REGIONAL #194:  There weren’t any teams that jumped out at me when drawing this batch of teams; I was probably most familiar with the White Sox who had a little run of unsuccessful post-season appearances around then, so I thought they might have a shot in against this competition, and I suspected that the 2017 Brewers would have some power hitters if they weren’t suspended for PEDs at the time.  I also vaguely remembered the post-Johnny Bench Reds as being competitive, and I was guessing that the Rays, Marlins, Tigers, and Pirates entries in this group would all be pretty bad.  I ultimately decided that the Brewers would take advantage of the Sox jinx to make the finals, where they would run out of pitchers and lose to the Reds for the bracket crown.  The ELO ranks picked those Brewers to top the Padres in a group without a single team ranked in the top 1000, and recognized that the post-season run for the Sox actually began the next season, with them being terrible in 2019.

First round action

The 86-76 2017 Brewers were the ELO favorites in this group, and my recollection of them was pretty accurate–nearly all of the lineup with double digit homers, fairly bad with the glove, but their pitching was better than I anticipated with Chase Anderson (12-4, 2.74) with a strong year and some good arms in the pen.  They faced the #7 seeded 2001 Rays, only a few years after their creation during expansion; that expansion team had reached the finals of Regional #191, but this version had virtually no overlap with that team.   If anything, they looked even worse, losing 100 games with limited offense and terrible fielding to support a dreadful rotation, with Tanyon Sturtze (11-12, 4.42) seeming to be the top option.  However, these Rays also show signs of grit, as they load the bases in the 2nd and Brent Abernathy clears them with a double on a missed grand slam HR split.  The Brewers have a chance to respond in the bottom of the 4th as they load the bases with nobody out, but they can only convert one run on a Manny Pina sac fly.  Greg Vaughn extends the Rays lead with a 2-run homer in the top of the 6th that chases Chase for Brewers closer Cory Knebel, but solo shots in the bottom of the inning from Travis Shaw and Pina send Sturtze to the showers and Victor Zambrano comes in to get the third out after a few fielding misadventures.  In the 7th, Eric Thames misses Zambrano’s HR 1-15/TR split but drives in a run and then scores on a Shaw sac fly and the game is tied.  Knebel seems to find his groove, striking out the side in the top of the 8th, while the Rays no longer trust Zambrano and move to Travis Phelps in the bottom of the inning.  That doesn’t work as planned, as Keon Braxton crushes his first pitch into the roaring stands at Miller Park and the Brewers lead for the first time in the game.  Orlando Arcia later adds an RBI single, and the Brewers take a two run lead into the 9th with a slew of defensive replacements entering the game and Josh Hader coming in to close things out.  He burns through the bottom of the Rays order and the Brewers survive and advance with a come from behind 7-5 victory.

The 2015 Marlins lost 91 games, but they had an all “1” DP combo and Giancarlo Stanton hit a lot of homers in not very many ABs; however, they had almost no options at starting pitcher after Tom Koehler (11-14, 4.08) and it was about time for 41-year old Ichiro to retire.  The 72-89 2019 White Sox lost fewer games but had a worse ELO rating at season’s end; they had a heart of the lineup with four guys over .500 SLG% and Lucas Giolito (13-9, 3.41) finished 6th in the Cy Young voting, but they had some holes in their defense and few options after Giolito in the rotation.  The Marlins put together a two-out rally in the top of the 3rd with RBI singles from JT Realmuto and Martin Prado, but Yoan Moncada narrows the score to 2-1 with a leadoff homer in the 4th.  Then, Ryan Cordell also leads off the 5th by converting the same homer on Koehler’s card and the score is tied.  Not trusting Koehler to keep the Sox in check, Miami brings in Kyle Barraclough, whose card contains no HR result, nor any hit results of any kind for that matter, but a lot of walks.  He allows only one walk and no hits while striking out four in his two innings, and he hands the ball over to Marlins closer AJ Ramos in the bottom of the 8th with the score still tied.  Ramos creates a stir by giving up a single and two walks, all off his card, in the bottom of the 9th, but he strikes out Moncado for the third out to send the game to extra innings.  Giolito is perfect in his last inning of eligibility in the 10th, while Miami moves to reliever Carter Capps and his 1.16 ERA to begin the bottom of the inning.  He whiffs Eloy Jimenez to begin the inning, and looks to do the same to Jose Abreu, but Abreu catches hold of it to send it deep in the outfield seats, the scoreboard at Sponsor of the Week Park explodes with joy, and the Sox move to the semifinals defying the jinx with an extra-inning, come from behind 3-2 win.  

This first round matchup paired two teams with nearly identical ELO ratings, both of them terrible.  The 1984 Reds lost 92 games, with Dave Parker leading the team in homers with 16 and Mario Soto (18-7, 3.53) allowing nearly twice that many, although he led the NL in complete games and finished 6th in the Cy Young ballots.  Given the season from which they came, it wasn’t surprising that their opponent, the 97-loss 1998 Tigers, had about half their team exceed Parker’s homer total, but their pitching staff including Brian Moehler (14-13, 3.90) also bore the imprint of the steroid era.   And sure enough, in the top of the 1st leadoff hitter Gary Redus finds Moehler’s solid HR result for a very quick lead, but in the bottom of the inning Damion Easley retaliates by finding Soto’s own solid HR roll, and then with two out Bobby Higginson locates Soto’s split homer result, misses it, but Tony Clark beats the throw home on the resulting double and after an inning Detroit leads 2-1, with all damage self-inflicted by pitchers.  However, both pitchers then settle in, and despite threats nobody can score until the bottom of the 7th, when Brian Hunter singles, steals second, and scores when Luis Gonzalez converts a split double on Soto’s card.  Now armed with a two run lead, the Tigers decide to stick with Moehler, and although he allows a double to Ron Oester off his card in the 9th, Moehler strands him to finish out a nicely pitched 3-1 win to send Detroit to the semifinals.

The 1992 Padres were the #2 seed in the bracket according to the ELO ratings, but only because of the weakness of the group as they barely cleared .500 with an 82-80 record.  Their main weapons were Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff, and Andy Benes (13-14, 3.35) was marginally the best of a middling rotation.  However, the Padres looked like a dynasty compared to their opposition, the 100-loss 2022 Pirates, who tried to make up in quantity what they lacked in quality, as they had 44 players carded for the season, but none of those cards were very good.  JT Brubaker (3-12) drew the short straw and had to pitch, and he begins the game in interesting fashion, allowing a double and a walk off his card to face Sheffield, who cooperates by hitting into a triple play.  Sheffield comes up again in the 3rd with two aboard, but this time he laces a double that scores both runners and the Padres lead 2-0.  San Diego then loses C Benito Santiago to a minor injury in the 4th, although they get another run from a squib RBI single by Tony Gwynn.  In the 5th, injury replacement Dan Walters picks up an RBI single and then another hit sets up a three run homer by devilish Tim Teufel off Brubaker’s card, and the latter is pulled for Luis Ortiz, but yet another run comes in on an error by 2B-3 Kevin Newman.  From there on out Benes is on cruise control, and he finished up a 6-hit shutout as the Padres easily dispose of the Pirates 8-0 and move on.  

The survivors

The bracket’s #1 seed, the 2017 Brewers, faced another fairly recent team in the semifinals, the 2019 White Sox who were seeded 6th with 89 losses.   One typical difference between high and low seeds, the depth of the starting rotation, looked to apply here as the Brewers could select Jimmy Nelson (12-6, 3.49) as one of three remaining Milwaukee starters who were better than the Sox’ Ivan Nova (11-12, 4.72).   Nova starts off in control, but in the top of the 3rd Orlando Arcia’s fielder’s choice brings in a Brewer run, and an RBI single by Manny Pina in the 4th extends their lead to 2-0.  Eloy Jimenez quickly erases that lead in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run shot, but Nelson recovers by striking out three in a row and the game is tied heading into the 5th.  A walk and a double in the bottom of the 5th brings up the dangerous Tim Anderson with one out, and the Brewers bring in the infield and elect to pitch to Anderson, who promptly sets off the exploding scoreboard with a 3-run blast and the Sox now hold the lead.  With a fully rested pen and the lead, Nova is on a short leash for the Sox and when he allows a base hit off his card in the 7th, the Sox turn the game over to Evan Marshall, and he escapes the inning despite some fielding mishaps.  Brewer C-3 Pina makes his second error of the game in the bottom of the inning, which sets up an RBI single from Anderson, chasing Nelson for Josh Hader who records a strikeout and then turns a nifty DP himself to do his job but the Sox lead is up to four.  Eric Thames leads off the 8th with a long homer that cuts it to three, but Marshall shakes it off and tosses a perfect 9th as the Sox eliminate the bracket favorite and pull off the 6-3 upset.

Now the top remaining seed in the bracket, the 1992 Padres decided to go with spot starter Frank Seminara (9-4, 3.68) against #5 seeded 1998 Tigers and Justin Thompson (11-15, 4.05), with both teams sporting fully rested bullpens in case of emergency.  The Padres load the bases in the bottom of the 3rd on two walks and an error by 3b-2 Joe Randa, but only manage to get one run out of it on a Tony Gwynn fielder’s choice to record the first run on no hits.  A leadoff single in the top of the 7th by Bob Higginson makes the Padres eye their bullpen, but they discover that their closer Randy Myers managed to record 38 saves with a lousy card, so they hang with Seminara and he survives the inning unscathed.  However, another leadoff single by the Tigers in the 8th and they move to Larry Anderson, but he allows a single that sends the tying runner to 3rd.  The infield comes in and Juan Encarnacion hits a grounder, but the runner is nailed at home and there’s one out.  Anderson then strikes out Tony Clark, but Higginson finds a single on Anderson’s card and the game is tied.  However, leading off the bottom of the inning is Tim Teufel, who for the second time in the game rolls his HR 1-14 split, and this time he converts it to put the Padres back in front.  The Tigers pull Thompson, who has only allowed 3 hits, for Doug Brocail, but he yields a double to Tony Fernandez and a single to Gwynn and the Padres now lead by two heading into the 9th.  PH Frank Catalanotto makes it a little interesting by converting a SI 1-4 in the 9th, but that’s all the Tigers can muster against Mr. Anderson and the Padres head to the finals with the 3-1 win.  

The bracket finals paired the #2 seeded 1992 Padres and Craig Lefferts (13-9, 3.69) against the #6 seed 2019 White Sox, who had no options aside from Reynoldo Lopez (10-15, 5.38).  The Sox hand Lopez a lead by pummeling Lefferts in the top of the 1st, with RBI singles from Jose Abreu and James McCann that stake the upstart Sox to a 3-0 lead.  Tim Anderson adds an RBI double in the 2nd, but the Padres get that run back in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly from Benito Santiago, recovered from his first round injury.  A long solo shot by Gary Sheffield in the bottom of the 4th narrows the Chicago lead to two, but Jerald Clark (1-10+2) is cut down trying to score on a Kurt Stillwell double in the 5th to cut off a rally.  Although Lefferts has settled down with three hitless innings, a leadoff single in the 7th and San Diego summons Rich Rodriguez, and he quickly snuffs out the threat.  Lopez is on a short leash but he persists until allowing a 2-out single in the bottom of the 7th, and fearing his gopher ball the Sox insert Aaron Bummer, who has no such results and he quickly ends the inning with the lead intact.  He holds court until the Sox pull him in the 9th to preserve his eligibility, and Jimmy Cordero comes in to earn the save and propel the Sox to the 4-2 win and an unlikely regional title, the second by a bad Sox team in the past four brackets–suggesting that the White Sox jinx only applies to the (unfortunately uncommon) good Sox teams.

Interesting card of Regional #194:  Although his team made it to the regional final, Phil Stephenson’s card wasn’t good enough to allow him to see action on a mediocre team.  No, what makes Stephenson interesting to me is that as my homebrew card may demonstrate, he was one of the greatest college baseball players of all time; he held 13 individual NCAA records at the conclusion of his career at Wichita State and he still holds the NCAA career records for hits, runs, total bases, stolen bases, and walks.  Those of you that have explored my blog where I record the results of this tournament may have noted an earlier project of mine, where I ran a league of all-time great college teams, and Phil’s 1982 Shockers (the winningest team in NCAA history with 73) blew the competition out of the water.  However, in real life they lost the final game of the College World Series to Miami, with Stephenson on the short end of one of the most infamous plays in college baseball history, the “Grand Illusion”.  The Hurricanes decided to combat the aggressiveness of the Shockers (who still hold the NCAA record for team stolen bases) with an elaborately designed hidden ball play that involved the entire Miami team, even the batgirls, pretending to try to locate a wild pickoff throw attempting to nail Stephenson on first.  With half of the Miami infield chasing an imaginary ball down the right field line, Stephenson takes off for second, the Miami pitcher takes the ball from his glove and throws to the shortstop covering second, and Stephenson was out easily. The Wichita State rally was over, Miami’s 4-3 lead held up, and the Hurricanes won the championship.