REGIONAL #209:  The last regional boasted two pennant winners, but I didn’t spot any in this draw, although it looked to me like there were a couple of teams that might have come close.  The 1995 Blue Jays had won the AL two years previously, with no pennants being awarded in the prior year, and there was a pre-pandemic Phils team that would win the NL three seasons later.  There were a couple of Cleveland teams from the aughts that I suspected were decent, and I vaguely remembered a good Orioles team from around a decade ago but couldn’t recall if it would have been in 2014.  Other entries involved the Cubs, Mets, and Rangers that I suspected were okay, with nobody jumping out to me as a terrible team.  I selected the Jays to win, guessing that it would be over the Phils assuming some of the stars of their current team were starting to fall into place.  The ELO ratings indicated that I had picked the worst team in the bracket to prevail, although they did confirm my suspicions about the Orioles, indicating that they were the best team in the bracket as well as the best team in MLB that season.  Those ratings selected the O’s over the 2008 version of the Indians in the finals.

First round action

The 2014 Orioles were the top seed in the bracket, winning 96 games and the AL East for the first time in quite a while, and they did so with the likes of Manny Machado and Nelson Cruz, who finished 7th in MVP voting, while Chris Tillman (13-6, 3.34) topped a decent rotation.  Although the 2004 Indians were only a .500 team at 80-82, they did have a steroid-era lineup with everyone but Omar Vizquel in double digits in homers, with Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner getting some MVP votes and Jake Westbrook (14-9, 3.38) having a good season in an offense-heavy era.  Things don’t begin well for Tillman, as the first batter of the game, Matt Lawton, finds Tillman’s HR result for an instant Cleveland lead, and then after Hafner wipes out Vizquel on a DP, Martinez launches a homer that makes it 2-0.  Breakfast favorite Coco Crisp doubles in the 2nd and he snaps home on a single from Jody Gerut to widen the margin, and after a walk to Lawton, Tillman then tosses another gopher ball to the unlikely Vizquel for a 3-run blast.  Tillman then exits with a 32.34 ERA for his efforts, and Darren O’Day comes in to end the inning but the O’s now trail 6-0.  Cleveland gives one back when a run scores in the 3rd on an error by 1B-2 Ben Broussard, but Westbrook gets Chris Davis to do one of his 173 strikeouts to end the inning with runners in scoring position.  Back to back doubles by Ron Belliard and Gerut to lead off the 4th quickly put Cleveland back up by six, and the Baltimore cause isn’t helped any when Machado is injured for three games in the bottom of the 5th.  An RBI double in the 7th by Broussard off Orioles closer Zach Britton scores Vizquel, but it’s icing on the cake as Westbrook closes out the 5 hitter and the Indians easily eliminate the bracket favorite 8-1, but they need to cut down on the three errors they made if they seek to advance much further.  

The 1995 Blue Jays had many of the names but not the performances from their pennant winners from a few seasons before, going 56-88 in a strike shortened season whose innings limitations resulted in a very shallow starting rotation, with things getting ugly quickly after Al Leiter (11-11, 3.64).  They did have more offense than the 1992 Cubs, who had pretty much nothing after Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson, but the Cubs had a better 78-84 record largely due to one Greg Maddux (20-11, 2.18), who won his first of four straight Cy Young awards in his final season with the Cubs.  But it’s the maligned bottom of the order who starts things off for the Cubs in the bottom of the 2nd, with an RBI single from Doug Dascenzo followed by a 2-run double contributed by Jose Vizcaino, and by this time Leiter has failed to get out the bottom of the order and must face the top.  And sure enough, Mark Grace drives in a run with a single and after a walk to Sandberg, Dawson clubs it into the Wrigley bleachers and Leiter is gone in favor of Tony Castillo, who finally gets the last out of a seven-run inning.  With Maddux on the mound, it’s unfathomable that the Jays can come back in this one, and errors by Jays SS-3 Alex Gonzalez and 2B-1 Roberto Alomar in the 4th add another run to the Cubs lead.  With 8 runs and Maddux in their favor, the Cubs begin substituting for key personnel to cut down on injury risk, but it’s the Jays who get bit by the injury bug, losing John Olerud in the top of the 7th.  Toronto finally gets on the board in the 8th when Paul Molitor races home on a Devon White double, but it’s nowhere near enough and the Cubs coast to an 8-1 win and a spot in the semifinals.

The 2008 Indians were now the top remaining seed in the bracket, but I thought their ELO ranking was a bit optimistic for an 81-81 team, and although Grady Simmons got some MVP votes the real star of this team was Cy Young winner Cliff Lee (22-3, 2.54), whose eye-popping record gives some idea of how bad the team was when he wasn’t pitching.  They faced an 89-loss 2001 Rangers team from the heart of the steroid era, and although they couldn’t field or pitch much, they could hit, with the entire lineup above .400 SLG%, ARod and Rafael Palmiero combining for about 100 HR between them while both getting MVP votes, but the rotation was dreadful with Doug Davis (11-10, 4.45) the least frightening option.   The Indians get going in the bottom of the 1st with Sizemore drawing a walk, stealing second on rifle-armed Pudge Rodriguez, and then racing home on a single from future Ranger Shin-Soo Choo.  Davis holds it together until the 5th, when a single and two walks load the bases with nobody out, and then an error by 2B-3 Michael Young, a Simmons sac fly, and a 2-out single from Kelly Shoppach scores all three baserunners, although 1-11 Ryan Garko is cut down at the plate for the 3rd out. In the top of the 6th, Palmiero juices a solo shot to make it 4-1, and in the 7th Mike Lamb singles in Pudge to narrow the deficit to two.  A leadoff single in the bottom of the inning and the Rangers summon closer Jeff Zimmerman to try to keep it close, and he ends the threat with no damage.  A solo blast from ARod in the 8th brings the Rangers within one, but the Indians decide to stick with their ace, and he carries the slim margin into the 9th where he sets down Texas in order, holding on to give the Indians the 4-3 win and their second representative of the regional in the semifinals.

The 2019 Phillies had some of the pieces in place for their recent pennant-winning version, such as MVP vote-getter JT Realmuto, Bryce Harper, and Aaron Nola (12-7, 3.67), and the entire lineup did post SLG% over .400, but this was a mediocre 81-81 team with some defensive holes and a weak back end of the rotation.  They were still favored over the 1994 Mets, who went 55-58 in a strike-shortened season, but they had Bret Saberhagen (14-4, 2.74) finishing 3rd in the Cy Young votes while Rico Brogna had a killer partial year and Bobby Bonilla actually kind of earned his paycheck.  The Phils draw first blood in the bottom of the 3rd when Cesar Hernandez races home on an Andrew McCutchen double, while in the meantime Brogna grounds into DPs in both of his first two ABs.  However, third times a charm as in the 6th Brogna finds Nola’s HR result for a solo shot that ties the game, while in the bottom of the inning Corey Dickerson comes in to DH for the Phils and promptly strikes out and gets injured with Harper stranded in scoring position.  When Nola allows a single and a walk off his card to begin the 7th, Philadelphia summons Adam Morgan as one of the few relievers they have without serious longball issues, but Kevin McReynolds singles past SS-3 Juan Segura before Morgan can whiff Kent and Brogna, and the Mets now lead by one.  That lead doesn’t last long, as a walk and an error by 1B-2 Brogna set up a 2-run double by McCutchen, rolled off Saberhagen’s card, and the Phils regain the lead.  When 3B-4 Bonilla throws one into right field for a 2-base error to begin the bottom of the 8th, the Mets move to John Franco to try to change their fortunes, but Realmuto knocks an RBI single to provide a little insurance.  To preserve Morgan for a semifinal game, the Phils bring in closer Hector Neris for the 9th, who walks PH John Cangelosi but then records two straight strikeouts; however, he then allows a double to McReynolds and 1-17 Cangelosi gets the stop sign as the tying run is now at 2nd with two out.  Jeff Kent then comes to the plate and goes down swinging, and Neris records the scary save of the Phils’ 4-2 win by striking out the side, with a few interruptions.

The survivors

Despite their mediocre records, the #3 seeded 1992 Cubs and the #4 seed 2004 Indians were among the better teams in this lackluster bracket, with the Cubs having a solid Mike Morgan (16-8, 2.55) against a CC Sabathia (11-10, 4.12) who had better years.  Andre Dawson hawks up an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st to give the Cubs an early lead, and in the 2nd Mark Grace singles home a run and he races home on a Ryne Sandberg double to extend the margin.  Meanwhile, the Indians hit into three rally-killing DPs in the first five innings, but finally Victor Martinez avoids the DP in the 6th, instead posting an RBI double; Ben Broussard follows with a single that scores one but 1-9 Martinez is nailed at the plate and the Indians still trail by one.  A leadoff single by Steve Buechele in the bottom of the inning and the Tribe replace Sabathia with Bob Howry to try to keep the game in reach, and he does the job setting down the bottom of the Cubs order.  The Indians get the tying run to third with one out in the 8th, but Morgan gets out of the jam as the Cubs don’t entirely trust their bullpen, and although Casey Blake leads off the top of the 9th with a single, Coco Crisp follows with yet another DP and the Cubs and Morgan hang on to a 3-2 win to earn a trip to the finals.

With one Cleveland team gone from the semifinals, it was up to the #2 seeded 2008 Indians to try to move on against the 2019 Phillies, who had just watched their older selves eliminated in the 2023 NLCS.  The Indians were a bit nervous going with the same starting pitcher who had earned the loss for the 2004 team in the other semifinal, CC Sabathia (6-8, 3.83), but their other options were dreadful, while the Phils weren’t too enthusiastic about Jason Vargas (7-9, 4.51), especially with a bullpen that was taxed after round one.  The Indians take the lead in the top of the 2nd with a 2-run homer from Ben Francisco, while Sabathia is effective until the 5th, when two walks and an error from 1B-3 Ryan Garko loads the bases for Rhys Hoskins, who clears them with a triple.  But the Phils aren’t done yet, as doubles from Bryce Harper and JT Realmuto add another two runs and Philadelphia now leads 5-2 after five.  Realmuto adds a 2-out RBI single in the 7th and Sabathia is pulled for Rafael Perez, but in the 8th Hoskins converts a TR 1/DO split for his second multi-RBI triple of the game and the Phanatics are going wild at the Bank.  Vargas then retires the side in order in the 9th and the Phils move on to the finals with the 8-2 victory, with Sabathia accomplishing the dubious feat of being the losing pitcher in both semifinal games.  

The #3 seeded 1992 Cubs reached these finals by virtue of timely production from their big three of Grace, Sandberg, and Dawson, as well as from a strong rotation with Frank Castillo (10-11, 3.46) being the next up.  The #5 seed 2019 Phillies had relied on big games from different players, Andrew McCutchen in round one and Rhys Hoskins in the semifinal, and they were down to Zach Eflin (10-13, 4.13) although a complete game semifinal win left their bullpen fully rested for this final if Eflin should struggle.  But once again the Cubs core comes through with Andre Dawson knocking a solo homer in the top of the 1st for a quick lead, while the Phils try to respond in the bottom of the inning but leave the bases loaded without pushing a run across.  Sandberg drives in another run in the 3rd on a fielder’s choice following an error by Phils SS-3 Jean Segura, and the Phils continue to strand runners in scoring position.  Sensing that runs are going to hard to come by, Philadelphia moves to reliever Adam Morgan to begin the 6th even though Eflin was pitching decently, and the second batter he faces is Dawson, who deposits it into the grandstands for his second solo shot of the game.  The Phils get a solo homer from Maikel Franco in the 7th, and then pinch hitter Corey Dickerson knocks another in the 8th and suddenly it’s a one run game and the Cubs send out closer Bob Scanlan to try to quench the flames.  He retires the side, and when Morgan holds in his last inning of eligibility in the top of the 9th, it’s up to Scanlan to try to preserve the slim lead.  Although he issues a walk to Franco, he puts down the Phils, retiring round two hero Rhys Hoskins for the final out as the Cubs take the regional with the tight 3-2 win, their 11th bracket victory.  The ‘92 team thus joins the 1990, 1995, and 1996 Cubs for a nice run of bracket winners; Andre Dawson gets regional MVP honors with three homers and six RBI, meaning that he single-handedly knocked in more runs than Cubs opponents scored (5) in the three games.  

Interesting card of Regional #209:  The 1994 card set has a variety of interesting oddities, due to the strike year cutting short the season after many players had gotten off to hot starts.  One of these cards was from a guy with a great baseball name, Rico Brogna;  there is even a Mets podcast named after him.  However, I discovered that Brogna actually preferred football and was a highly recruited quarterback coming out of high school, but he signed with the Tigers following the advice of his father for financial security.   Brogna’s allegiance to the Tigers took a hit during his first stint in the majors as a late-season call-up in 1992.  The Tigers were playing the Rangers in Arlington and Brogna’s parents flew in to watch him for the first time as a major leaguer; he was in the lineup batting 8th as the DH, and six of the first seven Detroit batters reached base, knocking the right-handed Texas starter out of the game. His replacement was a lefty, which prompted Tigers manager Sparky Anderson, whose team already led 3-0, to call Brogna back into the dugout and send up a pinch-hitter–in the first inning. When Brogna was later traded to the Mets before the 1994 season, he “yelled in joy” when heard the news.  The Mets kept Brogna in Triple A ball to start the season, but when David Segui struggled, Brogna was called up in June and proceeded to go on a tear.  When the season ended because of the strike, he was third in the league in batting although still officially a rookie.  Unfortunately, he never quite lived up to the promise of this card, but he had a number of decent seasons with the Mets and Phillies despite being impeded by chronic pain associated with a severe genetic form of spinal and joint arthritis, and he retired at age 31.

REGIONAL #208:  I thought there was something fishy about the draw for this bracket, mainly because three of the teams were Marlins.  And, although most versions of the Marlins weren’t very good, this trio included one of the more improbable World Series winners in recent memory, the 1997 Marlins.  However, they weren’t the only unlikely Series champ in here, as the draw also included the Twins of 1987 of the homer hankies in the uncomfortably loud Metrodome, and with them on the other side of the bracket these two Series winners could potentially face off in a very intriguing final.  Most of the other teams in the group didn’t look like very stiff competition, although there was an Angels team that I guessed might have some potential.  I was picking the final I was pulling for, guessing that the Twins would prevail over the ‘97 version of the fish in the finals.   The ELO ratings confirmed my suspicions about the Angels, indicating that they were an appreciably better team than the Twins and picking them as victors over the pennant-winners in both the semifinals and the finals.  

First round action

I don’t believe I’ve ever run across a World Series winner with a worse ELO rating than the 1987 Twins, who weren’t placed among the top 1000 teams and with an 85-77 record were only the 12th best team in baseball in ‘87 by the ELO metric.  Even so, they had three guys in the lineup with 30+ homers in Hrbek, Gaetti and Brunansky, and that didn’t even count Kirby Puckett, who finished 3rd in the MVP voting.  Even though the back part of their rotation was suspect, Frank Viola (17-10, 2.90) was strong at the top, earning 6th place in the Cy Young votes before winning it the next season.  They looked to me like big favorites over the 2011 Marlins, who lost 90 games burning through three different managers in the process and had as their main claim to fame, one Mike Stanton before he became Giancarlo.  They also had Javier Vasquez (13-11, 3.69) as their staff ace in what proved to be his final year in baseball, and if needed they had some nice cards in the bullpen ready to go.  Puckett goes yard in the bottom of the 1st to deafening applause in the Metrodome, and then both pitchers settle in for a duel.  When Hrbek leads off the bottom of the 7th with a double, the Marlins bring in Steve Cishek to try to keep it close, but then his 3B-4 Greg Dobbs drops a grounder to make it 1st and 3rd; in comes the infield, and Gaetti finds his gbA++ to rip a single past 3rd and the Twins extend their lead. Cishek then walks the bases full, and although the infield manages to nail the runner at the plate on two consecutive grounders, #9 hitter Steve Lombardozzi draws a two out walk to put the Twinkies up by three.  However, in the top of the 9th Stanton leads off with a tape measure home run, and the Twins eye their pen and there is no relief in sight.  So Viola bears down to retire three in a row to finish out a 5-hitter and the Twins survive and move on with the 3-1 win. 

The 2014 Angels were the top seed in this bracket over two World Series winners, winning 98 games and the AL West only to get swept in the ALDS.  They boasted AL MVP Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, along with a pretty good pitching staff from whom Garrett Richards (13-4, 2.61) was selected for the round one start.  It seemed kind of wasteful to use him against the 112-loss 1965 Mets, who were one of the 25 worst teams of all time according to ELO and I thought they looked worse than their more infamous 1962 counterparts; they couldn’t really hit or field, and Jack Fisher (8-24, 3.93) managed to lose 24 games despite earning a pretty nice card.  The bottom of the 2nd proves dangerous for the Angels, as Pujols rolls an injury to lead off but he’s able to shake it off and stay in the game, but two batters later Josh Hamilton is knocked out with another injury.  That seems to wake up their bats, as David Freese leads off the bottom of the 3rd with a homer and the Angels get another run courtesy of a 2-base error by the Mets best fielder, SS-2 Roy McMillan.   From there, Fisher is in control, but unfortunately for him Richards dominates the feeble Mets lineup and he finishes with a four-hit shutout as the Angels scrape by with a 2-0 win, and Hamilton will return for their presumably more challenging semifinal against the pennant-winning Twins.

Because there was a Series-winning Marlins squad in this half of the bracket, it might be easy to overlook the 2004 Marlins but they had also been a Series-winner in the prior season and despite a dropoff, they were still over .500 at 83-79 with 21 year old Miguel Cabrera getting MVP votes and Carl Pavano (18-6, 3.00) finishing 6th for the Cy Young.  The 1991 Royals had a similar 82-80 record, with their main weapon being Danny Tartabull who led the AL in SLG% and received some MVP votes; Bret Saberhagen (13-8, 3.07) headed up a decent rotation and there was help in the pen if needed.  In the top of the 2nd, 38 year old KC icon George Brett singles in a run and then he scores on a Kurt Stillwell double and the Royals grab the lead.  The Marlins tie it in the 3rd, with an RBI single from Cabrera and then an error from 3B-3 Bill Pecota setting up a run-scoring fielder’s choice on a Damion Easley grounder.  The Royals respond immediately, with another elder statesman, Kirk Gibson, clouting an RBI double in the 4th, and they add to the lead in the 5th when Tartabull triples in one run and scores another on a sac fly.   KC seems intent on giving the game back as SS-3 Stillwell makes his second error of the game in the 5th to set up a Jeff Conine RBI single, but the Marlins leave the bases loaded and the Royals still lead 5-3 after five.  A Pecota single in the 7th and the Marlins quickly go to Armando Benitez and his 1.29 ERA, but with two away 1B-3 Jeff Conine drops a grounder and then Mike McFarlane knocks a 3-run homer and the Royals push out the defensive replacements to try to lock things up.  Saberhagen does exactly that, finishing with four hitless innings en route to a 3-hitter and the Royals cruise to the semifinals with an 8-3 victory.  

The 1997 Marlins were surprise World Series winners coming out of the wild card spot as a fairly young expansion team, but they won 92 games with Moises Alou and Charles Johnson both getting MVP votes and Kevin Brown (16-8, 2.69) was a formidable round one starter.  Fellow Floridians, the 2003 Rays lost 99 games, with their main bright spot being Aubrey Huff, who got a few MVP votes himself; however, their rotation was certainly not winning any awards with Jeremi Gonzalez (6-11, 3.91) the only decent option.  Johnson puts one into the cheap seats of Pro Player Stadium for a solo shot in the 2nd to put the Marlins ahead, but the Rays respond immediately, with Julio Lugo ripping an RBI double past RF-4 Gary Sheffield to tie it in the top of the 3rd.  However, Luis Castillo leads off the bottom of the inning with a triple and he scores of a Sheffield fielder’s choice to put the Marlins back up, 2-1.  Johnson adds an RBI triple in the 6th to provide a good foundation for a cycle, and he scores on an Edgar Renteria sac fly to extend the Marlins lead.  Carl Crawford singles home a run for the Rays in the 7th, and Brown hang in there until the 9th, when he allows a couple of squib singles and a walk to load the bases with one out.  After a mound conference, the Marlins decide to stick with their ace, and he fans Lugo to bring up Huff, who lofts a deep fly that’s hauled in on the warning track to seal the 4-2 win for the Marlins.

The survivors

A high profile semifinal here pits the top seeded 2014 Angels and Jered Weaver (18-9, 3.59), who led the AL in wins, against the Series champion 1987 Twins and Bert Blyleven (15-12, 4.01), who led the AL in home runs allowed with 46.  The Twins jump out to a lead when Angels C-4 Chris Iannetta drops a popup that ultimately leads to a run on a Tom Brunansky fielder’s choice.  However, the Angels’ bats wake up in the 2nd, with RBI singles from Josh Hamilton and Howie Kendrick giving LA the lead, but they leave the bases loaded which could come back to haunt them.  Blyleven begins the bottom of the 4th by committing a two-base error, and then he delivers a gopher ball to David Freese; the next batter is Hamilton and he rolls the same solid HR result on Blyleven to go back to back and the Twins opt to try Jeff Reardon out of the pen, even though he has longball issues of his own.  He proves more effective, and the Twins rally in the 6th with a couple of hits and a key error from LA 2B-2 Kendrick, setting up a two run Brunansky single and then a walk loads the bases.  At that point it’s the Angels’ turn to visit the bullpen, and Joe Smith and his 1.81 ERA is summoned to try to hold the lead; a whiff and a nice play by SS-2 Erick Aybar and lead holds at 5-3.  Kevin Jepsen comes in for the Angels for the 8th and 9th, and he chugs along nicely until with two out in the 9th, when Tim Laudner crushes a solo shot into the grandstand of Angels stadium and it’s a one-run game, with PH Randy Bush coming in to hit in the ninth spot.  Jepsen delivers, and Bush grounds out to Pujols and the Angels hold on for the 5-4 win and a spot in the regional final.  

The #2 seeded 1997 Marlins were last of two remaining Series winners in this bracket, and their quest to meet the top seed in the finals involved getting past the #5 seed 1991 Royals, who had already upset one Marlins team in this bracket and looked forward to doing it again.  It was a pretty good pitching matchup with Alex Fernandez (17-12, 3.59) of the Marlins against Kevin Appier (13-10, 3.42), but Jim Eisenreich finds and converts Fernandez’ HR split as the second batter of the game, and the Royals rap three more hits against Fernandez culminating in an RBI single by Kirk Gibson and KC quickly leads 2-0.   Meanwhile, the Marlins can’t get anything going until the bottom of the 5th, in which they record four hits but only one run, and that on a Devon White sac fly, as Moises Alou whiffs to end the inning with the bases loaded.  However, in the 6th Darren Daulton ties it up on a solo homer, and with the game resetting for the 7th inning the Marlins bring in Livan Hernandez, who was four innings short of eligibility as a starter.  When Appier walks two in a row in the bottom of the 7th, the Royals counter with the unhittable Joel Johnson and his 0.40 ERA, but in the 8th the Marlins roll on their cards and Bobby Bonilla lumbers home (1-12) on a Daulton double to put the Floridians ahead for the first time in the game.  The Marlins then bring in defensive replacements and reliever Jay Powell for the top of the 9th, but Brian McRae finds a single on Powell to lead off and Terry Shumpert bunts him into scoring position to bring up the top of the order.  But Charles Johnson hangs on to a foulout, and Eisenreich goes down swinging and the Marlins head to the finals with the come from behind 3-2 win.  

In a rare regional final between the two top seeds, it was the favored 2014 Angels and Matt Shoemaker (16-4, 3.04), the Rookie of the Year runner-up, against the surprise Series winner 1997 Marlins who would be starting Rick Helling (5-9, 4.47) from among a few other equally suspect options.  Both teams had been forced to tax their bullpens in tough semifinal games which would limit their availability for the final.  And that quickly proves to be a concern for the Angels, as Shoemaker is injured getting the last out in the bottom of the 1st; they bring in rested closer Huston Street in long relief, going all-out to try to take the bracket.  However, Moises Alou singles off Street’s card in the bottom of the 3rd and he scores on a 2-out double from DH Darren Daulton and the Marlins lead 1-0.  Meanwhile, the Angels aren’t jelling against Helling, who throws 6-innings of one-hit ball, but the Marlins are nervous about Helling’s longball result and move to game one winner, rookie sensation Livan Hernandez, to begin the 7th inning.  The rookie holds serve, but he’s toast after two innings and the Marlins entrust Jay Powell to earn his second straight save of the regional in the 9th.  Angels #9 hitter Erick Aybar misses a DO -15/SI split to begin the inning, but Powell strikes out Howie Kendrick and then Chris Iannetta hits into the DP to leave Mike Trout in the on-deck circle and send the Marlins on with the 1-0 victory that earns them their third regional win, joining 2005 and 2013.  Hernandez, the 1997 Series MVP as a rookie, has to earn consideration for Regional MVP as well, with the win in the semifinals and a critical hold in the finals.  The win also brought back memories for me, as I watched that 1997 Series with my mother, who lived in South Florida and was rooting for the Marlins.  She has been gone for some time, but I think she would enjoy the fact that her Marlins defied my expectations once again.  

Interesting card of Regional #208:  The Strat cards for the 1991 season reflected a transition year in many respects.  It was the first season of “new” card patterns which we have seen ever since; it was the last season of basic statistical information at the bottom of the card before more extended stats like SLG% and OBP were included; and it was the only season with the heavy bold line between the year designation and the statistical information, the latter of which continued to have background shading apparently to insure that the aging eyes of their core customer base wouldn’t be able to read them without an electron microscope.   Of course, in this 1991 set there weren’t a lot of pitcher’s cards better than this one from 24 year old rookie Joel Johnston, who somehow managed to lose the Royals semifinal game in this bracket.  It’s hard to see how he could lose, as the guy only allowed nine hits in 22+ innings.  However, like the player presented in the last installment of this feature, Johnston never really got a chance in the majors; in addition to 1991, where his WHIP was 0.806, the only other season where he had more than 10 innings pitched was in 1993, when the WHIP was 1.069 in 52 innings.  He did pitch in three other seasons with fewer than five innings pitched in each of them, and his ERA in those was in double digits all three seasons, but it’s hard to argue that he really got much of a shot and he was out of the majors at age 28.   Having leafed through a lot of truly terrible relief pitchers on the 1,650+ teams that have played so far in my tournament, it’s hard to imagine that nobody was willing to give him a serious try after 1993.

REGIONAL #207:  This draw looked like an entertaining group with a nice mix of eras and some teams that I suspected were pretty good.  The most obvious quality squad was the pennant-winning 1931 Cardinals, who got to make a late entry into the tournament thanks to Strat finally including a never-before released team in a Diamond Gems set.  But it looked to me like they would have some serious competition; an Astros team two years before their first (and last?) NL pennant, a White Sox team the season after the Winning Ugly division-winners who’d already been eliminated in the first round of Regional #130, and a Padres team two years after their first NL pennant.  There was also another White Sox team of the same vintage as one who had an unexpectedly strong showing in the previous bracket, and a contemporary Cleveland team who was trying to screw up my text search system by changing their team name.  I figured the ‘84 Sox would meet the same fate as their ‘83 versions and lose in the first round to what was likely a good Astros team, who I picked to upset the Gas House Gang in the semifinals and then ride that momentum to beat the Indians/Guardians/Naps/Spiders in the finals.  Although the ELO rankings had the Astros as the second-best team in the bracket, they also put the Cards among the 75 best teams of all time and picked them over Cleveland for the regional crown.

First round action

The 2003 Astros included many of the same names that would win the NL two years later, and in this first round game they would get a chance to avenge the World Series sweep that team suffered at the hands of the White Sox.  This version of the ‘stros won 87 games with a heart of the order that included five guys with SLG% over .500; however, Roy Oswalt (10-5, 2.97) was by far their best starter although their bullpen was excellent.  It didn’t really seem like a fair fight, because the 1984 White Sox were a pale imitation of the team that had won the AL West the previous year, losing 88 games with virtually everyone except Harold Baines suffering a serious decline in performance; it would be up to new “kid” on the block, 39 year old Tom Seaver (15-11, 3.95), to give Houston a problem.  Ron Kittle rolls one of the six home run results on his card for a solo shot in the top of the 2nd, and from there on out Tom is terrific, only allowing two hits in the first 8 innings.  However, Lance Berkman leads off the bottom of the 9th with a single, and then Bagwell draws a walk to put the winning run on with nobody out.  The Sox stick with their veteran, but Jeff Kent doubles and the game is tied with the winning run now on 3rd.  Seaver looks Tony Larussa back to the dugout and delivers to Adam Everett, who rips a single, Bagwell trots home, and the Astros walk off with a 2-1 win to give Oswalt the victory to go with his 3-hitter.

The top-seeded 1931 Cardinals weren’t quite the Gas House Gang yet, as they were short a couple of Dean brothers, but they made up for it with big contributions from Chick Hafey and Jim Bottomley, as Hafey won the batting title and both received MVP votes.  Combine them with a solid rotation, and you get a team that wins 101 games and defeats the powerful A’s in the Series; Syl Johnson (11-9, 3.00) would get the game one start, who like the rest of the staff allowed hits but few homers.  They were huge favorites over the #7 seeded 2007 Orioles, who lost 93 games, but the O’s did have Erik Bedard (13-5, 3.16) who led the league in strikeout rate and came in 5th in the Cy Young ballots.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Frankie Frisch rips a 2-out, bases loaded double past RF-2 Nick Markakis to drive in two, and in the 4th the Cards unleash another barrage of hits including a Charlie Gelbert RBI single and a 2-run double from Jimmie Wilson.  This leads Baltimore to inspect their bullpen, which has a sizable collection of some of the ugliest cardstock ever printed, so Bedard stays in but now trails 5-0 after four.  The O’s get on the board in the 6th when Miguel Cabrera drives in fleet Brian Roberts with a single, but SS-3 Cabrera gives the run back in the 8th with a two-base error that sets up another RBI single from Gelbert.  The Orioles have no response, and Johnson wraps up a 3-hitter as the Cards cruise to the semifinals with a 6-1 win.  

The 1986 Padres had won the NL two years before, but they had not aged gracefully and this team lost 88 games, with Gwynn and Garvey still leading the team and Dave Dravecky (9-11, 3.07) having a typically decent showing in his last full season with San Diego.  Even so, they were slight ELO favorites over the 87-loss 2008 Royals, who had little to brag about other than Zack Greinke (13-10, 3.47), who would win a Cy Young the following season.  However, the Royals rap three straight singles off Dravecky’s card with two out in the 1st, and then a 2-base error from SS-2 Garry Templeton and it’s 2-0 KC before the Padres swing the bat.  San Diego does respond in the 2nd, as Kevin McReynolds leads off the inning with a homer and Garvey almost makes it back to back, missing the split but settling for a triple, and when KC brings the infield in to try to preserve the lead Terry Kennedy nails the gbA++ for a game-tying single.  Two batters later, Marvell Wynne converts his HR split for a 2-run shot and a Padres lead, and they add to it in the 4th with back to back doubles from Gwynn and McReynolds.  In the 4th, KC catcher John Buck commits back to back passed balls and the Padres lead extends to 6-2, and Dravecky seems to have recovered from his first inning issues.  When Greinke issues a walk to Wynne in the 6th, the Royals see no point in conserving closer Joakim Soria and his 1.60 ERA/42 saves killer card, so he comes in and issues a walk, makes an error, and loads the bases for Tony Gwynn, who knocks a grounder that backup 1B-3 Ryan Shealy boots and the hole gets deeper.  From there Soria asserts control but it’s far too late as Dravecky closes out the 7-2 Padres win.  

Officially the Guardians by this time but retaining their legacy name here for tournament text search purposes, the 2022 Indians won 92 games and the AL Central with good up the middle defense, a strong bullpen, and a decent rotation fronted by Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88), who received Cy Young votes; however, the lineup wasn’t scaring anyone and the bottom of the order made fans wish pitchers were still batting.  They were still big favorites against the #8 seeded 2014 White Sox, 89-game losers who nonetheless had a formidable Chris Sale (12-4, 2.17) finishing 3rd for the Cy Young.  With two out in the bottom of the 1st, Jose Abreu crushes a long solo shot to put the Sox up, and that apparently bothers the Biebs as two batters later Alexei Ramirez converts a pitcher’s card homer for another two runs, and two more batters and Tyler Flowers blast a second two-run shot and the Sox lead 5-0 after one.  In the top of the 5th, Cleveland’s .163-hitting catcher Austin Hedges rolls his homer at 1-2 for a two-run, two-out poke, and Sale struggles but manages to get the third out before incurring further damage.  Meanwhile, Bieber has recovered nicely after his first inning woes, but when he allows a leadoff single to Abreu in the 7th the Spiders see no point in preserving their pen, and Sam Hentges comes in and quickly douses the threat.  In the 8th, Sox 3B-4 Conor Gillaspie boots a grounder to set up a long 2-run homer by Oscar Gonzalez that makes it a one-run game, and the Sox eye their pen but decide to let their ace try to close things out.  Sale responds with two straight strikeouts, and then he sets Cleveland down in order in the 9th and the White Sox hang on to head to the semifinals with the 5-4 upset.

The survivors

This semifinal is the feature game of the bracket with the top two seeds facing off, the 1931 Cardinals and the 2003 Astros in a battle of two very different baseball eras.  The dropoff for the Cards in the rotation after round one seemed smaller than that for the Astros, as Wild Bill Hallahan (19-9, 3.29) led the 1931 NL in wins, strikeouts, and of course walks, while Wade Miller (14-13, 4.13) was merely serviceable for the Astros.  In the top of the 2nd the Jeffs are moving on up, as Bagwell walks and Kent triples him in, but Hallahan strands Kent at third to prevent further damage.  The situation only gets worse for the Cards, as a 2-out error by SS-2 Charlie Gelbert opens the door for a four hit, four run inning and the bracket favorites now trail 5-0 and still don’t have a hit to their credit until Jim Bottomley pokes a single in the bottom of the 4th.  But the Astros get some very bad news when RF Richard Hidalgo is injured for four games to lead off the 5th inning, but in the 6th Geoff Blum does something for the Astros that he’ll do to them in the Series two years later–hit a homer, and some of the Sportsman's Park fans are beginning to head for the trolleys.  In response, the Cards get on the board in the bottom of the inning when Frankie Frisch flashes home on a Bottomley fielder’s choice, but George Watkins leads off the 7th by missing Miller's HR 1-11 split with a 12 and he gets stranded at second.  In the 8th, Bottomley drives in another with a sac fly and then a 2-out double from Ripper Collins drives in another.  This requires a mound visit from manager Jimy Williams, and as the Miller told his tale, Williams’ face at first just ghostly, turned a whiter shade of pale; Jimy then summons Brad Lidge from the pen, and he strikes out George Watkins to retire the side.  For some insurance in the top of the 9th, Morgan Ensberg raps an RBI  double past Cards CF-3 Pepper Martin; Wild Bill then walks the bases loaded for Jeff Kent, who clears them with a 3-run double that gives him five RBI and puts him a homer short of a cycle.  That leaves Lidge with easy mop-up duties, and as usual he makes things interesting loading up the bases for Chick Hafey and then striking him out to end the game; the 10-3 win puts the Astros in the finals as favorites but missing one of their biggest bats.

Neither the 1986 Padres nor the 2014 White Sox appeared to be very good teams, but they both had surprisingly solid starters available for this semifinal game, with the Padres’ Eric Show (9-5, 2.97) facing off against the Sox and Jose Quintana (9-11, 3.32).  It’s not a good start for the Sox in the bottom of the 1st as their leadoff hitter Adam Eaton goes down with a seven game injury on their first roll, and it doesn’t get any better when 1-13 Conor Gillaspie is cut down at the plate attempting to score on a Jose Abreu double.  Kevin McReynolds breaks the ice by leading off the top of the 4th with a homer, but the Padres fielding crumbles in the bottom of the inning with errors by 3B-3 Craig Nettles and 2B-3 Tim Flannery setting up an RBI double from Alexei Ramirez on his second missed HR split of the game, and the Sox take a 2-1 lead.  In the 6th, Dayan Viciedo misses another HR split but his double scores two as Chicago extends their lead, and the Padres show Show the door in favor of the elder Lance McCullers to end the inning.  San Diego’s luck doesn’t get any better when 1-16 Marvell Wynne is cut down trying to score in the 7th, and they do try a two-out rally in the 9th with John Kruk driving in Flannery to make it a two run game.  That brings up Tony Gwynn as the tying run, and the Sox give Quintana one more batter; he comes through as Gwynn grounds out and for the second regional in a row, a bad Sox team of relatively recent vintage advances to the bracket final, winning 4-2 courtesy of four costly Padre errors.

Once again, the regional final was the Zoom game of the week, giving me the opportunity to jinx the bottom-seeded 2014 White Sox live against StratFan Rick who would be managing the #2 seed 2003 Astros.  Both teams had suffered injuries to an outfielder who was a key part of their offense, Richard Hidalgo for Houston and Adam Eaton for the Sox, although it seemed to me that the Astros had plenty of bats to spare. The pitching matchup didn’t look too favorable for the Sox either, with John Danks (11-11, 4.74) tending to allow hits that went a long way, while Tim Redding (10-14, 3.68) was a less frightening option for the Astros.  The first inning is a portent to things to come, as Redding strikes out the side, while Danks is pitching from the stretch a lot but manages to keep Houston off the board for a while.  However, in the 4th a costly error by Sox 3B-4 Conor Gillaspie sets up a sacrifice fly from injury replacement Brian Hunter, and the Sox keep getting railroaded by Redding.  When the game hits the 6th inning, I go to the fully rested Sox bullpen for Zack Putnam and his 1.98 ERA because I’m doubting there will be a lot of scoring on either side, and he holds off the Astros while the Sox mount a threat in the 6th but are shut down by Houston reliever Octavio Dotel with nothing to show for their efforts.  Then, one of the killer B’s finally does something for Houston (not Berkman with his four strikeouts), as Jeff Bagwell leads off the 8th with a long blast to provide some insurance.  Rick then summons Billy Wagner who blows through the Chicago lineup as the Astros pitchers share a 3-hit shutout and Houston takes the 2-0 win earning the 6th regional victory for the franchise, with 2003 now joining the 2004 squad for a single elimination mini-dynasty.

Interesting card of Regional #207:  When Tony Gwynn is your teammate, it's kind of difficult to post the top batting average on the squad, but in 1986 that honor went to one Randy Asadoor.  Not exactly a household name, I had absolutely no memory of Randy when I stumbled across his card even though I’m pretty certain that I played in a draft league at the time, but Asadoor probably wasn’t eligible as he was only included as an “extra player”.  Over the course of this feature, I’ve made mention of certain Strat cards that were great “first cards” in a player’s career, or super “final” cards, but for Asadoor, this is BOTH–the 55 ABs represented here were the only appearances of his entire career, making for a career batting average right up there with Ty Cobb.  It’s kind of difficult to imagine that a 23-year old middle infielder would never get another chance after hitting over .360, but it might have had something to do with his defense; for example, in 15 games at third base in ‘86, he made 5 errors, earning him a 3B-4e37 from Strat but by my calculations he would have merited an e54 if that were an option.  As a final unusual feature of the card, although it may be difficult to tell from the scan this card is miscut, with the top edge cut at much less than a 90 degree angle.  Perhaps such issues with the die cutter during this season prompted the game company to make the unfortunate decision to go with the perforated cards for the 1987 season, as ‘86 was the last die-cut set.  I must not be alone in rueing that day, because Strat has now figured out that some of us will lay out a bundle for modern limited edition die-cut sets, albeit ones printed in unusual colors.  

REGIONAL #206:  For this bracket, my team selector program seemed to want me to do these writeups in French, because it selected three different Montreal teams for inclusion.  However, although the quantity of Expos was impressive, I was skeptical of their quality, but I didn’t see stiff competition for them in this group.  There was a White Sox team that was probably mediocre as well as jinxed, and entries from the Angels, Royals and Braves that I guessed were also-rans.  I thought the Mets seemed like the team with the most potential here, as the version from one year later had an impressive regional win in #61 and they had won a pennant a few seasons prior, so I picked them over the ‘84 version of the Expos in the finals.  The ELO rankings indicated that my blind guesses were terrible, and that all three Expos teams were rated ahead of the Mets; those ratings also suggested that I overlooked a very good Angels team that was favored to win the bracket over the ‘87 Expos in the final.  

First round action

The 2015 White Sox wouldn’t need any Sox jinx to be the underdog in this first round game, as they lost 86 games and they were fortunate to be considered as the #6 seed in this bracket.  They had limited offense, defense, and pitching aside from Chris Sale (13-11, 3.41) who was busy trying to figure out how to get off this team.  The 78-83 1984 Expos were ranked as the worst of the three Montreal entries in this bracket, but they looked pretty good by comparison with Gary Carter and Andre Dawson anchoring the lineup and Charlie Lea (15-10, 2.89) had a strong season that was unfortunately cut short by an injury that essentially ended his career.  Les Expos jump to a quick lead in the top of the 1st on a Dan Driessen RBI single, but in the bottom of the inning the front-loaded Sox line gets the first three runners on and Melky Cabrera finds and converts Lea’s HR split for a grand slam, which briefly gets the sparse US Cellular crowd off their phones.  Montreal responds with a two-out rally in the 2nd capped by a two-run double from Tim Raines that makes it a one-run game, but Tyler Saladino leads off the bottom of the inning with another homer off Lea and there is already action in the Expo bullpen.  When the Sox knock a single and a double to lead off the bottom of the 3rd, the Expos decide it’s time for Lea to Leave and closer Jeff Reardon is summoned in desperation.  The infield comes in for Tyler Flowers, who manages to roll a gbA++ for a 2-run single, but he is injured on the play for 10 games and his tournament experience is over.  Up next is Saladino, and once again he manages to convert a HR split on the pitcher’s card, this one on Reardon, and it’s now 9-3 after three innings.  Montreal starts the long climb back into it with a Doug Flynn RBI single in the 4th, and Jim Wohlford adds a 2-run single in the 5th that comes after Dawson misses a HR 1-18 split.  In the 6th Tim Raines singles, steals second, and scores on a Carter hit, and when Driessen follows with another hard single the Sox aren’t buying Sale and move to Matt Albers and his 1.21 ERA out of the pen, and he whiffs Dawson to end the inning with the Sox lead now down to two.  However, the Sox get a sac fly from Jose Abreu and a 2-out RBI single from injury replacement Geovany Soto to get some insurance in the 7th against new Expo reliever Gary Lucas, and Trayce Thompson drives in a run with a single in the 8th to extend their lead.  At that point, the Sox hand the ball to closer David Robertson and he seals the deal as the Sox survive a 12-7 win in which the teams combined for 34 hits.

Before doing any research I was surprised to find that the 2008 Angels were strong favorites to win the bracket, but they won 100 games and the AL West; Mark Texiera got votes for AL MVP despite only coming to the AL and the Angels for the last 50 games of the season, and Ervin Santana (16-7, 3.49) came in 6th in the Cy Young ballots, heading a strong rotation backed by Francisco Rodriquez’s 62 saves that earned him 3rd place for that same award. However, my hunch that the 2003 Royals would be lackluster proved largely correct, although they were over .500 at 83-79; Carlos Beltran got some MVP votes and Jeremy Affeldt (7-6, 3.93) was not a bad option for game one.  Garrett Anderson finds and converts Affeldt’s HR result to lead off the top of the 2nd, but Michael Tucker returns the favor leading off the bottom of the inning, keeping the game knotted after two.  Texiera unleashes a long solo blast in the top of the 3rd to put the Angels up again, but they are denied in the 4th when Jeff Mathis misses a HR 1-16/flyB split to end the inning.  That motivates Joe Randa to find and convert Santana’s HR split in the bottom of the inning for the 4th solo homer of the game, which is tied once again.  Two straight singles off Santana’s card in the 6th and the Angels waste no time in going to Jose Arrendondo and his 1.62 ERA, and he squelches the threat.  But he can’t get anybody out in the 7th, as Mike Sweeney knocks an RBI single and then Raul Ibanez rips another through a drawn-in infield and the Royals take a two run lead into the 9th.  However, Affeldt yields an RBI triple to PH Mike Napoli and with the tying run 90 feet away with one out, and the Royals leaf through their largely terrible bullpen for the tricky but wild Curtis Leskanic.  Sure enough, Leskanic walks Chone Figgins; the Royals decide to ignore the A stealer Figgins to bring the infield in, and the Angels chance it and Figgins successfully steals 2nd to stay out of the DP and put the go-ahead run in scoring position.  Torii Hunter then rips a fly to LF, where LF-2 Tucker races after it–but it gets past him for a double and the Angels take the lead.  The bottom of the 9th is time for FRod, but Beltran leads off with a single and steals second.  FRod walks Mike Sweeney to bring up defensive replacement Aaron Guiel, but he rolls his HR 1/DO result, Beltran ties it up and 1-11 Sweeney ignores the hold sign to dash for home; the split is a 10 and Kauffman Stadium erupts as the Royals get the walkoff 6-5 win, and FRod takes the loss by failing to retire a single batter in the 9th.  

This first round game matched two teams from the least legible season ever printed by the game company, the 1987 Braves and the 1987 Expos.  The ELO ranking had this as the best of the three Expos teams in this bracket, as they won 91 games with Tim Raines, Andres Galarraga and Tim Wallach pacing the offense, although the rotation dropped off quickly after Dennis Martinez (11-4, 3.30).  Meanwhile, the Braves lost 92 games in the same league and the fact that Dale Murphy got MVP votes while leading the league in intentional walks reveals something about their lineup; their rotation was also unimpressive with Zane Smith (15-10, 4.09) being the best of the bunch.  Wallach quickly gives the crowd at Stade Olympique something to cheer about with a 2-out 2-run homer in the bottom of the 1st, and the Expos add three straight singles to open the 3rd and all eventually score to make it 5-0.  Smith walks three batters in the 7th, but nothing spells relief in the Braves bullpen and Smith guts up and whiffs Wallach to strand three runners, and he skirts danger again when Casey Candaele (1-15+2) is thrown out at the plate to record the third out in the 8th.  However, none of it matters as the Braves have no answer to Martinez, who ends up tossing a 5-hit shutout in the Expo’s 5-0 win.  

The 2003 Expos had nobody in common with the other two Montreal teams in this group, but they did clear .500 at 83-79 with Vlad Guerrero getting some MVP votes and they had a couple of decent starters including Javier Vazquez (13-12, 3.24).  They were ELO favorites over the 77-85 2018 Mets, but the New Yorkers had one sizable advantage in Jacob DeGrom (10-9, 1.70), who won the NL Cy Young and came in 5th for MVP as a pitcher on a losing team.  However, in the top of the 1st the Expos find two hits on DeGrom’s formidable card to set up an RBI single by Wil Cordero and a quick Expos lead.  Todd Frazier leads off the bottom of the 3rd for the Mets with a double on a missed HR 1-17 split, and he ends up stranded at third; the Mets’ woes continue as DH Yoenis Cespedes gets injured for the tournament to lead off the 4th.  However, in the 5th Frazier gets another chance at that same split and this time converts it for a solo homer to tie the game, and DeGrom is now looking untouchable as he allows just one hit in innings three through nine.  In the bottom of the 9th, Devin Mesoraco of the Mets singles, and then RF-3 Guerrero misplays a Frazier flyball for a two-base error that puts the winning run on 3rd with one out.  After a visit to the mound, the Expos decide to stick with Vazquez and bring the infield in for Amed Rosario, who lifts a deep fly to center and Mesoraco tags and scores and the Mets advance courtesy of DeGrom’s 5-hitter in the 2-1 win.  

The survivors

A semifinal game between two similarly bad teams, the #6 seed 2015 White Sox and the very hittable Jose Quintana (9-10, 3.36) against the #7 seeded 2003 Royals and the similarly carded Brian Anderson (14-11, 3.78).  The White Sox had put on an impressive offensive display in round one, and they continued the trend with a 2-run Jose Abreu homer in the top of the 1st for a quick lead.  In the 4th, Avisail Garcia finds Mr. Anderson’s HR for another 2-run shot, and Adam Eaton does the same for a solo blast in the 5th.   That sends Mr. Anderson back to the matrix and KC borrows Alan Levine from Maroon 5 to see if pop rock can halt the disco demolition.  Levine shows his moves like Jagger, and holds the Sox scoreless, but after he gives way to Curtis Leskanic in the 9th, Leskanic repeats his performance from the first round, allowing two more runs aided and abetted by a 2-base error from SS-2 Angel Berroa.  So it comes down to the Royals trying to pull off another bottom of the 9th comeback against Quintana, and it starts off promising with a single by Raul Ibanez and a 2-run shot from Joe Randa with still nobody out.  Quintana then gets two outs, but a Desi Relaford single followed by a triple from backup catcher Tom Prince and the Sox are getting nervous, but would really like to rest their pen.  However, Berroa then launches a 2-run shot and suddenly it’s a two-run game with the heart of the KC order up.  A chat on the mound and the Sox decide to give Quintana one more batter in the form of Carlos Beltran; it’s on the pitcher’s card, a 4-6, and there is no joy in Mudville as mighty Carlos has struck out; the Sox head to the finals and stave off a furious KC comeback for a 7-5 win.  The Royals exit the tournament having scored 2/3rds of their total run production in the bottom of the 9th inning.  

The #2 seeded 1987 Expos were the only team favored in the first round that actually won, and they were now facing the #5 seed 2015 Mets who had only reached this game courtesy of the efforts of the best starting pitcher in the bracket.  In fact, it would be safe to say that the Mets had the best rotation in the bracket, with Zack Wheeler (12-7, 3.31) one of three remaining solid starters.  The Expos weren’t as fortunate, as all of their remaining options were far worse than any of the top four Mets starters, with Bryn Smith (10-9, 4.37) getting the assignment.  The Mets suffer their second serious injury of the tournament as Todd Frazier is knocked out, probably permanently, to lead off the bottom of the 3rd, and the Expos waste no time in taking advantage as Tim Raines leads off the 4th with a walk, steals his second base of the game, and scores on a single from Andres Galarraga.  The surviving Mets respond in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Wilmer Flores, but Mitch Webster leads off the 6th with a double past injury replacement 3B-4 Luis Guillorme and Galarraga again comes through with the RBI single as Montreal regains the lead.  Mets injury replacement Juan Lagares is himself knocked out of the game with a minor injury in the bottom of the inning, but they threaten when Flores doubles in the 7th and the Expos move to Tim Burke and his 1.19 ERA to try to douse the fire.  But Devin Mesoraco manages to find a single on Burke’s card, the painfully slow Flores heads for home with the bottom of the Mets order coming up–and he’s out by a mile.  Burke then retires Guillorme and the Expos cling to the one run lead entering the 8th.  Both pitchers then hold, and in an effort to preserve Burke, the Expos bring in Pascual Perez, who just arrived after finally locating the stadium, and he tosses a perfect frame to earn the save and propel the Expos to the final with the 2-1 victory.

On paper, the finals looked a bit lopsided with the #2 seeded 1987 Expos favored over the #6 seed 2015 White Sox, but this tournament doesn’t play favorites.  Thus far, the Sox offense was averaging almost 10 runs a game while Montreal pitching was giving up half a run per game, but the back half of the Expos rotation was frightening; their Neal Heaton (13-10, 4.52) did not have a card that inspired confidence, while the Sox’ Carlos Rodon (9-6, 3.75) wasn’t bad except for significant control issues.  An error by Expos C-3 Mike Fitzgerald scores a run for the Sox in the top of the 1st, although Avisail Garcia ends the inning missing a HR 1-7/flyB split that could have made it much worse.  The Expos then return the favor in the bottom of the inning, as a two-out error by Sox SS-3 Alexei Ramirez sets up a 3-run shot by former Sox favorite Vance Law, and Montreal takes the lead.  In the 3rd, Jose Abreu misses a HR 1-16/DO split but two runs score on the double, and Heaton strands Abreu at second so the game is now tied.  That tie is short lived, as in the bottom of the inning Andres Galarraga misses a HR 1-5/DO split but fleet Mitch Webster and Tim Raines both race home to restore the Montreal lead.   A chat with Rodon on the mound and he stays in, and of course Tim Wallach rolls that same HR 1-5 outcome on Rodon and this time converts the split for a 2-run blast; Rodon leaves without recording an out in the 3rd and Matt Albers comes in to stop the bleeding but it’s 7-3 Montreal after three.  In the 4th, an unlikely 2-base error by LF-1 Tim Raines sets up an RBI single from Adam Eaton, but Heaton pitches his way out of a bases-loaded jam and the Expos still hold a three-run lead.  Tyler Saladino leads off the top of the 6th with a triple and Sox #9 hitter Carlos Sanchez singles him in, and Heaton is on a short leash but he gets Eaton to hit into a DP to escape further damage.  Meanwhile, Albers tosses 4 perfect innings but must be replaced in the 7th by David Robertson; Herm Winningham promptly rolls Robertson’s HR 1-16/TR split, but misses it with a 19 and ends up stranded on third as the Expos can’t seem to provide any insurance against a Sox team that has steadily been creeping back into the game.  A leadoff single by Garcia in the 8th and the Expos move to Tim Burke, who had been preserved in the semifinal game for exactly this type of situation; he promptly allows a single and then commits an error to load the bases, but he bears down and manages to avoid any damage as the Sox strand three runners.  Burke then sets down the Sox in order in the 9th and the Expos win 7-5 to become the 4th Montreal team and the first from the 80’s to take a regional (and in this one they had three chances).  Les Expos manage to take the final despite committing three errors and getting out-hit 11 to 6, but they made their hits count. 

Interesting card of Regional #206:  There were better cards in this group, but this one struck me as a bit weird.  For one thing, at a quick glance I would not guess that this was the card of a .339 hitter; if you take a minute and started adding up chances, it makes more sense, but the initial impression for me isn't one of a card that could lead the league in hitting.  The placement of the hits also strikes me as a bit strange, as if they had to place a lot of singles and then started to throw darts to figure out where to put them.  And finally, there's that 3-7 roll; in their regional appearance, the largely punchless Mets lineup suffered a bunch of injuries, which meant that Lagares was allowed to start their semifinal game.  And, he rapped two hits in a futile effort to jump-start their offense; unfortunately, the second hit was on that 3-7 and he joined many of his teammates in the infirmary.   Lagares was never much of a hitter, and he has mainly stuck around the majors because of his glove; even this was a pretty empty .339 card (for some reason, when I write “empty .339 card” I think of Pete Rose).  Still, the Mets might have advanced further if he could have stayed healthy, but it was pretty true to form as Lagares was laid up by May 2018 after tearing a ligament after crashing into an outfield fence.