REGIONAL #164:  This looked like the “horseshoes” bracket, as quite a few of these teams were oh-so-close to a pennant.  There were Twins, Rangers, and Royals teams who were all one year after winning the AL, and Reds and Giants teams that were both one year before winning the NL.  For good measure there was also a Cardinals team and a couple of Canadian squads that would likely be competitive, and overall this appeared to be a wide open regional filled with what I thought would be solid teams, any of which could win it all.  After somehow correctly picking the finalists in the last regional, I was stumped on this one, but I guessed that the Royals would take the Reds in the final.  The ELO ranks did agree that there were multiple strong teams in the bracket, but indicated that neither of my picks were among them; instead, those rankings predicted a very interesting final between an evenly matched 21st century Rangers team and a John McGraw-era Giants team from nearly 100 years earlier, with the Giants being slight favorites.

First round action

One season after winning the first pennant for the franchise in ages, the 1966 Twins won 89 games to finish second in the AL behind big years from Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva as well as a monster season from Jim Kaat (25-13, 2.75), who led AL pitchers in the MVP voting.  However, as was typical of that era, once you got past the heart of the lineup there was little punch available.  The Twins were nonetheless big favorites over a bad 1998 Expos team that lost 97 games, with their main weapons being Vlad Guerrero and a killer Ugueth Urbina in the bullpen, although Dustin Hermanson (14-11, 3.13) was not a bad starter at the top of the rotation. In the top of the 1st, Kaat strikes out the first two batters but then Vlad crushes one into the far reaches of Metropolitan Stadium, upon which Kaat loses his composure and allows three straight singles, with Shane Andrews racing home on the last one from Orlando Cabrera to make it 2-0.  In the 3rd, Oliva misses a HR 1-14 split but the resulting triple scores two and then Jimmie Hall singles home Oliva and the Twins move on top.  Hermanson settles down but when an error by Expos 1B-5 Brad Fullmer puts the leadoff runner on in the bottom of the 7th, they see no reason not to go to Urbina, and he gets out of the inning assisted by a caught stealing from Cesar Tovar.  Thus the Twins cling to the one run lead entering the top of the 9th, and they try to seal it by with a defensive replacement for Killebrew at 3rd and bringing in Al Worthington to close it out.  He does the job as the Expos go down in order and the Twins survive and advance with a 3-2 win in which they only could garner four hits.

I picked the 1986 Royals to win the regional, but their ELO rankings suggested that I overestimated them and after actually looking at the team and setting their lineup, I had to agree. They had gone from Series champs in ‘85 to a 76-86 team with little other than George Brett as an offensive threat, although Mark Gubicza (12-6, 3.64) was one of the few starters who hadn’t seriously regressed from the prior year.  In contrast, the 2012 Rangers had declined little from the team that had won the AL the prior year, winning 93 games to make the postseason as a wildcard, and boasting a lineup with 7 hitters bashing 15 or more homers with Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton coming in 3rd and 5th in the MVP voting and starter Matt Harrison (18-11, 3.29) 8th in the Cy Young ballots.  It doesn’t take long for the Rangers power to be on display, as in the bottom of the 1st Hamilton hits a towering 2-run homer, and then a two-out error by Royals C-2 Jim Sundberg opens the door for another tape measure shot, this one by Mitch Moreland, and it’s quickly 4-0.  KC responds with four hits in the top of the 2nd, getting one run on a single by DH Jorge Orta but being denied a second run when Angel Salazar (1-14) is nailed at the plate to end the inning.  The Rangers load the bases in both the 2nd and the 3rd but Gubicza pitches his way out of both jams with no damage, and he holds Texas in check until the 8th, when a 2-out David Murphy RBI single is followed by a 3-run blast from Hamilton and Gubicza, who led the league in fewest HR/9 allowed, is gone for Steve Farr who finally records the third out.  That padding proves to be more than enough for Harrison, who finishes out the 8-1 victory to move the Rangers to an interesting semifinal matchup against the Twins.  

The 1989 Reds won the Series the following season, but probably only because they fired Pete Rose as manager, as he led them to a 75-87 season with only Eric Davis and Barry Larkin having seasons of note, and the Nasty Boys bullpen was also ready to support a scary rotation topped by Tim Leary (8-14, 3.52).  Accordingly, they were ELO underdogs to the 2019 Cardinals, who won 91 games and the NL Central but were swept in the NLCS.  The Cards had by far their best starter going for them, Jack Flaherty (11-8, 2.75), who came in 4th in the Cy Young voting.  The Reds are horrified when Larkin comes up lame leading things off for them in the 1st, but the dice gods are kind and he’s able to remain in the game.  That seems to rile the Reds, and after they get a couple of baserunners Todd Benzinger rolls Flaherty’s HR 1-16 split, misses it, but drives in two on the resulting double.  Leary scatters hits by the Cards and keeps them off the scoreboard, but when Kolton Wong leads off the 6th with a single off Leary’s card the Reds decide it’s time to get nasty, and Norm Charlton comes in to keep the Cards scoreless.  Flaherty gets wild in the bottom of the inning and loads the bases up, but the Cards elect to let him pitch out of it, and he mostly does so but Jeff Reed hits a sac fly to make it 3-0 Cincy.  In the top of the 9th, the Cards finally start to chip away at new reliever John Franco, and when RF-3 Paul O’Neill can’t get to a two-out Yadier Molina single the Reds lead is cut to two and the tying run is at the plate in the form of DH injury replacement Matt Wieters.  The Reds have Dibble warming up in the pen but give Franco one more batter, and Wieters hits a grounder to 3B-3 Chris Sabo–who drops it, it’s a one run game, and Dibble comes in to face #9 hitter Harrison Bader and his .205 average, and because of the mid-game injury to PH Jose Martinez there is nobody better on the bench.  Dibble delivers, Bader grounds out, and the Reds breathe a huge sigh of relief and survive the 3-2 win.

The ELO ranks had this as the marquee matchup of round one between two strong teams.  The 1986 Blue Jays were from an era that had seen Toronto teams from 1985 and 1989 capture regionals, and this version was also a good one that went 86-76 with George Bell and Jess Barfield finishing 4th and 5th respectively in the MVP voting, although the starting pitchers weren’t having their best seasons with Jimmy Key (14-11, 3.57) getting the starting nod.   They faced the regional ELO favorite, the 86-68 1920 Giants, who finished 2nd in the NL before reeling off four straight pennants in the following seasons.  The Giants boasted four Hall of Famers and three 20-game winners, with Fred Toney (21-11, 2.65) selected for the round one start.  The game begins in the 1st on a foreboding note for the Giants when leadoff hitter Dave Bancroft misses Key’s 1-18 split, and although he scores on a Ross Youngs single, Damaso Garcia then turns a nifty DP to kill the NY rally.  The Jays then come fighting back in the top of the 2nd, when sloppy NY fielding provides an RBI single for Rance Mullineks and another 2-run single by Willie Upshaw and Toronto moves up by two.  Lloyd Moseby then breaks the game open in the 3rd with a 3-run homer, although in the bottom of the inning a couple of doubles from Youngs and Bennie Kauff leads to a Giants run, with Kauff making the third out getting nailed at the plate (1-16) trying to score on a George Kelly single.  In the 5th Jays DH Cliff Johnson drives in a run with a triple and then scores on a single by Garcia, and the Giants, sensing their time in this tournament is getting shorter, try a second 20-game winner, Jesse Barnes, in relief.  However, he’s victimized by more bad fielding from 2B-4 Larry Doyle which sets up a 2-out, 3-run homer by George Bell (off Barnes’ card on a 1-5 split, no less), and it’s now 12-2 and the Jays scrubs are coming into the game wholesale as insurance against injury.  The Jays scrubs get a run in the 7th when Rick Leach triples and scores on a sac fly from Garth Iorg, while Giants catcher Frank Snyder gets injured in the bottom of the inning, probably hoping to catch an early streetcar home.  In the meantime, Key doesn’t allow a hit after the 3rd inning and the Jays waltz to an easy 13-2 win over the bracket favorite to gain the semifinals.

The survivors

The #2 seed 2012 Rangers were now the bracket favorites after the first round, but the #4 seeded 1966 Twins had the next best ranking of the semi-finalists so it looked like this matchup of two former Senators franchises could determine the regional.  Both squads had solid starters available, with the Twins’ Jim Perry (11-7, 2.54) going against Texas’s Yu Darvish (16-9, 3.90).  However, Darvish displays his weakness quickly in the top of the 1st, walking four batters off his own card, but the Rangers are fortunate that Minnesota can only convert one run on a Tony Oliva sac fly.  However, their luck runs the other direction in the bottom of the inning as their LF David Murphy is knocked out of the game with an injury.  The Twins then rally in the 2nd, lining two singles past the glove of Twins 2B-3 Cesar Tovar, and then a double from Nelson Cruz, a two-run single by Michael Young, and an RBI grounder from Elvis Andrus and the Rangers move on top 4-1 after two.  That doesn’t last long, as in the top of the 3rd two Twins singles off Darvish’s card and a Darvish error load the bases for Zoilo Versalles, and the former MVP delivers a double that clears the bases and ties the game.  They then take the lead in the 4th when replacement Texas LF-2 Josh Hamilton drops a Don Mincher flyball for a two-base error–the fourth Ranger error in four innings.  The Twins lose C Earl Battey to injury in the 6th, and in the bottom of the 7th the Rangers get Ian Kinsler on courtesy of an error by SS-3 Versalles, but he’s eventually stranded on 3rd as my decision to PH for Young proves to be a costly mistake that would have been a double on Young.  A leadoff walk to Killebrew in the 8th, Darvish’s 8th free pass of the game, and the Rangers bring in Koji Uehara who retires the side without incident.  It comes down to the bottom of the 9th, and the Rangers get the leadoff runner on when injury replacement C Jerry Zimmerman muffs a popup, but Perry is unfazed and he personally turns a Mitch Moreland grounder into a DP and the Twins hang on for the 5-4 win and a trip to the finals.

This semifinal matched two teams that pulled upsets in round one, although both the 1986 Blue Jays and the 1989 Reds were decent squads with sufficient talent to win the bracket.  The Blue Jays were favored here, with Jim Clancy (14-14, 3.94) on the mound against the Reds and Jose Rijo (7-6, 2.84), whom the Reds were hoping could control his wildness long enough to rest a bullpen that had seen a lot of work in the first round.  Both pitchers start out strong, but in the top of the 5th the Reds begin to find the problems on Clancy’s card, with RBI singles from Barry Larkin and Paul O’Neill providing a lead that would have been larger had not Jays 1B-2 Willie Upshaw turned a crucial DP to end the inning.  Rijo’s wildness then comes into play in the bottom of the inning, as with two out he walks the bases full to face powerful George Bell–Rijo then bounces a pitch that gets by C-2 Jeff Reed and the Reds lead is cut to 2-1.  A one-out single by Larkin in the 7th and Clancy is pulled for relief ace Mark Eichhorn, but he walks Davis, O’Neill gets on with a force play sending Larkin to third, and then Todd Benzinger gets the gbA++ single with O’Neill held and the Reds extend their lead.  Again, the Jays respond in the bottom of the inning, with Damaso Garcia doubling and scoring on a Tony Fernandez single, and the Reds have the Nasty Boys up in the pen but allow Rijo to try to get the last out from Bell, which he does and it’s a one-run game heading into the 8th.  Eichhorn holds serve, so it comes down to Rijo and the bottom of the 9th with the bottom of the Jays order coming up.  Two quick outs and the Jays pinch hit Rich Leach for Garcia, and Leach comes through with a squib single and Manny Lee pinch runs as the tying run with Willie Upshaw as the top of the order at the plate.  The Reds opt to give Rijo one more batter before summoning Rob Dibble, and Upshaw responds by converting a triple split on his own card to tie the game and put the winning run on 3rd.  Rijo slams his glove to the ground as Dibble is summoned to face Fernandez, and then watches in horror as Fernandez laces a hard single and Upshaw trots home to clinch the walk-off 4-3 win.  

The regional finals match two squads with virtually identical ELO scores, both among the top 500 squads of all time.   The 1966 Twins made the finals by surviving two one-run games, while the 1986 Blue Jays had to stage a two-out rally in the bottom of the 9th for a come from behind win.  It seemed to me that the pitching options for the Twins were far better than those for Toronto, as Dave Boswell (12-5, 3.14) had a strong card and there were probably 3 other Twins starters with better numbers than the Jays’ Doyle Alexander (5-4, 4.46).  Cesar Tovar leads off the game for the Twins by finding one of Alexander’s HR results, but he misses the 1-13 split and gets stranded at second.  In the 3rd, Twins C Earl Battey leads off the inning the same way, missing the split again but this time he scores when Ted Uhlaender rolls a solid double result on Alexander’s card.  Tovar then singles in Uhlaender and the Twins lead 2-0 and the Jays are counting the innings until they can yank Alexander.  They don’t get a hit until the 4th, when George Bell crushes a solo shot with two out that makes it a one-run game.  The Twins retaliate as after getting two out, Alexander allows four straight hits off his card, the last being a 2-run double from Don Mincher, and as expected the Jays go straight to Tom Henke at the earliest opportunity, the beginning of the 6th.   Henke does his job, but so does Boswell who carries a 2-hitter into the bottom of the 9th and the Jays need another miracle to pull this one out.  However, Bell whiffs on a 2-11 just missing his 2-10 HR, and then Boswell completes the set by striking out the rest of the side to finish out the 2-hitter giving the Twins the 4-1 win and their 6th regional title–but their first from the 1960s.  The Twins’ accomplishment is a true team effort, with their biggest weapon in Killebrew held without a HR or RBI in any of the three games.

Interesting card of Regional #164:  In 1989, 25 year old Rob Dibble was just beginning to emerge as a promising reliever and member of what would become infamous as the “Nasty Boys” bullpen when the Reds won the World Series in the following season.  In the season represented by this card, Dibble would break the MLB record for strikeouts per nine innings, with 12.8, so if you were getting the Strat sets back then like I was, this was quite a card to behold.  However, Dibble went on to break his own record two more times, in 1991 and 1992, and in this era of big whiff totals there are six _starting_ pitchers that put together seasons with bigger K/9 numbers than this.  Even so, he might have gone on to break his own record yet again, but in 1993 he began to have a series of injuries, including a broken forearm, surgery on his pitching shoulder, and a ruptured eardrum resulting from a Megadeth concert.  Oddly enough, the theory is that the loss of balance caused by that latter mishap is what essentially ended his career as an effective pitcher, perhaps the only pitcher whose career was laid low by heavy metal.   

REGIONAL #163:  After a lot of talent in the previous bracket, this group looked rather middling to me at first glance.  Representing the last of the 1924 teams in the tournament, I guessed that the Indians would be pretty good, although they would face an ‘88 Royals team who were three years after a pennant.  There was a ‘54 Braves team with a promising rookie named Aaron that would also take a pennant three years later, and a 21st century Phillies team that were three years after winning the NL a couple of times.  Not feeling a clear favorite here, I guessed that there would be an old/new battle in the final between the Indians and the Phillies, with the more modern team winning by riding the typical advantages of greater power and team depth.  The ELO ranks portrayed this as a stronger bracket than I had initially thought, with the Braves favored to win over a 2009 Blue Jays team that I had apparently overlooked. 

First round action

The 1924 Indians weren’t participating much in the new home run craze of the time, with Tris Speaker leading the team with 9 homers while also managing the team, so they only went 67-86 although they boasted six .300 hitters in the lineup and a 20 game winner in Joe Shaute (20-17, 3.75).  They were ELO underdogs to the 84-77 1988 Royals, with George Brett, Danny Tartabull and Bo Jackson all with 20+ longballs, an excellent bullpen, and a 20 game winner of their own with a formidable card, Mark Gubicza (20-8, 2.70), who finished 3rd in the Cy Young votes.  True to form, the Indians get three squib singles in the top of the 1st but fail to score, leaving the bases loaded, and they load them up again in the 2nd but come up empty when Joe Sewell hits into an inning-ending DP.   The Indians do finally get on the board in the 6th with RBI singles from Sewell and George Burns, aided by some terrible fielding from RF-4 Tartabull, and the Royals can’t score until the 8th when a 2-out RBI single from Willie Wilson makes it a one-run game heading into the 9th.  Disaster strikes the Indians in the top of the 9th when Speaker goes down with an injury for 6 games, and then in the bottom of the 9th 2B Chick Fewster drops a grounder and then on the next batter fails to turn the DP, putting the tying run in scoring position for Brett, who knocks a single that scores the runner and sends the game to extra innings.  Gubicza begins the 10th by walking Charlie Jamison and then Homer Summa almost lives up to his name with a triple, and he scores on a Rube Lutzke double to put the Indians up by two.  PH Pat Tabler leads off the bottom of the 10th with a double, raising the hopes of the KC faithful, but Shaute finishes his final inning of eligibility by retiring three in a row and the Indians move on with the 4-2 win, but without their Hall of Fame centerfielder for the probable future.

The 1954 Braves were probably most memorable for the debut of a 20 year old outfielder named Henry Aaron, but they were a good team that went 89-65 to finished 3rd in the NL, with a big year from Eddie Mathews and their stalwart starter Warren Spahn (21-12, 3.14), who came in 3rd among pitchers in the MVP voting.  They were big ELO favorites over the 91-loss 2011 Cubs, a lackluster squad with Aramis Ramirez as their biggest bat and Matt Garza (10-10, 3.32) heading up a sketchy rotation.  Of course, casting aspersions on the Cubs lineup makes them come out like gangbusters in the 1st, as a leadoff single by Starlin Castro is followed by Kosuke Fukudome finding and converting Spahn’s HR split for a quick 2-0 lead.  The Cubs mount a two-out rally in the 3rd with an RBI double from Carlos Pena, who then scores on a Geovany Soto single off Spahn’s card and it’s looking like yet another bad outing for the Braves Hall of Famer, who has met with little success in this tournament.  The Cubs pile on more runs in the 5th, with Marlon Byrd missing Spahn’s HR split but driving in two on the resulting double, and Spahn is finally pulled after putting the Braves in a deep hole.  Ernie Johnson thus comes in and immediately yields a double to Darwin Barney that scores Byrd, and by the time the third out is recorded the Cubs lead 8-0.  Meanwhile, Garza continues to blow through the Braves lineup and he finishes up the three-hit shutout and the Cubs waltz to the semifinals with the 8-0 upset.  The loss for Spahn makes his tournament record an unimpressive 3-4 in 13 starts.

The 2012 Phillies went an even 81-81 but were the #3 seed in the regional according to the ELO ranks, with C Carlos Ruiz having a strong year and Cole Hamels (17-6, 3.05) got some Cy Young votes, finishing 8th in the balloting.  Given that underdogs had won every game in the regional thus far, the Phils weren’t particularly confident against their western Pennsylvanian opponent, the 1954 Pirates, even though the Pirates were ranked among the 50 worst teams of all time with a 53-101 record.  This Pittsburgh squad had the other Frank Thomas and not much else in the lineup, coupled with bad fielding and pretty bad starting pitching after Dick Littlefield (10-11, 3.60).  The Phils start off hot as the first hitter of the game, Juan Pierre, walks, steals second, and scores on a Kevin Frandsen single, and he ultimately scores on a sac fly and it’s 2-0 Phils before the Pirates can bat.  Then, Toby Atwell leads off the bottom of the inning by missing Hamels’ HR 1-17/DO split and gets stranded at second, and it’s looking like it might be a long day for Forbes faithful.   Things look a little better when the Bucs cut down 1-13 Ty Wigginton at the plate to end the top of the 2nd, but in the3rd the “defensive” DH for the Bucs, CF-2 Dick Hall, misplays a John Mayberry Jr single and it’s 4-0 Phils.  The complexion of the game changes abruptly in the 4th when the Pirates lead off with two singles, followed by a tape measure homer from Sid Gordon, and then Bob Skinner converts a HR 1-3/flyB split for a solo shot and it’s a tie ballgame.  The Phils regain the lead in the 8th when PH extraordinaire Darin Ruf hits a two-out triple to score Mayberry, and with the lead they decide to pull Hamels when he allows a single to Thomas in the bottom of the inning, turning the game over to Jeremy Horst and his 1.15 ERA.  But Horst promptly walks two to load the bases with one out, and the Phils switch to Raul Valdes, with not a walk on his card.  Valdes fans Preston Ward for the second out but former goat Hall singles, scoring Thomas to tie the game–but 1-11 Gordon is nailed at the plate and the game is knotted 5-5 going into the 9th.  Pierre leads off the top of the 9th with a single, steals second, and advances to 3rd on a Frandsen groundout; Carlos Ruiz then hits a grounder to Pirates 2B-2 Curt Roberts, the best fielder in the Pirates infield, but he boots it and Pierre scores the go-ahead run.  Valdes sets the Pirates down in order in the bottom of the 9th and the Phils escape the upset with a 6-5 win, with key errors from the only decent fielders on the Pittsburgh team being the difference in the game.   

The ELO ranks indicated that I had overlooked the 2009 Blue Jays, and indeed they looked worthy of their #2 seed even though they only went 75-87–a full nine games under their Pythagorean projection.  They had a power-packed lineup with 35+ HRs from Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, and strong infield defense, but their Achilles heel was a shallow rotation with only Roy Halladay (17-10, 2.79) having a decent season, which placed him 5th in the Cy Young vote.  They faced the 2016 Pirates that had a better 78-83 record but a much worse ELO rating ,for reasons I don’t really grasp; these Pirates were clearly better than the Pittsburgh team that played in the previous game, as they had a reasonably solid lineup, had decent defense, but had a rather improvised rotation with no workhorses and Jameson Taillon (5-4, 3.38) looking like their best bet to start.  The Jays jump to a lead in the top of the 1st on back-to-back doubles from Scott Rolen and DH Randy Ruiz, and then Adam Lind singles home Ruiz to make it 2-0.  In the bottom of the inning, the Pirates lose RF Gregory Polanco for the rest of the regional to injury, although they have a solid replacement in Matt Joyce.  In the 5th, LF-4 Lind manages to make a three base error to leadoff hitter David Freese, but Halladay bears down and strands him at third.  Rod Barajas gives Halladay a little padding by converting Taillon’s HR split to lead off the 7th, and then when Lyle Overbay pokes a 2-run shot in the 8th Taillon is gone for closer Tony Watson.  He does his job, but Halladay is on cruise control and finishes up a 3-hit shutout as the Jays progress to the semifinals with the 5-0 win.  

The survivors

In the semifinal matchup between the 1924 Indians and the 2011 Cubs, the two very different teams had different types of problems.  The Indians would be without their main weapon on offense, defense, and the manager of the team–Tris Speaker.  Meanwhile, the Cubs, who had blown out the regional favorite in round one, were going to have to go deeper into a terrible rotation and hope that Randy Wells (7-6, 4.99) could go the requisite five innings and turn the game over to a rested bullpen, while the Indians had a decent Sherry Smith (12-14, 3.02) on the hill.  Wells does fine until the 3rd, when he walks the first two batters off his card and then allows a 2-out single to Riggs Stephenson, also off his card, and the Indians lead 2-0.  Cleveland adds to the lead in the 5th with another RBI single from Stephenson and a bases-loaded single from Homer Summa that adds two more, and Wells is pulled having not made 5 innings before allowing 5 runs, and Sean Marshall comes in but he’s not much better and the Indians bat around and put up 6 runs in the inning to blow the game open–but their 1B George Burns adds to their injury list, getting knocked out for the rest of the regional.  The Cubs get on the board in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double from Marlon Byrd, but Summa contributes one of his own in the top of the 6th to make it 9-1.  And that’s how it ends with the Indians moving on to the finals, but hoping that their fielders won’t have to make any difficult plays with gaping holes in CF and 1B left by injury.

The 2012 Phillies were pushed hard by a bad Pirates team in round one, which put a bit of a strain on their pen and so they were hoping from a long outing by Cliff Lee (6-9, 3.16).  The 2009 Blue Jays were the top remaining seed in the regional, but having spent Roy Halladay (who was also the projected #4 starter for the Phils) in the first round, the Jays were left with Ricky Romero (13-9, 4.30) and a fully rested relief crew for this semifinal.  The Phils start off the top of the 1st following a formula that worked nicely for them in round one–Juan Samuel walks, steals second, and scores on a Carlos Ruiz single to take a lead.  In the 2nd, they take a different approach, with two singles followed by a long Ty Wigginton homer and the Jays fans at the Rogers Centre are starting to pay more attention to action in the outfield hotel than to that on the field.  They perk up a bit when Mario Scutaro finds Lee’s HR result for a solo shot in the 3rd, and then after a couple more hits Aaron Hill locates the same result on Lee for a two-out, 3-run shot that ties the game and ignites the crowd.  John Mayberry Jr. then leads off the 4th missing Romero’s HR split, but scoring later on a Kevin Frandsen single to push the Phils back in front.  Romero then settles down nicely, but a one-out double in the 8th by Nate Schierholtz and Romero is pulled for Jason Frasor, who promptly loads the bases but pitches his way out of the jam to prevent any damage.  Then, in the bottom of the 8th, Jays DH Randy Ruiz takes Lee deep for a solo shot on a 1-12 roll and the game is tied, and Lee is gone for Jeremy Horst, whose game one outing was pure horst****.  But this time Horst gets two quick outs and we head to the 9th with a tie game.  Frasor sets the Phils down in order in the top of the inning, Horst does likewise in the bottom, and it’s time for extra innings.  Frasor does his job in the 10th, while Horst is now toast for the regional and game one winner Raul Valdes comes in for the Phils and retires the side quietly.  In the top of the 11th, Frasor gets two quick outs but then Pierre singles and promptly steals second again, to bring up Frandsen–who leaves no doubt by smacking a double to score the go-ahead run.  It’s now up to Valdes in the bottom of the 11th, and the leadoff batter is DH Randy Ruiz, who hits a fly to LF-3 Pierre that turns into a double and the tying run is in scoring position with nobody out.  The Jays reluctantly pinch run for their slugging DH, but it is to no avail as Valdes bears down for three quick outs to win his second straight game of the regional, although he is now burnt for the bracket as well.  So the Phils head to the finals courtesy of their second straight 6-5 win in which they build a big lead, let the other team come back to tie it, but still pull it out with late-game heroics.  

For the first time in ages, the matchup in the final is exactly what I predicted, although if you told me that the 1924 Indians would lose both Tris Speaker and George Burns to injury, and that the 2012 Phillies would blow large leads to let both of their opponents back to tie the game, I might have changed my mind.  The Indians would start 34 year old Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski (15-16, 4.04), on the back end of his career, so the Phillies decided to counter and passed up Kyle Kendrick for their own declining Hall of Famer, 35 year old Roy Halladay (11-8, 4.49), who had pitched brilliantly in a younger version for Toronto in round one of the regional.  The Phillies begin in similar fashion to the way they had in all previous games–Juan Pierre singles, steals second, and scores on a Carlos Ruiz single, with all the hits coming off Coveleski.  In the 2nd, Nate Schierholtz races (1-14) home on a 2-out single by Placido Polanco to extend the Phils lead to 2-0; in the 4th Coveleski issues three walks, and although one gets erased when Jimmy Rollins is caught stealing, Polanco again delivers an RBI single with two out for additional padding.  However, when Halladay loads up the bases in the 6th, the Phils opt for their closer, Jonathan Papelbon, to make his first appearance in the regional, and he whiffs Homer Summa and retires Luke Sewell to keep the Indians off the scoreboard.  Coveleski also loads up the bases in the bottom of the inning, so Cleveland checks their bullpen and there is nothing there but certain disaster, so they stick with their aging ace and he walks Kevin Frandsen to drive in a run, although he does get the third out by hitting the infamous modern Strat hole at the 9 roll in Carlos Ruiz’s best column.  The Indians start to light up Papelbon in the 8th and they score a couple of runs on grounders that Phils 2B-2 Chase Utley should have converted into DPs but didn’t, but Phils PH extraordinaire Darin Ruf leads off the bottom of the inning with a mammoth homer that makes the Phillies phaithful pheel more comfortable.  They then turn the game over to Jake Diekman in the 9th, despite his control issues.  Cleveland PH Pat McNulty leads off by flying out on a roll that would have been a hit on Chick Fewster, the guy he pinch hit for.  Charlie Jameison then singles and there is a murmur in the crowd, but then Joe Sewell hits a grounder to Rollins, 6-4-3 and it’s game, set, regional as the Phils win 5-2.  They become part of a remarkable dynasty in this tournament, with the Phillies from this era consistently winning regionals:  2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2014.  This 2012 version was further noteworthy because the Phillies were actively dismantling their team during the season, for example trading away Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence meaning that 2/3s of their regular outfield wasn’t even carded on the team.  Regardless, the remnants were good enough to win the bracket as a #3 seed to continue the legacy of these Phillies teams.

Interesting card of Regional #163:  After featuring the Bambino in this spot for the prior regional, it seems appropriate to go with a card of Ruthian proportions for this bracket, especially since the Phils managed to win the bracket.   In 2012, a 26-year old rookie named Darin Ruf got a callup in mid-September, demonstrating the power of three by batting .333 in 33 AB with 3 HR.  Although his bat continued to show some pop, he never lived up to this card in his subsequent seasons with the Phillies and by 2016 they gave up on him after he hit .205 in limited appearances.  Facing a disillusioning return to the minors at age 30, he opted instead to play in the Korean Baseball Organization for the (Samsung) Lions, and while the 2017 Lions were a 55-84 team that struggled to stay out of the KBO cellar, Ruf showed that he was no fluke as demonstrated by my homebrew card that commemorates his inaugural Korean season.  He had continued success in Korea, and so finally with MLB rosters somewhat depleted in the 2020 pandemic season, his contract was picked up by the Giants, and he continued to hit well, with a .904 OPS for San Francisco in 2021.  He struggled in 2022 and this may be the end of the line for him at age 35, but those 33 at bats in his rookie season made him a formidable late-inning weapon for the Phillies in this tournament and helped them continue a remarkable string of regional wins for the Phils of that era.

REGIONAL #162:  After some lackluster draws in the past few brackets, this one promises to be epic.  It features the World Champion, trashcan-banging 2017 Astros who won the first Series in the history of the franchise, as well as a golden-era Yankee team that was one season away from a pennant, a Cubs team two years after their first in ages, and a Pirates squad due to be family in a couple of seasons.  Just the bottom half of the bracket alone will include appearances by The Babe, Hammerin’ Hank, the Say Hey Kid, Stretch McCovey and Pops Stargell.  Although I guessed that the Astros would be the best team top-to-bottom, I had to believe that karma would catch up with them, and so I picked Babe and the 1920 Yanks to shut them down in the finals.  The ELO ranks predicted the same two teams in the final but went with the Astros to win it all, and also agreed that this was one of the strongest collections of eight teams to have played in a single regional in a long time.  

First round action

The 2017 Astros won 101 games and the first World Series for the franchise, and although the trashcan banging may have helped a lineup that saw every player hit double-digit homers, that didn’t account for a strong pitching staff headed by late-season pickup Justin Verlander (15-8, 3.36) and a defense where everyone except the catcher was a “2” fielder.   They were big ELO favorites over the 74-88 2013 Brewers, but Milwaukee magic had triumphed in the last regional and the crew were hoping Kyle Lohse (11-10, 3.35) could quiet the trash cans.  The Stros strike in the 2nd with a 2-run homer from Yuli Gurriel, and in the 4th a 2-out error by Lohse sets up another 2-run shot, this one from Brian McCann.  When Gurriel misses his HR 1-13/DO split to lead off the 6th, the Brewers see no reason to wait and bring in Francisco Rodriguez to try to keep things close and he strands Gurriel at 2nd for no damage.  The Brewers finally manufacture a run in the 7th when Jean Segura singles, steals second, and scores on a hit from PH Scooter Gennett, the hero of Regional #104.  FRod shuts the Astros down in the interim, but it doesn’t matter as Verlander allows no more baserunners and completes the 5-hitter to send Houston to the semifinals with the 4-1 win.

After their long-awaited Series win in 2016, I seem to remember Cubs fans believing that this would be the beginning of a dynasty, but it was not to be and this 2018 Cubs team was one of the squads that failed to deliver on that promise.  Mind you, this was still a good team, winning 95 games albeit making a rapid exit from the postseason as a wildcard, with 2B-1 Javier Baez coming in second in the MVP balloting and Kyle Hendricks (14-11, 3.44) heading up a decent rotation.  They faced the 2004 Orioles, a 78-84 team who had a big year from Melvin Mora but a pitching staff that got bad quickly after Rodrigo Lopez (14-9, 3.59).  In the top of the 3rd, BJ Surhoff scores on a close play at the plate courtesy of a Brian Roberts single and the Orioles take the lead, but Baez ties it with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning.  Baltimore moves back on top in the 4th when Rafael Palmeiro juices a double and then scores on a Luis Matos base hit, but again the Cubs respond in the bottom of the inning with a Willson Contreras RBI triple, and he scores on a single from Albert Almora and the Cubs take the lead, 3-2.  Mora then ties it with a solo shot in the 5th, and the Cubs efforts to respond are thwarted when Kyle Schwarber misses a SI 1-15 split with a runner on 3rd to make the final out in the bottom of the inning.  Cubs DH Daniel Murphy goes down with an 8-game injury in the 6th to the chagrin of the Wrigley crowd, but they make some noise when Ben Zobrist squibs a single past 2b-2 Roberts and the O’s summon BJ Ryan to relieve Lopez.  Ryan then induces a double play ball from Anthony Rizzo and the game is still tied heading into the 8th.  A single from Miguel Tejada and the Cubs move to their deep bullpen for Pedro Strop, and he gets a DP out of Javy Lopez and the game proceeds to the 9th where both relievers dispatch the bottom of the respective orders and we head to extra frames.  By the 11th, Ryan has burnt his eligibility for the regional, and Bruce Chen comes in; he does his job, and then Strop is similarly used up by the 12th so the Cubs move to Steve Cishek, and he does likewise.  However, in the top of the 13th Roberts doubles and then David Newhan scores him on the only complete hit on Cishek’s card, and the O’s move ahead with the Cubs facing their last chance in the bottom of the 13th.  Schwarber walks and gets into scoring position with two out, but Chen whiffs injury replacement DH Ian Happ and the Orioles pull off the 4-3 win, moving on to the semifinal round but with a seriously depleted bullpen from the 13 inning marathon.

Despite an impressive 95-59 record, the 1920 Yankees only finished in 3rd place but they were on the cusp of a historic run, with Babe Ruth having his breakout season and Carl Mays (26-11, 3.06) anchoring a strong rotation, all of which was good enough to make them the #2 seed in this regional.  They faced a serious challenge from the 1965 Braves, who went 86-76 in their last year in Milwaukee, but had plenty of power in the form of Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, and Tony Cloninger (24-11, 3.29) had his career year as staff ace.   The Braves assert themselves quickly in the bottom of the 1st, with back to back doubles from Joe Torre and Aaron giving them a lead, and then a two-out double from Mathews scores Aaron and Mack Jones with Mathews scoring on a Frank Bolling single–and it’s 4-0 Braves after one inning.  Things just get worse for the Yanks in the 3rd when Aaron leads off with a flyball that CF-4 Ping Bodie manages to turn into a 3-base error; NY brings the infield in to pitch to Mack Jones, who promptly hits the gbA+ to score Aaron and Mays is starting to throw at Braves hitters.  That doesn’t intimidate them as they rap three hits off Mays’ card in the 4th and karma for the Ray Chapman incident seems to have caught up to Mays, who is pulled in desperation for #3 starter Jack Quinn, but Quinn immediately gives up a 2-run double to Rico Carty and it’s 8-0 after four innings and the sparse Milwaukee crowd is putting their Atlanta real estate search on hold.   Meanwhile, Cloninger doesn’t allow a hit until Bob Meusal knocks a single in the 7th, and that is followed by a towering homer from Ruth that narrows the gap slightly.  But that is all the Yanks can muster, as Cloninger wraps up the 3-hitter and the Braves eliminate the Bombers in an 8-2 blowout.

The 1977 Pirates won 96 games to finish 2nd in the NL East, having most of the pieces in place for their championship run two seasons later, but they were hampered by injuries to Willie Stargell, who nonetheless qualified for starting DH duties here.  They also had John Candelaria (20-5, 2.34) on the mound, the NL ERA leader and 5th in the Cy Young vote. However, all that only made them slight favorites over the 1966 Giants, who won 93 games to finish 2nd behind the Dodgers and boasting May, McCovey, and Jim Ray Hart all hitting over 30 homers and Juan Marichal (25-6, 2.23) placing 6th in the MVP voting.  The Giants take the lead in the 2nd when Pirates 1B-4 Bill Robinson allows two doubles, the second a two-run affair from Len Gabrielson, and then in the 4th Tito Fuentes finds Candelaria’s solid 6-9 HR result for a solo shot that makes it 3-0.  The Pirates get on the board in the bottom of the inning when a Dave Parker double sets up a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Al Oliver, but when McCovey leads off the 6th with a double off a missed HR split on Candelaria’s card the Bucs decide that it’s time for Goose Gossage.  Gossage gets an out, then retires Tom Haller on a HR 1-2/flyB with a “3” split, and finally delivers to Jesus Alou, who answers the prayers of Giants fans by finding and converting Gossage’s HR split for a 5-1 lead.  Pittsburgh responds with a run on an RBI single by Parker in the bottom of the inning, but in the 8th the omens aren’t good for the Pirates as with two out the 1-18 Phil Garner is cut down at the plate trying to score on a Parker double.  In the bottom of the 9th Bill Robinson leads off with a double and Oliver adds a single to bring up Stargell as the tying run; the Giants check their bullpen but see nobody nearly as good as their Hall of Fame starter, so it’s up to Marichal to close things out.  But Stargell raps a base hit off Marichal’s card and it’s now a 2-run game and there is still nobody out.  Marichal records a strikeout but then yields a single to Frank Taveras and the bases are loaded with the infield back, hoping against hope to turn a double play against the speedy Omar Moreno.  And sure enough, it’s a gbA+, Lanier to Fuentes to Robinson, and it’s game over with the Giants hanging on for the 5-3 victory.  

The survivors

The #7 seeded 2004 Orioles found themselves to be an okay team in a group of good ones, making it to the semifinals courtesy of a marathon extra-inning win but with a severely depleted bullpen that might well be needed to support Daniel Cabrera (12-8, 5.00).  They had the challenge of facing the top seed 2017 Astros and Dallas Keuchel, who would be at full strength for the matchup with the trash cans freshly polished.  The Astros launch in the top of the 3rd on a squib RBI single from Carlos Correa, but there could have been more as they leave the bases loaded.  They do get two more in the 4th on a 2-out Brian McCann homer, but the Orioles respond with a 2-out Miguel Tejada double followed by a single from Javy Lopez to score the run to make it 3-1.  In the 6th, Keuchel walks two and Tejada makes him pay with a double that ties the game, and the Astros start to feel karma settling in as Jose Altuve is caught stealing for the second time in the game in the 7th.  A leadoff single by Larry Bigbie in the bottom of the inning and the Astros summon closer Ken Giles to try to halt the momentum shift, and he does his job so the game enters the 8th still tied.  It stays that way through regulation, as Giles whiffs Brian Roberts with the winning run on third to end the bottom of the 9th.  In the top of the 10th, Cabrera pitching his final inning by issuing two walks but fanning George Springer to keep the Astros from scoring, while Giles finishes his final inning of eligibility in the regional by getting Tejada, who had hit three doubles thus far in the game, to hit into a DP to end the inning.  Jason Grimsley comes in to pitch the 11th for the O’s, and he sets the Stros down in order, while Chris Devinski gets the call in the bottom of the 11th for Houston.  He allows a leadoff single to Javy Lopez and then a walk to Rafael Palmiero, and Tim Raines Jr. comes in to pinch run as the winning run at second with nobody out.  Luis Matos hits into a fielder’s choice so Raines moves to 3rd as the winning run with one out, and the infield comes in as Devinski faces Bigbie.  Bigbie hits a sharp grounder to 3B-2 Alex Bregman, who looks the runner back but can’t turn the DP and there are two out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and PH David Segui at the plate.  Devenski strikes him out swinging, and the game moves to the 12th.  McCann draws a leadoff walk followed by a single from Cameron Maybin, a AA stealer who is nailed going to second for the third CS of the game for Houston, this time courtesy of backup C-4 Geronimo Gil.  The infield comes in for Altuve, who squibs a single over the head of the SS and the Astros take the lead.  Altuve then finally successfully steals second, and Correa follows with a single and Altuve races home for some added insurance.  The hits keep coming, including RBI singles from Gurriel and Josh Reddick, and by the time new reliever Jorge Julio gets the third out Houston has scored four to take a commanding lead.  This time, there is no extra-inning magic in the Orioles as Devenski puts them down in order and the Astros gain the finals with the 12-inning 7-3 victory.

Semifinal games in this tournament tend to be hard-fought battles, and this one had the makings of a classic, with the 1965 Braves of Aaron and Mathews against the 1966 Giants of Mays and McCovey, with both teams having defeated formidable opponents in the first round.  The pitching matchup was a good one with the Giants’ Gaylord Perry (21-8, 2.99) against Ken Johnson (16-10, 3.43) and both teams had fully rested bullpens.  In the top of the 1st, the Braves, who had started off fast against the Yankees in round one, knock four hits against Perry but only get one run on a Rico Carty RBI single as Joe Torre hits into a rally-killing DP.  That lead lasts until the 4th, when Mays converts Johnson’s HR split to lead off the inning and the score is knotted entering the 5th.  Perry escapes disaster in the 6th by whiffing PH Gene Oliver with runners on 2nd and 3rd; when Giants defensive replacement Ollie Brown misses Johnson’s HR split for a double in the 8th, the Braves take no chances and bring in closer Billy O’Dell, who strands Brown and we move to the 9th with the score still tied at one apiece.  Perry sets down the Braves in order in the top of the 9th, but in the bottom O’Dell walks the first two batters in Mays and McCovey to put the winning run in scoring position and Jim Ray Hart at the plate.  O’Dell finally throws a strike, and Hart rips it into the RF corner to score Mays and the Giants win the 2-1 squeaker to gain the finals, even though they only managed five hits. 

This was the strongest matchup in a regional final in some time, with two 90+ win teams facing off for the crown.  The top-seeded 2017 Astros came into the final with a bullpen that had been taxed and a trashcan that had been dented in their extra-inning semifinal; their closer wouldn’t be available for two more games although Brad Peacock (13-2, 3.00) displayed a gaudy record that suggested he might not need relief.  The 1966 Giants were the #5 seed in a group with six very good teams, but they had gotten this far without the core of their lineup really breaking through, and Bobby Bolin (11-10, 2.89) was a solid option as their #3 starter.  The Giants show signs of waking up in the bottom of the 1st as McCovey rips a solo HR into the wind at Candlestick Park; DH Jim Hart then makes the final out with a 6-12 toss, but the Astros breathe a big sigh of relief when Peacock escapes injury with a “2” split roll.  In the 3rd, Jose Altuve doubles with two out and the Astros send lumber C Brian McCann home to try to tie the game, but he’s out by a mile; the Giants’ luck in the bottom of the inning isn’t much better as Hal Lanier manages to bunt into a double play to kill a rally.  In the 4th, the Houston defense makes a rare slipup as CF-2 George Springer can’t get to a Tom Haller flyball and Mays scores to push the SF lead to 2-0.  The Astros rally in the 6th as Springer knocks an RBI single, but Bolin bails himself out from further damage with a great defensive play with the bases loaded and two out, despite his “4” fielding rating.  In the bottom of the inning Mays misses a HR 1-14 split, but the resulting double sets up a sac fly by Hart pushing the score to 3-1.   The Astros return the high split favor in the 8th as Marwin Gonzalez misses Bolin’s HR 1-17 split, but the double scores Altuve and once again it’s a one-run game.  Bolin then just needs to get through the top of the 9th, but it begins with C-3 Tom Haller dropping a popup, but Bolin gets the next two and now he faces PH Tyler White for the regional.  White rips a grounder, 2B-2 Lanier makes the diving stop, flips to McCovey and karma has caught up with the Astros as the Giants celebrate the regional crown with the 3-2 squeaker.  Despite the murderer’s row of Mays, McCovey, and Hart, the Giants MVP honors go to their starting rotation, which only allowed a total of 6 runs in the three complete games they tossed.

Interesting card of Regional #162:  With all the hoopla around Aaron Judge breaking the AL home run record, I’d like to remind everyone that Maris and his successors should all be carrying the famous asterisk, because they all played in a longer season than did one George Herman Ruth.  Unless the game company uncharacteristically grants my wish and releases another season from the golden era of pre-war baseball, this will be the last entry for the Bambino in my tournament, and what an entry it is.  Judge, hold Ruth’s hot dog:  in this, his first season with the Yankees, Babe by himself outhomered every other TEAM in the league–yes, the entire team, all of them.  By comparison, in 2022 Judge would have needed 111 dingers to outhomer the WORST team in the league; he would have needed 215 HR to match Ruth’s accomplishment of besting all of them.  In my years of watching baseball, I’ve marveled at the power (enhanced or no) of sluggers like McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, and Judge, but it is hard to imagine that the game will ever see another player who is so far better than every other hitter in the league than Ruth was in 1920.  Unfortunately, this included everyone on his own team as well, and these Yanks made a rapid exit from the tournament with Ruth getting walked twice and generating all of their runs with a homer on the only decent pitch he saw.

REGIONAL #161:  This bracket draw included two pair, including two Phillies teams from adjacent years–the two immediately following their pennant in 1983.  The other duo involved the Brewers, one shortly after their one year as the Pilots and the other shortly before they jumped from the AL to the NL.   There was also the final tournament entry from the deadball 1911 season, an A’s team that was similar to one that exited quickly in the last regional, and Pirates and Padres representatives that I suspected were fairly undistinguished.  I predicted an all-Philly Phinal, with the ‘84 version of the Phils, being fresh off their pennant, would emerge on top.  The ELO rankings agreed with my estimation, and ranked those ‘84 Phillies as really the only good team in the group.

First round action

The 75-87 1985 Phillies had seriously declined from their ‘83 pennant, with an aging Mike Schmidt moving to first base but still their main offensive weapon, and Steve Carlton moving to irrelevance with Kevin Gross (15-13, 3.41) fronting a so-so rotation backed by a decent bullpen.  They were nonetheless ELO favorites over the 93-loss 1998 Pirates, who were entering years of ineptitude, here represented by their all-”4” DP combo that probably wouldn’t be much help to starter Francisco Cordova (13-14, 3.31).  The Phillies burst out quickly in the top of the 1st with Luis Aguayo leading off the game with a homer, and then a Schmidt double is followed by RBI singles from Ozzie Virgil and Rick Schu and it’s 3-0 Phils before the western Pennsylvanians can swing a bat.  Things don’t get better for the Pirates, as in the 3rd a couple of fielding mishaps by their SS-4 Lou Collier sets up an RBI single for Juan Samuel and a 2-run base hit for Schmidt, and Cordova is yanked for Jason Christiansen who retires the side but the Phils now lead 7-0.  After Christiansen holds the Phils in the top of the 4th, the Pirates take heart and get rolling in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer from DH Freddy Garcia, and Jason Kendall adds another 2-run shot in the 5th and it’s starting to look like a ballgame.  But Glenn Wilson finds a solid double on Christiansen’s card to begin the 6th and Virgil singles him home and the Phils extend their lead to 8-4.  Wilson then leads off the 8th with a homer against new Pirates reliever Ricardo Rincon, and then Rincon walks the bases loaded in the 9th to set up a 2-run single for Wilson while another run scores after C-2 Kendall drops a popup with two out.  Kendall atones somewhat with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th but Gross is good enough to complete the game and preserve the pen as the Phils waltz to the easy 12-5 win.

Most of the Seattle Pilots were gone from the 91-loss 1972 Brewers, but they still reeked of expansion with a collection of has-beens, albeit having a not-terrible starting rotation with Jim Lonborg (14-12, 2.83) hoping to recapture past glories.  Fortunately for them, they faced the 74-88 1983 A’s, whose ELO ranking wasn’t much better, and much like the ‘82 that made a rapid exit in the previous regional they had a AAA Rickey Henderson at the top of order and not much after him.  Steve McCatty (6-9, 3.99) would get the starting nod but like most of the rest of the rotation, his control left something to be desired.  The pitchers are in control early, but in the 5th A’s RF-3 Mike Davis turns a Ron Theobald fly into a double, setting up an RBI single for Ellie Rodriguez and the Brewers move in front briefly until Dwayne Murphy leads off the bottom of the inning with a long homer that ties it back up.  In the 6th, the A’s take the lead when Henderson singles, steals his second base of the game, and Carney Lansford drives him in with a single and it’s 2-1 Oakland.  When Downtown Ollie Brown leads off the top of the 8th with a double, the A’s pull McCatty for Tom Burgmeier, who promptly allows two straight singles off his card, the second one an RBI for George Scott, and the game is tied once again.  But who should be leading off the bottom of the inning but Henderson, who singles, steals second, and scores on another Lansford hit, chasing Lonborg for Frank Linzy.   Linzy faces Davey Lopes, who manages to convert Linzy’s HR 1-5/flyB split and the A’s take charge.  It’s then just up to Burgmeier to escape the 9th, and he comes through unscathed and unlike two Henderson-led teams in the last regional, the A’s this time move on to the second round with a 5-2 victory.

The 1984 Phillies were a better team than the ‘85 version that was still alive in the top half of this bracket, with their 81-81 record a six game improvement and sporting a viable Steve Carlton, although they opted to go with John Denny (7-7, 2.45) for their first round matchup against the 1911 Indians.  The Indians would be the final 1911 season team to enter the tournament, and only one–the Senators–had captured a regional, with most of the deadball era teams simply being outgunned by more modern squads.  Despite being ELO underdogs to the Phils, the Indians had a better record at 80-73 and had a top part of the order that boasted Shoeless Joe (4th in the MVP balloting) as well as Nap Lajoie, who was so important to the team that their nickname was actually the Naps rather than the Indians at the time.  Furthermore, the Naps had Vean Gregg (23-7, 1.80) on the mound, a rookie who led the AL in ERA and could have won the Cy Young Award, except for the fact that the 44-year old Young was still pitching for the team and would be available out of the bullpen.  Both pitchers begin the game in fine form, and there is no score until the bottom of the 5th when Ivy Olson singles and Cleveland plays 1911 smallball, sacrificing him to 2nd from where he scores on a 2-out Lajoie base hit.  However, in the 6th the Phils decide they can play that game, and when PH Jeff Stone walks, he steals second and scores on a 2-out Mike Schmidt single and the game is tied.  Then, in the 7th Sixto Lezcano gets a hold of a Gregg fastball that goes into hitherto unknown parts of League Park, and that solo shot puts the Phils up 2-1.  Smallball fails the Naps in the bottom of the inning when Olson is caught stealing on a botched hit and run, and the Phils threaten to blow it open in the top of the 8th loading up the bases, but Lezcano flies out to end the inning with no additional insurance, so they bring in the defensive replacements to support Denny.  In the bottom of the 9th, Terry Turner leads off with a single and advances to second on the hit and run, and gets to third on a groundout by PH Syd Smith.   That brings up Jack Graney with the tying run on 3rd, and the Phils eye their bullpen but stick with Denny, and Graney rolls a SI 1-2/lo on Denny’s card; the split die teeters on a “1” but comes to rest on the 7 and the Phils survive the 2-1 duel to advance to the semifinals.  

The second Milwaukee team in the regional was a little bit better than the other entrant from 25 years earlier, as the 1997 Brewers went 78-83 aided by some steroid-era power, although their pitching staff after Ben McDonald (8-7, 4.06) was frightening.  They were also slight ELO favorites over a 76-86 2013 Padres team that had a rather nondescript lineup, although Andrew Cashner (10-9, 3.09) had a strong card as their round one starter.  The game remains scoreless until the bottom of the 4th, when Will Venable leads off by finding and converting McDonald’s HR split, although John Jaha returns the favor with a HR off Cashner in the 6th and the game is tied.  Jeromy Burnitz then crushes a two-run shot in the 8th to put the Brewers up for the first time in the game, and armed with the lead they bring in closer Doug Jones to pitch the last two innings.  In the 8th, the Padres lose their top hitter Carlos Quentin to a 15 game injury, and Jones holds San Diego scoreless for his two innings to send the Brewers to the semis with a 3-1 win, despite a 6-hitter from Cashner.  

The survivors

This semifinal matched near-contemporaries in the #2 seed 1985 Phillies against the #7 seeded 1984 A’s, although their ELO ranks were not as different as the seeding might suggest.  The Phils tapped Shane Rawley (13-8, 3.31) for the start, although like pretty much all of the Philadelphia rotation, his card was not as good as his stats might suggest.  The A’s went with Chris Codoroli (12-12, 4.46), mainly because the rest of the rotation couldn’t seem to throw strikes as the team was the second worst in the AL in walks allowed.   Things are quiet until the top of the 5th, when Garry Maddox finds and converts the HR split on Codoroli for a 2-run shot, and when in the 6th Von Hayes singles and then PH Alan Knicely delivers a double to put two runners in scoring position, the A’s opt for Tom Burgmeier again out of the pen.  Tom Foley greets Burgmeier with a single that scores Hayes, but 1-17 PR Jeff Stone is out at the plate trying to score a second run.  However, Foley eventually scores on a Luis Aguayo RBI single, and then an error by A’s 3B-3 Carney Lansford loads up the bases for Mike Schmidt; Burgmeier is overcautious and walks in a run, and then is undercautious to Glenn Wilson who puts it in the corner for a bases-clearing triple that chases Burgmeier for Gorman Heimueller.  He records the final out but the Phils now lead 8-0 and wholesale defensive substitution ensues.  Davey Lopes gets the A’s on the board in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer, but that is the last hit Rawley allows as he closes out a 6-hitter and the Phils move to the finals with the easy 8-1 win and must wait to see if they will face their ‘84 selves for the regional title.

The top seeded 1984 Phillies decided to place their chances to make the final on the strong left arm of Hall of Famer Steve Carlton (13-7, 3.58), as they were a little nervous after scoring only two runs in the opener.  For the 1997 Brewers, it was Jose Mercedes (7-10, 3.79) on the mound for a team that had only put up three runs themselves, so both offenses were looking to break out this game.  It was the Brewers who fired the first shot, as Carlton walks Jeff Cirillo in the bottom of the 1st and he races home on a Jeromy Burnitz double to make it 1-0.  That doesn’t last long, as Phils DH Tim Corcoran blasts a leadoff HR off Mercedes’ card in the top of the 2nd, and in the 4th Mike Schmidt hits a tape measure shot with the bases empty to give the Phils the lead.  In the bottom of the 5th the Philly defense comes up short, with LF-3 Glenn Wilson allowing a double and then an error by 2b-4 Juan Samuel sets up an RBI on a fielder’s choice for Marc Newfield.  However, Brewers SS Jose Valentin gets injured for 7 games, and the game remains tied when the inning ends with Mike Matheny (1-13) getting nailed at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run on a single.  Both starters remain in control until the 9th, when a Corcoran single is followed by Ozzie Virgil missing a HR 1-14/DO split, but the 1-11 Corcoran is barely safe at home for a Phils lead.  The Brewers have then seen too many Mercedes bends, and Doug Jones comes in to retire the side.  It’s then up to Carlton in the bottom of the 9th, but Dave Nilsson singles, and pinch runner Chuck Carr races to third on another single by injury replacement Mark Loretta, so the winning run is aboard.  The Phils bring the infield in and decide to let Lefty try to work out of his jam, but Gerald Williams singles off Carlton’s card and the game is tied with one out and the winning run 90 feet away.  The Brewers send up PH Jesse Levis to face Carlton, who refuses to come out of the game, and Levis calmly lines a single into the gap and it’s game over, with the Brewers winning a wild come from behind walk-off 4-3 victory–dashing the hopes of the City of Brotherly Love for a monopoly on the finals. 

The regional final matched the #2 seed 1985 Phillies, who had outscored the opposition 20-6 in the first two rounds, against the #4 seeded 1997 Brewers, who squeaked into the final with a 7-4 run differential.  Not only were the Brewers ELO underdogs, but they would not have their starting shortstop to support the shaky arm of Scott Karl (10-13, 4.47), their best of bad options, while the Phils went with Charles Hudson (8-13, 3.78) who had better stats but that wasn’t entirely evident in his card.  The fireworks start in the bottom of the 1st when John Jaha jacks a 2-out 2-run homer to put the Brewers up, but Von Hayes narrows the gap in the top of the 2nd with an RBI single.  Milwaukee gets the run back in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Cirillo finds Hudson’s solid 6-4 HR result for a 2-out solo shot, and when Phils SS-2 Tom Foley makes an error in the 3rd and Mike Matheny gets a gbA+ with a held runner for an RBI single, Hudson loses it, grooving one to #9 hitter Marc Newfield who deposits it in the stands for a 3-run shot that blows the game open.  A double by Julio Franco and Hudson is gone, with Don Carman coming in to get the final out, but the Brewers lead is now 7-1.  The Phils get a run in the 4th but it comes when Rick Schu hits into a DP, and although Carman gives them four no-hit innings, their offense is having no success closing the gap against Karl.  With Carman spent in the 7th, the Phils bring in aging Steve Carlton to see if he can atone for the 9th inning loss his younger self earned against these same Brewers in the second round, and he holds the Brewers, with the last Milwaukee hitter of the game, C Mike Matheny, getting injured for 4 games.  But it is to no avail as Karl finishes out a 7-hitter and the Brewers roll to the 7-2 win and the regional crown, the 4th such accomplishment for the franchise joining 1987, 1990, and 2003.  However, they will face some future challenges, as they will be missing their starting catcher and shortstop when they enter super-regional play as a sub-.500 team.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #161:  I’ve never selected three cards for this feature before, but this situation struck me as an oddity.  According to tournament rules, the starters for the game (who must play for at least 5 innings) will be the players with the most ABs at their primary position; for left field on the 1984 Phillies, that was Glenn Wilson, who hit .240 with 6 HR in 341 AB.  What was odd about this situation was that the Phils had THREE players, all with LF as their primary position, who were FAR better than Wilson, and this was back when the company printed only 24 players (including extras) per team.   Has there ever been another team with as much bench strength in left field?? Even after all these years, I remembered Stone’s card as a one-year wonder once I saw it, but I’d forgotten about the other two; Corcoran’s card in particular is killer, and he was selected for team DH honors in this tournament.  This was Stone’s rookie season, and he actually came in 7th in the Rookie of the Year balloting despite his limited ABs; however, it was Gross, with the least impressive card of the three, that had the most successful career.  Unfortunately, these Phillies didn’t last very long in the tournament, mainly because they couldn’t seem to put up many runs; perhaps they would have gone further if there had been some plausible way to get all three of these guys in the lineup for the entire game.

 

REGIONAL #160:  The hand that was dealt in this regional was a bit unusual, as it included three pairs and every team selected was from the American League.  The tandem entries were from the Mariners, A’s, and Blue Jays, with the nearest teams timewise to a pennant being the 2007 White Sox and the 1992 A’s, both two years after winning the AL.   Because the ‘93 version of the A’s had made it to the semis of the previous regional by defeating a pennant winner, I guessed that the ‘92 version would finish the job and beat the Angels in the finals, although I thought that the 2020 Mariners could be a dark horse given the unpredictability of the pandemic teams.  I was surprised to discover that the ELO ranks had the same two teams in the finals, with the two dead even in terms of their ELO composite score, but since the Angels were listed first that had to be the ELO pick.

First round action

The 2020 Mariners had a lot of cards for a team that only played 60 games in the pandemic season; unfortunately most of those cards weren’t any good, consistent with their 27-33 record, but fortunately their top IP starter, Marco Gonzales (7-2, 3.10), had one of the better ones.  However, they drew the regional’s top seed in the 89-win 2006 Angels, who had a strong lineup, decent defense, and a solid rotation with Jered Weaver (11-2, 2.56) getting the first round start.  The Angels strike first when Orlando Cabrera leads off the bottom of the 3rd by finding and converting Gonzales’ HR split, and that one mistake proves to be the ballgame as both starters are in great form.  Gonzales ends with a 5-hitter, but that’s not enough as Weaver tosses a 3-hit shutout and the favored Angels survive with a 1-0 victory.  The Angels win despite making more errors than runs, something that needs to be fixed if they hope to win the bracket.

The 94-loss 1982 A’s had AAA stealer Rickey Henderson at the top of the order with 130 SB, but they had little else to brag about and swingman Tom Underwood (10-6, 3.29) was much better than their more commonly used starting pitchers.  They were ELO underdogs against the 83-79 2000 Blue Jays, a steroid era squad with six guys in the lineup with 20 or more homers but also a steroid era pitching staff fronted by David Wells (20-8, 4.11) who led the AL in wins and came in 3rd in the Cy Young voting.  The Jays firepower is evident early, as in the bottom of the 1st a Brad Fullmer RBI single and a 2-run shot from Tony Batista give them a 3-0 lead that could have been worse but for Shannon Stewart (1-16) getting nailed trying for an extra base.  The A’s cut into that lead in the 3rd with a two run double from Wayne Gross hit off Wells’ card, but in the bottom of the 6th Fullmer smacks a 2-run blast that puts the Jays back up by three.  In the 8th, Henderson singles, steals second, and scores (barely) on a Jeff Burroughs base hit to narrow the gap, and Wells is showing signs of tiring but the Jays aren’t happy with their bullpen options so they stick with their ace.  In the top of the 9th, Mike Heath singles and PH Joe Rudi draws a walk, so with two out the exhausted Wells is facing Henderson as the go-ahead run.  But he reaches into the reserves and whiffs Rickey to propel the Jays into the semifinals with the 5-3 win.

The 96-66 1992 A’s won the AL West and came within two games in the ALCS of a pennant; here, they were looking to finish where the ‘93 version fell short in the semifinals of the prior regional, but this team was considerably better, with a healthy McGwire, a killer bullpen, and a solid rotation with Ron Darling (15-10, 3.66) at the front of it.  They were also hoping to avenge the loss by the ‘82 squad in the prior game, although other than Rickey Henderson batting leadoff the two teams had little in common.  They faced a 78-84 2017 Mariners team that could hit the ball, with eight guys in the lineup with a SLG% over .400, but their defense had some holes and the starting pitching after ace James Paxton (12-5, 2.98) got bad quickly.   The M’s proved their offensive mettle in the bottom of the 1st with Nelson Cruz and Mike Zunino going back-to-back to provide a quick 3-0 lead, and a 2-out RBI single from Jean Segura extends their lead in the 2nd.  A two-base error by A’s 3B-2 Carney Lansford sets up a two-run single by Mitch Haniger, and when Robinson Cano follows that with a single the A’s have had enough of Darling and turn to Jeff Russell, but Ben Gamel hits a single that CF-2 Willie Wilson misplays and by the time Russell gets out three, the M’s lead 7-0 after three and the A’s still don’t have a hit.   In the 4th, another error by Wilson opens the door to a three-run homer from Kyle Seager.  Paxson finally loses his no-hit bid in the 6th when he lets a Walt Weiss grounder get by him for a single, and then Wilson doubles and Rickey Henderson drives them both in with a single; he steals second and scores on a Ruben Sierra single and the gap narrows slightly to 10-3 Seattle.  Paxton continues to struggle in the 7th, loading the bases up with two out to face McGwire, who crushes it into the far reaches of Safeco for a grand slam and it’s a whole new ballgame.  Seeking to capitalize on the momentum shift, the A’s bring in closer Dennis Eckersley to begin the bottom of the 7th, but a Gamel triple drives one in to provide a little more padding for Seattle.  Hoping to preserve their pen, the Mariners give Paxton a chance to recover his form and he does so, striking out the side (albeit with a Lance Blankenship double mixed in) in the 9th and the Mariners end on top of the 11-7 slugfest, meaning that the A’s teams go 0 for 2 in the first round while the Mariners split their appearances.    

The 2007 White Sox had swept the World Series just two seasons previously, but this team was a shadow of their former selves, losing 90 games, but they still hoped to avenge the first round exit of the ‘05 team in Regional #141 brought about by the jinx that befalls all my favorite teams.  The Sox had Mark Buerhle (10-9, 3.63) as their top option to face the 2011 Blue Jays, who went an even 81-81 but had a solid lineup with RF Jose Bautista finishing 3rd in the MVP voting and Rickey Romero (15-11, 2.92) placing 10th in the Cy Young balloting.  The Sox take the lead in the 2nd when Paulie Konerko jacks a leadoff homer, but Buerhle has a meltdown in the bottom of the 3rd where he can’t get the final out, and by the time he does Brett Lawrie contributes a two-run double and Edwin Encarnacion and Eric Thames also drive in runs and the Jays take a 4-1 lead.  When Kelly Johnson blasts a solo shot off Buehrle’s card in the 4th, Ozzie Guillen in desperation signals for the fat guy and in comes closer Bobby Jenks, who ends the inning without further damage.  However, in the 5th Lawrie crushes one with Bautista aboard and the rout is on.  Sox DH Jim Thome tries to make it more respectable with a solo HR in the 6th, but Romero is in charge until the 9th.  Then, he starts to lose effectiveness but the Jays want to preserve their pen so they stick with their ace.  However, he allows an RBI single to Rob Mackowiak, another to AJ Pierzinski, and then loads the bases and PH Luis Terrero comes to the plate as the go-ahead run with one out.  The Jays finally have to admit Romero is toast and summon Marc Rzepczynksi from the pen, primarily to make me type yet another unspellable name in this 9th inning rally.  Marc fans Terrero to bring up Tadahito Iguchi, who flies out harmlessly to leave the bases loaded, and the Jays hold on for the 7-4 win.

The survivors

The top-seeded 2006 Angels barely survived round one scoring only one run, and while John Lackey (13-11, 3.58) was a decent #2 starter, they probably couldn’t count on another shutout in their semifinal against the steroid-era 2000 Blue Jays.  The #4 seeded Jays opted to go with Frank Castillo (10-5, 3.59), but he is victimized in the top of the 1st by a 2-out error from his SS-2 Alex Gonzalez, which sets up a 2-run homer from Juan Rivera and the Angels move on top quickly.  Garrett Anderson adds to the margin in the 2nd by leading off the inning with a HR, but the Jays bats come alive in the bottom of the inning, as although Darrin Fletcher misses a HR 1-18 split, he still drives one in and a sac fly from Gonzalez and a Morandini single that is misplayed by Angels CF-3 Chone Figgins and the game is tied 3-3.  In the bottom of the 4th, Tony Batista and Fletcher get back to back doubles from Lackey’s HR 1/DO result, and RF-4 Vlad Guerrero can’t get to a Morandini flyball that scores Fletcher; Lackey then loads the bases and the Angels sense the game getting away so they summon closer Francisco Rodriguez to try to get the last out.  However, Carlos Delgado puts FRod’s first offering into the RF corner for a bases-clearing double and when the inning finally ends the Jays hold an 8-3 lead.  The Angels cut into the lead with a leadoff homer from Mike Napoli in the 6th, and when Rivera leads off the 8th with his second homer of the game off Castillo’s card, the nervous Jays move to the pen and Joey Hamilton sets down three in a row.  In the 9th, Hamilton tosses his second perfect inning in relief and the Jays head to the finals with the upset 8-5 win.

The 2011 Blue Jays were aiming to achieve something that was unprecedented in this tournament–an all-Jays regional final.  Favored to do so as the top remaining seed at #3, the Jays gave the start to swingman Carlos Villanueva (6-4, 4.04) to face the 2017 Mariners, who put up double digit runs in their first round win.  For the Mariners, Mike Leake (10-13, 3.92) was the best of the remaining options, and he’s in good form until the bottom of the 3rd, when Colby Rasmus finds and converts Leake’s HR split for a solo shot and a Jays lead.  That lead is short-lived when Mike Zunino connects for a leadoff homer in the 4th, and that rattles Villanueva who then allows a 2-run triple to Robinson Cano and Ben Gamel rips a grounder through the drawn-in infield and the Mariners take a 4-1 lead.  However, M’s CF Jarrod Dyson ends the inning with a gruesome 15-game injury, and the Jays try to seize back the momentum by capitalizing on a Yonder Alonso error followed by a Rasmus triple and an RBI single from Yunel Escobar, and it’s a one-run game after five.  When Leake gives up a single in the bottom of the 7th, the M’s head to the pen for Tony Zych, who retires the side without incident.  Then, Nelson Cruz leads off the 8th with a tape measure shot and Villanueva is gone for Casey Janssen, but mighty Casey allows a double to Zunino and a 2-run homer to Alonso and the Jays fans begin to head for the exits.  A solo shot by Jose Bautista in the bottom of the inning makes a few of them sit back down, so for the 9th the Mariners bring in Nick Vincent to try to record the save, fearing to go to their closer Edwin Diaz because of his gopher ball tendencies.  Vincent does the job and the Mariners head to the finals with the 7-4 win, but they will be without their starting CF for the remainder of the tournament.

For the second game in a row, the #5 seeded 2017 Mariners were facing a Toronto squad, this one the #4 seed 2000 Blue Jays.  The Mariners would be playing short their regular CF and with a somewhat taxed bullpen available to support Erasmo Martinez (5-6, 4.39), while the Jays tapped Esteban Loaiza (10-13, 4.56) and with two strong offenses and two mediocre starters, the fans at Safeco Field were expecting some fireworks.  The first taste was a 2-out Carlos Delgado solo shot in the top of the 1st to put the Jays ahead, and in the 3rd they add to their lead with a Dave Martinez RBI single and a Carlos Delgado sac fly.  However, the Mariners get those latter runs back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a Nelson Cruz double, and it’s 3-2 Jays after three.   Loaiza survives a threat in the 5th by whiffing Mike Zunino with the bases loaded and two out, but when he walks the first two batters of the 6th he’s gone for Joey Hamilton, who earned the save in their semifinal game.  Hamilton starts out by dropping a Kyle Seager grounder to load the bases with nobody out, but he then strikes out the next two batters and gets Jean Segura to fly out to end the inning with the Jays lead still intact.  In the top of the 7th, an Alex Gonzalez double drives in Jose Cruz Jr., and Martinez is pulled for Tony Zych who ends the inning but the Jays now lead by two.  Mitch Haniger then leads off the bottom of the inning by getting injured for 6 games, and the Mariners’ outfield resembles an infirmary.  With Hamilton’s eligibility now used up, the Jays bring in closer Billy Koch to begin the 8th, and he gets through it and through two outs of the 9th with no problem, but then Nelson Cruz doubles and defensive replacement LF-2 Dave Martinez drops a Zunino flyball for a two-base error and it’s a one-run game with the tying run in scoring position in the form of pinch runner Taylor Motter.  Koch delivers to Yonder Alonso, and it’s a groundout (plus meaningless injury, no less) and the Blue Jays hold on for a 4-3 win to take the regional crown, the fourth for the franchise joining 1985, 1989 and 2005.  The Jays award regional MVP honors to Joey Hamilton, a little used starter forced into relief who pitched four hitless innings with a save in round two and an all-important hold in the finals.

Interesting card of Regional #160:  Bill James described him as the best leadoff man in baseball history, and although I find that I disagree with James a fair amount, this may not be one of those times.  In 1982, the 23 year old Henderson stole 130 bases, breaking Lou Brock’s modern-era record for steals and that record still stands today.  We don’t see a lot of AAA stealers in Strat, but this card is one of the best of them, representing a season where Rickey was 10th in the MVP voting after having been the runner-up the prior season (at age 22).   The all-time career SB leader by nearly 500 steals, James points out that Rickey had the most steals of anyone before the age of 29 as well as the most steals after age 29–and that other than him, there was nobody else who appears on both lists of leaders.  Anyhow, despite sporting this card in the leadoff spot, the 1982 A’s made a first round exit in this tournament, managing to lose 94 games for Billy Martin in real life.  One has to wonder how many games they would have lost if Henderson wasn’t on the team.