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.