REGIONAL #205:  The entries in each of these regionals are all randomly selected from those teams that have not yet played, but every once in a while my little selector program seems to want to jam a bunch of competitive squads into the same bracket, and this group looked like one of those.  The biggest attraction to me was the first team that was picked, a ‘98 Braves team that I think merits consideration as one of the best of all time, and the top to bottom strength of their rotation could carry them far in this tournament.   But, there were all sorts of potential challengers here; right off the bat they would face a Cardinals team that would win a couple of pennants within a few season, then a winner between a Tigers team shortly after their postwar Series win and a Jays team much like one that had gone to the regional final in the bracket before last.  Then, in the lower half of the bracket was an A’s team on the verge of three straight pennants, a Jeter-era Yankees team that was within a couple of seasons of another, and a Mets team a few years from a title of their own.  Without looking the specifics of any of these teams, I really felt like seven of these eight could deservedly win the bracket (sorry, Brewers) but had to go with the Braves over the A’s in the finals.  The ELO rankings had five of these teams among the top 1000 of all time and picked the Braves, ranked in the top 50, over the Yankees, representing a possible completion of a ‘98 Series matchup that never occurred.

First round action

The 1998 Braves won 106 games and although they inexplicably lost the NLCS and were denied a pennant, the ELO rankings had them as the far better team and one of the top 50 teams in history.  How about a lineup with more than half having SLG% above .500, and a starting rotation with the 1st, 4th, and 5th place Cy Young vote getters–and my selection to start, Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22) wasn’t even the winner.  But they weren’t overlooking a tough opponent in the 2000 Cardinals, who won 95 games and the NL Central and were also denied a pennant through an NLCS defeat.  This team had a 20-game winner who finished 5th in the Cy Young votes, but they also defied the voters by selecting Rick Ankiel (11-7, 3.50) to the the start; the Cards lineup was filled with weapons, most notably DH Mark McGwire who hit 32 homers in only 236 at-bats.  In the bottom of the 1st, Will Clark finds the weakness in the Braves defense, driving an RBI single past 2B-4 Keith Lockhart for a 1-0 Cards lead.  In the 4th, Atlanta DH Javy Lopez doubles and the catching corp continues to contribute as Eddie Perez drives him home with a sharp single; that ties the game briefly but in the bottom of the inning a Perez error helps load the bases for Mike Matheny, who knocks a 2-run single off Maddux’s card.  Fernando Vina then records a second straight single off the pitcher’s card and there is already activity in the Atlanta bullpen in the 4th inning.  Perez leads off the top of the 6th with a long homer to narrow the gap, but a leadoff single by Edgar Renteria in the bottom of the inning and Maddux is pulled, having allowed 9 hits in only 5 innings pitched; Rudy Seanez tries to keep it close and does so by striking out the side.  However, in the 8th Seanez issues a walk off his card, and then two consecutive two-out SI* rolls off Seanez’s 5-11 result loads the bases for JD Drew.  Drew rolls on his card, a 1-6 solid homer for a grand slam and the Busch is foaming.  McGwire then goes back to back and it’s John Rocker’s turn, who finally records the third out, but the Braves are toast and the Cards wrap up an easy 9-2 win in which they out-hit, out-pitch and out-field one of the supposed best.

Although they had a mediocre 74-88 record and were seeded last in this bracket, the 1996 Blue Jays had much in common with the ‘98 Jays team that had reached the finals of Regional #203 and also with the ‘93 team that won a pennant.  They boasted a heart of the order that included John Olerud, Carlos Delgado, and Joe Carter, and they also had Cy Young winner Pat Hentgen (20-10, 3.22) on the mound.  Although the 1947 Tigers went 85-69 to finish 2nd in the AL, after comparing the lineups it seemed hard to consider them as the huge favorites suggested by their ELO ranking, as they had limited power and Fred Hutchinson (18-10, 3.03) was good but not dominating.  The Tigers show their technique in the bottom of the 2nd with four squib singles, but only get one run as Bob Swift hits into a bases-loaded DP to end the inning.  The Jays respond in the 4th with a 2-run homer from Carter, but that lead is short-lived as the Tigers primary slugger Roy Cullenbine knocks a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.  In the 7th, Tigers PH Hal Wagner converts Hentgen’s HR 1-3 split for a 2-run blast and a Detroit lead, and then Dick Wakefield leads off the 8th with a homer to provide additional insurance.  The Jays bid farewell to their ace at that point, and Tim Crabtree sets down three in a row but the Jays are looking at a three-run deficit to start the 9th.  But Hutch sends the Jays down in order and the Tigers move on with a 5-2 victory in which they showed me what they thought of my description of their “limited power”.

The 2007 Yankees won 94 games and made a brief appearance in the postseason as a wildcard team but were eliminated in the ALDS; although the lineup was imposing with ARod named the AL MVP, the rotation had little depth beyond Chien-Ming Wang (19-7, 3.70), with Roger Clemens’ 99 IP rendering him ineligible to start until their three 100 IP+ starters had their turns.  The 1987 A’s only went 81-81, but they had a big basher of their own in Rookie of the Year Mark McGwire and his 49 homers, and Dave Stewart (20-13, 3.68) was 3rd in the Cy Young votes, so they were plenty capable of continuing the disappointments that the Jeter-era Yanks have met in this tournament.  Although Jeter makes an out leading off the top of the 1st, the guys after him have more success, culminating in a 2-run double from Jorge Posada and an early New York edge.  Bobby Abreu adds an RBI single in the 2nd to extend the Yanks lead, but in the bottom of the inning the New York defense unravels, with errors from C-2 Posada, LF-4 Hideki Matsui, and SS-2 Jeter resulting in runs and culminating in a 3-run shot by McGwire that put Oakland up 6-3 after only two innings.  Doug Mientkiewicz makes me spell his name with an RBI double in the top of the 3rd to narrow the gap, but Oakland gets it back in the bottom of the 5th on a long solo shot by Mike Davis and the Yanks de-Wang in favor of the literally unhittable Joba Chamberlain and his 0.38 ERA.  He holds, and the Yanks begin the top of the 9th with two singles and Oakland has Eckersley warming up in the pen, but opt to stick with Stewart a bit longer.  He whiffs Abreu and Arod, and then Posada hits the hole in his one column to fly out and the A’s pull off the 7-4 upset as the gloves of the Yanks send them back to the storage drawers.  

The 1997 Mets won 88 games and had a decent lineup with solid defense, but a no-name rotation with their game one starter, Rick Reed (13-9, 2.89), literally lacking his name on his card.  The 1995 Brewers went 65-79 in a strike shortened year with rather lackluster offense and largely terrible pitching, tapping Scott Karl (6-7, 4.14) as the best of their options.   The Mets threaten in the 2nd but 1-15+2 Brian McRae gets cut down with an 18 split trying to score on a Carlos Baerga double to end the inning; the next two innings they leave runners stranded on third.  The Brewers show them how it’s done as Joe Oliver notches a 2-run single off Reed’s card in the 4th, but they give one back as RF-2 Matt Mieske’s two base error sets up an RBI double from Butch Huskey.  In the top of the 8th, Carl Everett and Bernard Gilkey go back-to-back with solo homers and Karl is out for Al Reyes, who ends the 8th without further ado.  However, in the 9th Todd Hundley finds the one (partial) hit on Reyes’ card, a HR 1-10/flyB, and he converts the split for a 2-run shot for some appreciated insurance.  That brings up the Brewers in the bottom of the 9th, and they lead it off with a single and a walk; the Mets eye John Franco in the pen but they’ve been warned about him, so they decide to let Reed try to make a name for himself.  But Kevin Seitzer adds a single to lead the bases and the Mets have to turn to Franco to try to end this thing.  The Brewers respond with PH Dave Nilsson, who grounds into a DP nicely turned by 1B-3 John Olerud that scores one, but they’re down to their last out and still trail by two.  Fernando Vina comes to the plate and he grounds weakly to second, and it’s game over as the Met prevail 5-3 to move to the semifinals.

The survivors

Two teams from very different eras face off in this semifinal matchup between the 2000 Cardinals and 1947 Tigers.  The Cardinals would now bring out Darryl Kile (20-9, 3.91), who finished 5th in the Cy Young balloting but had some trouble with the gopher ball, while Motown’s Dizzy Trout (10-11, 3.46) had no such problems.  Doubles by Jim Edmonds and Craig Paquette put the Cards up 1-0 in the top of the 2nd, while in the 3rd the Cards open with three straight hard hits off Trout and then he leaves the game with an injury.  Johnny Gorsica comes in and Will Clark misses a HR 1-14 split with a 15 roll, but two more runs score on the resulting double, and Ray Lankford follows with a solid HR so there is no doubt and the Tigers are looking up out of a 7-0 hole.  In the 4th Jim Edmonds nails a solo shot, and then Gorsica makes a 2-out error that sets up a 2-run blast from Clark, and the Cards lead 10-0 but the celebration ends when Lankford is injured for the tournament to end the inning.  The injury parade continues with Detroit’s Hoot Evers leaving the game in the 6th inning, and a nervous St. Louis team decides to replace injury-prone DH McGwire in the 7th before disaster strikes.  Tigers SS-3 Eddie Lake makes two errors in the 9th to set up two more runs, and Kile doesn’t even break a sweat finishing out the 12-0 shutout in which the Tigers had more errors (4) than hits (3).   

This semifinal matched the #5 seed 1997 Mets with the #6 seeded 1987 A’s, with the A’s having a big dropoff in their rotation and opting to use swingman Gene Nelson (6-5, 3.93) for the start rather than having him work out of the bullpen.  The Mets had their own issues with a shallow rotation, but Bobby Jones (15-9, 3.63) took a break from golfing to take the mound for New York.  But right away, the A’s keep up with Jones, finding two walks and two hits on his card to score two, and then Tony Bernazard finds and converts Jones’ big HR split for a 3-run shot and a 5-0 lead before the Mets can swing a bat.  Meanwhile, in both of the first two innings the Mets miss HR splits and the resulting doubles simply leave runners stranded at 2nd.  When Alfredo Griffin and Luis Polonia get back to back doubles in the 4th, both off Jones’ card, the Mets send Jones back to the links and Greg McMichael retires the side without further incident.  However, Griffin triples to lead off the 6th and Polonia singles him in to extend the A’s margin, and then after a Canseco single Terry Steinbach plants one into the stands and the rout is on.  Turk Wendell takes over for the Mets in the 8th and he takes his lumps, allowing a 2-run triple to Steinbach who scores on a Mike Davis single.  From there, Nelson simply lobs it in and he finishes up a 5-hit shutout as the A’s blow out the Mets 13-0 and head to the finals.

The final was the Mac Bowl, with dueling McGwires on both the #3 seeded 2000 Cardinals and the #6 seed 1987 A’s, and it was the Zoom game of the week with two live Larussa’s managing, TT manning the Cards and StratFan Rick guiding the A’s.   There was a fair amount of moaning from both managers about their options for their number three starter, with the Cards hoping Pat Hentgen (15-12, 4.72) could recapture past glories while the A’s were wishing that Steve Ontiveros (10-8, 4.00) could keep the ball in the park.  As it turned out, the hopes of each were quickly dashed.  The A’s unleashed a barrage of hits against Hentgen early, including a homer by red hot Terry Steinbach, and Oakland was up 4-0 after three innings and the St. Louis offense that averaged over 10 runs a game in the first two rounds was quiet.  However, they finally woke up in the top of the 6th, with Will Clark poking an RBI single that helped set up a three-run homer by injury replacement Shawon Dunston, off Ontiveros’ card, and the game is tied at the end of six.  At this point Rick has seen enough from his starter and it’s time for Dennis Eckersley carrying instructions to pitch until he drops, or allows a homer to Kirk Gibson.  Nonetheless, the Cards threaten again in the 8th with runners on first and third with two out, and Dunston at the plate once again–and a passed ball by Steinbach scores the run and the Cards lead for the first time in the game.  The game heads to the bottom of the 9th and Cards closer Dave Veres is three outs away from the regional win, but the A’s aren’t going down easily.  With runners on 1st and 3rd, one away, and Jose Canseco at the plate, the elder Larussa signals for the intentional walk to load the bases and sets the infield at double play depth, as backup catcher Mickey Tettleton and his .194 average was now at-bat, having come in when the A’s inserted a pinch runner for Steinbach in the 8th.  With no available remaining backstops, it was up to Tettleton, and he delivers the requisite grounder, but it’s a gb B, the Cards can’t turn the DP, the run scores, and the game is heading to extra innings.  Eckersley survives his last inning of eligibility in the top of the 10th, and once again it’s up to Veres with the game on the line.  A double by Dwayne Murphy puts the winning run in scoring position, and the Cards opt to walk leadoff hitter Luis Polonia, who has been delivering hits all game, again in hopes of the DP.  Carney Lansford is at the plate, Veres delivers, and Lansford rips it into the gap, Murphy trots home, and the A’s are the regional winner with a see-saw 6-5 extra inning victory.  This is the 7th A’s team to win their bracket, and the second Bash Brothers version, with ‘87 now joining the more heralded ‘89 squad in the winners circle.  

Interesting cards of Regional #205:  The regional finals here was a tale of two Macs:  one card representing a rookie setting the league on fire, breaking the record for the most homers by a rookie, the other a 36-year old juicer in his next-to-last season who was breaking down but still managing to set the record for the most home run by a player who played in fewer than 100 games.  During his 1998 chase of Maris’s HR record, my memory is of McGwire being by far the most popular figure in baseball, often appearing with his young son at games and paying considerable respect to Maris during interviews.  At the time, it would have been hard to imagine that less than ten years later, in the first year of his eligibility for the Hall of Fame, he would barely receive enough votes to remain on the ballot, a vote that took place three years before his first public admission of PED use, which he said first began in 1990 and became regular in 1993.  He never cleared 25% of votes and dropped off the ballot in 2014. In 2018, McGwire stated that he thought he would have hit 70 homers even without PEDs; Victor Conte, the man at the heart of the BALCO PED scandal, said: "I don’t think he would have achieved 50 home runs without PEDs."  Personally, I doubt that either was correct.

REGIONAL #204:  The draw for this group closed out the last remaining teams in the tournament for three seasons spaced a decade apart:  1973, 1983, and 1993.  The three representatives from those seasons seemed like they would all be competitive, as the ‘83 team involved the Cardinals a season after and two seasons before pennants, and the ‘73 selection was the Red Sox two seasons before their legendary Series.  I was less confident in the other five entries; the Dbacks had won a pennant much earlier in the decade but I doubted there was much left of that team, the Tigers were probably beginning to climb out of some truly terrible seasons but I didn’t think they were there yet, the Rangers were probably mediocre as they have been for most of their history, and my hunch was that the Brewers and Royals weren’t on anyone’s greatest teams list.   As such, I guessed that it would be the Cards against the Red Sox in a potentially epic final, and I picked the Cards to prevail, as I seemed to remember my buddy Jim whacking me with that team back in the day.  The ELO ratings predicted the same two teams in the final, but picked the Red Sox to triumph as they represented the only top 1000 team in the bracket. 

First round action   

The 1983 Cardinals looked more like a team from the deadball era, with five A or AA stealers but only two hitters reaching the teens in home runs; with a mediocre rotation fronted by John Stuper (12-11, 3.68) they weren’t able to reach .500, going 79-83.   The 2001 Brewers were a polar opposite, a slow team with a couple of big bashers in Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz, but their pitching was dreadful with Ben Sheets (11-10, 4.76) sporting the best ERA in the rotation.  A leadoff double by Willie McGee in the bottom of the 2nd sets up a sac fly from Ozzie Smith to put the Cards on the board first, and then three doubles in the 3rd by Tommy Herr, George Hendrick and David Green precede a 3-run homer from Andy Van Slyke.  At that point the Brewers cast Sheets to the wind and Chad Fox comes in to get the third out, but St. Louis now leads 6-0.  Fox does his job, but after he pitches his four inning allotment Ray King comes in to immediately yield a 2-run blast to Darrell Porter to extend the Cards lead.  Devon White finally gets the Brewers in the barrel with a 2-run homer of his own in the 8th, but Stuper hangs on and the Cards continue their quest for a second straight regional crown with an easy 8-2 win.

In my lifetime, most Dodgers teams have been pretty good, but the 1993 Dodgers were a mediocre 81-81 with a young Mike Piazza and a bunch of past-their-prime sluggers trying to support a pretty good rotation fronted by the knuckleball of Tom Candiotti (8-10, 3.12).  In contrast, the Royals during the same span have occasionally been very good and more often have been very bad, and the 2001 Royals represented the latter, losing 97 games with Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney as their main attractions, and a host of bad starters with Jeff Suppan (10-14, 4.37) probably the best of the lot.  Royals 1B-4 Sweeney manages to make two errors in the top of the 2nd, but the Dodgers can’t score as CF-2 Beltran makes a great catch to end the inning.   The Dodgers get their first hit in the 3rd, a two-out solo shot by Piazza, and Suppan has a hard time recovering from that blow, needing a stellar play by 2B-5 Luis Alicea to end the inning and prevent more damage.  In the bottom of the inning, consecutive errors by 2B-2 Jody Reed and SS-4 Jose Offerman lead to problems when a knuckler gets past Piazza that allows a game-tying run to score.  Nonetheless, Mike atones in the 5th, missing a HR 1-15 split on Suppan but driving in a run with the resulting triple, although Suppan strands him at 3rd to keep it a one-run game.  A two-out single in the 7th and the Royals pull Suppan for reliever Jason Grimsley, who retires PH Raul Mondesi with no issues.  Candiotti takes the slim lead into the bottom of the 9th, and gets two quick outs before Neifi Perez collects his third hit of the game to keep the Royals’ hopes alive.  Joe Randa steps to the plate with a 1-17 pinch runner on first representing the tying run, but Randa hits a lazy fly to the outfield and the Dodgers survive with a 2-1 win, Candiotti tossing a nice 5-hitter to advance.   

This first round game might be the best of the bracket, with the top seed taking on the #3 ranked team.  The 89-win 1973 Red Sox were an interesting transition team between their pennant-winners of ‘67 and ‘75, with Yaz and Petrocelli being teamed with Fisk and Dwight Evans, and they had 20-game winner Luis Tiant (20-13, 3.34) on the mound.   They faced an 86-win 2009 Tigers squad that was coming out of a run of terrible teams thanks to some young talent like Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander (19-9, 3.45), who finished third in the Cy Young voting.  Cabrera tees off in the bottom of the 1st for a solo shot to give the Tigers an early edge, while Boston struggles to get anything going against Verlander.  And they can’t mount any kind of a threat until the top of the 9th, when Reggie Smith draws a walk and then with two out Tigers C-2 Gerald Laird drops a popup that puts the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on, with Tommy Harper at the plate.  Harper lifts a deep fly to left that would have been off the Green Monster, but here in Comerica Park it’s an easy out and the Tigers upset the top seed 1-0 to advance thanks to Verlander’s 3-hit shutout.

The 1984 Rangers lost 92 games, with some atrociously bad fielding and a bottom of the lineup that looked like they should be in the minors, but they did have some decent starting pitching and swingman Mike Mason (9-13, 3.61) would get the round one start.  They faced a 2008 Diamondbacks team that squeaked above .500 at 82-80; they had 7 guys in the lineup with double digit homers, paced by the well-traveled Adam Dunn’s 40, and Brandon Webb (22-7, 3.30) was the Cy Young runner-up in essentially the final year of his MLB career.  The Dbacks power asserts itself in the top of the 2nd with a 2-run homer from Conor Jackson off Mason’s card, and some bad defense then loads up the bases and Mason walks Mark Reynolds to score another run.  Jackson comes up again in the 3rd, and again he finds and converts Mason’s HR split for a solo shot that makes it 4-0 Arizona.  Justin Upton adds a 2-run blast in the 5th, this one off his own card, but the Rangers decide to get Mason’s card out of there and try Dave Schmidt, but his outing begins with two straight singles off his card and a sac fly extends the Dback lead.  Schmidt loads up the bases again in the 6th and another sac fly adds more padding, and the Dbacks empty the bench with defensive replacements in the blowout.  That seems to be the cue for the Rangers to erupt, as they reel off six hits against Webb, with RBI singles from Pete O'Brien and Mickey Rivers, and then pinch hitter Marvis Foley comes in with the bases loaded and converts a HR 1-2/flyB split for a grand slam and suddenly it’s a 2-run game after six.  A leadoff single in the 7th and Webb is pulled for Max Scherzer, who loads the bases for Curtis Wilkerson; he rolls Scherzer’s HR 1-10/flyB and the split is an 11, but the runner on third comes in to make it a one-run game.  Next batter is Billy Sample–it’s the same roll on Scherzer, but this time the split is a 3 which stands for 3-run homer and the miracle Rangers take the lead.   The Dback scrubs rally for a run in the 8th to make it a one-run game, but the Rangers continue the beatdown with three more runs in the bottom of the inning off new Arizona pitcher Chad Qualls.  With Schmidt now burnt for the regional, the Rangers move to Dave Tobik and hope for the best, and he issues three walks to load the bases with two out for Adam Dunn as the tying runn.  But he dunn rolled a 2-6 strikeout, nestled next to his 2-5 solid homer, and the Dbacks are dunn and the Rangers move on with the 13-9 win in which they came back from an 8-0 deficit.

The survivors

The 1983 Cardinals were the top remaining seed in the semifinals, and it would be up to Dave Lapoint (12-9, 3.95) to overcome the jinx imparted by my selection of them to win the regional.  The 1993 Dodgers would have Pedro Astacio (14-9, 3.57) on the mound, and both teams had fully rested pens after first round complete games.  Lonnie Smith leads off the top of the 1st with an infield single, and then steals second on C-3 Mike Piazza; Dodgers RF-3 Cory Snyder then drops a Tommy Herr flyball for a two base error and Darrell Porter adds a double and the Dodgers trail 2-0 before 95% of their fans make it to their seats in Chavez Ravine.  They also miss Jose Offerman getting injured for 4 games in the bottom of the 1st, but some of them catch Smith leading off the 5th with a walk, stealing second again, and then scoring on an error by CF-2 Brett Butler.  The Dodgers threaten in the 8th, as an Eric Davis single and two walks loads the bases with two out for PH Raul Mondesi; he rips a grounder to 1B-3 George Hendrick who makes a highlight play to retire the side without damage.  In the top of the 8th David Green walks, steals second, advances to 3rd on an error by 3B-2 Tim Wallach, and scores when Ozzie Smith pushes a single past SS-4 Lenny Harris, but there is still enough life left in Piazza’s arm to swing the bat and he belts a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning to put the Dodgers on the board.  A leadoff double in the 9th by Tommy Herr off Astacio sends the Dodgers to the pen for young Pedro Martinez, and he holds, leaving an increasingly ineffective Lapoint to try to finish out the bottom of the 9th.  And although he relinquishes a single to Jody Reed, he strikes out three other Dodgers to seal the 4-1 win and earn the Cards a trip to the finals.

The 2009 Tigers were the #3 seed in the bracket and had already eliminated the favorite, but although ace Verlander was spent it seemed like Edwin Jackson (13-9, 3.62) was a capable second starter.  The 1984 Rangers had demonstrated plenty of grit in coming back from an eight run deficit in the first round, although Frank Tanana (15-15, 3.25) would need to go deep in the game as their best reliever was Texas toast after that game.  The Tigers threaten in the 2nd when Curtis Wilkerson walks, steals second, and heads for home on a Placido Polanco 2-out single, but the 1-16+2 Wilkerson is nailed on a 20 split.  That opens the door for the Rangers in the bottom of the 3rd, who ride RBI singles from Buddy Bell and Pete O’Brien for a 2-0 lead, but Brandon Ingle pokes a solo HR in the top of the 4th to narrow the lead to one.  Bell responds with a HR to lead off the bottom of the 5th, and when a single and a walk put two Rangers on in the 8th, Detroit summons Fu-Te Ni to get the final out, but PH Mickey Rivers drills a single that scores an insurance run for Tanana to take into the 9th.  He closes out the 5-hit complete game and the Rangers move to the finals with a 4-1 upset.

Fire up the MTV, it’s an all-80s final with the #2 seeded 1983 Cardinals against the upstart #7 seed 1984 Rangers for the regional title.  The Cards opted to start Joaquin Andujar (6-16, 4.16) who looked better than his record, while the Rangers pinned their hopes on the knuckleball of Charlie Hough (16-14, 3.76).  Lonnie Smith opens the top of the 1st and promptly steals second on C-4 Ned Yost, who may be in for a long night, but Hough mystifies the heart of the Cards order to strand Smith.  Ken Oberkfell leads off the 2nd with a walk, but Yost throws him out on an attempted steal; however, Willie McGee follows with a single, a successful steal, and then David Green smacks a hard single to score the swift McGee and the Cards lead.  Green of course then steals second, but Hough manages to get the knuckler working again and strikes out two in a row to end that threat.  The Rangers then respond in the bottom of the inning as Gary Ward puts a solo shot into the Arlington Stadium stands and it’s a tie game.  In the 5th, Lonnie Smith pushes a single past SS-4 Curtis Wilkerson, steals second again, and scores on a Tommy Herr single, but the Rangers escape further damage thanks to a nice DP turned by one of the few capable Texas fielders, 1b-2 Pete O’Brien.  In the 6th, the Rangers opt for backup catcher Marvis Foley, and he hits a double and then barely slides under the tag on 2-out single by Buddy Bell, with a 12 split on his 1-11+2 chance.  Thus, the game is reset once again, tied entering the 7th.  In the top of the inning, the Cards look on in horror as sparkplug Lonnie Smith is injured for 6 games, to the relief of the Rangers catching staff.  When Ward singles in the bottom of the inning, St. Louis doesn’t like the direction things are going and move to Jeff Lahti out of the pen, and he dispatches the Rangers to preserve the tie.  A leadoff single in the 8th by Darrell Porter and Texas inspects its own pen, but with their top reliever burnt it’s up to Hough, who induces a DP from McGee and the game stays tied entering the 9th.  Both Hough and Lahti are perfect in the 9th and it’s going to be an extra-innings final; Hough does his job in his final inning of eligibility as does Lahti, and both teams now must explore the darker recesses of their pitching staffs.  For Texas, that’s Dave Tobik, who earned the save in the first round game, and although he allows a single to McGee, backup catcher Foley throws out McGee on the attempted steal to eliminate that threat.  The Cards continue to avoid the dubious card of Bruce Sutter and summon Dave Rucker for the bottom of the 11th, who walks the first two batters and the crowd in Arlington are on their feet for Buddy Bell–who grounds into a DP and it’s two out with Foley as the winning run on 3rd and Larry Parrish at the plate.  Rucker delivers, it’s a 4-6, a strikeout on Sutter but a solid single on Rucker and it’s game over, regional over; the Remarkable Rangers win 3-2 and take what is only the 2nd regional crown for the Texas team. 

Interesting card of Regional #204:  This entry merits consideration mainly for a topic brought up previously in this feature (e.g. see Regional #190), namely great final Strat cards of one’s career. This 2008 card represented the Cy Young runner-up for the NL, an award that many felt he should have won.  He’d made a habit of being in the race, as he’d also finished 2nd in 2007 and won the award in 2006, and at age 29, Webb looked poised for a Hall of Fame career.  Of course, the Arizona ace was the Opening Day starter for the 2009 season, but he only lasted four innings and was removed with tightness in his shoulder.  On April 7, he was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder bursitis, and he never pitched again in the majors.  Still, through the magic of Strat, we are able to take out his excellent last card and give him a go in the first round of this tournament; unfortunately, the shoulder must still be a problem as he allowed 7 runs and 9 hits in six innings, getting pelted by the lowly ‘84 Rangers.  Even so, I think he has to make the “great final Strat cards” team, joining Sandy Koufax in the rotation with Ted Williams and Barry Bonds providing run support.

REGIONAL #203:  As I go deeper in the tournament, the composition of the brackets gets increasingly slanted towards more modern teams, because (a) with expansion, there are far more of them, and (b) given that I began the project more than 40 years ago, pretty much all teams issued before then have already made their appearance.  This group is a typical example, with the oldest teams dating back to the 90s, and I tend to have less vivid memories of most of them.  The ones that stood out most to me were a 90s Yankees team that would have a record-setting season a year later and a “moneyball” A’s team that I suspected was beginning to run out of money.  I thought some other entries such as the Cards and the Jays might be competitive, but I guessed that the Yankees would be the favorites even though these Jeter-era squads have generally done poorly, including the ‘98 team that didn’t get past the semifinals.  I didn’t know what to make of the bottom of the bracket, guessing that the Nats had pitching and the Rockies had hitting but that neither was a complete team, so I picked the Jays to be the victims of the Yankees in the final.  The ELO ratings aligned perfectly with my ill-formed impressions of the group, with the same choices for the final and tapping the potential Yanks vs. A’s semifinal as the marquee game of the regional. 

First round action

The 1997 Yankees were the top seeds in the bracket, ELO ranked among the top 150 teams of all time, winning 96 games but making a rapid exit from the ALDS as a wild card.  Derek Jeter and his colleagues were all in place, with offense up and down the lineup and on the bench, and a good rotation for the era with David Cone (12-6, 2.82) tapped for the round one start.  They would face the #4 seed 1993 Cardinals, who went 87-75 with good averages but limited power, and Donovan Osborne (10-7, 3.76) was counting on Ozzie Smith to cover a lot of ground because everyone else in the infield was a 4.  But even Oz can’t get to a 2-run single that Tino Martinez rifles past 2B-4 Gregg Jeffries in the bottom of the 3rd and the Yanks take the lead.  But Jeffries atones in the top of the 4th with a leadoff single, and his AA stealing lets him swipe second where he scores on a Bernard Gilkey single; that rattles Cone horribly and he issues 5 walks that lead to three more runs and the Cards take a 4-2 lead.  Cone issues three more walks in the 5th, separated by a Tom Pagnozzi RBI single, and New York summons Mariano Rivera in desperation but Luis Alicea pokes a split single and St. Louis leads 6-2.   The Cards keep piling on in the 8th, when Jeffries adds an RBI single and Gilkey misses a HR split but drives in two on the resulting double.  In the bottom of the 9th, PH Jorge Posada raps a one-out single but Jeter grounds into the DP and the Cards eliminate the bracket favorite with a 9-2 pasting as another Jeter-era Yankees team makes a quick tournament exit.  

The 2003 A’s were still riding the Moneyball wave in winning 96 games and the AL West, but this version wasn’t all about getting on base as they stumbled into a very good starting rotation with Tim Hudson (16-7, 2.70) placing 4th in the Cy Young ballots.  On the other hand, the 2010 Orioles lost 96 games and the greatest similarity that they had to the A’s was that they also had Miguel Tejada in the lineup, albeit a much worse version, and while Jeremy Guthrie (11-14, 3.83) was a respectable staff ace, the rotation got much worse very rapidly.  Even so, the Orioles rap three singles against Hudson in the top of the 1st, including an RBI hit from Corey Patterson, to open the scoring.  And that one run looks like it may be enough as Guthrie doesn’t allow an A’s baserunner until the 4th, and he keeps mowing them down while the O’s add another two runs in the 9th on a Matt Wieters single set up by a 2-base error courtesy of A’s CF-2 Chris Singleton.  That provides some padding for Guthrie, who doesn’t need it as he dispatches the top of the A’s order in the bottom of the 9th to finish up a 3-hit shutout and the Orioles move on with a 3-0 upset.  

There were three teams in this bracket rated among the top 1000 of all time, and with the other two eliminated in the first round it was up to the 88-74 1998 Blue Jays to try to break the trend as the top remaining seed.  Given the season, it was not surprising to find that the Jays had Carlos Delgado, Jose Canseco, and Shawn Green each with over 35 homers, but they also had Cy Young winner Roger Clemens (20-6, 2.65) on the mound, who only allowed 11 homers in 235 innings in that HR-crazy season, suggesting that steroids were a two-way street.   The 2010 Nationals lost 93 games and although they had some free swingers of their own, notably Adam Dunn who wasn’t quite done, their rotation was neither deep nor good with only Livan Hernandez (10-12, 3.86) turning in a credible performance.  Clemens is bailed out in the 4th when 1-13+2 Ryan Zimmerman is nailed at the plate with a 19 trying to score on an Ian Desmond double, and it looks like he’ll need the support as Hernandez is perfect until Darrin Fletcher converts a split single in the bottom of the 5th.  However, in the 7th a leadoff single by Tony Fernandez followed by a double from Delgado are both recorded off Hernandez’s card, and the Nats summon nearly unhittable reliever Joel Peralta to try to preserve the tie.  He comes through brilliantly, mowing down the heart of the Jays order to strand both runners and it’s still a scoreless tie heading into the 8th.  Both pitcher hold in the 8th, and although Shannon Stewart knocks a leadoff single in the bottom of the 9th, the AA stealer is cut down by Pudge Rodriguez trying to swipe second and the game goes to extra innings still with no score.  Clemens is flawless in his final inning of eligibility, while Green leads off the bottom of the 10th with a hard double to put the winning run in scoring position.  However, once again Peralta comes through, stranding Green at second to end his usage for the regional, and it will be a brand new ballgame with two new pitchers to begin the 11th.  For the Jays, it’s veteran Dan Plesac out of the pen, and he issues a walk to Josh Willingham, who moves to third on a 2-out single by Michael Morse who misses the TR 1-3 split with a 4.  That brings up Ryan Zimmerman, who rips a grounder but SS-2 Alex Gonzalez makes a highlight reel play and we move to the bottom of the 11th, where the Nats hand the ball to 21 year old rookie Stephen Strasburg, who escapes a minor jam to send the game to the 12th.  Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina, and Pudge lead off the inning with three squib singles in a row, so the bases are loaded with nobody out and the Jays bring the infield in and pray for an LOMAX.  They do get a grounder out of Nyjer Morgan and Desmond is out at the plate for one out, and the infield remains in.  Once again, it’s a grounder and this time Bernadina is forced out at home and it’s two away for Josh Willingham, who misses a SI 1-2 split and Plesac pulls off a miraculous escape.  It’s then up to Strasburg, who whiffs Canseco, but Shawn Green rolls the 5-5 on Strasburg, HR 1-7, and the split is a 6 for a walkoff shot and the Jays take the 1-0 nailbiter.  Plesac earns a shaky win even though Clemens threw 10 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits while striking out 10. 

With two bad teams in the 101-loss 2006 Rays and the 94-loss 2015 Rockies, the ELO rankings were skeptical that somebody here would actually win this game.  Actually, looking at the Rockies lineup, I was wondering how they managed to lose so many games with two 40+ HR guys in Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez, and a nice DP combo in Troy Tulowitski and DJ LeMahieu, but then I hit their pitching staff, where Jorge de la Rosa (9-7, 4.17) was the best of bad starter options.  The Rays didn’t have anywhere near the lineup of the Rockies, but Scott Kazmir (10-8, 3.24) looked like Christy Mathewson in comparison to the Colorado staff.  In the top of the 3rd Ty Wigginton misses a HR 1-14 split with a 15 but drives in Julio Lugo on the resulting double, and the Rays take an early lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning Charlie Blackmon doesn’t miss his HR 1-11 split and the 2-run blast pushes the Rockies ahead.  Travis Lee quickly responds with a solo shot in the top of the 4th that briefly ties things up, but Gonzalez crushes one into the thin air of Coors to lead off the bottom of the inning to continue the home run derby for another Colorado lead.  Once again it’s short-lived, as Carl Crawford leads off the 5th with a walk, steals second, and races home on a single from Rocco Baldelli and things are tied once more.  Things stay quiet until Delmon Young leads off the top of the 8th with a single, and the Rockies briefly eye a gruesome bullpen before turning away in horror and stick with de la Rosa, which works out as Arenado turns a nifty DP to eliminate the threat.  Both starters then get their second wind, and the game proceeds to extra innings with both tossing perfect frames in the 10th to finish their eligibility.  That means that the Rockies have to go to the pen, and their “closer” John Axford comes in to begin the 11th and immediately surrenders a homer to Delmon Young, so the Rays take the one run lead into the bottom of the inning with Ruddy Lugo charged with preserving the win against the heart of the Colorado order.  A base hit by Arenado puts the tying run aboard, and with two out CF-2 Baldelli misplays a Corey Dickerson hit to put the tying run on third and the winning run on 2nd, and Tulowitzki at the plate.  Lugo delivers, it’s a grounder to 2B-3 Wigginton, and he drops it for the second Tampa error of the inning and the game is tied.  The Rays stick with Lugo but he is rattled, and Nick Hundley lines a single into the outfield, Dickerson trots home with the winning run and bad Tampa fielding hands the Rockies the walkoff 5-4 win.   

The survivors

This semifinal matched two upset winners from round one, although the 1993 Cardinals were a winning team and their Bob Tewksbury (17-10, 3.83) compared favorably to the starter for the 2010 Orioles, Brian Matusz (10-12, 4.30).  Things start out ugly in the bottom of the 1st for the O’s, as cleanup hitter Ty Wigginton kills a rally by hitting into an inning-ending DP and getting injured for seven games while he was at it.  The Cards sense an opening and they load the bases in the top of the 2nd, getting two runs from a fielder's choice and a bases loaded walk although it could have been worse as they leave three runners aboard.   They do get another in the 3rd when Bernard Gilkey misses a HR 1-13/DO but Gregg Jeffries races home on the double, although Gilkey is again stranded in scoring position.  However, in the bottom of the 4th Tewksbury feels a twinge in his arm and the Cards have to pull him, giving Les Lancaster a chance in long relief.  His first pitch to fellow injury replacement Jake Fox is a tape-measure solo homer, and the Cards nervously check other options in the pen, but Lancaster gets out of the inning without further damage.  Gilkey adds to his RBI total with a run-scoring single in the top of the 5th to extend the St. Louis lead to 4-1, and in the bottom of the 6th the Cards decide to preserve Lancaster and bring in their closer Lee Smith, who somehow managed 43 saves with a terrible card.  A two-out solo blast by Mark Whiten in the top of the 8th provides Smith with additional padding, and a host of defensive replacements come in for the Cards.  The O’s do get two aboard with two out in the 9th, but Smith avoids his HR issues and gets Matt Wieters for the final out to earn the save and the Cardinals head to the regional finals with a comfortable 5-1 win.  

The #3 seeded 1998 Blue Jays were the top ranked team still surviving after round one, and they barely survived a scoreless marathon burning their ace starter as well as taxing their bullpen.  Their rotation now drops off abruptly, with Woody Williams (10-9, 4.46) hoping for a lot of run support from their powerful lineup.  However, the 2015 Rockies had some bashers of their own, and Chad Bettis (8-6, 4.23) was still a serviceable starter, unlike the remaining options that occupied the Rockies rotation.  Bettis starts out nicely, but Jose Canseco ends the top of the 3rd by lining one off the pitcher’s shin and Bettis has to leave the game, with Boone Logan coming out of the Rockies’ bad bullpen to take over.  In the bottom of the inning Nolan Arenado gives him a lead to work with by converting a TR 1-4/flyB split for two runs, and Carlos Gonzalez follows that with a 2-run homer to put Colorado up 4-0.  In the bottom of the 5th Corey Dickerson rolls Williams’ solid 6-9 HR for a solo shot and the Jays have seen enough, bringing in game one winner Dan Plesac in desperation.  He holds, and Toronto gets down to business in the top of the 6th, getting two straight pinch hits and loading the bases with nobody out.  They get a 2-run single from Shannon Stewart but then leave the bases loaded, narrowing the gap to three runs.  The Jays load the bases again in the 7th, and again Stewart comes through with a single that drives in two, but this time Tony Fernandez follows it up with an RBI single that ties the game and Logan is gone for game one winner John Axford, but Carlos Delgado drills one into the right field corner and Stewart and Fernandez race home on the double for a Toronto lead.  The Rockies waste no time in response, as Arenado leads off the bottom of the 7th with a colossal homer, Gonzalez goes back to back, and the game is tied and Plesac is evicted and Kelvim Escobar tries his hand at relief.  And the thin air triumphs again as Dickerson makes it back-to-back-to-back, and it’s back to a one-run Colorado edge entering the 8th–which vanishes immediately, as Shawn Green leads off the inning with a long blast and tournament officials wire headquarters for an emergency shipment of more baseballs.  Axford then loads up the bases with one out for Stewart again, but he hits a grounder and the runner is forced at home for two outs.  That brings up Fernandez, and it’s his turn for the two-run single off Axford and the Jays regain the lead.  Jose Canseco leads off the 9th with a homer for the Jays, and Tony Phillips later adds a run-scoring single to pad the lead further.  In the bottom of the 9th, Escobar is a little rough and the Rockies get a run on a passed ball by backup catcher Benito Santiago, but it’s not enough as the Jays escape with a wild 12-9 win and head to the finals with two remarkable comeback wins but a seriously depleted pen.  

The regional final between the #3 seed 1998 Blue Jays and the #4 seed 1993 Cardinals was also the Zoom game of the week, and although our resident Jaybird Roy was MIA, the allegedly honorary Canadian Nacster stepped up to helm Toronto reluctantly naming Chris Carpenter (12-7, 4.37) to start, while TT volunteered to manage the Cardinals in true Whitey Herzog style (even though Joe Torre was actually in charge at the time) with Rene Arocha (11-8, 3.78) on the hill.  But Gregg Jeffries didn’t need his AA speed in the top of the first inning, as he crushes a two-run homer for a quick Cards lead, but Carlos Delgado launches a solo moonshot in the bottom of the inning and St. Louis holds a one-run lead after one.  TT goes to smallball in the 2nd, with Luis Alicea flawlessly executing the suicide squeeze, but once again the Jays respond in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double from Darrin Fletcher to make it 3-2 Cards.  But Mark Whiten does some hittin’ in the 4th with a solo homer, and Carpenter is rattled and allows RBI hits to Ozzie Smith and Jeffries the Cards extend their lead to 6-2.  By this time Arocha has settled in and the Jays are getting nowhere, with Nac’s great Jose Canseco lineup experiment not producing results.  Meanwhile TT is haunting Jays C Fletcher, with a walk to Jeffries resulting in a steal of second, a steal of third, and a near-steal of home (8 split on a 1-7 chance) eliciting a chorus of boos from the normally polite Toronto partisans.  Whiten and Alicea produce two more runs in the 8th, and Carpenter is flagging but the Toronto pen is burnt from their prolonged battles in the first two rounds and no mercy is forthcoming from Nac.  In the bottom of the 9th, the Jays finally get to Arocha, with the most underrated son Jose Cruz Jr. nailing a two-run homer, and the crowd senses unfolding drama with Canseco potentially coming to the plate with a chance to change the game.  But Arocha doesn’t let Canseco leave the dugout, recording the third out as the Cards win 8-4 to take their 12th regional, the first from the 90s, and for the second straight bracket the Jays come up short in the final.

Interesting card of Regional #203:  Benito Santiago was the NL Rookie of the Year for the Padres in 1987 and became a consistent All-Star backstop for them, but when San Diego gutted their team after the 1992 season refusing to sign any of their higher-paid players, Santiago joined the expansion Marlins and hit the first home run in the history of that team in ‘93.  However, he never quite recaptured his Padre years and became somewhat of a journeyman, bouncing around between various teams.  He eventually caught on with the Blue Jays in ‘97 but was frequently injured, and prior to the 1998 season he was hurt in a car crash, which earned him one of the worst injury rolls I can remember on his ‘98 card.  He did not get back into the lineup until September 4th of that year, and although he only played 15 games, you’d have to think that the Jays got double what they expected out of him given the makeup of this card.  However, the Blue Jays released him at the end of the season, believing that he was washed up at age 33.  But, as it turned out, he had another 7 seasons and 110 doubles in front of him; he had a particularly strong 2002 season for the Giants batting behind Barry Bonds, when he earned his fifth All-Star selection and received MVP votes, and he was named MVP of the NLCS.  However, his association with Bonds extended to the Mitchell Report on steroids, which stated that syringes were found in Santiago’s locker near the end of the 2003 season. Santiago claimed that he had collected the syringes as part of an ongoing prank by teammate Bonds, but the scandal didn’t help his Hall of Fame prospects, as he received just one vote in 2011, his first year on the ballot, and failed to get any votes in successive years.  However, a full season with this card might have doubled his chances.  

REGIONAL #202:  This draw was an intriguing mix of teams from different eras, and although no pennant winners were represented, some were close, like the ‘54 Dodgers who won the NL in the prior two seasons and would do so again in the subsequent two.  There was also a Mets team developing towards their famous championship team in the 80s, and a couple of squads with some famous sluggers like Sammy Sosa and Dale Murphy.  It seems like all of these teams could contend, including a pandemic year Jays team where you never know what you might get in some of those odd cards.  I thought the Jays might represent a tough first round challenge for the ‘54 Dodgers, but I guessed that the Bums would get past them and best the boys from Queens in the finals.  The ELO rankings indicated that I had overlooked the 1985 Yankees, rated as a powerhouse, with the Bronx Bombers favored to take the bracket over a more modern Dodgers squad in the finals.

First round action

The Zoom game of the week matched Toronto-area resident Roy at the wheel of the 2020 Blue Jays, while StratFan Rick directed the 1954 Dodgers.  Those Bums won 92 games, but their second place finish broke what would have been a string of five consecutive pennants; even so, all the big names were there:  Pee Wee, the Duke, Gil, number 42, the Reading Rifle, and “Oisk” Carl Erskine (18-15, 4.15) on the mound.  However, the Jays did make the pandemic postseason as a wild card, albeit with a 32-28 record; they had some nice exemplars of the small-sample oddities that characterized that season, with Teoscar Hernandez sporting a card of Ruthian proportions, and they were fortunate that their highest IP pitcher, Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-2, 2.69) was by far their best starter.  The Jays welcome Brooklyn to the 21st century in the bottom of the 1st with a massive 2-run homer from Hernandez, but the Dodgers are undaunted and Gil Hodges responds with a tape measure blast of his own in the top of the 2nd.  Then, in the 3rd Jackie Robinson wraps one barely around the foul pole for another 2-run shot and the Dodgers take a 3-2 lead and look to Erskine to hang on to it.  He does so until the 5th, when Lourdes Gurriel finds Erskine’s solid 5-9 HR result for a solo poke that ties the game, and then in the 6th Bo Bichette, who has been leaving runners in scoring position to that point, rolls Erskine’s 5-8 which results in a double that scores two and the cardboard cutouts at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field (the Jays temporary pandemic home) sway excitedly to the piped-in crowd noise.  Now things are up to Ryu, and despite an imposing bullpen Roy is determined to stick with his ace, who is periodically bedeviled by some dismal fielding at key positions.  Nonetheless, Ryu holds on and the Jays pull off the 5-3 upset to survive and move to the semifinals.  

I was surprised that the 1985 Yankees were the top ELO seed in this bracket, but they did win 97 games behind AL MVP Don Mattingly, Rickey Henderson, and Dave Winfield, and 20 game winner Ron Guidry (22-6, 3.27) was the runner-up in the Cy Young votes.  On the other hand, the 1999 Cubs had one primary weapon, Sammy Sosa’s 63 homers, and their rotation suffered from the steroid era blues with Jon Lieber (10-11, 4.07) the best they had to offer.  The Yanks grab the lead in the top of the 3rd on consecutive two-out RBI singles from Mattingly and Winfield, but a tape measure solo shot from Henry Rodriguez in the bottom of the 4th makes it a one-run game.  A one-out triple by Henderson in the top of the 8th and the Cubs bring in the infield and reliever Rick Aguilera, but Mattingly rolls the gbA++ and the single through the infield provides some insurance for the Yanks.  They add another in the top of the 9th with a 2-out solo shot from Mike Pagliarulo, and Guidry keeps providing the lightning to finish out a 4-hitter as the Yanks wrap up the 4-1 win.  

A couple of NL near-contemporaries face off in this first round matchup of the 1984 Mets and the 1983 Braves.  The #4 seeded Braves won 88 games to finish 2nd in the NL West, and they had NL MVP Dale Murphy anchoring the lineup; Craig McMurtry (15-9, 3.08) would get the start while Pascual Perez was trying to find Shea Stadium.  The Mets won 90 games and finished 2nd in the NL East, but for some reason had an ELO rating that was a fair amount worse than that of the Braves.  They were still a few seasons away from their infamous championship squad, but they had Rookie of the Year and Cy Young runner-up Doc Gooden (17-9, 2.60) with a dominating card.  In the top of the 1st, Murphy wins the first round of the marquee matchup with a hard single that sets up a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Bob Horner, but the bad boys from Queens tie it in the bottom of the inning on a Darryl Strawberry RBI single.  However, in his next AB in the 3rd Strawberry is hurt and the Mets don’t have much in the way of a replacement.  In a show of support, Keith Hernandez demonstrates his knowledge of Strat with a 3-4 roll for a two out 2-run homer in the 5th and a 3-1 lead, and now the Braves have to try to make up a deficit against the imposing Gooden, who seems to have settled down after some rookie jitters.  After a leadoff single in the bottom of the 7th, the Braves think their best chances lie with fat tub of goo reliever Terry Forster, and he does the job.  Gooden continues to cruise entering the 9th, and he retires Murphy and Horner for two quick outs, but then DH Bob Watson gets hold of one that clears the wall and it’s a one run game.  That brings up Chris Chambliss, who hits a sharp grounder to 2b-3 Wally Backman but he makes a nice play and the Mets hang on for the 3-2 win with Gooden allowing 5 hits while striking out 8.

The 2002 Dodgers had a nice ELO rating and won 92 games, but that was only good for 3rd in the NL West that season.   Shawn Green, who hit the only MLB foul ball that I have (although my son actually caught it), was their big bat, coming in 5th in the MVP votes and Odalis Perez (15-10, 3.00) was pretty good in a season that was tough on pitchers.   The 77-85 2010 Brewers weren’t terrible, as they had 5 guys in the lineup with 20+ homers, but their rotation dropped off quickly after Yovani Gallardo (14-7, 3.84).   The Brewers start off quickly, with back to back RBI doubles from Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the top of the 1st, but Mark Grudzielanek makes me type his name with a sac fly in the bottom of the 2nd, and after an error by 1B-3 Fielder, Dave Roberts contributes an RBI single to tie the game.   More sloppy Brewer fielding in the 3rd, this time by 3B-4 Casey McGehee, sets up a run-scoring grounder and a 2-run single from Grudzie, and the Dodgers move to a 5-2 lead.  Things don’t look any more promising for the Brewers as Braun is knocked out of the game with an injury in the top of the 6th, and when Paul LoDuca leads off the bottom of the inning with a double Gallardo is pulled in favor of closer John Axford, who then walks the bases full but manages to escape with no damage.   However, he is not as fortunate in the 7th, as Adrian Beltre and LoDuca contribute RBI singles before Axford wakes up and records three straight strikeouts.  Injury replacement Joe Inglett tries to make it interesting by finding and converting Perez’s HR split for a solo shot in the 9th, but that’s as far as the rally goes as the Dodgers wrap up the 7-3 and head to the semifinals.

The survivors

Having already dispatched the bracket’s second seed, the 2020 Blue Jays now faced the top seeded 1985 Yankees, although they were fortunate in that the second highest season IP total in the rotation was also their second best starter, Taijuan Walker (4-3, 2.70).  Without the pandemic constraints, the Yankees had more flexibility in their rotation and opted for swingman Dennis Rasmussen (3-5, 3.98) for the start.  The Jays start fast, with one run scoring on a DP ball out of Vlad Guerrero Jr. and a second on a mammoth solo shot from Teoscar Hernandez, but 1B Rowdy Tellez ends the inning with an injury that knocks him out of the game.  Cavan Biggio leads off the 3rd by finding and converting Rasmussen’s HR split to add to the lead, and after two outs Hernandez hits another moon shot to make it Jays 4, Yanks 0, but New York gets those runs back in the bottom of the inning on a 2-out 2-run double from Dave Winfield.  An error by Yankee SS-3 Bobby Meacham followed by a pinch hit single from Alejandro Kirk and Rasmussen is pulled for Dave Righetti, who allows an RBI single to Randall Grichuk but Rags is bailed out when Meacham turns a nice DP.   Meanwhile, Walker is cruising until the bottom of the 9th, when Don Baylor records only the second NY hit of the game in the form of a monstrous leadoff HR and the Jays summon Thomas Hatch from the pen.  Mike Pagliarulo singles past emergency 1B-5 Lourdes Gurriel, and with two out PH Ron Hassey comes to the plate as the tying run.  But Hatch strikes him out and the Jays pull off a second consecutive upset to head to the finals with the 5-3 victory.  

The rowdy 1984 Mets did what their infamous 1986 team could not–survive round one of this tournament, and now they faced the 2002 Dodgers with vengeance on their mind because a different Dodger squad shut out those ‘86 guys back in Regional #41.  The Mets would still be without injured Darryl Strawberry but Ron Darling (12-9, 3.81) was a nice second starter, as he’d face off against another good one in the Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo (16-6, 3,39).   In the top of the 2nd the Mets get a clutch 2-out RBI single from injury replacement Danny Heep, and they extend their lead in the 3rd when George Foster crushes a 2-run homer.  Nomo issues a couple of walks in the 5th and both score on consecutive 2-out RBI singles by Hubie Brooks and Kelvin Chapman, and the Mets are starting to run away with it while the Dodgers are still trying to record their first hit.  That hit finally comes in the 7th with a leadoff double by Dave Hansen, and Eric Karros singles him in with two away to get the Dodgers on the board.  A leadoff single in the 8th by Mike Fitzgerald and the Dodgers summon closer Eric Gagne to keep their faint hopes alive, but a walk, a Gagne error, and a bases-loaded walk to Keith Hernandez just digs the hole deeper.  However, the Dodgers recover the run on a Dave Roberts sac fly in the bottom of the inning, so the game enters the 9th with the Mets still sporting a comfortable four run lead.   Although Jesse Orosco is warming up in both bullpens at the same time, Darling doesn’t need the assistance as he closes out a four-hitter and pushes the Mets to the final with a 6-2 win.  

The regional final matches the #5 seed 1984 Mets against the #6 seeded 2020 Blue Jays.  The pandemic Jays had been fortunate that their two best starters were also their two highest-inning starters, which greatly assisted them in reaching the finals, but that luck had run out as Robbie Ray (2-5, 6.62) was up next, and he combined terrible control with bad gopher ball issues.  Meanwhile, the Mets were able to go with Walt Terrell (11-12, 3.52), who unlike our nickname for him back in the day wasn’t Walt Terrible this season, and they would also get Darryl Strawberry back after receiving ample medication for his “injury” in the first round.  But the Jays continue their run of scoring in the first inning of every game in the bracket, with Bo Bichette bouncing an RBI double past LF-4 George Foster in the top of the 1st.  Undaunted, the Mets draw two walks from the errant Ray and then Strawberry converts a HR 1-3 split for a 3-run shot and the lead.  In the 5th, Foster contributes with a sac fly that is set up when Keith Hernandez converts a SI* 1/lo 2-20 split located at 4-12 on Ray’s card, a result that should occur about once a century or the length of this tournament, whichever is shorter.  When Kelvin Chapman pushes a single past SS-4 Bichette in the bottom of the 6th, the Jays yank Ray for Jordan Romano’s 1.23 ERA, but that doesn’t work out as Bichette then commits a 2-base error and then Wally Backman finds Romano’s HR split, pretty much the only hit on his card, and it’s another 3-run blast and the Mets are running away with it.  Chapman converts his own HR split for a solo shot in the 8th that provides additional padding, but in the top of the 9th Rowdy Tellez whacks a solo blast of his own that throws Terrell off his game, as he issues a single and two walks to load the bases.  Randall Grichuk then pokes an RBI single and with the top of the order coming up, the Mets turn to Jesse Orosco as Terrell is completely out of gas.  Cavan Biggio greets him with a 2-run double off a missed HR split and now the tying run is at the plate with only one out.  CF-2 Mookie Wilson makes a nice play on a Bichette flyball, and although a run scores there are now two out.  Vlad Guerrero Jr. steps in, rips a hard grounder to replacement SS-3 Rafael Santana, but Santana makes the throw from his knees and the Mets survive with an 8-6 win and they record the 7th regional win for the franchise–and the first from the infamous 80s teams.  

Interesting card of Regional #202:  This bracket had a bunch of nice cards, including a career year from Gil Hodges, a Ruthian card from pandemic-year Teoscar Hernandez, a low-AB wonder in 2002 Mike Kinkade, and a couple of 80s MVPs from a couple of DMs, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy.  But none of those cards led their teams to the regional title, so ultimately I decided that this time the Doctor was in, with a card that earned him Rookie of the Year and also runner-up in the Cy Young voting to Rick Sutcliffe, who only won because of a gaudy 16-1 record with the Cubs after having had a mediocre 15 starts with the Indians.  But given a choice between the two for one game, I’d go with Gooden’s card, as he led the league in strikeouts, fewest hits/9, fewest HR/9, most strikeouts/9, and WHIP–all at the tender age of 19.  Remarkably, he was even better the following season, but instant fame in the nation’s largest media market coupled with a host of teammates with various addictions of their own began to catch up with him, and he began a long struggle with alcoholism and substance abuse that saw him spend repeated stints in rehab.  Gooden merits consideration in the “what if” category in baseball–he finished 58th in career strikeouts with a respectable 2,294, but if he’d managed to continue the pace that he set during his first three seasons for the remainder of his career, he would have more than doubled the total of the record holder, Nolan Ryan.