REGIONAL #174:   This group boasted a pennant winner in Joe Carter’s Blue Jays, although it looked to me like they would have a serious challenge in the first round in the Harvey Wallbanger Brewers, the year after their pennant.   The other squads I was less sure about; I figured that the Cubs and Rockies would probably have some power and not much pitching, the entries from a couple of Florida teams were pretty unknown to me, and my recollection of the Tigers of that vintage was that there were some terrible teams.   I was guessing that the winner of the Jays/Brewers matchup in the first round would then have a clear path through the regional, so my pick was the Jays over the Rockies in the finals.   Upon looking up the ELO rankings for these teams, I found that they agreed that the Jays and Brewers were the cream of the crop here, but I also discovered that the rest of the bracket was epicly awful.   With four terrible teams in the top half, someone would have to make the finals; the rankings more or less picked the Cubs to get crushed by the Jays for the title.

First round action

The 1993 Rockies were in their first season as an expansion squad and they did lose 95 games, but they had some formidable hitters in Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette, and Charlie Hayes, along with a sadly washed-up Dale Murphy and a dubious rotation with Armando Reynoso (12-11, 4.00) at the top.  However, they were perhaps the only first-year expansion team to be favored in the tournament, as they faced the sublimely terrible 43-119 2003 Tigers; on the Tigers, Dmitri Young was the only card in the lineup that looked like he belonged in the major leagues, and the fact that Nate Cornejo (6-17, 4.67) looked like their best starter should tell you something about the other alternatives.  But Young proves his credentials in the bottom of the 1st by crushing a solo shot into the cheap seats, and to the surprise of the Comerica Park fans the Tigers hold an early lead.  In the 3rd, Tigers CF-4 Alex Sanchez gifts the Rockies a run with a two-base error on a Galarraga flyball, but Colorado’s Eric Young (1-17) is cut down trying to take an extra base, giving the Tigers the opportunity to retake the lead in the bottom of the inning when Young doubles in Bobby Higginson.  The Rockies figure that they should also go Young, and their Eric contributes an RBI single in the 5th to tie the game once more, and then they move in front in the 7th when Tigers LF-4 Young can’t get to a Galarraga single that scores Alex Cole.  In the 8th, a Jerald Clark double off Cornejo’s card sends the latter to the showers, having pitched about as well as the Tigers could hope for, and they summon gopher-prone Jamie Walker to try to keep things close.  He promptly loads the bases up but escapes allowing no runs, and when Reynoso issues a leadoff walk in the 8th the Rockies summon closer Darren Holmes to try to lock things down.  That doesn’t work, as a Sanchez single is followed by a three-base error on a Higginson flyball courtesy of Rockies CF-4 Alex Cole, two runners score, and suddenly the Tigers hold the lead.   Young’s sac fly scores Higginson, and the Tigers take a two run lead into the 9th, inserting what defensive replacements they can scrounge and hoping Walker can hang on for the win against the heart of the Colorado order.   Things don’t start well when Detroit SS-3 Ramon Santiago’s error puts the leadoff hitter aboard, and then Galarraga gets on base on an X-chart play for the third time in the game as his single goes under the glove of Walker, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with no out.  Bichette’s sac fly makes it a one run game with one away, and then Charlie Hayes steps up and crushes a two-run homer and the Rockies regain the lead.  Now it looks elementary for Holmes in the bottom of the 9th, facing the dreadful bottom of the Tigers order, and he does the job as the Rockies win 6-5, requiring a 9th inning comeback to put away a team ranked by ELO as the second worst team in baseball history.  

The first round continues with two more terrible teams hoping for an improbable run:  the 97-loss 2000 Cubs against the 57-105 1973 Rangers.  Both teams had some pop, with Sammy Sosa’s 50 HRs anchoring the Cubs offense while Jeff Burroughs, a year away from an MVP award, provided fireworks for Texas.  The two starting pitchers weren’t that bad, either, as Jon Lieber (12-11, 4.41) managed a winning record for the Cubs while Jim Bibby (9-10, 3.24) didn’t allow many hits against the Rangers, probably because he couldn’t get the ball in the strike zone.  Sosa introduces Bibby to the steroid era with a solo homer in the top of the 1st that might have reached Arkansas, and the Cubs get another in the 3rd when Rondell White bounces a two-out RBI double past RF-4 Burroughs.  However, in the bottom of the 3rd Rangers DH Tom Grieve celebrates the inaugural season of the DH rule with a two-run homer to tie things up, and in the 4th a 2-base error by Cubs 3B-3 Willie Greene and another error by P-2 Lieber and the Rangers move out to a 3-2 lead.  When Lieber walks two in a row in the bottom of the 6th the Cubs move to Tim Worrell out of the pen, but he allows an RBI double to PH Ken Suarez followed by a 2-run single from Dave Nelson; a Grieve double then scores Nelson and puts Grieve just a single away from hitting for the cycle.  Another 2-base error from Greene on a Burroughs grounder scores another, but Worrell finally gets the third out when Burroughs is nailed at home trying to score on a Toby Harrah single–but the score is now Rangers 8, Cubs 2.  Another couple of hits off Worrell’s card in the 7th and the Cubs try closer Rick Aguilera, but he allows an RBI single to defensive replacement Suarez and the gap grows even larger.  Grieve comes up in the 8th looking for a single to complete his cycle, but it’s a DO 1/flyB on Aguilera’s card–but just because he can, Grieve converts it with a 1 roll and the DH is looking like it’s here to stay, although he does get stranded at second.  Bibby rolls through the 9th, striking out PH Julio Zuleta to close out a 5-hitter (walking only four, an accomplishment for Bibby) and the Rangers stroll easily to the semifinals with the 8-2 win.  

Once again, I feel like I have to check the code on my little random team selection/seeding program to try to figure out why the best two teams in a regional always seem to be paired in the first round.  Here it’s the #1 seed Series-winning 95-67 1993 Blue Jays and the #2 seeded, post-pennant 1983 Brewers, whose 87 wins were remarkably only good for 5th place in the AL East that season.  The Jays sported an impressive lineup with Series hero Joe Carter supported by names like Molitor, Olerud, Roberto Alomar (2,3, and 6 in the MVP ballots), and Pat Hentgen (19-9, 3.87) finished 6th in the Cy Young votes, right in front of rotation-mate Juan Guzman and right behind Jays closer Duane Ward and his 45 saves.  The Brewers lineup featured a younger Molitor, as well as fellow Wallbangers Yount, Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie and Ted Simmons, with Moose Haas (13-3, 3.27) getting the starting nod for what looked to be the big game of the bracket.   The Jays strike first in the bottom of the 2nd with a Tony Fernandez double that turns into a run when he races home on a single by Devon White.  The Brewers threaten in the 5th with runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out, but Rick Manning is caught stealing and Charlie Moore is nailed trying to score on a Molitor fielder’s choice.  However, the Milwaukee Molitor then steals second and scores on a Yount single and it’s a tie game–briefly, as in the bottom of the inning Ed Sprague doubles past LF-3 Oglivie and then scores on a Pat Borders single and the Jays regain the lead.  The Brewers then lose Ted Simmons to injury in the top of the 6th, but that precipitates a rally with a Mark Brouhard 2-out double followed by a Jim Gantner single that LF-2 Rickey Henderson misplays and the game is tied once again.  In the 7th Cecil Cooper misses a 2-out HR 1-3/DO split with nobody on base, bringing up injury replacement .224 hitter Ned Yost, the only remaining catcher on the Brewers roster.  The Jays think about moving to Ward out of the pen, but figure Hentgen should be able to handle Yost.  And, Yost rolls a SI** on Hentgen’s card to drive in Cooper, give the Brewers the lead, and send Hentgen to the showers for Ward.  He faces Oglivie, who pops out and gets injured for 5 games in the process, so the depleted Brewers now try to hang on to the one run lead with 9 outs to go.   Sprague leads off the bottom of the 7th with a squib single off Haas’s card, and Brewers warm up Pete Ladd in the pen but let Haas pitch to PH Randy Knorr.  Haas whiffs him, then retires Henderson but walks Alomar to push pinch-runner Alfredo Griffin into scoring position.   Olerud then lofts a fly to CF-1 Rick Manning who makes it look easy and Haas escapes the inning, still with the one-run lead.  However, when the Toronto Molitor leads off the 8th with a single, Haas is gone and Ladd comes in to try to close things out. Molitor then steals second for the second time this game, but Ladd whiffs Mr. Clutch Joe Carter for one out.  However, Tony Fernandez finds a single on Ladd’s card to drive in Molitor, and he promptly also steals second on the beleaguered C-4 Yost; Ladd then retires the side so we head to the 9th with the game tied and both closers as the pitchers of record.  Ward handles the Brewers in the top of the 9th, and then backup catcher Randy Knorr hits a fly to CF-1 Manning, who does the unthinkable and commits a 2-base error.  With no remaining catchers on the roster, Knorr and his 1-9 legs are in scoring position as the winning run with the top of the Jays order coming up.  Ladd then walks Henderson and Alomar to bring up .363-hitter Olerud with the infield in and no place to put him, and the noise in the Skydome is deafening.  The pitch: a 1-9, gbA++, Olerud rips a single through the infield and the Jays head to the semifinals with a walkoff 4-3 win, and the Brewers go back into storage with plenty of time to heal.  

In a bracket filled with many bad teams, the 77-85 2014 Marlins were actually seeded 3rd, and although their lineup didn’t have much after Giancarlo Stanton, they had good defense and a deep bullpen to work behind Henderson Alvarez (12-7, 2.65).  Their cross-state opponent, the 95-loss 2005 Rays, had some guys who could hit, like Carl Crawford and Jonny Gomes, but not many who could field or pitch, with Scott Kazmir (10-9, 3.77) having an ERA about two runs better than most of the others in the rotation.  The Rays take the lead in the bottom of the 1st when Crawford singles, steals second, and scores on a Gomes base hit, but the Marlins tie it in the 3rd when Casey McGehee hits into a double play that scores a run but kills a rally.  The Rays strike back immediately, as Crawford knocks an RBI triple in the bottom of the inning and when the Marlins bring in the infield, Gomes knocks it through with a gbA++ to give the Rays a two run edge after three.  In the top of the 5th, Jarrod Saltalamacchia draws a leadoff walk and Adeiny Hechavarria singles him to third, requiring a thirty-minute delay in the game while I typed out their names; in the interim, Rays 3B-3 Alex S Gonzalez loses his focus and drops a Donovan Solano grounder to score one.  Kazmir then walks the bases loaded, but gets two quick outs and it’s looking like he might escape further damage, but then he walks Marcell Ozuna and the game is tied.  Not for long, as Saltalamacchia makes me type his name again with a solo homer to put Miami on top; Kazmir then walks that other guy with the long name and the Rays summon closer Danys Baez to try to keep it close, and after some noise he ends the inning with score still 4-3 Marlins.  That makes it possible for a Travis Lee 2-out solo shot in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, and when that is followed by two straight singles Alvarez is gone for 21 year old Jose Fernandez, who had won Rookie of the Year honors the previous season but did not have sufficient innings in 2014 to start here; he gets the third out and it’s a tie game heading to the 7th.  Once again, the tie doesn’t last long as Stanton finds a leadoff single on Baez, and then Ozuja finds his own homer for a towering 2-run shot and a Marlins lead.  Alliterative DH Derek Dietrich adds a solo shot and the Tampa crowd is wondering when hockey season starts.  But, not so fast, as a squib single and a walk and the Rays summon PH Alex Sanchez, who finds and converts Fernandez’s HR 1-9/flyB split for a three run blast and the game is tied and AJ Ramos comes in to pitch for Miami.  He ends the inning, but we head to the 9th with the score knotted at seven each.  Even though Baez has been pitching more like Joan than Danys, the Rays have nobody better and they’ll go with him until he burns his eligibility; he allows a leadoff single but then retires the side to bring up the Rays with a chance to win in the bottom of the 9th.  Ramos’s Achilles heel is his control, and he issues a leadoff walk to Crawford who promptly steals second.  Two straight grounders test the Marlins infield, but it holds and Ramos whiffs Jorge Cantu to send the game to extra innings.  Baez is now toast for the regional, and Chad Orvella gets the call in the 10th; he does the job and it’s up to Ramos in the bottom of the inning; he walks Gonzalez, gets two outs but then #9 hitter Toby Hall rolls the only (partial) hit on Ramos’ card, a DO 1-8/flyB; he converts it, Gonzalez (1-14) heads for home and beats the throw, and the Rays persist for the walkoff 8-7 win. 

The survivors

The semifinal from the “someone has to win” half of the bracket matched the first year expansion 1993 Rockies and the 105-loss 1973 Rangers, with two pretty good pitchers who had both seen better years in Colorado’s Bruce Ruffin (6-5, 3.87) against Sonny Siebert (7-12, 4.06).  The Rangers score in the bottom of the 1st without benefit of a hit as Dave Nelson walks, steals second, and scores on a 2-base error by 3B-2 Charlie Hayes.  The Rockies tie it in the 3rd when Alex Cole singles in front of CF-4 Vic Harris, then steals second on C-4 Dick Billings, and then races home on a two-out Nelson Liriano single.  The Rangers respond in the bottom of the inning, with Nelson singling in front of RF-3 Dante Bichette, stealing second once again, and scoring when Jeff Burroughs singles past SS-3 Vinny Castilla as the defense of both teams seems to be nonexistent.  In the 7th, Ruffin walks PH Bill Sudakis and then Nelson doubles past LF-3 Jerald Clark, putting men on 2nd and 3rd with two out and closer Darren Holmes is summoned from the pen and he whiffs Alex Johnson to quell the threat.  The game then goes to the 9th with the Rockies still down by a run and Siebert facing the meat of the Colorado order.  Galarraga whiffs, Bichette grounds out, and Hayes whiffs and the Rangers head to the finals, winning the unexpected pitching duel, 2-1, with Siebert finishing out a 5-hitter.

Both the 1993 Blue Jays and the 2005 Rays reached this semifinal with walkoff wins in game one, and as the home team the underdog Rays were hoping that the trend would continue.  Both teams would be needed to rest their closers after those first round games, but the Jays seemed to have a big advantage starting Juan Guzman (14-3, 3.99) against the Rays’ Casey Fossum (8-12, 4.92).  However, Jonny Gomes crushes a Guzman offering in the bottom of the 1st for a 2-out solo shot; a rattled Guzman then yields a single to Aubrey Huff and then Jorge Cantu rolls Guzman’s HR 1-9/DO split, and although he misses the split Huff motors home from first and the upstart Rays establish an early edge.  The Jays respond by beginning the 3rd with singles from Ed Sprague and Pat Borders; Rickey Henderson then doubles off Fossum’s card and Sprague scores but with nobody out the Jays put the stop sign up for catcher Borders.  Roberto Alomar whiffs, but John Olerud plays Fossum for a 2-run single and the Jays move into the lead.  A Joe Carter single follows, and then Paul Molitor finds and converts Fossum's HR split for a three-run shot, the sixth hit of the inning, and Fossum is chased for game one winner Chad Orvella who finally ends the inning but it’s now 6-2 Toronto.  The Rays narrow the gap a bit in the 4th when a couple of singles lead to a Julio Lugo sac fly, but the Jays get it back immediately when Olerud leads off the 5th by converting Orvella’s HR 1-5 split and the Rays summon Joe Borowski from the pen to try his luck.  Guzman continues to struggle against the Rays, who get three hits off his card in the bottom of the 5th but it only results in one run on a Travis Lee fielder’s choice, narrowing the score to 7-4 Jays.  Alomar adds some padding in the 6th with a 2-out solo homer, and in the 7th Henderson leads off by singling in front of CF-4 Damon Hollins and Olerud doubles to drive him in.  However, in the bottom of the 8th Rays PH Alex Sanchez leads off with a single and Guzman then walks two to load the bases, and the Jays finally pull him and bring in Danny Cox to face the top of the order.  He promptly walks Lugo and one run is in, bases are still loaded, and there is still nobody out.  Carl Crawford then delivers a single and same situation with another run in; Gomes whiffs but Huff rips a single and two runs score and it’s suddenly a one-run game with runners on 1st and 3rd and only one out.  The Jays have seen enough Cox for one day, and try Tony Castillo and bring the infield in.  That, of course, is Cantu’s cue for a gbA++ and the game is now tied.  A whiff brings up PH Sanchez for the second time in the inning, and he adds an RBI single and the Rays take the lead; Alex S. Gonzalez then doubles to bring in two more runs and it’s bedlam in Tampa Bay as the 8-run inning finally draws to a close.  With Borowski now toast for the regional, it’s up to Trever Miller to finish out the 9th against the Jays.  A two-base error by SS-3 Lugo and a Molitor single bring up Tony Fernandez as the tying run with two away; he singles and now it’s Devon White at bat with the tying run aboard.  It’s a base hit for White, Molitor gets the stop sign, and now the tying run is in scoring position.  Rob Butler is summoned to pinch hit for Sprague, and he lofts a flyball to defensive replacement CF-3 Joey Gathright, who can’t reach it and the Butler did it with a two-run single that ties the game.  Pat Borders then steps up, rips a grounder to 3B-3 Gonzalez, who muffs it, White trots home and the Jays have regained the lead.  Henderson then walks to load the bases, and Alomar, coming to the plate for the second time this inning, also draws a walk to drive in an insurance run.  That brings up Olerud, who squibs a single for his 5th RBI of the game and then Miller finally whiffs Joe Carter to end the 6-run inning, and Tampa Bay is drained.  It’s now anybody’s guess if Castillo can somehow end this slugfest for the Jays facing the top of the Rays order.  Of course, Lugo, Crawford and Gomes start with consecutive base hits, meaning that Cantu comes to the plate as the winning run with nobody out.  Castillo whiffs him, one away.  But then Aubrey Huff singles for his 3rd and 4th RBI of the game, one out, tying run on 3rd and Huff as the winning run on 1st.  The Jays bring the infield in for Travis Lee, and he pops out for out number two.  The game is now up to Alex S. Gonzalez, and he strikes out as the Jays somehow hang on to pull out an incredible 15-14 win.

For the regional final, it was the bracket favorite, world champion 1993 Blue Jays against the #7 seed, 105-loss 1973 Rangers who had an ELO ranking among the 100 worst teams of all time.  The Jays would be going with Dave Stewart (12-8, 4.44) on the mound, and they were also very happy that closer Duane Ward would be available for action, after the rest of the Jays bullpen managed to allow 10 runs in two innings in their semifinal game.  For the Rangers, Jim Merritt (5-13, 4.05) was hoping to recapture past glories and wanted to show that he was better than his record indicated.  The Jays show their mettle early, as 2B-1 Robbie Alomar turns a rally-killing DP in the top of the 1st and John Olerud knocks a 2-run homer in the bottom of the frame for a 2-0 Toronto lead.  The Rangers miss an opportunity in the 3rd when Alex Johnson is nailed (1-14) trying to score on a Tom Grieve double, and the Jays show them how it’s done in the 4th when Tony Fernandez singles, steals second, and slides in under the tag (15 split on a 1-15 runner) to score on a Devon White single.  In the 5th, Vic Harris converts a DO 1-12 split, but the split die giveth and the split die taketh away as Harris is nailed trying to score with two out (1-17 runner, 19 roll) on Alex Johnson’s third single of the game.  Texas finally gets on the board in the 6th when Jeff Burroughs requires no split roll in crushing a solo homer, but the Jays respond in the bottom of the inning; Molitor singles, scores on a Fernandez double, and then PH Rob Butler comes through for the second straight game with a 2-out single to score Fernandez and stretch the Toronto lead to four.  When Alomar leads off the 7th with a single and steals second, the Rangers replace Merritt with Steve Foucault, but an error from 2B-3 Nelson and a Molitor double past Rangers’ LF-4 Johnson, toss in another error by 3B-4 Jim Fregosi, and it’s a three run inning and the Rangers are finally showing how they managed to lose 105 games.  However, they also show how they got this far in the 8th, with Alex Johnson collecting his 4th single of the game followed by a colossal homer from Grieve that narrows the gap to five runs.  But Henderson walks to lead off the 8th, steals second, and scores on an Alomar double; a walk to Molitor is followed by a 2-run triple from Fernandez and from there it’s just Stewart tossing softballs to wrap up the 11-3 win for the Blue Jays, capturing their second straight regional crown with a blowout after being hard pressed in their first two games.  The regional MVP goes to Olerud, with a homer and eight RBI in the three games; worthy of note, the Jays took the bracket with virtually no real contribution from Series hero Joe Carter.

Interesting card of Regional #174:   This 24 year old was the MVP of the regional, although he was only 3rd in the AL MVP balloting for this season.  Now, the award that year was won by the Big Hurt, and as a Sox fan I’m certainly not going to quibble about their first such recognition since Nellie Fox.  But I did find it curious that Olerud also finished behind teammate Paul Molitor in the voting, especially after managing the team through the regional.  Molitor was a favorite of mine, but when push came to shove on this team I’d much rather have Olerud, either at the plate or in the field.  Olerud led the league in batting average, OBP, OPS, and of course doubles, far outpacing Molitor in WAR (7.8 to 5.6).   Olerud was also a much better fielder, deserving better than a “3” in my view (he won a number of Gold Gloves in later years), while Molitor was primarily a DH at this stage of his career.  One thing I remember about Olerud was that he always seemed to wear his batting helmet, even when he was playing in the field; I don’t think I ever realized that it was a precaution because he had suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm while in college.  With respect to his card, I do have to say that we’re all a bit tired of this 1-column pattern, because this one demonstrates that the game company has been using it for at least 30 years, but the layout certainly didn’t hurt the Jays any in this bracket as Olerud proved nearly impossible to get out.