REGIONAL #150:   There were a few teams in this draw that stood out to me, particularly the ‘86 Cards who were still complaining about Don Denkinger’s Series call at the end of the prior season, and the 2013 Royals, who in the following season would rise to heights not achieved by them since they were the beneficiaries of that call.  Other notables were a Cubs team that had won a pennant two years prior but were beginning a dry spell that would last for 60 years, a Twins team a few seasons after their ‘91 pennant, and some more contemporary entries from the Braves and the Brewers.  I was pulling for a Cards/Royals grudge match in the finals, with a Royals win perhaps precipitating more meltdowns from the usual suspects on the Cardinals.   The ELO rankings were interesting, suggesting that there wasn’t a good team in the bunch with none of them ranked among the top 1000 teams (which I believe is a first in this tournament).   Although a collection of mediocrities according to the ratings, the rankings predicted the same participants as I did in the finals, but instead had the Cards earning some measure of revenge against the Royals.

First round action

 In a year of significant transitions for baseball, the 1947 Cubs were undergoing a transformation from a team that had been very good for two decades to one that would stink for the next two decades.  Going 69-85 two years after a pennant, their Pythagorean projection was nearly 10 games worse than their record, suggesting that Charlie Grimm got the most out of aging stars like Stan Hack and Phil Cavaretta.  They had Johnny Schmitz (13-18, 3.22) tapped to face the regional favorite 1986 Cardinals, who had also declined to a sub-.500 79-82 record after winning the NL the previous season.  The Cards still had strong pitching, defense and speed (Vince Coleman was a AAA stealer), but Andy Van Slyke was the team leader in homers with 13 and only two players in the lineup hit above .257.    Their team speed is evident in the bottom of the 2nd, when Willie McGee doubles and races home on a 2-out Tommy Herr single, but it gets them in trouble in the 3rd when Coleman singles but is thrown out trying to steal, courtesy of a split roll of 18.   That opens the door for the Cubs, who begin the 5th with three straight hits, including an RBI single from pastel-wearing Don Johnson, and then Cox drops a Stan Hack grounder and the Cubs lead 2-1.  In the 6th, Cubs 1B Eddie Waitkus is injured, apparently shot by a mysterious woman; it must have just grazed him as he’ll only be out for 2 games, but the only available replacement is .146-hitting Marv Rickert.  Even so, the Cubs manage three more hits in the 7th, with an RBI single from Cubs #9 hitter Lennie Merullo and it’s time for Todd Worrell from the pen, who escapes the inning without further damage but the Cubs now lead by two.  Meanwhile, Schmitz is cruising until he walks the first two batters in the bottom of the 9th; SS-3 Merullo then turns a key DP, and PH Jose Oquendo misses a SI* 1-11 split and it’s game over, Cubs win, final score 3-1.

Although the most recent version of the team just won the World Series, the 2015 Braves were miles away from those heights, losing 95 games and just being thankful that they had Freddie Freeman (at least for the time being).  They gave the start to Shelby Miller (6-17, 3.02) to face the 1994 Twins, who went 53-60 in that strike year and had a strong lineup but one of the worst rotations I’d seen lately, with Kevin Tapani (11-7, 4.62) seeming to be the least terrible alternative at the top of the rotation.  In the bottom of the 1st, the Twins take advantage of AA Alex Cole at the top of their order as he singles off Miller’s card, steals second on C-4 AJ Pierzynski, and then races home on a single by Chuck Knoblauch.  In the 3rd, the Braves put together a 2-out rally of sorts when Cameron Maybin doubles off a missed HR split, Freeman singles him home, and then Adonis Garcia misses another HR split, and Freeman is nailed at the plate trying to score on the resulting double–but the game is tied.  Turns out the tie is short-lived as Shane Mack delivers a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the inning, but then the Braves immediately take the lead with another two-out rally in the top of the 4th with Jace Peterson, Nick Markakis and Maybin contributing consecutive RBI hits, and the Braves now lead 4-3.  A sac fly by Gomes in the top of the 5th makes it 5-3, but in the bottom of the inning Cole walks, steals his third base of the game, and then Knoblauch triples him in and Kirby Puckett sends Knoblauch home with a single, and we’re tied 5-5 after 5 and it’s seeming like there is a lot more baseball to be played.  The Twins desperately want Tapani to make it seven innings, but when two singles off his card puts runners on first and third with two out in the 6th, they have to go to their one good reliever, Kevin Campbell, and he earns his salary by striking out Freeman to retire the side.  In the bottom of the 7th, Cole doubles and Puckett singles him home, chasing Miller for Arodys Vizcaino but the Twins now hold the one-run lead.  They take that into the 9th, where Campbell retires the Braves but must be pulled lest he be burnt for the entire regional, so the Twins try Eric Schullstrom to close out the game and he whiffs Pierzynski for the quick save and the 6-5 win that sends the Twins to the semis.  

In my blind assessment of the regional, I had assumed that the 1938 Senators would be the worst team in the batch, but in fact they were the #3 seed–although not necessarily because they were very good, but because so many others were bad.   Still, they pretty much broke even, going 75-76 with seven .300 hitters in the lineup, including Bucketfoot Al Simmons, but their pitching staff was pretty gruesome after ace Dutch Leonard (12-15, 3.43).  They faced a mediocre team from a different era, the 72-89 2004 Pirates, who had similar problems with starting pitching, with Oliver Perez (12-10, 2.98) the sole good option, although the Bucs had a much stronger bullpen.  A solo HR from Ty Wigginton in the bottom of the 2nd gives Pittsburgh the early lead, and Perez is in control in the early going.  However, his concentration is disrupted in the 7th when Taffy Wright hits a triple for only the second Nats hit of the game, and the infield comes in as Perez faces Al Simmons–who quiets PNC Park with a 2-run homer to give Washington the lead.  The Pirates get two aboard in the bottom of the inning but PH Raul Mondesi grounds out to end the inning and the Nats cling to the one run lead.  Leonard preserves that lead going into the bottom of the 9th, when he allows a leadoff single to Daryle Ward, but he bears down and sends the Senators on with three straight outs and a tight 2-1 win.

The 2013 Royals were just a year away from a mini-dynasty, with this team going 86-76; they had a decent rotation fronted by Ervin Santana (9-10, 3.24) and a remarkably deep bullpen ready to go if he faltered.  That pen may be needed to keep it close, as the lineup suffered from limited ability to get on base.  Their opponents, the 2016 Brewers, lost 89 games, relying on a couple of bashers in Ryan Braun and Chris Carter and bolstered for the first round by having a strong Junior Guerra (9-3, 2.81) on the mound.  In the second inning, Brewer DH Domingo Santana gets injured for a full 15 games, giving him a share of the record for the shortest appearance in the tournament, but not to be outdone the Royals lose their SS-1 Alcides Escobar for two games, a more costly if briefer loss.  Sure enough, the first Brewer up in the 4th, Jonathan Villar, hits a grounder to replacement SS-3 Pedro Ciriaco that goes through for a single, and then a Carter missed HR split results in a double and Villar races home to give the Brew Crew the lead.  To atone somewhat, after a Broxton walk, Ciriaco does end the inning with a GB-X double play that would have been an error on Escobar.  However, in the 5th Jonathan Lucroy belts a 2-out 2-run homer off the pitcher’s card; in the bottom of the inning Alex Gordon misses a HR split on Guerra’s card for a double that represents the first baserunner for the Royals, but he gets stranded and it’s 3-0 Milwaukee after 5.  The Royals move to their pen in the 7th in the hopes of a comeback, and they show signs of one when in the bottom of the inning, with two out and runners on 1st and 3rd, Mike Moustakas rolls the HR split on Guerra’s card.  He misses the split, but two runs score on the resulting double and it’s a one-run game and the Brewers bring in Tyler Thornburg to try to salvage the game.  But, it’s another double, this one to Emilio Bonifacio, and the game is tied heading into the 8th.   The Brewers strike back quickly, with a double from Villar followed by a run-scoring single from Braun and the Royals go to closer Greg Holland and he retires the side.  However, he doesn’t fare well in the 9th, as Hernan Perez singles to lead off for the Brewers and Kirk Nieuwenhuis follows with a homer to give Milwaukee some breathing room and perhaps a chance to save Thornburg’s innings for later rounds.  Jeremy Jeffress comes in for the 9th, but Bonifacio singles past Milwaukee defensive replacement SS-2 Orlando Arcia to score David Lough and PH George Kottaras comes up as the tying run.   However, he grounds out harmlessly and the Brewers escape with the 6-4 win as the two top regional seeds are eliminated in the first round.

The survivors

The semifinal between the 1947 Cubs and 1994 Twins matched two teams with very even,  mediocre ELO ratings, and neither were at full strength, with the Cubs’ Waitkus still recovering from his gunshot wound and the Twins pen stretched in their first round win.  It was Cubs swingman Bob Chipman (7-6, 3.68) against the Twins’ Pat Mahomes (9-5, 4.72), whose most famous accomplishment would be having a very athletic son the following year.   The Twins take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd when with two out Scott Leius doubles off Chipman’s card and then races home on a Pat Meares single; #9 hitter Matt Walbeck and his .204 average then nails another double off Chipman and Meares takes the extra base for a 2-0 lead.  They extend it to 3-0 in the third when Chuck Knoblauch and Pedro Munoz both hit doubles off Chipman’s card, but in the 5th the Twins take a blow when Shane Mack, with his important bat and glove, has to leave the game with an injury.  The Cubs sense their opportunity and in the 6th Bill Nicholson crushes one over the baggie in the Metrodome for a 2-run shot that makes it a one-run game, and then Waitkus replacement Cliff Aberson goes back-to-back with a shot off Mahomes that ties it up.  The Twins look long and hard at their terrible bullpen, but decide to let Mahomes try to recover, which is a bad choice as a few batters later Don Johnson hits Mahomes’ solid 4-9 homer for another 2-run shot.  The Twins finally bring in Rick Aguilera, who wasn’t his normal self that year, but he does get the final out although the Cubs now lead 5-3.  However, in the bottom of the 5th Pedro Munoz doubles off Chipman’s card and the Cubs take a lesson from the Twin and decide to pull Chipman, who allows 6 hits in 5.1 innings–five of the six hits being doubles off his card at 5-8 or 5-9.  Emil Kush comes in and gets a scare when a Stan Hack error puts runners at first and third, but Kush ends the threat by striking out Meares–on a 5-9 roll.   Kush allows two singles in the 7th, but Cubs C Bob Scheffing throws out two AA stealers in a row, Alex Cole and Knoblauch, as the Twins don’t seem to learn quickly.   A leadoff single by Aberson and the Twins this time act fast, going to Schullstrom out of the pen and he shuts down the Cubs with no damage in his appearance.  That brings it up to Cubs reliever Ralph Hamner coming in to face the Twins in the bottom of the 9th, and although Munoz rifles a single past Hamner to lead things off, he bears down and retires the Twins to preserve the 5-3 win that sends the Cubs to the finals.

Trying to pick a second starting pitcher for the 1938 Senators was a little like choosing between going by hanging or a firing squad, but ultimately they would take their chances with Harry Kelley (9-10, 5.12) as unlike most of the rest of their staff, he didn’t tend to walk a batter per inning.  The 2016 Brewers had their own issues, with their starting RF out permanently and their bullpen taxed after a close round one game; like Kelley, Zach Davies (11-7, 3.97) had good control but tended to allow hits.  Some of those hits went a long way, as Taffy Wright emphasized in the top of the 1st with a 2-run homer off Davies’ card, and in the 3rd Cecil Travis hits a double and Al Simmons adds a triple, again both off Davies’ card, and the Senators lead 4-0.  In the bottom of the 3rd Kirk Nieuwenhuis leads off by getting injured for the remainder of the game, just to make me spell his name, but the next batter, Jonathan Lucroy, avenges him with a solo shot off Kelley’s card to narrow the gap.  A couple of 2-out Nats singles in the 6th chases Davies for game one winner Tyler Thornburg, and he gets the last out without any damage.  The tandem of Thornburg and Jeffress holds the Senators at bay, but it’s for naught as the Brewers just can’t figure out Kelley, who ends with an unlikely 5-hit gem and the Senators head to the finals with the 4-1 win.

It was an old-school final between the 1947 Cubs and the 1938 Senators, and the two teams shared similarities other than age.  Both squads were built upon the aging remnants of once-great teams but were currently slipping into decades of obscurity.  Neither had a great #3 starter, with the Cubs’ Doyle Lade (11-10, 3.94) having better stats than the Nats’ Pete Appleton (7-9, 4.60) but not really a better card.  Finally, both offenses were at full strength, with a bandaged Eddie Waitkus back on the lineup card for the Cubs.   The Cubs defense comes unraveled in the bottom of the 2nd, with two singles getting past SS-3 Lennie Merullo and 2B-4 Don Johnson, and then CF-3 Andy Pafko commits a 2-base error and the Senators lead 2-0.  However, in the 6th back to back doubles from Bill Nicholson and Waitkus tie the game, although the Cubs fail to grab the lead when 1-15 Pafko is nailed trying to score on one of them.  Nonetheless, Nicholson knocks another double, this one with two out in the 8th, and Stan Hack scores to give the Cubs the lead.  The Senators lead off the bottom of the inning with two straight singles and the Cubs look at their pen, but their best reliever is burnt and the other options don’t inspire confidence, so it’s Lade’s game to preserve.  He gets one out, but then allows a double to Sammy West that ties the game, and with runners on 2nd and 3rd the Cubs pull Lade for the wild Ralph Hamner, figuring first base is open anyway.  Hamner does the job and the game heads to the 9th tied at three apiece.   Appleton sets the Cubs down in order and now Hamner faces the top of the lineup for the bottom of the 9th.  Buddy Myer, hitless for the game and having had some defensive lapses, atones for all that by smacking a leadoff triple, and everyone on defense comes in to try to prevent the run.  It works like a charm, with a gbB on Cecil Travis and Myer is nailed at the plate.  Taffy Wright then hits into a DP and we head to extra innings.  Appleton has been pitching over his head but in the 10th Hack singles and when Phil Cavarretta doubles, the Cubs send 1-11 Hack home with one out and he makes it to put the Cubs up.  Hamner is burnt and the Cubs turn to their 37-year old franchise hero, Bill Lee, who has announced his retirement after the tournament.  Zeke Bonura singles, and Ossie Bluege pokes another hit past defensive replacement 2B-3 Bobby Sturgeon to put the winning run on with two out.  But George Case grounds out harmlessly, and Lee gets the save as the Cubs take the game and the regional with the 4-3 win.  

Interesting card of Regional #150:  With no really unique cards playing a significant role in this regional, I thought I would feature an underappreciated second baseman from the golden era of baseball.   Myer led his team to the finals from the leadoff position, with a remarkable knack for reaching first; when he slumped in the final game, his team followed.  Although many have never heard of him, Bill James makes the case that Myer’s stats are virtually indistinguishable from those of Billy Herman, the Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman from the same era, but that Myer never received any real consideration for the HOF, even at the time.  His SABR bio suggests that it’s because Herman was the best 2B in the NL and thus was a perennial All-Star, while Myer was overshadowed by contemporaries Gehringer and Lazzeri in the AL.  Also, Myer often labored in obscurity on mediocre Senators teams, although he was a major factor in their out-of-nowhere 1933 AL pennant.  However, I think another important factor is that he played in an era where the importance of OBP wouldn't really be understood for another 75 years.  As Peter Brand infamously says in the movie:  “He gets on base”, and Myer did it long before it was fashionable.