REGIONAL #165:  This was an eclectic mix of ballclubs, half each from the 20th and 21st centuries, and none of which seemed to be candidates for greatness.  In terms of proximity to pennants, there was a Braves team from several years after their great late 90’s squads, and an Indians team from several years before their run in the mid-90s, but I doubted that either had much in common with those pennant-winners.  For most of the others, I had the sense that they could be okay–the ‘89 Astros and the ‘87 Indians I thought had been competitive, the 2017 Twins might have some power, the prior year version of the 2018 Mariners had recently been in a regional final (and lost), and I remembered the Phillies of the later 70s being good, although ‘73 might be a bit too early for them.  The only thing I was confident about was that my White Sox, 1941 edition, wouldn’t be going anywhere.  Having to pick someone, I went with the Indians over the Mariners in the finals.  The ELO rankings indicated that my pick was laughable as the Indians ranked as the worst team in the group.  Instead, those ranks went with the Braves over the Twins in a matchup of rather middling teams.  

First round action

The 2018 Mariners seemed pretty familiar because the 2017 version had reached the finals of Regional #160, and this squad seemed to have some potential as well as they won 89 games with Nelson Cruz leading the offense and James Paxton (11-6, 3.76) heading a shallow rotation backed by a strong pen.  As I had suspected, the 1973 Phillies were a few years from being decent, as they lost 91 games with 23 year old Mike Schmidt hitting an unpromising .196 and Steve Carlton losing 20 games, so they went instead with Ken Brett (13-9, 3.44) on the mound.  The Phils draw first blood when Mike Anderson leads off the 2nd by converting a TR 1/SI 2-20 split and then scoring on a Willie Montanez single.  Both pitchers then take control and things are quiet until the 8th, when Montanez drops a grounder and Denard Span converts a squib single to put two on with one out and Cruz at the plate–but he hits it to SS-1 Larry Bowa, it’s a DP and Brett escapes the inning.  Sensing a need for additional insurance, in the bottom of the inning Bill Robinson launches a 2-out solo shot that chases Paxton for relief monster Edwin Diaz, who fans Luzinski and we head to the top of the 9th with the Mariners down two and Brett expecting no help from a bad Phillies bullpen.  Although Mike Zunino manages a two out single, he goes nowhere and Brett closes out the 6-hit shutout as the Phillies pull off the 2-0 upset, even though they only manage six hits themselves.

The 1941 White Sox ranked better according to ELO than I had assumed, but upon inspection they were a rather typical mediocre team from the Old Comiskey days, going 77-77 having Taffy Wright leading the punchless team with 10 HR, but a solid pitching rotation fronted by Thornton Lee (22-11, 2.37) who led the AL in ERA and came in 4th in the MVP voting.  They were slight ELO underdogs to the 84-78 2007 Braves but the matchup looked far more lopsided to me, as the top-seeded Braves had 8 of their 9 starters with more homers than the Sox leader and also had John Smoltz (14-8, 3.11) back into the rotation to finish 6th in the Cy Young vote.  Things are quiet until the top of the 4th inning, when Sox “cleanup” hitter Billy Knickerbocker and his 7 HR leads off by converting his HR 1-6 split, and then two batters later Dario Lodigiani converts Smoltz’s HR 1-9 split for a two run shot and the punchless Sox are riding the longball to a 3-0 lead.  However, in the 5th 2B-3 Knickerbocker makes his second error of the game, a two-out miscue that allows Brian McCann to score and the Sox lead narrows.  The Sox are feeling good until the top of the 9th, when Lodigiani leads off with a 7-game injury with all replacement options terrible.  The Sox then look to their ace Lee to hold serve in the bottom of the 9th, which he does, closing out the 3-hitter to seal the 3-1 win, but they head to the semis with an offense that was already the worst in the AL that will be even worse moving forward in the tournament.

From memory, I had figured the 86-win 1989 Astros to be a typical Astrodome team with pitching, speed, and not much power, and that was pretty accurate, although several of the players had batting averages less than I expected (Craig Biggio an A stealing catcher but hitting .257, 2B-2 Bill Doran at .219).  However, they did have Mike Scott (20-10, 3.10) scuffing his way to 2nd place in the Cy Young voting.  That was enough to make them solid favorites over an 87-loss 2009 Padres team, who had an extremely shallow rotation with Kevin Correia (12-11, 3.91) the sole decent option and a lackluster offense aside from Adrian Gonzalez, whose .958 OPS landed him in 12th place for MVP honors.  Things start quickly for the Astros as Biggio hits a single that CF-3 Scott Hairston can’t reach, and then Gerald Young follows by converting a split HR off Correia and it’s 2-0 Astros before the Padres can lift a bat.  It gets worse for SD in the 2nd as Correia fuels a 2-out rally for Houston by loading the bases, and then delivers the same HR split to Kevin Bass, who clears the wall at Petco Park for a grand slam, and the Padres in desperation turn to their closer Heath Bell down by six runs.  That seems to buoy the spirits of the Padres, who rake Scott over the coals in the bottom of the inning, with four extra base hits that include a 2-run homer from Will Venable and a 2-out, 3-run blast from Gonzalez, and when the dust settles the Padres now lead 7-6, after only two innings.  A one-out double from Kevin Kouzmanoff in the 3rd convinces the Astros that Scott doesn’t have it today, and Larry Anderson comes in to quickly end the threat, keeping the deficit still at one run.  In the top of the 4th, Bell walks Young with two out and Young steals second and scores on a Bass double to tie the game, and in the 5th Glenn Wilson misses his HR 1-12 split but scores from second racing home on a Ken Caminiti single and Houston moves back on top.  In the 6th Bell walks two and he’s burnt for the regional, so wondercard Mike Adams comes in with two outs and Doran on 2nd.  Glenn Davis delivers a single, 1-17 Doran heads for home and….18, he’s out and inning over.  In the bottom of the 6th, Houston pulls Andersen, who has been lights out, to try to preserve him for a possible appearance in the finals and turn to Dave Smith, who ends the inning without damage despite a threat caused by terrible fielding from SS-4 Rafael Ramirez.  Smith faces a 2-out rally in the 7th as Kouzmanoff doubles and then heads for home on a Nick Hundley single, but he’s cut down (1-12) to end the inning.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Padres get runners on 1st and 3rd with two out, but Smith gets Gonzalez to ground out and the Astros enter the 9th clinging to the one-run lead.  Adams makes short work of Houston in the top of the 9th, so it’s up to Smith to preserve that lead.  A leadoff grounder to SS-4 Ramirez and it’s Houston, we have a problem in the form of a 2-base error, and when LF-2 Terry Puhl can’t get to a Kouzmanoff single the game is tied.  Smith then walks Hundley, pushing Kouzmanoff into scoring position, but then records the second out to face #9 hitter David Eckstein.  The Padres eye their pinch hitters, but decide they need Eckstein’s glove in extra innings and they let him bat.  He responds by ripping a single into the gap, Kouzmanoff scores, and San Diego moves on with a come from behind, walk off 9-8 win.

Although my blind selection of the #8 ELO seeded 1987 Indians looked ugly upon further review that revealed that they lost 101 games, I wasn’t too concerned given that the underdog had won all three prior first round games in the regional.  Furthermore, they had a pretty potent lineup with Brook Jacoby, Joe Carter, and Cory Snyder all with 30+ homers, but they would need to score runs to offset a terrible pitching staff with a bad Tom Candiotti (7-18, 4.78) at the top of the rotation.  Outscoring their opponents, the 2017 Twins, might not be easy as 8 of the 9 Twins batters had double digit homers themselves; Minnesota won 85 games to make a wild card appearance in the postseason, and they had Ervin Santana (16-8, 3.28), 7th in Cy Young standings, on the mound.  The top of the 2nd is eventful for the Indians, as Joe Carter leads off with a colossal blast to provide a lead, but C Chris Bando ends the inning by grounding into a DP and in the process getting injured for the rest of the tournament.  The Twins respond in the bottom of the inning with Max Kepler nailing Candiotti’s solid HR result for a 2-run shot to move ahead, and they add two more in the 3rd on an Eddie Rosario RBI triple and he scores on a single from Eduardo Escobar.  An RBI single for Brian Dozier in the bottom of the 6th and Candiotti is pulled for John Farrell, who promptly delivers a 3-run homer to Rosario and Twins fans start placing their orders for semifinal tickets.  Meanwhile, Santana just gets stronger as he goes along, and he closes out a 3-hitter to lead the Twins to the easy 8-1 win.

The survivors

According to the ELO ranks, neither the 1973 Phillies nor the 1941 White Sox should have made it to the semifinals, but they both got strong pitching performances in the first round to get them here.  The Sox found themselves as the top-seeded surviving team, but having to play injury replacement 3B-4 Bob Kennedy and his .206 average weakened an offense that was already the league’s worst.  And, even though both teams had Hall of Fame pitchers ready to start, both were bypassed as Ted Lyons sat in favor of swingman Buck Ross (3-9, 3.69) for the Sox, while on the advice of multiple Phils fans it was Wayne Twitchell (13-9, 2.50) over 20-game loser Steve Carlton for the Phils.  In the 3rd, the Phils knock three straight singles, with the last one by Denny Doyle putting them up 1-0, but after that both pitchers settle in for a duel.  Finally, in the 8th Greg Luzinski, off all people, hits a 2-out triple and Mike Anderson singles him home to provide Twitchell with a little padding.  He takes that lead into the bottom of the 9th, when the Sox lead off by converting two straight SI* 1-10 rolls and the Phils have Mac Scarce warming up in the pen, but give Twitchell a chance to get out of his jam.  Mike Tresh pops out to bring up .190 hitting 3B Skeeter Webb with no remaining third basemen on the roster, so there will be no pinch hitter.  The hitless wonders try small ball and have Webb bunt, but it’s a bad one and the lead runner is out so that brings up two out with the tying run on 1st and top of the order in old aches and pains, HOFer Luke Appling.  Sox fans feel the pains as Appling grounds out and the Phils are booked for an unlikely trip to the finals with their second straight 2-0 win, with Twitchell scattering 8 hits in his shutout.

The #3 seeded 2017 Twins were now the top remaining seed left in the bracket, and they had a fully rested bullpen ready to support Jose Berrios (14-8, 3.89) if he should falter.  That was certainly not the case for the 2017 Padres, who took a come from behind thriller in round one by burning up their pen, and Clayton Richard (9-5, 4.41) was not the kind of starter to instill confidence.  Sure enough, Richard walks three in the bottom of the 1st, and although one is eliminated via the DP, Eduardo Escobar drives in the other two with a 2-out triple and the Twins move out front quickly.  In the 2nd, Brian Dozier converts a TR 1 split and scores on an Eddie Rosario double that makes it 3-0 Minnesota, and in the 4th a two base error by Padres CF-3 Tony Gwynn Jr. sets up a Joe Mauer 2-run single to extend the lead further.  In the top of the 5th, the Padres finally show the fight that got them this far, with an RBI double from Evarth Cabrera and a 2-run single by David Eckstein, although SD leaves the bases loaded and the Twins still lead by two.  Escobar knocks a 2-out solo shot in the bottom of the inning for some additional insurance, and when Byron Buxton nails a homer to lead off the 6th that’s it for Richard, with Luke Gregerson coming in to prevent further damage.  But Berrios holds serve until the 9th, when the Padres show the same resistance they displayed in the first round.  Nick Hundley doubles, and with two out PH Oscar Salazar drives him in with a single; Berrios walks Gwynn and now the tying run is at the plate.  At this point the Twins bring in closer Brandon Kintzler to pitch to Chase Headley, and it’s a soft liner to Mauer and the Twins stave off the Padres for the 7-4 win and a trip to the finals, seeking the second straight regional win for the franchise. 

The #3 seeded 2017 Twins were a postseason team, while the #6 seed 1973 Phillies lost 91 games, so at first glance the regional final looked a bit uneven, but the Phillies had yet to be scored upon in the regional and the Twins had the easiest path to the finals by facing the two worst teams in the bracket.  Both teams were getting into the more uncomfortable parts of their rotation; the Twins were hoping Kyle Gibson (12-10, 5.07) would be able to get it to their deep but not very good bullpen, while the Phils were finally sending out their Hall of Famer Steve Carlton (13-20, 3.90), who had a rough season as a follow-up to an insane 1972.  Jorge Polanco leads off the bottom of the 3rd with a homer for the Twins, marking the first run that had been scored against the Phils in the regional, and in the 4th Eduardo Escobar adds a 3-run shot as the Twins move out to a 4-0 lead.  Lefty loses control in the 5th after recording two outs, issuing three walks, the last a bases-load pass to Escobar, and when he again allows two baserunners with two out in the 6th he’s gone for Mac Scarce, who retires the side with no further damage.  However, it’s also runs that are scarce for the Phils, and Gibson wraps up a 6-hit shutout as the Twins win 5-0 to capture their second regional in a row.  The Twins elect 3B Eduardo Escobar as their regional MVP with two homers and 8 RBI in the three games, leading an offense that outscored the opposition 20 to 5.  

Interesting card of Regional #165:  I find it jarring when I look at a Strat pitcher’s card and don’t see a numeral to the left of the decimal point in their listed ERA.  However, I’d feel even worse if I were playing against the 2009 Padres and while I was putting together a rally, my opponent pulled out this card in relief.  Although hardly a household name, Adams had a nice if rather unheralded 10-year career as a relief pitcher, with a career 2.41 ERA and 1.045 WHIP in 407 innings.  After serving the Padres for a few seasons as one of the best setup men in baseball, they traded Adams midseason in 2011 to the Rangers, and Texas got their money’s worth as Adams won two games in relief in the postseason, one in the ALCS and one in the Series.  This all brings up another way in which I prefer the Basic game–I’ve never liked the “closer rating” rule.  Adams never saved more than one game with any team in any season, and as such Strat’s closer rule would essentially penalize him for being inserted in a save situation.  However, the guy was effective in plenty of clutch relief situations, including in the World Series–are we to believe that he would suddenly become incapable of pitching at the end of games?  I always resonated with the Strat marketing line of “You are the manager!” in their advertising copy; perhaps Bud Black wanted Heath Bell to be the closer in 2009, but this Bud’s not for me–screw the SADV gimmicks, if I’m the manager I’m going with this card with the game on the line.