no other catching options there won’t be a pinch hitter.   One isn’t needed, as Wagner raps a hard single off Face’s card and the game is tied, and now the go-ahead run is 90 feet away.  The Bucs eye their bullpen but don’t like their options, and they will try to let Face go as long as he can.  The infield in works against Billy Werber as Lodigiani is nailed at the plate and then with two out, Face retires Wally Moses and when Ross shuts down the Pirates in the bottom of the inning we head to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th Face is bailed out by two good defensive plays, one a key DP turned by Groat; in the bottom of the inning the goat Preston Ward atones by hitting a one-out triple to put the winning run on third.  The infield comes in for another defensive replacement, .211 hitting Felipe Montemayor, who hits a grounder to 2B-4 Lodigiani, who amazingly looks Ward back to the bag and gets Montemayor at first for the second out.  Ross then walks Gene Freese to bring up 20 year old Roberto Clemente with the game on the line.  Clemente rips a liner to left, LF-3 Sam Chapman can’t get to it, and Forbes Field erupts as the bottom seeded Pirates secure the 5-4 win and the regional crown.  The Pirates elect Dick Groat as MVP, as he contributed key RBI in all three games and several clutch defensive gems as one of the few decent fielders on the team.    

Interesting card of Regional #149:  The current Strat season (2021) includes the final card in the career of one of the most popular players for the Nationals since their move from Montreal; in fact, he was the first Nationals player to have his uniform number retired.  This regional provided a picture of Mr. Zimmerman at the other end of his career, as it included Mr. Zimmerman’s very first Strat card from 2005.  For some reason the old jingle to “double your pleasure, double your fun” comes to mind when I look at it, and not because of his performance at Wrigley Field.  It turned out that selecting Zimmerman’s card was a close call because Earle Brucker of the 1938 A’s had a similarly remarkable season, but I went with Mr. National in recognition of his recent retirement (Brucker’s card is included on my blog if you want to check it out).  Given that many recent tournament games have been decided as walk-offs, including the finals of this regional, it is worth noting that Zimmerman ended his career in 8th place on the list of walk-off homers, with 11–and all seven players in front of him are in the Hall of Fame.