REGIONAL #173:  There weren’t any pennant-winning teams in this group, but there might be a few that made a run for it.  I knew that the White Sox had been denied a postseason berth in the prior year by a strike, and I seemed to remember the Astros playing in the 2001 postseason (I may have been there) but I could be off by a year.   I did, however, distinctly remember the ‘73 Braves having at least one exceptional player, and although I remembered nothing about the 2020 Royals, it was the pandemic year and anything can happen with those teams.  Pretty much at a loss for any predictions with this bunch, I went with an Astros/White Sox final, with my Sox jinx making it easy to pick the Astros to win that matchup.  The ELO ranks made the Astros the regional favorite, predicted to best the ‘84 Blue Jays in the finals.

First round action

I was correct in thinking that the 2001 Astros were a postseason team, as they won 93 games and the NL Central but made a rapid exit by getting swept in the NLDS.  They had the Killer B’s of Bagwell, Berkman and Biggio leading the offense, although the defense was suspect behind their top starter, Wade Miller (16-8, 3.40).  They were substantial favorites over the 98-loss 2014 Diamondbacks, who were ranked as the second-worst team in baseball that season, coincidentally surpassed in badness only by the Astros.  The Dbacks had little to brag about other than Paul Goldschmidt, although Josh Collmenter (11-9, 3.46) was a decent pitcher who deserved better support.   The Astros score in the top of the 3rd with back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning by Orlando Merced and Julio Lugo, and get another when Berkman leads off the 4th with a long blast.  Bagwell adds a solo shot in the 6th, but the carefully cultivated lead ends in the bottom of the inning as two straight singles followed by a Goldschmidt 3-run homer ties things up and it’s a brand new ballgame.  A leadoff single by Merced in the 7th and Collmenter is pulled for Oliver Perez, who does his job, and the Astros in turn bring in closer Billy Wagner to start the 8th to prevent any further mistakes by Miller.   Perez and Wagner both lock things down, and the game heads to extra innings.  Both do their job in the 10th, which burns Perez for the regional; the Dbacks fear their erratic closer Addison Reed and instead turn to Evan Marshall, who allows more hits but they travel less far.  Sure enough, Marshall is tagged for three hits, and although he records two outs on a Bagwell DP ball, Arizona has no more hits to give with the go-ahead run on 3rd; they turn to Reed to face Merced and he strikes him out to give the Dbacks their shot to win against new Astros reliever Octavio Dotel.  Arizona nicks him for a double and a squib single to put the winning run on 3rd with two out, but RF-3 Moises Alou makes a shoestring catch and the game trudges on.  Finally, in the bottom of the 15th, Dotel is in his last inning of eligibility but doesn’t finish it as David Perelta knocks a one-out homer and the Dbacks pull off the upset of the regional favorite with a 4-3, albeit with much of their bullpen burnt for the regional.  

The 1973 Braves somehow managed a dismal 76-85 record despite 40+ homers from the trio of Hank Aaron, Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson, and with Phil Niekro (13-10, 3.31) they didn’t look like a sub-.500 team to me.  However, the 91-loss 1988 Rangers had that look, and although they would match knuckleballers with Charlie Hough (15-16, 3.32), their lineup couldn’t match the firepower of Atlanta’s.  Hough allows two hits and two walks in the top of the 1st but manages to escape without allowing any runs, courtesy of Ralph Garr getting caught stealing.  In the bottom of the 1st, the Rangers prove more efficient with their hits, with Pete Incaviglia driving in a run with a double and then scoring on a Ruben Sierra single; although the Rangers take the lead, they also lose 1B Pete O’Brien to injury.  Texas adds another run in the 2nd when an error by Braves 3B-3 Evans sets up a 2-out RBI single from Curtis Wilkerson, but the Braves make it a one-run game in the top of the 3rd on a solo shot from Aaron and an RBI single from Mike Lum.  Atlanta then ties it in the 4th on an Aaron double, and they load the bases in the 5th; Hough gets Dusty Baker to hit a 2-out grounder to SS-3 Scott Fletcher, who has already handled four X-chances perfectly, but he drops it and the Braves take the lead.  That brings up Aaron, but Hough finally gets the thing to knuckle and Hank whiffs for the third out.  A leadoff hit by Evans to start the 6th is the 11th hit allowed by Hough, and the Rangers move to their most effective reliever, Craig McMurtry, and he sets three Braves down in a row to keep the Rangers in the game.  The Rangers then put up a single and a walk to begin the bottom of the inning, and the Braves look in their pen and turn away in fright, taking their chances with Niekro.  But he issues another walk to load the bases and then Scott Fletcher rips a 2-run single past immobile 1B-4 Lum, and Texas takes the lead.  Niekro does record a strikeout but then injury replacement Jim Sundberg knocks an RBI single off Niekro’s card and he has to go, replaced by veteran Gary Gentry, who yields a sac fly to Inky followed by a 2-run homer from Sierra and by the time the dust clears, the Rangers lead 9-4.  The Braves get one back in the 7th when Aaron shoots a double past 1B-4 Geno Petralli, filling in for O’Brien, although Petralli atones in the bottom of the inning by leading off with a homer.  Thus armed with a 5-run lead, the Rangers try to preserve McMurtry and hesitantly summon Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams; he gets through the 8th with just a harmless walk but the 9th begins with a triple followed by two walks to load the bases for Aaron.  A pumped Williams gets it in the strike zone, and Aaron hits into a DP that scores a run, but it’s not enough as Evans flies out and the Rangers move on to the semis with a 10-6 win.

The lineup for the 1987 Phillies looked like a good one with Mike Schmidt as its anchor, but a dismal rotation fronted by Shane Rawley (17-11, 4.39) balanced things out to lead them to an 80-82 record.   They still compared favorably to the pandemic-era 2020 Royals, who went 26-34 and didn’t really have any small-sample anomalies working in their favor, although with no choice in their starting rotation, they were fortunate that their leading starter in IP, Brady Singer (4-5, 4.06), was better than some of the alternatives that would be forthcoming.   Schmidt misses his HR 1-12 split in the top of the 1st and gets stranded at second, and the Phillies keep squandering opportunities in the early innings while the Royals can’t muster anything against Rawley.  Finally, in the top of the 6th Juan Samuel leads off by finding and converting Singer’s HR split to break the ice, and the Royals respond by immediately going to their pen for the virtually unhittable Jesse Hahn (no hits on his card, only walks) who ends the inning without further damage.  The Royals then figure out Rawley in the bottom of the inning, and a squib RBI single from Salvador Perez ties the game so the Phils move to their own relief specialist Jeff Calhoun; he induces a grounder from Ryan McBroom but 1B-3 Von Hayes muffs it to hand KC the lead.  However, in the 8th Royals CF-3 Edward Olivares returns the favor, misplaying a Lance Parrish single with two outs to set up a 2-run base hit by Greg Gross and the Phils regain the lead.  The Phils continue to hit the unhittable Hahn to load the bases, but Hayes lines out to end the rally and Calhoun now must record 6 outs without a run.  He gets the first two outs in the bottom of the 8th easily, but then Perez nails his own HR 1-17 split–and misses it, eventually getting stranded at 3rd and the Phils still lead by one to begin the 9th.  Hahn uses up his eligibility for the regional in the 9th but keeps the Phils from scoring, and so the Royals need one run in the bottom of the 9th from the bottom of their order.  Calhoun is too much for KC as he burns his usage for the regional but records the win as the Phils squeak by with a 3-2 victory.

The 1995 White Sox would be the latest entry in the franchise seeking to overcome my well-established Sox jinx; this squad went a disappointing 68-76 after play resumed following the strike that curtailed an excellent season by the ‘94 squad.  This group had a typically strong year from big Frank Thomas, but after Alex Fernandez (12-8, 3.80) the limited rotation would quickly get scary.  Even without the jinx, they looked overmatched against the 89-73 1984 Blue Jays, runner-ups in the AL East with George Bell and company commanding a strong lineup, solid defense, and Dave Stieb (16-8, 2.83) 7th in the Cy Young balloting.  A two-out double from Bell scores Rance Mulliniks in the bottom of the 1st, and the Jays get a second run in the 2nd on a DP ball from Alfredo Griffin, but they leave the bases loaded after recording four hits in the inning.  A two-run single by Damaso Garcia in the 3rd makes it 4-0 Jays, but the Sox finally get a run in the 5th when a two-out error by SS-2 Griffin allows Dave Martinez to score.  From there on out both pitchers assert control, so the game heads to the 9th with the Jays up by three.  Ozzie Guillen draws a walk to lead off the 9th, moves to second on a grounder, and with two outs and first base open the Jays elect to pitch to Frank Thomas, who deposits the ball into the grandstands of Exhibition Stadium and it’s a one-run game.  A consultation with Stieb on the mound and he stays in the game, but he walks Robin Ventura on a pitch that was way inside, but Robin thinks about it and decides to simply trot to first.  That brings up Mike Devereaux, and it’s a 1-10 roll, HR 1-14/DO.  He misses the split, Ventura is 1-13 going home to tie the game on the double, and….SAFE on a split roll of 6.  The Jays now look seriously in their pen but still don’t see options better than their ace, so he pitches to Lance Johnson, who lines out and the game heads to the bottom of the 9th, tied 4-4.  It’s now about time for the Sox jinx to come into play, but Lloyd Moseby misses a SI 1-9 with a 10 split roll, one out.  Cliff Johnson then misses Fernadez’s HR 1-9/DP split with a 19, but that puts the winning run in scoring position in the form of pinch-runner Garth Iorg.  Bell come to the plate, the Sox let Fernandez pitch to him and try to pitch out of his own jam and…..DO 1-4/SI** off Fernandez’s card, Iorg crosses the plate with the winning run, and the Blue Jays head to the semis with a walkoff 5-4 win.  Meanwhile, the Sox head back into storage after taunting me with a fruitless 9th inning comeback.

The survivors

The first semifinal matched two upset winners from round one, the #6 seed 1988 Rangers and the #7 seed 2014 Diamondbacks, but both teams had taxed their bullpens to get here and the Rangers would also be without 1B Pete O’Brien for this round.  Texas would elect to go with Jose Guzman (11-13, 3.70), while the Dbacks had to send out Wade Miley (8-12, 4.34) for lack of better options.  Paul Goldschmidt collects the first hit of the game in the top of the 3rd by missing Guzman’s HR 1-17 split, and he gets stranded at second; Oddibe McDowell then leads off the bottom of the inning by converting Miley’s HR 1-17 split and the Rangers take the first lead.  In the 4th, Ruben Sierra also rolls Miley’s HR split, but he misses the 1-17 roll and then when he tries to score on a Steve Buechele single he’s cut down at the plate missing a 1-16 roll.  In the 5th, McDowell leads off with a single, steals second and scores on a double by Cecil Espy; Scott Fletcher follows with another double and the Rangers extend their lead.  From there Miley settles down nicely, but it matters little as the Dbacks are helpless against Guzman, who completes a 3-hit shutout and the Rangers head to the finals with the 3-0 whitewashing. 

The semifinal between the #4 seeded 1987 Phillies and the #2 seed 1984 Blue Jays featured a special managerial appearance by a noted Philly Phan:  the Tall Tactician, who would be rolling the bones for the Phils via the magic of Zoom.  He would tap Don Carman (13-11, 4.22) for the start, while the Jays would respond with Doyle Alexander (17-6, 3.13) who got some MVP votes in this season.  Both pitchers begin the game by narrowly escaping some jams, but in the bottom of the 3rd Carman loads the bases with nobody out on a single and a couple of walks, and he decides to get out of this jam by getting injured for 7 games.  That means the Phils have to go to the pen early and out comes Kent Tekulve, who records two straight popouts before surrendering a double to Willie Upshaw that scores two; 1-8 Cliff Johnson lumbers his way towards home from first and he is out by a mile to end the inning, but the Jays take the lead.  In the top of the 4th, the Phils try to mount a comeback and get a promising start when Juan Samuel converts a split triple, but with two outs they show little confidence in expensive free agent Lance Parrish at the plate and TT decides to have A-stealer Samuel try to swipe home.  Since I almost never have tried to steal home myself, I have to look up the Basic chart for the odds, and it’s 1-6 chance; the split dice is a 5 and Samuel is safe to make it 2-1 Jays.  Parrish does double but is stranded at second, and the game settles in with a parade of Philly relievers trying to keep the score close.  In the bottom of the 6th, Phils reliever Mike Jackson loses the strike zone and walks two; the Jays summon Dave Collins to pinch hit for Alfredo Griffin and it’s a 6-9 on Jackson, HR 1-10 and it’s gone for a 5-1 Jays lead.  The Phils finally summon controversial Cy Young winner Steve Bedrosian from the pen and he pitches a perfect 7th, but Damaso Garcia knocks an RBI single off the 5th Philadelphia pitcher, Wallace Ritchie, in the 8th.   The Phils have no answer against Alexander, with Parrish grounding to Garcia for a game-ending DP, and the Jays head to the finals with a 6-1 win.  

The regional final matched the #2 seeded 1984 Blue Jays against the #6 ranked 1988 Rangers, who would have Pete O’Brien back from injury to support starter Bobby Witt (8-10, 3.92), who made teammate Mitch Williams look like a control pitcher.  For the Jays it would be Luis Leal (13-8, 3.89) on the mound, and it was he that started out shaky, ultimately allowing a leadoff triple to Ruben Sierra in the 4th who was driven in with an RBI single from Steve Buechele, with Leal allowing three hits off his own card to hand the Rangers a 1-0 lead.  The Jays respond immediately in the bottom of the inning, with a George Bell double followed by an RBI single from Willie Upshaw, and then with two out Damaso Garcia dribbles one under the glove of Rangers SS-3 Scott Fletcher and the Jays take a 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 7th Garcia singles and notches his second stolen base of the game; Witt then walks round two pinch hit hero Dave Collins and the Rangers go to their pen for relief ace Craig McMurtry.  McMurtry walks Rance Mulliniks and the bases are loaded with one out.  McMurtry gets Lloyd Moseby on a lineout, but Cliff Johnson comes through with a single and the speedy tandem of Garcia and Collins race home to extend the Jays lead.  That makes the Jays feel much safer given the gopher ball tendencies of Leal, but he has recovered from his early inning jitters and finishes with four hitless innings and a 6-hitter as the Jays take the 4-1 win and the 7th regional for the franchise.  This era of Blue Jays teams have clearly established themselves as a dynasty in this tournament, with the 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989 all having captured regional honors.

Interesting card of Regional #173:  Even though his Braves were eliminated in the first round, there was no competition for this feature in my mind.  My Strat career began in the late 1960’s, and although I was scraping up money to buy current teams and seasons each year, most of my neighborhood leagues were centered around the Old-Timer teams, and the 1927 Babe Ruth card from that set–the power, the hit layout, the font–was deeply etched in my childhood memory as the GOAT Strat card.  Even the ‘61 Roger Maris card didn’t live up to it, although Mantle’s came close, and so the Babe reigned supreme in my card collection.  And then, in 1973, it happened–Hammerin’ Hank Aaron received a card that, homer-wise at least, out-Babed the Babe.  Many baseball fans remember April 8th, 1974, the date that Aaron knocked home run number 715 against Al Downing, as the point when Hank surpassed the Babe.  But for me, that point had already occurred a month or so earlier, when my 1973 Strat set arrived in the mail and I first glimpsed this card.