REGIONAL #182:  The eye-catching team in this group was the recently acquired, pennant winning 1940 Tigers, the first new entrant in this tournament to come from the Diamond Gems sets because every other DG team existed previously in either regular season or Old-Timer form.  However, they weren’t the only pennant winners in the bunch, as the ‘91 Twins were eager to introduce the Tigers to indoor baseball.  There were also some other teams that might have a say in things, such as a Reds team shortly before they became a Machine, an Indians team from a vintage (the 70s) that had been successful in the tournament, and some other potentially decent representatives from the Nationals, Brewers, and Mariners.  The obvious matchup for the finals seemed to be the two pennant winners, and I guessed that the Twins, who I remembered as having been quite plucky in real life, would best the Tigers for the banner.   The ELO ratings predicted the Tigers would win that matchup, and indicated that I underestimated the Orioles whom I misremembered as having a long losing streak somewhere around that time (it was actually 1988).  I apparently made up for it by overestimating the prospects of the Brewers and Nationals, both tapped as terrible in the ELO numbers.

First round action

The pennant winning 1940 Tigers were newly arrived as part of the 40s Diamond Gems; they had gone 90-64 and were led by Rudy York and AL MVP Hank Greenberg at the plate, and Bobo Newsom (21-5, 2.83) finished 4th to Greenberg in that MVP race.  For the second regional in a row, the top seed drew the bottom seed, and this time it was the 106-loss 2002 Brewers who were seemingly the sacrificial lambs; the Brewers were remarkably underpowered for a team from the height of the steroid era, and although Ben Sheets (11-16, 4.15) wasn’t very good, he was a lot better than the arms that would have to follow if the Brewers could pull off the upset.  Sheets is having some control issues but escapes problems until the top of the 3rd, when he walks the first two batters and Greenberg crushes a double off the top of the wall that scores both baserunners; Greenberg then scores on a 2-out single by Bruce Campbell and it’s 3-0 Tigers.  However, in the bottom of the inning a 2-out error by 3B-3 Pinky Higgins opens the door for a Matt Stairs RBI single, followed by a 3-run homer from Geoff Jenkins, and the Brewers surge into the lead.  In the 7th, Barney McCosky ties the game with an RBI single and Sheets then puts two more runners on, so the Brewers turn to reliever Jayson Durocher and his 1.88 ERA, but Rudy York rips a single that puts the Tigers back on top.  Durocher is then convinced that nice guys finish last when Brewers 1B-2 Richie Sexson drops a grounder that allows another run to score, but finally gets the last out with the Brewers now down by two.  They begin the comeback quickly, with PH Ryan Thompson leading off the bottom of the 7th with a long homer, but Newsom gets out of a 1st and 3rd jam when Lenny Harris misses a SI* 1-3 split that would have tied the game.  Durocher does his job in the top of the 9th, so it’s Newsom against the heart of the Brewers order for the game.   He gets one quick out, but then Sexson singles by hitting the 5-7 result on Newsom that the Brewers have been rolling all game, so Matt Stairs comes to the plate as the potential winning run.  Newsom delivers, it’s on Stairs’ card…groundball A, double play and the Tigers survive a scare from a pesky #8 seed to move on with a 6-5 win.  

I had shortchanged the chances of the 85-win 1993 Orioles, as they turned out to have a solid lineup with Chris Hoiles and Harold Baines at its core, but their rotation consisted of a bunch of pitchers whose best years were either past them or yet to come–with Ben McDonald (13-14, 3.39) being the main exception.  On the other hand, I might have overestimated the 1973 Indians just because their ‘75 version managed to win the very first regional in this tournament in a huge upset, but this version lost 91 games despite the best efforts of Gaylord Perry (19-19, 3.38).   Mike Pagliarulo puts the O’s on the board by leading off the top of the 2nd with a homer, but Perry greases the ball up and holds court until the Indians can get a run in the 4th on a Chris Chambliss single to tie things up.   The O’s get to Perry in the 7th when David Segui leads off with a double on a missed HR split, but scores when a Mike Devereaux grounder gets past Indians SS-3 Frank Duffy; that’s followed by PH Jack Voight reaching the stands for a 2-run homer and Baltimore looks in control.  The Indians get a leadoff walk and a Buddy Bell single to begin the 8th, so the O’s move to closer Gregg Olson, but he yields hard singles to Charley Spikes and backup 2b Tom Ragland but he’s bailed out when the Indians opt to play the infield at double play depth with the tying run on 3rd, and John Lowenstein rewards them with a gbA++ that ends the inning with the O’s still up by a run.   Perry gets in trouble in the 9th but he’s bailed out by a Baines DP ball, and it’s up to Olson to try to sustain the one run lead in the bottom of the 9th.  He gets one out, but Oscar Gamble walks and George Hendrick singles; Gamble takes off for third (1-14) but is cut down and it’s two away, Hendrick taking second on the throw representing the tying run.  Olson pitches, John Ellis grounds out and Baltimore survives with a 4-3 win to play another day.

The 1966 Reds were a mediocre 76-84 team that was not quite the machine that they would be by the end of the decade, although some of the cogs were in place, and Jim Maloney (16-8, 2.80) led the league in shutouts and got some MVP votes.  That was good enough to make them substantial ELO favorites over the 2008 Nationals, who lost 102 games with Ryan Zimmerman the top HR hitter with 14 in an era with far more power, and John Lannan (9-15, 3.91) topping a bad rotation.  However, it’s Maloney who starts rough, allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 1st.  Zimmerman hits a sac fly to put the Nats on the board, and then Willie Harris misses a HR 1-15 split but the resulting triple scores two more and it’s 3-0 Washington after one.  Deron Johnson strikes back for the Reds by leading off the 2nd with a homer, and in the 4th the unexpectedly powerful Art Shamsky crushes one with Pete Rose aboard to tie the game.  Lannan gets two outs, but then walks two and delivers a HR off his card to Tommy Helms and earns a quick trip to the showers after allowing only 4 hits, three of them homers.  However, Zimmerman finds and converts Maloney’s HR split for a 2-out 2-run blast in the 5th and it’s back to a one run game until Shamsky rips an RBI single on a gbA++ with Tommy Harper being held.  Deron Johnson then scores Harper with a base hit and the Nationals are discovering the downside of trading your closer away in midseason, although Steven Shell does come in to record the third out.  Maloney thus takes a three run edge into the bottom of the 9th, but getting an out he walks two and the Reds summon closer Billy McCool to try to close things out.  That turns out to be a good move, as the next roll is a strikeout on McCool that would have been Maloney’s HR split, and then McCool records another K and preserves the 8-5 victory for the Reds.

The 1991 Twins won the pennant and a Series that is one of those where I remember exactly where I was while watching those games, so I was looking forward to revisiting their lineup.  For a 95-win team playing in the Homerdome it was not really a power-laden lineup, with Chili Davis’s 29 dingers topping the squad, but they had good defense and a solid rotation with Scott Erickson (20-8, 3.18) being the Cy Young runner-up.   The ELO ratings portrayed the 88-win 2007 Mariners as a worthy opponent, the 4th seed in the bracket with Ichiro finishing 8th in MVP ballots although Felix Hernandez (14-7, 3.92) topped a rather lackluster rotation.   Hernandez yields two hits and two walks in the top of the 1st but emerges unscathed because Chuck Knoblach (1-15) is nailed trying to score.  The M’s show them how it’s done in the bottom of the 1st, as Ichiro and Adrian Beltre both double and Seattle leads 1-0.  The Twins tie it in the 3rd when Kirby Puckett races home from 1st on a Chili Davis 2-out double, but Davis is then cut down at the plate (1-9+2) trying to grab a lead on a Shane Mack single.  The Mariners ride that momentum into the bottom of the inning and Beltre and Raul Ibanez go back to back to provide Seattle with a 4-1 lead.  Erickson then settles down, but a one-out double by Ichiro in the bottom of the 7th and the Twins can’t afford any more damage, so closer Rick Aguilera is summoned and Jose Vidro finds the only complete hit on Aguilera’s card to drive in Suzuki and extend the Seattle lead.  Later in the inning, defensive replacement Adam Jones finds the same hit to score Vidro.  From there, it’s all Hernandez as he fans PH Pedro Munoz for the final out in the 6-1 win to notch another case of a pennant winner, and a team that I enjoy playing, getting eliminated in the first round.

The survivors

With the Twins out, this semifinal featured the top two surviving teams in the #1 seed 1940 Tigers and the #3 seeded 1993 Orioles, with both teams having survived close calls to reach this game.  The Tigers would start Tommy Bridges (12-9, 3.37) while the Orioles would counter with Jamie Moyer (12-9, 3.43), a 30 year old who was completing a comeback that would last another 17 years.  The Orioles stake a claim in the bottom of the 1st on a 2-run moonshot by Hall of Famer Harold Baines, but the Tigers claw back in the 3rd when an error by 3B-3 Mike Pagliarulo opens the door for RBI hits from Barney McCoskey and Charlie Gehringer, and then a sac fly by Rudy York puts Detroit ahead.  As is traditional in semifinal games, the O’s immediately retaliate in the bottom of the inning, as a Baines RBI single, a run scoring double from former goat Pagliarulo, and a sac fly by Ripken restores Baltimore’s two run lead.  However, in the top of the 5th McCosky triples into the corner and then SS-2 Ripken throws a Gehringer grounder into right field, and Gehringer scores when York singles just out of reach of 2B-2 Harold Reynolds and it’s a tie game once again.  Chris Hoiles misses Bridges HR split to lead off the bottom of the inning and ends up stranded at 3rd and so the game remains tied at the 5-inning mark.  When the Tigers get a couple of hits with two out in the 6th, the Orioles move to the pen for Jim Poole, but McCoskey rips an RBI single before he can record the third out and the Tigers move back into the lead.  That lasts two outs until PH Jack Voigt comes off the bench to rip a solo homer, his second pinch HR of the regional, and for the 4th time the game is again tied.  The O’s regain the lead in the 7th when Pagliarulo rips a single past the glove of Tigers SS-3 McCosky to score Chris Hoiles, and so in the 8th they turn it over once again to closer Gregg Olson, and he shuts down the heart of the Tigers order to preserve a 7-6 victory and a visit to the finals, although Olson is now burnt and not eligible to try for his third save of the regional.  And, the lone representative of the new 1940s Diamond Gems to make the tournament heads to the storage drawers.

Neither the 1966 Reds nor the 2007 Mariners were blessed with deep starting rotations, and although Cincinnati’s Jim O’Toole (5-7, 3.55) was decent and Seattle’s Miguel Batista (16-11, 4.29) was serviceable, both teams were wondering what to do if they were to move on to the finals.  Adrian Beltre would do his best to insure that it would be his team that had to worry about that, as he hits a solo homer in the bottom of the 1st for the second straight game to give Seattle an early edge.  It doesn’t last long, as Leo Cardenas rips a 2-run double in the top of the 2nd to put the Reds up, and in the 3rd the Reds begin the inning with three straight singles, the third a squib hit by Art Shamsky that scores another, although M’s 2B-3 Jose Lopez turns a nifty DP to prevent further damage.  Tony Perez finds and converts Batista’s HR 1-5 split for a solo shot in the 4th, and in the 5th Deron Johnson hits his second homer of the regional, this one with Rose aboard and it’s now 6-1 Reds.  However, in the bottom of the 5th the Reds usually reliable defense begins to falter, as a 2-base error by SS-2 Cardenas sets up an RBI single that gets past 3B-2 Tommy Helms, and the floodgates open with an RBI single from Ichiro and a 2-run single from Beltre; another error by RF-3 Tommy Harper then sets up a 3-run homer from Kenji Johjima and don’t look now but the Mariners suddenly lead 8-6.  A squib single by Cardenas to lead off the 6th and Seattle decides to use their much deeper bullpen to their advantage, yanking Batista for George Sherrill; he comes in to face PH Lee May, who misses a HR 1-14 split but scores Cardenas on the resulting triple, and May scores on a single by Helms and it’s a tie game.  Disaster then strikes the Mariners when Beltre leads off the bottom of the 7th by getting injured for 7 games, but the M’s avenge their fallen comrade with a single, a walk, and an error by Helms that loads the bases with two outs for Ben Broussard, who sets Safeco rocking with a grand slam and O’Toole doesn’t have much of a St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate as he’s finally yanked after allowing 12 runs.  Armed with a four run lead, the Mariners try their own luck with the Irish, summoning Eric O’Flaherty from the pen.  He makes things interesting as Rose misses a HR 1-16 in the 9th, scoring on a Johnson double, but that’s it for the Reds as the Mariners hang on with a 12-9 win to head to the finals in pursuit of only their second regional win–but without their best hitter for the foreseeable future.

The regional final between the #3 seeded 1993 Orioles and the #4 seed 2007 Mariners also turned out to be the Zoom game of the week, with M’s fan Stratfan manning the helm for Seattle and anti-Mariner zealot nacster taking charge of the Orioles.  However, the nacster did not seem enthusiastic about the O’s lineup, benching Harold Baines while impugning his Hall of Fame credentials, and relegating Cal Ripken to the number nine slot in lineup.  The starters for both teams, Baltimore’s Mike Mussina (14-6, 4.46) and M’s Jarrod Washburn (10-15, 4.32) had rather hittable cards, but the ice is broken by a solo homer in the bottom of the 2nd on batter Kenji Johjima’s card to put Seattle up 1-0.  The Mariners were playing without their injured slugger Adrian Beltre, but his replacement Willie Bloomquist belts a solo shot in the 5th to make it 2-0, and Washburn is making full use of his dominating 5 column to baffle the Orioles.  As the game heads into the late innings, nac is orchestrating his trademark flurry of bench-clearing but nothing is taking hold; finally in the top of the 8th Ripken records a single for Baltimore and Stratfan heads to the bullpen for the killer card of JJ Putz to shut down any threat.  Nac finally gives in and points to Baines sitting at the far end of the bench, and Harold steps up to the plate and lofts a blow into the Safeco seats to make it a tie game.  David Segui then almost goes back to back, missing a HR 1-6 split and getting stranded at third, and the game is tied heading into the 9th.  Putz puts down the O’s in order in the top of the inning, so it’s up to Mussina and with closer Gregg Olsen burned, nac sticks with his ace to face the M’s 3-4-5 hitters.  Mussina retires Raul Ibanez to bring up Jose Guillen, one of three Jose’s in the Seattle starting lineup; this one rolls Mussina’s 6-5, HR 1-18 result and converts the easy split, and it’s game and regional over with the walkoff blast that gives the Mariners only their second regional win. Mussina allows only 5 hits, but three of them are solo homers that comprise the entire Seattle offense.

Interesting card of Regional #182:  Given that this was only the second regional win for the Mariners franchise, I thought it fitting to feature a card that was central to their success, both as a leadoff threat as well as a defensive standout in CF.  I have to admit that I tended to undervalue Ichiro while he was playing, as I tend to favor lead-footed outfielders who homer and strike out at prodigious rates, but his career really is remarkable.  He was the first position player from the Japanese major leagues to play in US MLB in 2001, and few felt that his skills would translate from a nine-year career in Japan which included seven consecutive batting titles. However, he didn’t miss a beat, rattling off 10 straight 200-hit seasons in the US as well as 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards. He ended up with over 3,000 hits in MLB, despite spending nearly a decade of his career in Japan–his total number of hits in his entire 28 year career in professional baseball exceeds Pete Rose’s record by more than a hundred.  Leading the Mariners to the win in this regional was fitting because Ichiro was specifically recruited by the Mariners and spent most of the best years of his career there; at the end of his career, he returned to the team and started his last two games in a season-opening series against the A’s played, fittingly, in Japan’s Tokyo Dome.  Playing back where his career began, at age 45 Ichiro became the second oldest player to appear in the starting lineup on Opening Day, leaving the trivia question:  who was the oldest?  (no Googling!)

REGIONAL #181:  This group had a couple of twofers in the Phillies and the Royals, with each having an entry that came a couple of years after successful pennant runs by those teams.  There was also a Mets team that would capture a flag in a few seasons, and representatives from the Rangers, Reds, and Angels that I guessed weren’t terrible but weren’t contenders, either.  I picked the 2013 version of the Phils to take it all, as their squads from that vintage have been killer in this tournament (regional wins from 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014), perhaps the most successful run for any franchise here; I picked them over the Mets in the finals.  The ELO rankings apparently weren’t impressed by the Phils run in my tournament, giving them a chance in the lower half of the bracket only because all four teams were mediocre, but picking the Mets over the Reds for the regional banner.

First round action

The 88-win 1998 Mets were the top seed in the bracket and the only decent entry according to the ELO ranks; they had a solid lineup with big years from Mike Piazza and John Olerud, and Al Leiter (17-6, 2.47) was 6th in the Cy Young voting as the anchor of the rotation.  Although the seeding draws in my tournament are random, in this bracket it worked out in the traditional manner that the top seeded Mets would face the bottom seeded 2019 Royals, who lost 103 games but managed not to finish last in their division, probably thanks solely to AL home run leader Jorge Soler; Brad Keller (7-14, 4.19) was their best option on the mound.  The Mets waste little time in demonstrating their superiority, batting around in the top of the 1st with a 2-run homer from Piazza and a triple from Olerud leading an onslaught that provides a 6-0 cushion before Leiter can throw a pitch.  Edgardo Alfonzo then leads off the 5th with a homer that triggers another onslaught, including a Rey Ordonez triple, and the Mets push out to a 10-0 lead.  However, the Royals come alive in the bottom of the inning and respond with four runs of their own as Leiter loads up the bases with nobody out and a couple of walks and an Adalberto Mondesi single narrow the gap to 10-4.  With the offense showing signs of life, the Royals figure that they may as well move to their closer to begin the 6th, but Ian Kennedy is greeted rudely and a Butch Huskey homer makes it twelve runs for the Mets.  From there Kennedy is flawless, but so is Leiter and the Mets coast to a 12-4 win and a trip to the semifinals.

The 1995 Rangers went 74-70 in that strike-shortened season, which was good enough to earn the #2 seed in this regional of mediocrities; they had some bashers in Juan Gone, Mickey Tettleton and Dean Palmer, while starting Kenny Rogers (17-7, 3.38) wasn’t much of a gamble.  The 2000 Phillies lost 97 games, and aside from notorious Strat-player Doug Glanville their main weapons were Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu, with swingman Bruce Chen (7-4, 3.29) the best option among a bad rotation.  Chen gets off to a dubious start in the bottom of the 1st, allowing a leadoff homer to Otis Nixon (0 HR in 589 AB) and then Mark McLemore goes back to back with the same roll on Chen’s card (and I use a dice tower, folks).  The Phils put up a run in the 4th as Mike Lieberthal singles in Rolen, but Ron Gant is knocked out of the game with an injury and Glanville grounds into a double play to kill the rally.  Not to be outdone, Pudge Rodriguez also hits Chen’s 4-5 for a third homer, a 2-run shot and the Rangers lead 4-1.  Mickey Morandini leads off the top of the 5th by getting injured for 7 games, and the Phils can do little against Rogers until the top of the 9th, when Pat Burrell scores on a Rogers wild pitch.  But young Jimmy Rollins comes up to pinch hit and Rogers retires him for the final out, with the Rangers advancing with the 4-2 victory.  Chen finishes allowing only six hits, but three of them were homers off his card.

With one Phils team already eliminated, it was now up to the 2013 Phillies to carry the banner, and also they could complete a trifecta as they had two previous regional winners from 2012 and 2014.  However, this version lost 89 games and had an elderly core of the lineup, although 34-year old Cliff Lee (14-8, 2.87) was still effective enough to finish 6th in the Cy Young voting in his next to last season.  He would face a lineup from the 80-82 2006 Reds that boasted seven guys with double digit HRs, paced by Adam Dunn’s 40, and Bronson Arroyo (14-11, 3.29) actually got one vote for MVP.  But Ryan Howard leads off the bottom of the 2nd with a long blast, and Darin Ruf then goes back to back signaling a Ruf night for Arroyo.  The next batter realizes the worst fears of Reds 1B-3 Scott Hatteberg by hitting a grounder to him, which he drops and Jimmy Rollins drives him in with a 2-out double to make it 3-0 Phils after two.  In the top of the 3rd, the Reds strike back with doubles from Edwin Encarnacion and Royce Clayton to put Cincinnati on the board; Hatteberg then misses a HR 1-14 split but the resulting double makes it a one-run game.  In the 4th, Ken Griffey Jr. also misses Lee’s HR 1-14 split and Rich Aurelia (1-12) is nailed trying to score so the Phils hang on, but Encarnacion begins the 5th by finally converting that 1-14 split and it’s a tie game and the Phils are itching to get Lee out of there.  Thus, Jake Diekman is brought in to begin the 6th, as his 5-5 roll is a strikeout, and he does his job, becoming the pitcher of record when Howard hits his second solo homer in the bottom of the inning.  In the 7th, Reds LF-4 Dunn boots a 2-base error and the Reds eye their bullpen but recoil in horror; Arroyo then gives up a double off his card to Carlos Ruiz and their hole becomes deeper.  The Phils call on Antonio Bastardo in the 8th to close things out, and he does so, preserving the 5-3 win for the Phils who win despite only recording five hits–three of them solo homers.  

The 1976 Angels went 76-86, with a dreadful offense that had a fading Bobby Bonds lead the team in homers with 10; however, Frank Tanana (19-10, 2.43) was 3rd in the Cy Young votes to earn the round one start over teammate Nolan Ryan.  The Angels drew a closely ELO matched first round opponent in the 1997 Royals, who lost 94 games but courtesy of the steroid era had four guys with over 20 homers and had a capable Kevin Appier (9-13, 3.40) on the mound.  Tanana has a rough second inning as Yamil Benitez knocks an RBI double, and then Tanana drops a Mike MacFarlane grounder to score a second run; he recovers to record two outs but then Jose Offerman lines a sharp single to score Benitez and the meager Angels lineup now has to overcome a 3-0 deficit.  The hole gets deeper when Dean Palmer puts a two-out pitch into the fountains for a solo shot in the 3rd, and then in the 4th Tanana walks the first two batters with Offerman then finding Tanana’s solid 4-4 homer, and Frank’s day is done; Gary Ross comes in to rack up three straight outs, one of them on a 4-4.  However, in the 5th Benitez finds and converts Ross’s HR 1-7 split for a solo shot and in the 6th the Royals go into wholesale defensive substitution mode.  In the 7th Palmer launches his second homer of the game, a 2-run shot that puts the Royals in double digits.  The Angels can do nothing against Appier who takes a one-hitter into the 9th; California does then knock out consecutive singles but Appier strands them for a 3-hit shutout and the Royals move on with a 10-0 laugher. 

The survivors

When it came to starting pitching for the semifinal between the top two seeds in the regional, the 1998 Mets drew a blank–a blank space where the name Rick Reed (16-11, 3.48) would have appeared if he’d been represented by the MLBPA.  Nameless or not, he still had a better card than that of the 1995 Rangers Roger Pavlik (10-10, 4.37).  Pavlik starts out wild but escapes jams until the 3rd inning, when Brian McRae hits an RBI double and John Olerud adds a 2-out 2-run single to provide the Mets with a lead.  They get another run in the 4th set up by Texas CF-2 Otis Nixon misplaying a single by Jermaine Allensworth, and although Olerud knocks a solo HR in the 5th, the Mets lose their own CF McRae for a 5 game injury that dampens the celebration.   In the 7th the Mets look on in horror as Mike Piazza is injured, but the split roll is a 1 and he stays in the game to the relief of his teammates.  They ponder pulling Piazza for a defensive replacement in the bottom of the inning, but Reed suddenly falls apart, loading the bases with nobody out for Pudge Rodriguez and then giving up a solid homer on Reed’s card, and it’s a one run game and Turk Wendell is summoned from the pen.  Pavlik holds serve but allows a walk and a hit in the top of the 9th, and the Rangers turn to Ed Vosberg to try to keep it close.  Vosberg whiffs Tony Phillips, but injury replacement and .190 hitter Rick Becker finds and converts Vosberg’s HR 1-7/flyB for a three run blast, and the Mets now pinch hit for Piazza just to be safe.  Armed with a four run lead, the Mets save Wendell and bring in their rather terrible closer, John Franco, to close things out in the bottom of the 9th and that doesn’t go well–two hits and a walk load the bases with nobody out, and after getting a strikeout Otis Nixon nails a 2-run single and promptly steals second to put the tying run in scoring position.  The Mets have witnessed enough of Franco and try Dennis Cook, who gets Mark McLemore to ground out and it’s all up to Dean Palmer.  Cook delivers, it’s a 1-9, solid HR on Palmer and it’s an amazing come from behind 9-8 win for the Rangers on the walkoff 3-run shot.  Although Cook gets the official loss, Franco deserves recognition for his 109.09 ERA in his brief appearance. 

The second semifinal was the Zoom game of the week as Philly Phan TT took charge of the 2013 Phillies in an effort to push them to a regional win; with no natural advocate on the Zoom call, the 1997 Royals would be managed by the Nacster simply because he was replaying the ‘97 season.  However, he soon discovered that he had forgotten how bad their pitching staff was, and there was much trepidation in sending out Jose Rosado (9-12, 4.69) to face the better-looking card of Cole Hamels (8-14, 3.60).   The Royals do jump to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st without recording a hit, courtesy of a two-base error by Phils SS-2 Jimmy Rollins, but the worries about Rosado appear merited when the Phils respond with back to back homers in the top of the 2nd by Ryan Howard and Darin Ruf, the latter on a converted HR 1/flyB split.  Another 2-base error by Rollins in the 6th sets up an RBI single by Jay Bell that ties the game, only the second hit of the game for the Royals, but Domonic Brown puts the Phils back on top in the 7th with the third solo homer for the Phils.  Meanwhile, Nacster is impugning Jeff King’s desire to play baseball, but it’s no wonder King is unenthusiastic as he rips two doubles but the “B” stealer King is thrown out both times trying to steal third on Carlos Ruiz.  Down by a run in the bottom of the 7th, Nacster empties the bench in search of the right combination and he comes up with it in the form of PH Jed Hansen, who rolls a 1-2 SI** that drives in the tying run, but by the end of the inning official scorer Fgabs is pulling for anybody that can prevent the game from going to extra innings as there is no blank space left on the scoresheet, particularly on the Royals side.  Rosado seems to get the gopher balls out of his system in the late innings, and it comes down to the bottom of the 9th, with TT eyeing Jonathan Papelbon but electing to stay with Hamels.  Cole gets one out but PH Jon Nunnally singles; Papelbon is ready but Hamels insists on pitching to Jose Offerman, and Offerman promptly drives a double into the gap off Hamels’ card.  The 1-14 Nunnally rounds third, Nacster is wildly motioning him home, and he’s safe–the Royals head to the finals with the 4-3 walkoff win.  Rosado records the complete game win with a 5-hitter--three of them solo homers; that pattern of 5 hits, 3 solo homers exactly duplicates the Phils' offense in their round one win, but this time it wasn't good enough.

It was the #2 seed 1995 Rangers against the #6 seeded 1997 Royals in a regional final between two near-contemporaries, and both teams shared the problem that their number three starters were pretty terrible.  For the Rangers, it would be Bob Tewksbury (8-7, 4.58) against Jim Pittsley (5-8, 5.46) for KC, an alarming option but one chosen by Nacster, whose unconventional approach to managing the Royals got them to the finals, so who I am to argue?  The Royals tweak Tewk in the bottom of the 1st, with a remarkable four SOLID doubles off Tewksbury’s card (Damon, Davis, Palmer and Benitez) for a 3-0 lead.  Jermaine Dye adds a solo homer in the 2nd, but the Rangers get that run back in the 3rd as Juan Gonzalez doubles in Mark McLemore on a missed HR split to make it 4-1.  In the 4th, Jay Bell rips a 2-run single through a drawn in infield and Tewksbury is gone for Roger McDowell, who settles things down.  Meanwhile, Pittsley is in fine form but in the 8th the Rangers mount a 2-out rally and load the bases for Mickey Tettleton, so the Royals bring in Randy Veres as their only decent bullpen option, who records the out with no damage.  Veres then shuts down the Rangers in order in the 9th and the Royals close out the 6-1 win to notch their 7th regional win, and their first for a squad from the 90s.  The Royals take the banner despite having one of the poorer pitching staffs for a regional winner in recent memory, but the combination of a lineup with multiple weapons and some atypically strong pitching performances was enough to push them into the winner’s circle.

Interesting card of Regional #181:  The Mendoza Line was established to designate just how bad a hitter that a good-fielding shortstop could be and still keep a full-time job; I wonder what the comparable threshold would be to indicate just how bad a fielder that a good-hitting catcher could be and remain a regular.   Whatever the line, it’s pretty obvious that Mike Piazza was well over the threshold.  I remember when he first came up, he had cards unlike any catcher we’d ever seen before, setting the MLB record for most home runs by a rookie catcher (35) in 1993 and winning Rookie of the Year despite some misgivings about his fielding.  This 1998 season was rather disruptive for him, as he was traded from the Dodgers to the Marlins to the Mets over the course of the season, and for the first time in his then six-year career he didn’t finish in the top 10 in the MVP voting with this card, coming in 14th despite posting some pretty decent numbers (but a +2 arm).  Piazza never got a break in his defensive ratings from Strat, although some have argued that he was greatly underrated in that department:  he was supposedly among the best in keeping the ball in front of him, one of the best pitch framers of all time, and SABR points out that he was the regular catcher for 11 pitching staffs over his career, with all but one of those staffs finishing in the top five in earned run average.

REGIONAL #180:  I didn’t recognize any pennant winners in this group, but in the prior season the 1920 Reds had won the Series under questionable circumstances, although as a remnant of the deadball era they would have their work cut out for them in trying to outscore more modern offenses.There were two different Blue Jays squads, and Toronto teams had recently put together some nice runs in the tournament so they couldn’t be counted out.   One noteworthy selection that popped out of my randomizer program was the 2022 White Sox, who were still in transit from Glen Head when they were chosen; as for the team, it was generally viewed as a disappointment but could still be a dark horse.  There were also Rockies and Brewers teams that probably had more bats than arms, and a Cards team that might have some remnants of their great teams of the 80s.  Other than the A’s, without doing further research I couldn’t really rule out anybody except maybe the A’s, and so I quasi-randomly picked the Cards over the ‘83 Jays in the finals.  Upon looking up the ELO rankings they indicated that the Reds could take the regional even without gambler interference, and like me saw the ‘83 Jays as runner-up.

First round action

I was surprised to discover that the 1948 A’s were the number #3 seed in this bracket, going 84-70; they had little power and their pitching wasn’t much to write home about, but they did have a knack for getting on base, so they could hopefully put up some runs to support Dick Fowler (15-8, 3.78).  They faced the first (and poorer) of two Toronto teams in the regional, the 76-86 2017 Blue Jays, who weren’t that good at getting on base but had good up-the-middle defense and some power from Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak, with Marcus Strohman (13-9, 3.09) getting the round one start.  True to form, the A’s begin the bottom of the 1st with three straight hits, two of them doubles, and they jump to a quick 2-0 lead.  Eddie Joost leads off the 4th to extend the A’s lead; in the 5th Ezequiel Carrera misses Fowler’s HR split and it looks like Fowler will escape the inning, but Smoak delivers a two-out two-run double that pulls the Rockies within one.  The A’s cause is not helped when leadoff man Elmer Valo is knocked out of the game with an injury in the bottom of the 5th, but in the 6th Rockies replacement RF-3 Teoscar Hernandez misplays an Eddie Joost single, and a squib hit by Barney McCoskey chases Strohman for reliever Ryan Tepera who wiggles out of the jam with no damage.  Sensing the tide turning, the Jays begin a 2-out rally in the 7th with a walk and three straight singles to tie the game; with the bases now loaded, the A’s look at their pen and see no hope there, so leave Fowler in to face low-AB wonder Hernandez and his .602 SLG%.  And you could see it coming from a mile away; 1-6, HR 1-11, a split of 10 and it’s a grand slam for Hernandez and an instant sizable lead for the Jays.  With a lead and a deep pen, the Jays preserve Tepara and bring in Danny Barnes to begin the 8th, and he delivers two hitless innings as the Jays lock down a trip to the semis with a 7-3 win.  

The 1920 Reds were 82-71 after “defeating” the Black Sox in the Series the year before, and they were ELO favorites for the regional but I couldn’t see it–although elsewhere the Babe was changing the game, it hadn’t reached the Reds as their leading HR hitting had the grand total of 4, and their pitching staff led by Dolf Luque (13-9, 2.51) was decent but hardly overwhelming.  They faced the 1991 Cardinals, the team I had blindly picked to win the bracket, but setting their lineup made me wonder if I had mistakenly pulled out the 1911 Cardinals, as they had no power (Todd Zeile with 11 HR tops on the team), but plenty of speed and defense to support spot starter Jose Deleon (5-9, 2.71).  With two bad offenses, the game is locked in a scoreless tie through five innings, but in the top of the 6th Zeile leads off with a single, advances to second on a groundout by Pedro Guerrero, and then scores when P-3 Luque fields a grounder and throws it into the dugout for a 2-base error.  In the 8th, Zeile leads off by missing his HR split for a double, and then Luque drops another grounder to put men on 1st and 3rd; Tom Pagnozzi responds with a sharp single to score Zeile and Luque unravels, with Ray Lankford and Ozzie Smith knocking in runs before he can get out number three.  A Guererro RBI triple in the top of the 9th adds more insurance, which looks necessary when 3B-3  Zeile makes an error in the bottom of the 9th and the Reds rattle off a series of squib hits that include RBI singles from Greasy Neale and Larry Kopf, and suddenly it’s bases loaded with two out and pinch hitter Charlie See representing the winning run at home plate.  Lee Smith is warmed up in the pen, but the Cards decide to let Deleon try to get the final out; See doubles to score two, and the tying run is now 90 feet away and the winning run is on 2nd, so it’s time for Smith.  Lee comes in, blows three fastballs past Pat Duncan, and the Cards hang on to a 5-4 win as the Reds’ comeback falls just short.

The Zoom game of the week saw genuine Canadian Eaglesfly Roy reprise his service as manager of the Blue Jay, which had led to a regional win for them in the previous bracket.  This time it would be the 1983 Blue Jays, a solid 89-win team that once again would have Dave Stieb (17-12, 3.04) on the mound in the first round.  Roy would face Fgabs managing the 89-loss 2002 Rockies, with Fgabs having no dog in this fight but sporting an attachment to Larry Walker; for the Rockies, Denny Stark (11-4, 4.00) appeared to be the best option although most fans would have preferred his brother Tony to get the start.  Things start off a bit rough for the Jays in the bottom of the 1st when Walker hits a double and then SS-2 Alfredo Griffin throws a Todd Helton grounder into the dugout to score Walker.  The Jays quickly respond in the top of the 2nd when Cliff Johnson launches a solo shot into the thin air at Coors, but the Rockies’ unheralded catcher Gary Bennett bounces a Stieb curveball off the top of the wall to push Colorado back into a 2-1 lead.  However, once again the Jays waste no time retaliating, knocking five hits in the top of the 3rd that include 2-run homers from Damaso Garcia and Johnson, his second of the game, and from there Stieb gets serious, allowing only three more hits in the game.  Garcia knocks in his 3rd RBI of the game in the top of the 9th against Rockies closer Jose Jimenez to provide unneeded insurance, as Stieb closes out the 5-hitter and the Jays move on with a 6-2 win.

The 2022 White Sox arrived just in time for their entry into the tournament as an underperforming 81-81 team that drove manager Tony Larussa into permanent retirement, but I had little attachment to this squad which might help them with my enduring Sox jinx.  Their lineup couldn’t get on base well or play much defense, although Dylan Cease (14-8, 2.20) was the Cy Young runner-up with a formidable card that should keep the Sox in any game.  I found that my guess of good bats/no arms was pretty accurate about the 80-82 2009 Brewers, with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder providing plenty of pop but after a solid Yovani Gallardo (13-12, 3.73), the rotation would involve killing time waiting for Trevor Hoffman out of the pen.  It’s a rough start for Cease as Sox RF-4 Gavin Sheets lets a bases loaded single drop in front of him to score two runs, and another comes in when C-4 Yasmani Grandal drops a popup and it’s quickly 3-0 Milwaukee.  The Brewers show some defensive lapses of their own in the 3rd, when 2B-3 Felipe Lopez drops a grounder and then LF-4 Braun turns a Luis Robert flyball into a triple.  Robert scores when Brewer 3B-5 Casey McGehee waves at a Jose Abreu grounder as it goes by him, and Abreu himself comes home when Sheets misses a HR 1-16 split but ties the game with his double.  The Sox then push into the lead on a solo homer from Eloy Jimenez in the bottom of the 5th, and so when the 6th comes they immediately begin to try to upgrade their terrible defense.  However, there is no defense against the blast that Prince Fielder unleashes to begin the 7th and the game is tied, and in the 8th Cease ceases to throw strikes, loading the bases for a 2-out single by McGehee that scores two for a Milwaukee lead.  In the 9th, Sox second string catcher Seby Zavala misses Gallardo’s HR 1-16, the second time the Sox have done so, but he scores when Robert also doubles off Gallardo’s card, and the Brewers, wanting to preserve Hoffman, summon Claudio Vargas and his 1.74 ERA to try to record the final out and save the game.  He delivers to Jimenez, it’s a 2-5 roll, HR 1-18, and the split die is a “1” and the Sox walk it off with two out in the bottom of the 9th for the 7-6 win in which there were four lead changes.  

The survivors

The first semifinal would be another test of Toronto magic, as the franchise had gone 13-1 since Regional #169 in a stretch that included three bracket wins, and the 2017 Blue Jays were one of two Jays squads to make the semifinals here.  This version would send JA Happ (10-11, 3.53)  against the 1991 Cardinals, who had survived round one by the skin of their teeth and were counting on Ken Hill (11-10, 3.57) to allow Lee Smith to rest up.  Ozzie Smith manufactures a run in the bottom of the 3rd with a single, a stolen base, and a dash home on a single from Felix Jose, and that lead holds up until the 6th when Justin Smoak finds and converts Hill’s HR result for a solo shot that ties the game.  Ray Lankford responds in the bottom of the inning with a 2-out RBI triple, and then he scores on a passed ball by C-2 Russell Martin and the Cards move out to a two run lead.  Martin is then injured to lead off the 7th, and when Ozzie leads off the bottom of the inning with a single and a steal, the Jays bring in Ryan Tepara, who strands Smith at third to keep the Jays in the game.  Toronto’s Ezequiel Carerra records a single in the 8th and the Cards start warming up Lee Smith, but decide to let Hill finish out the inning–but Josh Donaldson puts a crimp in that plan with a colossal 2-run blast that ties the game.  A walk to Smoak and that’s one Hill too far, and Smith comes in to get out number three.  In the top of the 9th, PH Teoscar Hernandez pokes a single that falls in front of RF-4 Felix Jose, and Ryan Goins follows that by missing a HR 1-4 split but Hernandez (1-14) scores on the resulting double and the Jays magic is in full flow.  Darwin Barney follows with a single and the Jays press their luck but Goins (1-12) is nailed trying to score, but the Jays take a one run lead into the bottom of the 9th with closer Roberto Osuna in to close things out.  Gerald Perry leads off with a single and he steals second, but the Jays turn on the magic machine and the Cards miss SI 1-15 and SI 1-10 and the game is over, with Toronto guaranteed at least one spot in the finals with the come from behind 4-3 win.  Tepara wins his second straight game in relief but is now burned for the regional final.  

In the second Zoom game of the regional, this semifinal matched Roy from Ontario as the mastermind behind the 1983 Blue Jays against me from Chicago, attempting to overcome my Sox jinx with the contemporary 2022 White Sox, who managed a come from behind walk off win in the first round.  Roy seemed nervous about starting Jim Clancy (15-11, 3.91) who looked pretty good to me, while for the Sox I had Michael Kopech (5-9, 3.54) who barely qualified to start as he battled injuries for much of the year.  Clancy did look worrisome in the bottom of the 1st, with three Sox hits setting up two sac flies from Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn and the South Siders jump out to a quick 2-0 lead.  That lasts until the top of the 3rd, when a hit and an error by absolutely useless Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal sets up a 3-run moonshot by Jesse Barfield and the Jays take the lead.  The Sox tie it back up in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a Vaughn RBI single, but from there the atrocious Chicago outfield defense kicks in with double after double getting past them.  Add in a 2-run homer by Damaso Garcia in the 5th and Barfield’s second homer of the game in the 6th, and from there the Jays coast while Clancy asserts control to finish out a 9-3 win that propels the Jays to an all-Toronto final.  This assures the Jays of their second straight regional win, but they will also lose for the first time since the finals of Regional #169 with the franchise having won 13 games in a row since then.  

In the all-Toronto final, it was the #2 seeded 1983 Blue Jays against the #6 seed 2017 Blue Jays, with the underdog 2017s also having an injured catcher and a taxed bullpen that might be needed to support the less than stellar Joe Biagini (3-13, 5.34).  After extensive consultation with the Zoom committee, the 1983s would go with Luis Leal (13-12, 4.31) to the consternation of the mastermind who had guided the team to the finals.  And Roy looks prescient as Leal allows a 2-run triple off his card to Justin Smoak in the top of the 1st, and Smoak scores when a Leal pitch gets past Ernie Whitt and the favored 83s find themselves down three before they can bat.  A sac fly by Jose Bautista stretches the lead to 4-0 in the 3rd, and the 83s suffer more misfortune when Lloyd Moseby goes down with a serious injury in the 4th.  They finally manufacture a run in the 5th when Dave Collins walks, steals second and scores on a single from Jesse Barfield; Ernie Whitt then doubles in a run and suddenly the 83s have the tying run on 2nd with two away, but Biagini manages to retire injury replacement Barry Bonnell and it’s a 4-2 game after five. In the 7th, Josh Donaldson records the first hit off Leal in four innings, but unfortunately for the 83s it lands in the stands for a solo shot; however, Damaso Garcia responds by leading off the bottom of the inning with a homer off Biagini’s split and after a Cliff Johnson walk, the 2017s turn to their bullpen as they have throughout the regional, bringing in the stingy Dominic Leone.  But Leone walks Barfield and after a groundout, Whitt delivers a 2-run double and the game is tied heading into the 8th.  The 83’s 1B-2 Willie Upshaw kills an attempt at a rally by the 2017s in the top of the 9th with a nifty DP, and Leone survives dropping a grounder by Barfield in the bottom of the inning and fittingly, the game heads to extra frames.  Leal is in his last inning of eligibility in the 10th, but he can’t finish it as he gets injured for the second out and has to leave the game, so Jim Acker has to come in to pitch to supersub Teoscar Hernandez and gets him out.  In the 11th, Leone is toast and the 2017s summon their closer Roberto Osuna, who sets the heart of the 83 order down in order to head to the 12th.  Kevin Pillar leads off the top of the inning missing a HR 1-8 split with a 9, but he’s on 2nd with a double and Donaldson rips a single off Acker’s card that scores Pillar.  Another hard single by Smoak and the 83s turn in desperation to Roy Lee Jackson with nobody out and runners on 1st and 3rd; they bring the infield in for injury replacement catcher Raffy Lopez, who rolls a GBA+++injury for an RBI single and a stint on the DL.  Steve Pearce then lofts a flyball that RF-2 Barfield plays into a 2-base error, Hernandez adds a sac fly and Darwin Barney throws in an RBI single and when the Smoak clears the 2017s are taking a four run lead into the bottom of the 12th.  Aaron Loup enters the game to preserve Osuna and he sets the 83s down in order and the 2017 Jays pull off the extra inning upset, working a 9-5 win that gives Toronto four regional wins in the last eight brackets.   This version of the Jays certainly played better here than their 86 losses in real life, with an all “2” infield, a 1 in CF, big bats in Donaldson and Smoak, a supersub in Hernandez and a deep pen that recorded the decision in all three regional games.  

Interesting card of Regional #180:  The 2017 Jays won the regional with three late-inning comebacks, and although their strong bullpen deserves much of the credit, it did help that under tournament rules this guy was available for duty beginning in the 6th inning.  In 2017, the Astros sent a 24 year old Hernandez to Toronto in a midseason trade for a struggling Francisco Liriano, and while Liriano did little for Houston, Hernandez had a strong showing in the late season service represented by this card.  Although small sample cards like this are typically not representative, this one suggested that Hernandez was a guy with good power who would strike out a lot, and that’s pretty much what he’s turned out to be.  Although he got MVP votes for the Jays in 2020 and 2021, they recently sent him off to the Mariners in another deal for a couple of players; I wonder if this one will work out as well for the Jays as the one that brought him to Toronto.