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.