REGIONAL #189:  The draw for this group did not include any pennant winners, with the closest being the 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who dropped the “devil” after the season and promptly won their first league title.   Similarly, there was a pandemic year Cleveland team that carried the “Indians” moniker for the last time.  Most of the teams here were from the more modern (i.e., post steroid) era, but the one exception, the ‘76 Red Sox, I vaguely remembered as being competitors.  There was a Twins team from several seasons after their last pennant, an Angels squad that probably had a good Mike Trout, a Blue Jays team about whom I remembered almost nothing, and representatives from the A’s and Pirates that I doubted would amount to much.  I thought that the first round matchup between the Rays and the Red Sox would determine the group winner, but I banked on the greater depth of the more modern Rays and picked them over the dark horse Indians in the finals.  Much to my surprise, I discovered that the ELO ratings for those Rays had them as the second-worst team in baseball that year, surpassed only by the Pirates who were also in this regional–making me wonder how they managed to win a pennant the following year.  Instead, those ratings suggested that I should have stuck with my instincts about the Red Sox, picking them over the A’s team that I had apparently underestimated.

First round action

The 1976 Red Sox were the ELO bracket favorites, although and although their 83-79 record was not awe-inspiring, they had a solid offense for that era and Luis Tiant (21-12, 3.06) came in 5th in the Cy Young voting at age 35.  Their opponents, the 2007 Rays, had a terrible ELO ranking and lost 96 games, but they did win a pennant the next season and I didn’t think they looked that bad–there was power up and down the lineup with Carlos Pena garnering MVP votes, and James Shields (12-8, 3.85) wasn’t bad provided that he could keep the ball in the park.  No sooner do I write those words when the first Boston hitter of the game, Rick “The Rooster” Burleson, nails Shields’ solid 6-5 home run for a quick lead.  That lead dissipates quickly, as Tiant is struggling and a key error by SS-3 Burleson in the 3rd opens the door for an RBI single from Johnny Gomes that puts Tampa ahead, 2-1.  In the bottom of the inning, Butch Hobson has to leave the game with an injury, but the good news is that Fred Lynn’s two-out triple ties things up.  A sac fly in the 4th puts the Rays back on top, but Boston injury replacement Rico Petrocelli finds Shields’ 6-5 to lead off the bottom of the 5th and the game is tied once again, with neither team having much confidence remaining in their starting pitchers.  In the bottom of the 6th, Shields gets into trouble and the Rays survey the house of horrors that passes for their bullpen, so they stick with their starter but after 2-out RBI singles from Petrocelli and Denny Doyle, they have to try something different so closer Al Reyes gets a turn.  He gives up another run-scoring single to the Rooster and the Red Sox take a 6-3 lead into the 7th.  However, once again the Rays storm back, with Ty Wigginton delivering a 2-run single in the top of the 7th, and the Red Sox realize that their bullpen is also dreadful, so they stick with Tiant who has now allowed 13 hits in 7 innings.  Reyes strikes out the side in the bottom of the 7th and the Rays can smell blood, but Tiant holds them off in the 8th and the Red Sox add another run in the bottom of the inning on a Doyle fielder’s choice.  That leaves it up to Tiant in the 9th, but BJ Upton leads off with a solid double off Tiant’s card, and then LF-3 Jim Rice misplays a Carlos Pena single and it’s a one run game with the tying run in scoring position.  After a Gomes strikeout, Wigginton singles and the 1-11 Pena beats the throw home, and it’s a tie game.  The next batter, Brendan Harris, doubles but the 1-10 Wigginton is nailed trying to score, and Tiant records the final out with the game tied heading into the bottom of the 9th.  Lynn leads off with a single, and after an out Cecil Cooper rockets a gbA++ past the first baseman holding Lynn and the winning run is now at 3rd, the infield is in, and veteran Carl Yastrzemski is at the plate.   Yaz lofts a deep fly, Lynn tags, and he scores–the Red Sox take the 8-7 victory, and Tiant gets the win despite allowing 18 hits to the Rays.  

The 87-75 2006 Blue Jays were not only the #2 seed in this regional, but they were being managed in the Zoom game of the week by Roy the genuine Canadian, who was amassing a pretty nice tournament record at the helm of the Jays thus far.  StratFan Rick gamely accepted the task of guiding the 94-loss 2007 Pirates, even though the last time the Bucs had been involved in the weekly Zoom they had lost by 15 runs.  The pitching matchup looked pretty one-sided as well, with Roy Halladay (16-5, 3.19) 3rd in the Cy Young voting, while the Pirates’ Ian Snell (9-12, 3.76) looked more vulnerable.  And the Jays start out finding Snell’s hits in the bottom of the 1st, as he’s lucky to escape allowing only one run on a Lyle Overbay single.  However, the bottom drops out on Snell in the 4th, as the Jays pound out seven hits in the inning, including a 2-run single by farmer John McDonald and a 2-run homer by Aaron Hill, and Snell is gone but the Jays now lead 7-0, leading Roy to pronounce that “Halladay doesn’t allow seven runs”.  Of course, the Bucs immediately load up the bases for Xavier Nady, who bounces one off the hotel windows in center field for a grand slam.  Halladay is not clearly happy, and he somehow manages to injure the next batter, Adam Laroche, for the maximum 15 games and a brawl ensues that is only interrupted by the typically bad Hughesnet connection.  As order is restored, Halladay and a succession of Pirates relievers both are in control, and Halladay finishes out a complete game 7-4 win in which he scatters 8 hits, setting up a semifinal showdown between the top two seeds in the bracket.

The 1997 Twins lost 94 games and after Chuck Knoblach and Paul Molitor at the top of the lineup, things dropped off quickly, as did the rotation after Brad Radke (20-10, 3.87) who was 3rd in the Cy Young votes for winning 20 games with a dismal team.    They were underdogs to the 2010 A's, who balanced out an 81-81 record with pretty good team defense and a solid rotation fronted by Trevor Cahill (18-8, 2.97), who also received some Cy Young votes.  But Cahill yields back to back doubles to Pat Meares and Rich Becker in the 2nd, and Terry Steinbach follows them by finding and converting Cahill’s HR split for a 3-0 Minnesota lead.  The A’s were not a team built to come back from a large deficit, and they couldn’t record a hit until the bottom of the 5th.  However in the 8th the A’s get a couple of singles and the Twins eye their closer Aguilera, but shy away from his longball tendencies and stick with Radke, who retires Jack Cust with the bases loaded to maintain the shutout.  But Radke continues to fall apart in the bottom of the 9th, allowing two singles to lead off the inning and a run comes in when C-2 Steinbach drops a popup.  With the tying run now aboard and nobody out, the Twins are forced to admit that Radke is done and in comes Aguilera; hee induces a DP out of Mark Ellis, and PH Steven Tolleson lofts a fly that’s hauled in by defensive replacement RF-3 Denny Hocking and the Twins escape with the 3-1 win.    

The 2018 Angels went 80-82 with Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and only three eligible starting pitchers, of whom Jaime Barria (10-9, 3.41) was the best option.  Of course, that was three more than the pandemic-year 2020 Indians had, although the Tribe did go 35-25 and made a brief postseason appearance as a wild card.  With all the AB/IP limitations from a 60-game season, they had no leeway in setting their lineup–even their DH was automatically selected as the highest remaining AB player.  Fortunately for them, their highest IP starter was one Shane Bieber (8-1, 1.63), and the Biebs had developed from an obscure Youtube music performer into the 2020 AL Cy Young winner with a killer mini-season.  The Indians load the bases in the top of the 1st but can only convert a Francisco Lindor sac fly, while the Angels can’t even manage a hit off Bieber until .199-hitting Luis Valbuena pushes a single in front of immobile Cleveland LF-5 Josh Naylor.  After that first inning, Barria is also dominating but in the 8th Jose Ramirez gets a two-out single, steals second and scores on a Franmil Reyes base hit to provide an insurance run.  That run proves to be sorely needed when Otani delivers a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning and Cleveland clings to a one run lead entering the 9th.  When the Indians deliver two more singles in the 9th, Barria is pulled for Jose Alvarez, who comes in and records two straight strikeouts to send a one-run game to the bottom of the 9th.  But Bieber retires three straight against the rather feeble bottom of the Angels order, the last being his 13th strikeout of the game, to close out a 3-hitter and wins the 2-1 pitching duel.  

The survivors

The first semifinal features a showdown between the top seeded 1976 Red Sox with Reggie Cleveland (10-9, 3.07) just one of several decent options in the Boston rotation, while for the #2 seed 2007 Blue Jays their options dropped off quite a bit after AJ Burnett (10-8, 3.98).   It’s a rough start for Burnett in the top of the 1st, with a single, a Fred Lynn double, and then a 2-run hit from Jim Rice for a quick lead.  The Jays get one of those back in the bottom of the 2nd when Lyle Overbay scores on an Alex Rios grounder, but the Lynn/Rice tandem strikes again in the 3rd when a Lynn single is followed by a towering homer from Rice that makes it 4-1 Boston.  Carlton Fisk wraps a 2-run homer around the foul pole in the 6th and the Jays have been burned by Buerntt once too often, with closer BJ Ryan summoned in desperation.   The Jays try to climb back into the game, scoring a run in the bottom of the 6th when C-2 Fisk drops a popup, and they get another in the 7th when Alex Rios drives an RBI double past LF-3 Rice, but the 1-15 Rios is cut down at the plate trying to score on a Reed Johnson single.  The Red Sox miss a chance in the top of the 9th when Lynn misses his TR 1-12 split for the second time of the game, and 1-14 Rick Burleson is nailed trying to score on the resulting double.  So it heads to the bottom of the 9th with Cleveland facing the back of the Jays order; things start out badly with a 2-base error from SS-3 Burleson, and a Johnson single puts runners on the corners with one out, but with the tying run at the plate PH Frank Catalanotto grounds into the DP and the Red Sox head to the finals with the 6-3 victory.  

The 2020 Indians survived the first round because their top IP starter happened to also be the Cy Young winner, but for the semifinals they would not be as fortunate as Aaron Civale (4-8, 4.74) would have to make the start.  However, even though the 1997 Twins had different options for their #2 starter, none of them were particularly good choices and Frank Rodriguez (3-6, 4.62) would get the nod, with most expecting a high-scoring affair.  Terry Steinbach puts the Twins ahead in the top of the 2nd with a 2-out RBI double off Civale’s card, but Franciso Lindor responds in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer off his own card and Cleveland leads.  However, both pitchers then make it through their requisite five innings without further incident, and the Indians decide not to press their luck and replace Civale with Oliver Perez to begin the 6th, a move that proves wise as the inning ends on a 5-9 strikeout roll that would have been a solid HR on Civale.  A leadoff double by Lindor in the bottom of the 7th chases Rodriguez, and Greg Swindell comes in to prevent any runs even though he manages to walk the bases full before doing so.  Still clinging to the one run lead, the Indians summon closer Brad Hand to begin the 8th, but he allows back to back doubles to Ron Coomer and Marty Cordova–both on a DO 1-8/flyB result on Hand’s card–and the game is tied.  However, Swindell drops a grounder that allows the leadoff man in the bottom of the inning to reach base, and then CF-3 Rich Becker can’t get to a Jose Ramirez double, so with men on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out the Indians try their closer, Rick Aguilera.  He is untouchable, stranding both runners and recording two strikeouts, and the game heads to the 9th knotted at two.  Hand pitches into and out of a jam in the top of the 9th, retiring Paul Molitor for the final out with runners at first and third.   Aguilera is flawless in the bottom of the inning, but he is now burnt for the regional as the game heads to extra innings.  Hand holds in the top of the 10th, so the dangerous Eddie Guardado becomes the pitcher of record for the Twins, and he strikes out the first two Indians but then allows three straight squib singles to load the bases for pinch “hitter” Jordan Luplow, who strikes out to send the game to the 11th.  Cleveland brings in Cal Quantrill to begin the top of the inning, and he sets the Twins down in order, so it’s Guardado’s turn in the bottom of the inning.  He gets two quick outs, but then a single by .165-hitting Roberto Perez and a walk to Cesar Hernandez and the winning run moves into scoring position.  That brings up Woodstock veteran Carlos Santana, and he rips a hit into the gap, Perez trots home, and the pandemic Indians survive with a 3-2 walkoff win that puts them into the regional finals.

The finalists for the regional each had something to prove; the 1976 Red Sox sought to erase the memory of losing the World Series in the prior season, while the 2020 Indians sought to be the first pandemic-year team to win an eight-team bracket.  The matchup looked like a good one; although the Red Sox were the top seed, the Indians were the only squad in the group that saw any post-season action, and both starters were solid, Carlos Carrasco (3-4, 2.91) for Cleveland and Rick Wise (14-11, 3.54) for Cleveland.  The cardboard cutouts occupying the stands at the Jake were relieved when the Red Sox failed to score in the first inning for the first time in the regional, but they did not approve when Carlos Santana missed a HR 1-17 split in the bottom of the 1st and got stranded.  There is some payback in the 2nd when Boston SS-3 Rick Burleson drops a Santana grounder (his second error in only 2 innings) with the bases loaded and two outs, so the Indians move out to a 1-0 lead.  In the 3rd, former Texas Aggie Tyler Naquin misses that same HR 1-17 split on Wise’s card, but two runners still score on the resulting double; the 1-14 Naquin is gunned down trying to score on a Delino Deshields base hit and Cleveland resolves never to tempt the split dice gods again.   However, it turns out that they don’t need to, as Carrasco is dominating; he finishes out a four-hit shutout, and the Indians win the regional with the 3-0 blanking of the Red Sox.  Although this was a pandemic year team, they really had no low-usage wonders; rather, a Cy Young winner, timely hitting, solid fielding (at least as soon as they could get their LF-5 out of the game), and a bullpen deep enough to get them through their extra-inning semifinal game propelled them to the regional crown.

Interesting card of Regional #189:  In general, I tend to enjoy playing old-school teams far more than contemporary seasons, but I have to admit that I always like to see a 2020 squad come up in the tournament.   That season is chock full of low-usage oddities, but it would be unfair to characterize this card as one of them; Bieber pitched the most innings for the regional champion Indians and was the unanimous winner of the AL Cy Young award while doing so.   The fact that he’d finished 4th in the voting for that award in the 2019 season further proves that his pandemic performance was no fluke.  Despite the late start to the 2020 season, it only took him 62 innings to record 100 strikeouts, the fewest by a starting pitcher since 1900.  He finished the season leading the major leagues in wins, strikeouts, and ERA at age 25; in real life, he got raked in the 2020 Wild Card game as his team made a quick exit from the postseason, but in this tournament, his strong performance in a first round pitchers duel set the Indians in motion to capture the regional title.