REGIONAL #200:  The draw for the bicentennial regional in the tournament was a Royal affair, with three different Kansas City representatives from the 21st century in the lineup.  Unfortunately, none of them were the pennant winners they had put together in 2014-15, but the team immediately following those two was here, and another squad three years before that run was also included.  There was a Mets team a few years before the infamous bad guys of ‘86, a Twins squad that had won regionals from the season before and the season after, and a White Sox team that was possibly competitive but probably jinxed, with maybe their Cubs counterpart entry having a better chance of getting lucky.  With three entries, it was hard not to guess that a Royals team would win it, and I went with the 2016 version that followed two straight pennants as the favorite; the bottom half of the group felt much weaker to me, but I guessed that the Cubs would get to the finals and end up playing all three Royals teams in the process.   The ELO ratings indicated that I had overestimated nearly every team, with a Rays squad that I had entirely overlooked appearing to be miles better than the remaining collection of dross that were participating.

First round action

The first round one game was between two teams characterized as terrible by their ELO ratings, although both would be making postseason appearances within a few years.  The 1983 Mets lost 94 games to finish with the worst record in the NL, although they had the Rookie of the Year in Darryl Strawberry and a still-effective Tom Seaver (9-14, 3.55) on the mound.  They faced the 62-100 2018 White Sox, who wouldn’t need my jinx to be bad, with a lineup where more than half the hitters couldn’t muster a .300 OBP and Reynoldo Lopez (7-10, 3.91) a relative bright spot in a dim rotation.  The Mets get on the board in the top of the 1st when Brian Giles walks, steals second on C-4 Omar Narvaez, and scores on a Keith Hernandez double; the 1-14 Hernandez then dashes home on a single by 39 year old DH Rusty Staub and it’s a quick 2-0 Mets lead.  In the bottom of the inning, Tim Anderson singles and then tries to steal on Mets C-4 Ron Hodges, but ump Harry Wendelstedt calls him out, and when Anderson argues, Wendelstedt decks him with one punch.  However, in the bottom of the 2nd Narvaez gets even by finding and converting Tom Terrific’s HR split for a 2-run shot that ties the game, but the ROY Strawberry shows his stuff with a tape measure blast to lead off the 4th and later in the inning Bob Bailor contributes a 2-run single and the Mets regain a solid lead.  When Giles leads off the 5th with yet another double off Lopez’s card, the Sox bring in Juan Minaya in the hopes he’s related to the Mets GM and they’ll go easy on him, and he does retire the side without incident.  In the bottom of the 5th, Nicky Delmonico steaks a claim as a power hitter with a leadoff homer, although Yoan Moncada then misses Seaver’s HR split so the Mets lead remains at two.  Minaya then gets tagged for three hard singles in the 6th and the Mets lead extends to 6-3, and that’s how it ends as Seaver completes the game with three hitless innings to send the Mets to the semifinals and another Sox team back to the storage drawers.

The first of three KC teams, and supposedly the best, were the 2016 Royals, who were coming off two straight AL pennants but had dropped to an 81-81 record.  Although they had many of the same names on the roster and were still strong defensively, they had declined on offense as well as in their starting pitching, although Danny Duffy (12-3, 3.51) had a career year.  They faced the 2018 Twins, whose 78-84 record was good for 2nd place in the bad AL Central that had included the dismal White Sox from the previous game.  Although their record was mediocre, the Twins from the season before and the season after had both won their regionals and the team had decent hitting, fielding, and a shallow but not terrible rotation with Jose Berrios (12-11, 3.84) getting the start.  Duffy starts off throwing three perfect innings with 4 strikeouts, but then he blows out his arm getting the last out of the 3rd and he’s out of the game and will miss at least one more start, so Brian Flynn comes in to take over.  Flynn immediately allows a single to Jorge Polanco to begin the 4th, and then Eduardo Escobar doubles and Polanco races home to put the Twins up.  However, in the top of the 6th Paulo Orlando doubles and then Twins SS-3 Polanco throws the ball in the dugout for a two base error; Salvadore Perez singles and another unearned run scores as the Royals go up 2-1.  Cheslor Cuthbert finds and converts Berrios’s HR split to lead off the 7th to provide insurance, and after a two out single by Orlando the Twins decide they have seen enough and move to Taylor Rogers out of the pen, who gets the third out without damage.  Meanwhile, Flynn holds his own for his maximum four innings and turns the ball over to KC closer Wade Davis to begin the 8th, but he’s not particularly sharp and a walk and a Joe Mauer single sets up a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Escobar and it’s a one run game heading into the 9th.   Rogers does his job in the top of the frame, while in the bottom of the 9th Davis gets an out but then Willians Astudillo singles, Byron Buxton comes in to pinch run, and Max Kepler doubles to put the tying and winning run in scoring position with one out.  In comes the KC infield with Brian Dozier at bat, and he hits a grounder and Buxton dashes for home but is easily tagged out by Perez.  DH Robbie Grossman then draws a walk after a long at bat and loads the bases with two outs for Polanco and the top of the Twins order.  He hits a deep fly to center, but CF-1 Lorenzo Cain gets a magnificent jump on the ball and hauls it in and the Royals survive a 3-2 win with a sloppy save by Davis sending them to the semifinals.  

The 2012 Rays won 90 games and were the top ELO seed in the bracket, and although they had a strong rotation topped by Cy Young Award winner David Price (20-5, 2.56), they weren’t very impressive offensively with more than half of their lineup below .300 OBP.  Nonetheless, they were still big favorites over the 2011 Royals, who lost 91 games but were still not the worst of the three KC entries in the regional.  These Royals pinned their hopes on Melky Cabrera and Alex Gordon for runs, but after Bruce Chen (12-8, 3.77) their rotation went downhill quickly.  The Rays strike first when BJ Upton leads off the top of the 2nd with a deep homer, and Chen then loses composure with two straight walks followed by an error by C-4 Brayan Pena that loads the bases.  A visit to the mound and Chen pulls it together for three straight strikeouts that keeps the damage to a minimum, which allows the Royals to take the lead in the 3rd on a 2-out double by Jeff Francoeur followed by an Eric Hosmer RBI single.  The Francouer/Hosmer tandem strikes again in the 5th with another double/RBI single sequence that makes it 4-1 KC; however, when Evan Longoria leads off the 8th with a single the Royals order a Tim Collins from the bullpen, and the first thing he serves up is a two-run homer to Upton and it’s a one run game.  The Royals respond in the bottom of the inning with a double from young backup catcher Salvadore Perez, and when Chris Getz walks the Rays decide the Price isn’t right, and bring in Fernando Rodney and his 0.60 ERA, and he immediately gets the DP ball from Cabrera to quell the threat.  That brings up the top of the Rays order in the top of the 9th for their last chance, and Collins now looks sharp as he sets them down in order to preserve the 4-3 win as this version of the Royals knocks out the regional favorite.  

The 2006 Royals were rated as the worst of the three KC entries in this bracket, losing 100 games and combining a lineup whose leading HR hitter had 18 with a rotation that had nobody with an ERA under 5.00, with swingman Luke Hudson (7-6, 5.12) coming the closest.  However, the 1997 Cubs were no great shakes either, losing 94 games despite having some names like Sammy Sosa, Ryne Sandberg, and Mark Grace, with noted Strat player Doug Glanville batting leadoff, earning a 1 in leftfield (but only a -1 arm, not the -3 arm I heard him claim he merited on one of his recent broadcasts); Mark Clark (14-8, 3.82) fronted a rotation that was beginning to hurt from the steroid era.  Back to back doubles by Reggie Sanders and Doug Mientkeiwicz to lead off the bottom of the 2nd put the Royals up by a run, and then an RBI triple by Emil Brown in the 3rd extends their lead to 2-0.  A two-run homer by David Dejesus off Clark’s card in the 5th provides additional insurance, and when Cubs CF-3 Lance Johnson misplays a Reggie Sanders single into a run-scoring error the Cubs park Clark and summon Marc Pisciotta.  Mientkeiwicz then gets injured for the Royals, at least insuring that I won’t have to type his name for another 10 games, but Mark Grudzielanek then singles in Sanders to continue challenging  my typing skills.  Meanwhile, Hudson takes a two-hitter into the top of the 9th, but then Johnson leads off with a single and Sosa blasts a 2-run shot and the Cubs make it more interesting.  However, Hudson then dispatches three straight Cubs and the Royals complete a first round sweep with the 6-2 win, with all three KC entries advancing to the semifinals.

The survivors

The Zoom game of the week was the semifinal between the 1983 Mets and the 2016 Royals, and long-suffering Mets fan Frank took a break from fishing and assumed the helm of the Mets, seeking revenge for the 2015 Series pasting inflicted on the Mets by the predecessor to this Royals team.  With nobody on the call having a stake in KC, I managed the Royals since I had blindly picked them to win the regional.  Starting for the Mets would be Walt Terrell (8-8, 3.57), who I pointed out had been nicknamed Walt Terrible in a league from my younger days, while Ian Kennedy (11-11, 3.68) was on the mound for KC.  Both pitchers start the game in fine form, and nothing happens until in the 4th when Frank bemoans the contract given to George Foster, who promptly deposits the ball in the Kauffman Stadium fountains for a solo shot and the lead.  In the 6th, Kennedy doesn’t help his own cause by committing an error on a Mookie Wilson grounder that scores another run for the Mets, and from there Walt is anything but terrible, taking a three-hitter into the bottom of the 9th.  However, the Royals begin their last chance with two straight singles, and even though Terrell is still tossing a shutout Frank goes to the pen for closer Jesse Orosco, who is flawless in setting down three straight Royals to preserve the win and the blanking that sends the Mets to the finals with the 2-0 win. 

This semifinal was a matchup of two bad KC teams, the #7 seeded 2006 Royals and the 2011 Royals, who managed to be a #4 seed in this weak bracket despite losing 91 games, with little overlap on the rosters of the two teams.  The remaining rotation for the 2006’s was wretched, with Scott Elarton (4-9, 5.34) combining bad control with gopher ball issues, while 2011’s Luke Hochevar (11-11, 4.68) was eminently hittable himself.   The 2011’s get off to a fast start in the top of the 1st with a Melky Cabrera double that sets up an RBI single from Alex Gordon, but the 2006’s match that sequence in the bottom of the inning with Joey Gathright and David Dejesus as the protagonists.  In the top of the 2nd, an error by 3B-3 Mark Teahen sets up a sac fly by 2011 catcher Brayan Pena to put them back on top, and in the 3rd a two-out RBI single from Billy Butler precedes a 3-run blast from Mike Moustakas off Elarton’s card and the 2011s take a commanding 6-1 lead.  The 2006s get a run back in the bottom of the inning on a 2-out RBI double from Teahen, but Moustakas once again finds Elarton’s solid HR result to lead off the 6th and the 2006s reach into their terrible bullpen for Joe Nelson as the best option.  He holds, and in the bottom of the 8th the 2006s begin the inning with a walk and two singles to load the bases with nobody out, and the 2011 team reluctantly pulls Hochevar for Greg Holland and his 1.80 ERA.  He strikes out two in a row, but then walks Reggie Sanders for a run, and then Mark Grudzielanek rolls a DO 1-10/flyB result on Holland–and misses the split, keeping the 2011s comfortably in front.  Having dodged the threat, they then preserve Holland, bringing in Blake Wood to finish the 9th without incident and the 2011 version of the Royals wins 7-3 to earn an appearance in the finals.   

The last time the Mets were in the World Series (2015), they were quickly vanquished by the Royals, but in this bracket the #6 seeded 1983 Mets were able to avenge themselves against a similar Royals team in the semifinals, and now they get the chance for a daily double against the #4 seed 2011 Royals for the regional title.  With both teams losing 90+ games, the back end of the rotation for both teams was an adventure and both felt their best chances were with their swingmen; the Royals went with Felipe Paulino (4-10, 4.46) while the Mets pinned their hopes on Scott Holman (1-7, 3.74).  In the top of the 2nd Paulino walks the bases loaded, and then with two outs Mookie Wilson delivers the first hit of the inning, a 2-run single to put the Mets ahead.  In the bottom of the inning Jeff Francouer leads off by getting injured, and you can feel the air going out of Kauffman Stadium, but in the 4th his replacement Mitch Maier knocks an RBI double off Holman’s card and then he scores on a Billy Butler double and the game is tied.  Then, Chris Getz getz lucky in the 5th by converting Holman’s HR 1-6/flyB split for a 2-run shot and the crowd is moving plenty of air.  The Mets respond in the top of the 6th with a solo shot from Strawberry that makes it a one-run game, but in the 7th Alex Gordon provides insurance with a 2-run homer that barely clears the wall.  It thus comes down to Paulino in the 9th, and he gets three in row, with PH Dave Kingman’s 1-10 missing his 1-11 and 1-12 homers for the final out to wrap up a 3-hitter, a 6-3 win, and the 8th regional win for the Royals franchise.  How this team did it is kind of a mystery, as this wasn’t a case of a team playing way over their heads; in the three games, their offense was balanced but not overwhelming, the starting pitching was adequate, and their deep bullpen was not dominant but good enough when needed.

Interesting card of Regional #200:  Having played the Old Timers set quite a bit, the card for the backup catcher of the 1906 Cubs, Tom Walsh, is kind of legendary as it was the first Strat card I ever saw for someone with a .000 batting average.  However, Walsh only had one at bat, so he never really had much chance to bring that average up.  Now consider the very first Strat card for Stephen Vogt, who made the Rays roster out of spring training in 2012 as a 27-year old rookie.  If you’re a rookie who is that old, you’d better come roaring out of the gate to impress the big league club, but Vogt didn’t quite do that, going 0 for 13 and quickly being sent to the minors; brought up for a cup of coffee at the end of the season, he went another twelve at bats without a hit to end up with an .000 batting average in 25 at bats.  I dug around, but I can’t find another position player in baseball history who had more AB in a season and still managed to hit .000, and I certainly don’t remember seeing another such season on a Strat card (although Chris Davis did once manage to go 54 AB in a row without a hit, Davis did succeed in batting above .000 for the season, albeit not by much).  Not surprisingly, the Rays gave up on Vogt after the season and they offloaded him to Oakland–where he actually made the AL All-Star team two years in a row, and he continued to play in the bigs until last season.  That may explain the nickname that BBR indicates for him, which is apparently “I Believe”; but personally, I don’t believe I’d give this card many batting opportunities if I could avoid it.