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.