REGIONAL #155:  This bracket featured the pennant winning, mustachioed 1972 A’s who looked to me to be the class of a rather undistinguished-looking collection of teams.  The only other squad that caught my eye was the ‘85 Cubs, who I knew had been a contender in their previous season, although I wasn’t certain how much of a dropoff they experienced following that success.  I didn’t think the elder statesmen in this group, the deadball Browns and post-war Senators, would stand a chance, although any of the remaining more modern era squads could be dark horse candidates.  Regardless, I picked the A’s over the Cubs in the final; the ELO ranks agreed, backing up my impressions by characterizing the A’s as a big favorite over a group of largely bad teams–but that is a designation that has often proved to be the kiss of death in this tournament.

First round action

The 2011 Mets were a mediocre 77-85 team who had some speed at the top of the lineup but an uninspiring pitching staff, fronted by R.A. Dickey (9-13., 3.28) who was hoping that his newly mastered knuckleball would be working.   Still, the Mets were considerable ELO favorites over the 2016 Twins, a 103-loss team with a very good second baseman in Brian Dozier and little else to support a pitching staff with one good starter, Erwin Santana (7-11, 3.38).  The Twins grab the lead in the top of the 2nd when Eddie Rosario rolls and misses Dickey’s HR split, but fleet Byron Buxton scores from 1st on the resulting double.  The Mets retaliate with a Jason Bay 2-out, 2-run homer in the bottom of the frame that puts NY ahead, but they suffer a setback in the 4th when David Wright, who has been killer for the Mets in this tournament, has to leave the game with an injury.  The Mets don’t get another hit until Daniel Murphy doubles in the 7th, but he’s tossed out at the plate (1-13) trying to score on a single by injury replacement Ruben Tejada and Santana escapes with no damage.  Meanwhile, Dickey has been getting out of jams all game, but in the 9th he gets the first two outs with no issues; however, Eduardo Nunez then rolls and misses Dickey’s HR split, and then Joe Mauer does the exact same, and the game is tied.  That brings up Dozier, who has been quiet all game, and the Mets stick with Dickey, but it wouldn’t have mattered as the 1-8 rolled is a solid HR for Dozier and a two-run lead for the Twins.  That is it for Dickey, and Miguel Batista comes in to get the last out, so now it’s Santana against a bunch of Mets defensive replacements.  The Mets scrape out a couple of singles but Santana strands those runners to complete a 5-hitter and propel the underdog Twins on to the semifinals with a 4-2 win.

The 1972 A’s went 93-62 and won the AL and the World Series, largely on the strength of a great pitching staff because the lineup had some holes offensively (e.g. Ted Kubiak, .205 average) and defensively (e.g. Angel Mangual, CF-4).  Still, with 20 game winner Catfish Hunter (21-7, 2.04), the A’s were odds on favorites against a 95-loss 2002 Orioles team that had a bit of steroid-era power but little ability to get on base, although starter Rodrigo Lopez (15-9, 3.57) did finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting, which also proved to be his best season.  Lopez lucks out in the top of the 1st when Joe Rudi misses a HR 1-10/DO split and gets stranded at second, and then in the 3rd Mangual leads off by missing his HR split also.  However, #9 hitter Kubiak rolls Lopez’s HR result and this time they don’t miss the split, giving the A’s the lead, but Geronimo Gil returns the favor in the bottom of the inning by converting Hunter’s HR split for a solo shot that makes it 2-1 A’s.  In the 5th Rudi blasts a 2-out RBI double past 3B-4 Tony Batista to extend the Oakland lead, and the A’s decide to go to defensive replacements in the 6th to support Hunter in a tight game.  However, in the bottom of the 6th Gil singles and then Gary Matthews Jr. rolls Hunter’s HR 1-12 and misses with a 13 split, but that puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  With Rollie Fingers already up in the pen, Hunter delivers to Melvin Mora, who smacks a hard single that scores both runners and the game is tied.  But the A’s respond in the 7th, when defensive replacement Mike Hegan triples to lead off the inning; the O’s bring the infield in and another defensive rep, .182 hitter George Hendrick, rips a ball through the drawn-in infield and the A’s retake the lead.  Then, the third defensive specialist of the inning, Tim Cullen, smacks a double but the 1-15 Hendrick is cut down at the plate and the A’s take a one-run lead into the bottom of the 9th.   Then, Batista atones for his fielding problems in a big way, leading off the inning with a homer that ties things up and chases Hunter for Bob Locker, with no extra base chances on his card, out of the pen.  The next batter, Jeff Conine, rolls what would have been Hunter’s HR result but it’s an out on Locker, who retires three in a row and the game heads to extra innings.  Lopez and Locker both do their jobs in the 10th, and with Lopez now toast the Orioles bring in Jorge Julio, who blows through the A’s in the 11th including a classic strikeout from Reggie Jackson.  But Locker is also in fine form, and he shuts down the O’s for his four innings, but is then burnt for the regional and he has to turn the ball over to Darold Knowles in the 13th.  Julio is similarly used up after the 14th, during which he adds another epic strikeout of Jackson to his total, and when Knowles sets the O’s down in order in the bottom of the inning Baltimore moves to yet another strong reliever, Buddy Groom, to begin the 15th.  Groom picks up where Julio left off, fanning Jackson again in the 16th, but Knowles is perfect in his final inning of eligibility for the regional and the game moves to the 17th inning.  The A’s do nothing in the top of the inning, and Rollie Fingers finally comes in for the bottom of the inning and holds off the O’s so the game goes to inning 18.  Groom is perfect in his final inning of regional use, and Fingers does his job so it’s on to the 19th and new Baltimore reliever Yorkis Perez, who allows the first Oakland hit in 12 innings but the A’s still can’t score, and neither can the Orioles so we head to inning 20.  Perez walks Hendrick and Cullen to lead things off, bringing up the top of the A’s order; he then also walks Campaneris and the bases are load, nobody out, infield is in, and Joe Rudi is at bat.  Rudi lines out, but then Mike Epstein rips a grounder to 3B-4 Batista, who throws the ball into right field for a 2-base error; Perez then walks Jackson and Bando to drive in another and the Orioles drag Perez off the mound and see if Willis Roberts can end the inning.  That answer is no, as Hegan smacks a 2-run single and by the time that Hendrick makes the final out, the A’s lead 9-4 and they bring in Dave Hamilton for the bottom of the inning to try to save Fingers’ eligibility.  Hamilton allows three singles to the first four batters of the inning, but is bailed out when Mike Bordick hits into a double play and the 20 inning marathon finally comes to an end with the A’s surviving their 9-4 win, but with a good portion of their bullpen burnt for the regional.  

The 1985 Cubs were a mediocre 77-84 that dropped off considerably after winning 96 games and the NL East in the prior season, but they had still a decent lineup headed up by nice years from Ryne Sandberg and Keith Moreland, and Dennis Eckersley (11-7, 3.08) was a solid anchor for the staff.  They faced a 45-107 1911 Browns team that had an ELO rank that placed them among the 20 worst teams of all time, a squad whose leading home run hitter had 3 and five of their nine starting hitters had zero, although Barney Pelty (7-15, 2.83) wasn’t a bad pitcher, certainly by comparison to the rest of their staff.   In the bottom of the 3rd, Browns RF Al Schweitzer takes a break from his humanitarian work in Africa to deliver an RBI double, but that seems to wake up the Cubs who begin the 4th with three straight hits, and a Thad Bosley RBI single and a Moreland sac fly put the Cubs up 2-1.  But the Browns show some grit when their DH and leading HR hitter (with 3) Joe Kutina leads off the bottom of the inning by sending this newfangled lively baseball into the far reaches of Sportsman's Park to tie it back up, and then Jimmy Austin finds and converts Eckersley’s HR split with two out in the 5th for a solo shot and the lead.  However, a two-out error by Browns 2B-4 Frank Laporte puts the tying run in scoring position for Bob Dernier, and pinch runner Billy Hatcher races home on Dernier’s clutch single to tie the game once again.  The Browns try to respond in the bottom of the frame, but their lone Hall of Famer, 37-year-old Bobby Wallace, is cut down at the plate trying to score on a single by PH Dave Rowan.  Pelty then loads up the bases with Cubs in the top of the 8th; the Browns play for the DP from Keith Moreland and get it but a run scores and the Cubs regain the lead.  However, with two out in the bottom of the 8th the Browns record back to back triples from Kutina and Willie Hogan to tie it back up; with Lee Smith warming up in the pen the Cubs let Eckersley pitch to PH Dode Criss, and that proves to be a mistake as Criss kisses it goodbye, rolling and converting Eck’s HR result for a 2-run shot and the lead, with the Cubs finally summoning Smith who fans Wallace for the third out.  That brings up the Cubs down two entering the top of the 9th, and Ron Cey draws a walk and then Dernier singles with two out to put the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Gary Matthews.  But Pelty whiffs Sarge and it’s game over, Cubs lose as the Browns, who hit 17 HR all year, smack three in this 6-4 win to advance to the semis.

The 1996 Pirates lost 89 games and their carded team was even worse than that, as they traded away most of their starting rotation mid-season which left them with Jon Lieber (9-5, 3.99) as their only option for round one–although he was by far the best alternative regardless.  Even so, they were still ELO favorites over the 64-90 1947 Senators, who had only one batter in their punchless lineup with double digit homers (Stan Spence, with 16) but they did have some low AB wonders on the bench and Walt Masterson (12-16, 3.13) heading up an okay rotation.  In the top of the 2nd, Lieber walks two and then Eddie Yost rolls up Lieber’s solid 6-5 HR result, and the Nats jump to a quick 3-0 lead.  Lieber commits a 2-base error on a Sherry Robertson grounder in the 4th, and then Pirate CF-4 Mike Kingery waves his arms futilely at a Yost liner and the Pittsburgh defense hands Washington another run.  In the 6th the Nats turn to their bench for some further ammunition, and a leadoff single pushes the Pirates to bring in Dan Plesac and he gets out of the inning with no damage.  In the bottom of the 7th the Pirates finally get to Masterson, who had only allowed two hits to that point, and they smack four hits including RBI singles from Carlos Garcia and Charlie Hayes to narrow the score to 4-2.  Plesac comes up big in the 8th, whiffing superscrub PH Gil Coan with two runners on to keep the Pirates in the game.  That brings it up to Masterson to hold on in the bottom of the 9th, but a walk and 3b-2 Yost’s second error of the game brings up Jay Bell as the winning run with one out.  The Nats eye their bullpen but decide to stick with Masterson; the Pirates eye a nameless pinch-hitter (aka Keith Osik) but don’t want to lose Bell’s glove if the game gets tied.  The roll is a 3-6, gbA on Bell (and a solid DO on Osik), and it’s game over, the Senators win 4-2 and become the third team in this regional in the bottom 300 teams of all time to advance to the semifinals.  

The survivors

The first round survivors in this bracket included three seemingly terrible teams, all with at least 90 losses, and one World Series winner that was fortunate to have survived a 20 inning marathon in round one that burned most of its bullpen.  The latter team, the 1972 A’s, was matched against the 2016 Twins, and as might be expected from a pennant winner the rotation of the A’s offered far better options, like Blue Moon Odom (15-6, 2.51), than the Twins and Hector Santiago (13-10, 4.70).  In the bottom of the 1st, a two base error by Twins SS-4 Eduardo Nunez sets up an RBI single for Reggie Jackson, and Dave Duncan leads off the 2nd with a long blast that makes it 2-0.  The Twins respond with three straight singles in the top of the 3rd, the last an RBI poke for Brian Dozier, but Odom bears down to strike out two in a row to maintain a one run edge for the A’s.  However, in the bottom of the inning Santiago walks two and then the Twins defense falters again as CF-2 Byron Buxton makes a two-base error on a Bando fly to score one, bringing up Duncan with two out and two on–and he crushes his second of the game for a 3-run shot that puts the A’s comfortably ahead.  Reliever Taylor Rogers comes in to get the third out but Oakland leads, 6-1.  A solo shot from Eddie Rosario in the 4th narrows the lead a bit, but the A’s get it back on a 2-out RBI single from Mike Epstein.  In the 6th, Reggie lets loose a prodigious blast for a 2-out, 3-run homer that sends the crowd into a frenzy and sends Rogers to the showers in favor of Brandon Kintzler.  Buxton responds with a 2-run homer in the top of the 7th to make it 10-4, and in the 8th the Twins load the bases and it’s clear that Odom is struggling, but with the A’s bullpen shot it will be a blue moon before they pull him; Odom is bailed out by the highlight film DP from defensive replacement Tim Cullen to keep any runs from scoring.  Odom hangs on in the 9th to get the complete game, despite allowing 14 hits, and the 10-4 win sends the top seeded A’s swaggering into the finals.

Two unlikely semifinalists face off with the #6 seed 1947 Senators against the #8 seeded 1911 Browns, and the “favored” Senators were sending out a Hall of Famer in Early Wynn (17-15, 3.64) while the Browns brought out Roy Mitchell (4-8, 3.84).  The Browns squander a chance in the top of the 2nd when Burt Shotton doubles but Joe Kutina (1-10) is cut down trying to score, but Al Schweitzer donates a sac fly in the 3rd and the Browns then grab a 1-0 lead.  That lead holds as Mitchell is dominating, but in the bottom of the 8th the Nats’ supersubs come off the bench and Rick Ferrell’s leadoff single is followed by a Gil Coan triple, but Mitchell keeps Coan from scoring and we enter the 9th with the game tied.  Wynn does his job in the top of the 9th; in the bottom of the inning Stan Spence rolls Mitchell’s HR 1-5/DO but misses the split and gets stranded, and the game heads to extra innings.  Wynn allows two singles in his final inning for the top of the 10th, but escapes with no damage, and Mitchell similarly gets through his half of the inning and both starters must leave after tremendous efforts.  It’s now up to the bullpen, and Washington’s Tom Ferrick is a nice option who dispatches the Brown in the 11th.  St. Louis brings in Ed Hawk, who gets through the 11th, but when he has to face the Nats supersubs in the 12th Hawk is greeted by a leadoff double by Ferrell.  That brings up the remarkable Coan, and the Browns elect to pitch to him; Coan raps a single and the lumbering 1-8 Ferrell ignores the stop sign and heads for home.  The split roll:  4, Ferrell is safe and the Senators move on to the regional final winning the 2-1 extra inning battle in walk off style. 

It’s a David v Goliath regional final, with the world champion, top seed 1972 A’s and Ken Holtzman (19-11, 2.51) looking like overwhelming favorites against the 90-loss 1947 Senators and Ray Scarborough (6-13, 3.41).  The Nats quickly show that they aren’t intimidated, as in the bottom of the 1st Mickey Vernon doubles and then scores on a Stan Spence single, and the A’s are now behind for the first time in the regional–but not for long, as a Dave Duncan sac fly immediately ties it in the 2nd.  The Senators are unfazed, as Al Evans leads off the bottom of the inning by lofting a flyball that A’s CF-4 Angel Mangual manages to turn into a triple, and then Sherry Robertson doubles to put Washington back on top.  The hits continue, and when SS-2 Campaneris lets a double play ball through the infield for a single, Mickey Vernon make the A’s pay with a 4-10 roll that’s a solid HR on Holtzman, and when the dust finally settles the Senators lead 6-1 after two innings, and the A’s pen, depleted by their 20 inning marathon in the first round, is scrambling to find an option.  In the bottom of the 5th Vernon converts his own HR 1-3 split for a solo shot and that’s it for Holtzman, with Joel Horlen coming in on the wrong end of a big lead.  He makes that worse, as the Senators open the 6th with a remarkable SEVEN straight singles, and Dave Hamilton replaces Horlen who fails to retire a single batter in the inning, and the Nats now lead 12-1.  The A’s finally decide to try to mount a comeback with two out in the 9th, as PH Mike Hegan hits a 2-run triple followed by a Tim Cullen double, but Scarborough finally strikes out Campaneris and the Senators win 12-4 and capture only the third regional for a Senators team, joining 1911 and 1967.   Mickey Vernon’s two homers and two doubles wins him player of the game recognition, but it was the Senators’ pitching staff that really proved most valuable in this regional.  

Interesting card of Regional #155:  When your team doesn’t have much offense, it’s nice to have a guy like this who, under tournament rules, can come in after the 5th inning for some late game heroics.  Unlike most of these low AB wonders in my tournament who have been non-factors (we’re looking at you, Rudy Pemberton), Coan played an important role in helping his underdog Senators win the regional, as he provided most of their offense in their second-round extra-inning win.  It’s easy to dismiss this card as a flash in the pan, but Coan was a promising player–he was the Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 1945 and after his 1946 rookie season, none other than Ted Williams called Coan “the most promising prospective big league star.”  However, Coan developed appendicitis in the spring of 1947 and spent much of the season recovering with extended rehab in the minors, where he batted .340 with 22 homers; recalled in September, he put together the impressive 42 at-bats represented by this card.  Coan did have a couple of .300 seasons once he became a regular, even getting some MVP votes in 1951, but he never became the star that the Splendid Splinter predicted.  Even so, this offering from the recently introduced 1947 season has my vote for entry into the Strat Card Hall of Fame.