REGIONAL #212:  I initially thought this draw was going to be entirely stocked from the 21st century, but at the last minute a White Sox team from the 90s snuck in to provide a little more variety.  I thought the Sox might have another shot to lose in the regional final, like they had in the previous two, because there were some squads in here that I suspected might be stinkers, such as an Orioles team from the early 2000s and last year’s Tigers.  Chronologically, the team closest to a pennant was a Yankees team three seasons after their most recent one (in 2009, can you believe that?), a version of the Dodgers five years before a flag, and a Rangers squad midway between their 2011 and 2023 wins.   My hunch was a Dodgers vs; Yankees matchup in the final, guessing that the Yanks would make up for a first round exit in the prior bracket by winning this one.  The ELO ratings apparently didn’t know about my jinx, because they predicted the White Sox to defeat the Dodgers in the final, seeding the Yankees third in a generally weak bracket.  

First round action

The 2014 Rockies lineup did not look like one that would lose 96 games, as eight of their nine were in double digit homers led by Nolen Arenado, Corey Dickerson and the oft-injured Troy Tulowitzki, and their DP combo involved two 1s; it was interesting to see that their Pythagorean projection was nearly 10 games better than their actual record.  Although their pitching staff suffered the typical Coors hangover, Jorge de la Rosa (14-11, 4.10) wasn’t a terrible option at the top of the rotation.  They were ELO underdogs to the 2017 Angels, who had an 80-82 record with Mike Trout finishing 4th for AL MVP with Andrelton Simmons and midseason acquisition Justin Upton also getting votes; however, like the Rockies the rotation was a mess and JC Ramirez (11-10, 4.15) was the best of the bunch.  But it was a different Justin making a name for himself in the top of the 1st, that being Justin Morneau with a two-run homer to make the Rockies mountain high.  Wilin Rosario wills a solo shot in the 2nd and Michael Cuddyer adds a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the 3rd and Colorado now leads 4-0.  The hits just keep coming, as a 2-out RBI single in the 4th by Franklin Stubbs is followed by a 2-run double from Morneau, and Ramirez exits without tossing a scoreless inning.  Yusmeiro Petit comes in to contribute a scoreless 5th and the Angels briefly have some hope, but Charlie Blackmon leads off the 6th by converting Petit’s HR split and the hole just keeps getting wider and deeper.  De la Rosa loses his shutout in the 8th when Martin Maldonado finds the pitcher’s HR result for a solo shot, and then with two out in the bottom of the 9th Luis Valbuena connects for a long 2-run homer, but it’s far too late to make a difference and the Rockies move on with the 8-3 win.  

The 2012 Dodgers were the 2nd seed in this bracket, going 86-76 behind Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and a couple of Ellises, but the real advantage was Clayton Kershaw (14-9, 2.53), who was runner-up in the Cy Young ballots although he won the award in both the prior and the following season.  The 2003 Orioles lost 91 games but they were not as bad as I’d first imagined, with an all “2” .300 hitting outfield led by Melvin Mora, although Pat Hentgen (7-8, 4.09) was their least frightening starter since they had traded away Sidney Ponson in midseason.  Mora launches a solo shot into the pavilions at Chavez Ravine in the top of the 1st for an early advantage, but in the bottom of the inning LA leadoff hitter Shane Victorino nails Hentgen’s solid HR result, and then back-to-back errors by O’s 3B-4 Tony Batista and 1B-3 Jeff Conine sets up Ethier for another roll on Hentgen’s solid big fly; the inning finally ends when #9 hitter Dee Gordon misses Hentgen’s split homer result for a flyB.  Undaunted, the Orioles find all the hits on Kershaw’s card, and RBI singles by Deivi Cruz and Brook Fordyce and a sac fly from Luis Matos immediately tie the game back up in the top of the 2nd.  In the 3rd, Hanley Ramirez locates Hentgen’s solid HR, the 3rd time in 3 innings, and the Orioles have to find someone in the pen with an out at 4-9, with BJ Ryan filling the requirement.  A two-out RBI single from Adrian Gonzalez provides additional padding in the 4th, although Ryan does the job in the 5th thanks to two consecutive 4-9 rolls.  Baltimore PH Jack Cust cuts the deficit to one with a long solo homer in the 8th.   Kershaw gets one out in the 9th but then allows two singles, and Kenley Jansen is summoned with the tying run on 3rd.  With the infield in, Matos rolls a gbB and the runner is nailed at the plate, so now there are two out and All-Star Melvin Mora at the plate.  Jansen blows it by him, recording the strikeout and the save as the Dodgers survive the 6-5 scare to advance.  

The 2014 Yankees went 84-78 as the last of the Jeter-era squads that have done so badly in this tournament.  Jeter was 40 years old here, as was his teammate Ichiro, and Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran, and Brian Roberts were all well past their sell-by date as well.  The good news was that Masahiro Tanaka (13-5, 2.77) got votes for Rookie of the Year and although Mariano Rivera had retired the previous season, there were still some great arms in the pen.  They faced a 78-84 2017 Rangers team that had nobody in common with this year’s Series winner, with a 38 year old Adrian Beltre as their top weapon along with 7 big swingers in the lineup with over 100 whiffs, but Yu Darvish (6-9, 4.01) not looking too bad if he can manage to keep the ball in the Stadium.  The Yankees get off to a dubious start when Jacoby Ellsbury leads off the bottom of the 1st by getting knocked out of the game with an injury.  The Rangers get on the board first in the top of the 4th with a Mike Napoli single, and then a 2-base error from SS-4 Jeter opens the door for a two run double courtesy of Rougned Odor.  However, in the 6th the Yanks get a pinch hit RBI double from Francisco Cervelli, and then with two out Mark Teixeira lofts a 2-run blast to knot the game at 3-3.  A leadoff single by Odor in the top of the 7th and New York doesn’t mess around, pulling Tanaka for Dellin Betances and his 1.40 ERA; however, he is immediately greeted by a moon shot from new catcher Robinson Chirinos.  Three batters later and it’s Beltre’s turn for a 2-run homer and the mood in the Bronx is getting ugly.  It gets better in the bottom of the inning when Ichiro finds the solid HR result on Darvish for a two-run poke of his own, and when Brett Gardner follows that with a triple Darvish is gone for Jose “Wilder Thing” LeClerc.  To his credit, LeClerc doesn’t walk the next batter, Martin Prado–instead, he allows another 2-run homer and once again the game is tied.  The Yanks bring in Adam Warren to begin the 9th, but after a double and a walk they decide to end that experiment, summoning closer David Robertson to try to get out of the jam.  He whiffs Beltre for one out, but then walks Joey Gallo to bring up Elvis Andrus–and Elvis has left the building with the bases loaded for a grand slam.  It’s now the Rangers’ turn to try a 9th inning reliever, and Matt Bush survives an error by 2B-4 Odor to close out the 11-7 win for the Rangers, and the end of the Jeter years goes pretty much like the rest of the era with a first round exit for the Yankees.

This was a first round matchup between the top and bottom seeds in the regional, with the 1991 White Sox earning top billing with 87 wins in their crappy new ballpark, with Frank Thomas 3rd in the MVP ballots and Black Jack McDowell (17-10, 3.41) attracting some votes for Cy Young.   Although the Sox teams are typically jinxed in my tournament, this time they had the good fortune to draw the 2022 Tigers in the first round, who lost 96 games but still outperformed their Pythagorean projection.  It seemed to me that this Tigers team would have a hard time beating the ‘62 Mets, although Tarik Skubal (7-8, 3.53) was a credible option in the rotation–the only one.  However, it’s the Tigers who take the lead in the bottom of the 4th when DH Kerry Carpenter leads off the inning with a long homer, and that’s followed by back to back doubles from Eric Haase and Javier Baez that make it 2-0.   Because the Sox can’t muster any offense against Skubal, they feel compelled to pull McDowell when he issues a leadoff walk in the 6th, with Scott Radinsky assigned to keep it close and he retires the side without incident.  The mishaps continue for the Sox as Robin Ventura is knocked out of the game in the 7th with an injury, no doubt from getting punched by Skubal.  As a vague gesture of a threat, Lance Johnson gets a one-out single in the top of the 9th to bring up the Big Hurt as the tying run, and there is Hurt all right as Thomas grounds into a double play; the Sox are mere Skuby snacks for Skubal’s 2-hit shutout as the Tigers pull off the 1 vs 8 upset, 2-0, to head to the semifinals.  

The survivors

The 2012 Dodgers were the top remaining seed in the bracket although they barely survived the first round; they did benefit from the typical advantage of the better teams with having a deeper rotation for later rounds, and Chad Billingsley (10-9, 3.55) was just one of a number of viable options.  The 2014 Rockies hoped that Tyler Matzek (6-11, 4.05) could pitch well enough to allow their powerful offense to prevail, and it looked promising as the Rockies led off the top of the 1st with a Drew Stubbs double followed by a Justin Morneau single that allows the fleet Stubbs to beat the oft-uncooperative split die and score.  In the 2nd, Drew Stubbs drives a hanging Chad curveball for a 2-run triple, and Morneau picks up another RBI with a single that is also off Billingsley’s card, but the Dodgers show signs of life in the bottom of the 3rd with Bobby Abreu and Matt Kemp driving in runs to narrow the gap to 4-2.   Matzek gets wild in the 4th and Abreu draws a bases-loaded walk to make it a one-run game, and in the 6th an error by 3B02 Aranado sets up an RBI double for Andre Ethier that ties the game.  With runners now on 1st and 2nd and nobody out, the Rockies bring in the infield for Hanley Ramirez, who promptly get a gbA++ for a two-run single and Matzek is gone for closer Latroy Hawkins, but Ramirez steals second and scores on a Mark Ellis single; Shane Victorino replaces Ellis after a fielder’s choice so he steals second and scores on an Abreu single and by the time Hawkins gets the final out the Dodgers lead 8-4.  Corey Dickerson then leads off the 6th for the Rockies with a homer that begins to narrow the gap, and when Billingsley allows a couple of singles in the 7th the Dodgers move to the pen for Scott Elbert, but the Rockies get a run on a Tulowitzki fielder’s choice.   The Dodgers respond in the bottom of the inning when Ramirez singles, steals second again, and races home on a Victorino single; Victorino steals second and he scores on a double by Dee Gordon off Hawkins’ card.  With a solid lead, the Dodgers bring in Randy Choate for the ninth and he sets the Rockies down in order and LA moves to the finals with a 10-6 comeback win.  

The 8th seeded 2022 Tigers knocked out the bracket favorite with an excellent pitching performance, but as is typical of a 96-loss team the rotation got ugly quickly, with Drew Hutchison (3-9, 4.53) having some rough spots on his card.  For the 2017 Rangers, Andrew Cashner (11-11, 3.40) was a decent option and they were hoping he’d allow them to rest a bullpen that was needed to survive round one.  Rangers leadoff hitter Delino Deshields walks in the top of the 1st, steals second, and then scores on an Adrian Beltre hit; then Elvis Andrus, who won the opening game with a 9th inning grand slam, contributes a 2-run homer in his next at bat for a 3-0 Texas lead.  Carlos Gomez leads off the 3rd with a homer, and two batters later Beltre belts a solo shot and the Tigers withdraw Drew and try Jose Cisnero, who ends the inning quickly.  The Tigers try a comeback in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer by Jeimer Candelario who converts a HR 1-4/flyB split on Cashner, and Kerry Carpenter later adds a two out RBI single to narrow the deficit.   In the 4th, the Rangers respond by knocking hits past SS-3 Javier Baez and 1B-3 Harold Castro to score a run, and then both sets of bats cool down.  In the 9th the Rangers watch in horror as Gomez gets injured, but it’s apparently minor and he’ll be back for the final if Cashner can hold on.  And in the bottom of the 9th, he retires Harold Castro, he retires Willi Castro, and since Detroit can’t get Fidel to sign a contract, Cashner snuffs out Candelario and wraps up a six-hitter and a 6-2 win that sends the Rangers to the finals.  

The regional final featured the #2 seeded 2012 Dodgers and Aaron Harang (10-10, 3.61) against the #5 seed 2017 Rangers and Cole Hamels (11-6, 4.20), who was coming to the end of his experience in Texas.  Carlos Gomez, back from his injury suffered in the semifinal, makes a return in style with a solo homer in his first AB in the bottom of the 1st, and three batters later Joey Gallo makes contact for a 2-run shot and a quick 3-0 Texas lead.  Andre Ethier serves notice that this game isn’t over by converting Hamels’ HR split to lead off the 2nd, and after a couple of walks and an error by 1B-3 Mike Napoli loads the bases for the Dodgers, Bobby Abreu converts a two-out DO 1-12/flyB on Hamel’s card that clears the bases and LA vaults to a 4-3 lead.  That doesn’t last, as a 2-out 2-run homer by Adrian Beltre in the bottom of the inning returns the Rangers to the lead and the Dodgers decide to waste no time in going to their strong bullpen, Brandon League replacing Harang who doesn’t last two innings.  Beltre adds a 2-out RBI single in the 4th and that’s followed by Gallo’s second homer of the game, a 3-run blast and the Rangers are looking unstoppable as they climb to a 9-4 lead.  In desperation, the Dodgers summon closer Kenley Jansen in the 6th, and they try to cut into the lead in the 7th but are thwarted when Mark Ellis (1-12+2) is nailed at the plate trying to score on a Victorino double.  The Rangers score another in the bottom of the 7th courtesy of a 2-base error by Dodger 3B-4 Hanley Ramirez, and Hamels hangs on, surviving three Texas errors to close out the 10-4 win and provide the Rangers with their third regional title, their first for a team from this millennium.  These Rangers were built on the Dave Kingman model, a team that collectively either struck out or homered, and the latter worked for them in this bracket with 10 dingers in the three games. 

Interesting card of Regional #211:  I don’t believe I’ve ever selected a card from the “current” set for this feature, but with a bracket loaded with modern teams I figured that Jose Cisnero should get his moment in the sun, if he can locate it.  Sporting a gaudy 1.08 ERA, Cisnero had one of the lowest H/9 rates in the regional, but also had the highest BB/9 rate.  I found myself wondering if this might be the highest ratio of BB/9 to ERA in printed Strat card history, but my googling left me unable to determine the answer to that question.  It has to be close, though; Cisnero’s BB/9 of 6.8 was pretty much the same as the all-time career “leader” in that regard, Tommy Byrne, who holds that record by nearly a full walk per inning over his nearest competitor.   Byrne managed to assemble a winning career record despite accomplishing such feats as once walking 150 batters in 143 innings, although he developed better control later in his career, like some others such as Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax.  However, Byrne’s career 4.04 ERA is more in line with what might be expected out of a pitcher with his (and Cisnero’s) control issues.  For this card, Cisnero was age 33 which might be a bit late to start developing pinpoint accuracy, although I should point out that in 2023 he managed to lower his BB/9 rate by a full three walks per game.  Unfortunately, his H/9 nearly doubled and his ERA climbed to 5.31, suggesting that maybe he’s better off when he doesn’t throw strikes. 

REGIONAL #211:   The last team pulled in this bracket was a pennant winner, the 2001 Yankees representing a Jeter-era team from the heart of the steroid years.  The first team pulled was an Indians team from 1947 that was one season away from one of the all-time great Tribe squads.  In between were many intriguing entries, like the Dodgers from a year after Kirk Gibson’s Series, a Twins team two seasons before their miracle 1987 run, a Mariners team two seasons after the powerhouse that unfortunately lost to these very Yankees in 2001, a White Sox team a few years before their long-awaited 2005 pennant, and a Pirates squad of roughly the same vintage that made the semifinals in the previous bracket.  Although the Jeter Yankees have repeatedly come up short in this tournament, I thought that maybe this group would capture the crown, and best the Dodgers in the final–although that would require LA to get past the Indians in round one, which should be a challenge.  The ELO rankings surprised me by ranking the Mariners as the top squad in this group, meaning that they might at last get a chance to avenge themselves against the 2001 Yanks, if they can get past a highly rated A’s team.  Assuming they can do both, they were ELO favorites over the Dodgers in the finals.

First round action

The 1947 Indians had most of the players but they were not the same team as their all-time great version that would emerge the following year; they went 80-74 and while their great DP combo of Boudreau and Gordon were in the top 10 in the MVP votes, Larry Doby had only a handful of appearances and they showed the stress of being the first black player in the AL.  They did have the 2nd place MVP votes for a pitcher in those pre-Cy Young days, Bob Feller (20-11, 2.68) ready to go against the 1989 Dodgers, who had basically an identical ELO rating to the Indians.  The Dodgers went 77-83 after famously limping their way to a Series championship in the preceding season, with an aging lineup of former AL stars like Eddie Murray, Willie Randolph, Alfredo Griffin and of course Kirk Gibson not getting better, just older.  However, their pitching staff was top-notch, with Orel Hershiser (15-15, 2.31) bulldogging his way to 4th in the Cy Young votes.    The first time through their elderly lineup, the Dodger his Feller’s 4-6 TR 1-6/SI three times, with Jeff Hamilton and Mike Scioscia converting the split twice in a row in the second inning and then Gibson finding a different single on Feller’s card to give LA a 2-0 lead before most Dodger fans get to their seats.  In the 3rd, Hank Edwards puts the Indians on the board with a homer that’s a solo shot only because Boudreau was wiped out on a Gordon DP ball on the preceding roll, but the Dodgers lead is cut to one.  Feller finds his stuff, allowing only one hit in the final five innings, but the Indians can’t sustain a rally; Gordon gets a leadoff single in the 9th but Eddie Robinson ends the game by hitting into Cleveland’s 5th DP (one on a LOMAX) of the game to give the Dodgers the 2-1 win and the trip to the semifinals.

The 2001 White Sox had Frank Thomas out with injuries most of the season, but they still finished over .500 at 83-79 with production from Maggio Ordonez and Paul Konerko, and Mark Buehrle (16-8, 3.29) had the best WHIP in the AL but didn’t muster a single Cy Young vote.  They looked like world-beaters compared to the 105-loss 2010 Pirates, who had a young Andrew McCutchen and one of the worst rotations I’d seen in recent regionals, “fronted” by Ross Ohlendorf (1-11, 4.07) and his .083 winning percentage.  One thing both teams have in common is some gaping defensive holes, and in the 2nd the Sox score first thanks to a 2-out 2-base error by Bucs SS-4 Ronny Cedeno.  In the top of the 3rd, two Sox stolen bases off Pittsburgh C-4 Ryan Doumit lead to two RBI singles from Ordonez and Konerko, and Carlos Lee adds to the lead with a leadoff homer in the 4th.  In the bottom of the inning, Garrett Jones gets the Pirates on the board with a sac fly but he’s injured in the process, and his tournament is likely over, but Delwyn Young adds a 2-out RBI double and the Sox lead narrows to 4-2.  In the 5th, Cedeno is injured and the Pirates bench is looking pretty empty, while in the 6th the Sox bring in two youngsters who will star for the pennant-winning 2005 team to replace two 5’s in the field.  Konerko rips a 2-out RBI double past injury replacement 1B-4 John Bowker to give Buehrle a little insurance, but Doumit quickly responds with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make it a 2-run game again.  Buehrle tries to hang on, but he’s tagged for two straight singles in the bottom of the 9th and with one away, the Sox summon closers Keith Foulke.  2B-3 Ray Durham then drops a grounder to load the bases and put the winning run on 1st, but with a depleted bench it’s up to #9 hitter Lastings Milledge, who makes no lastings impression as he hits into a DP and the Sox survive and advance with a 5-3 victory.

This first round game matched the two top seeds of the regional.  The 2003 Mariners had the best ELO rating in this bracket and won 93 games, but aside from Edgar Martinez and Bret Boone, who finished 10th in the MVP voting, nobody else in the lineup had an OPS over .800; still, Jamie Moyer (21-7, 3.27) did win 20 games at age 40 and was 5th in the Cy Young balloting and he was backed by a deep bullpen.  The 2004 A’s won 91 games in the waning years of their “Moneyball” era, transitioning to a team led by a young rotation fronted by Tim Hudson (12-6, 3.53).  Oakland threatens in the top of the 2nd but Jermaine Dye ends the inning getting tossed out at home (1-12+2) trying to score on a Damian Miller single.  The Mariners don’t need to test Edgar Martinez’s slow legs in the bottom of the inning, as Carlos Guillen delivers an RBI double to drive him in easily from 2nd and give Seattle the lead.  In the 5th, Olerud doubles in Ichiro and Hudson stops flowing, getting racked for a double by Randy Winn that scores Olerud, a 2-run single by Guillen, and a 2-out triple from Dan Wilson that completes a 5-run inning and the Mariners are looking like they intend to take their second regional in a row.   The A’s can’t figure out the junk that Moyer is tossing at them, and he finishes with a 7-hit shutout as the Mariners cruise to the semis with an easy 6-0 win against a team that was supposedly their top competitor. 

The last game of round one featured the only pennant winner in the bracket, the 2001 Yankees, but they were only seeded third despite winning 95 games, more than either of the two teams that had better ELO ratings.  Perhaps it was because the Jeter-era teams have done terribly in this tournament; although the Yanks have won 10 different regionals, none of them were by a Jeter-led squad–even though 16 of those teams made the postseason.   This version was a typical example, with Jeter and Tino Martinez getting MVP votes, as did Mariano Rivera and Roger Clemens (20-3, 3.51), who was a runaway winner of the Cy Young award.  Against that firepower, the prospects for the #7 seeded 1985 Twins did not look good, but although they only won 77 games, they had a core in place of Puckett, Hrbek and Gaetti that would win the AL two years later, and Bert Blyleven (17-16, 3.16) was spinning curveballs at the top of the rotation.  Clemens is greeted with two singles in the top of the 1st that set up a Dave Engle sac fly, and they add to their lead when Gaetti doubles and scores on a Roy Smalley single in the 2nd.  A 2-run single by Mark Salas in the 3rd continues the woes for Clemens, but the Yanks finally get on the board in the bottom of the inning when Alfonso Soriano singles, steals second off C-4 Salas, and scores on a Chuck Knoblach single that makes it 4-1 Twins.   Clemens then starts to gain his form, and Scott Brosius knocks a sac fly in the 6th that cuts the lead to two, but when Puckett singles in the 8th it’s Rivera time for the Yanks, who ends the threat in a flurry of strikeouts.  However, with two out in the top of the 9th Gaetti nails a solo shot to provide some insurance for Blyleven, but that proves unnecessary as he retires Jeter with a runner in scoring position for the final out and the Twins pull off the 5-2 upset as yet another Jeter-led pennant winner exits in the first round.  

The survivors

It was a Zoom double-header for the semifinals, with the first game on tap featuring the 2003 Mariners managed by StratFan Rick, who had led the M’s to a regional title in the previous bracket.  With no other takers, I volunteered to helm the 1985 Twins in what appeared to be a mismatch between the #1 and #7 seeds, although both Seattle’s Joel Pineiro (16-11, 3.78) and the Twins’ Frank Viola (18-14, 4.09) were decent enough workhorses.  Viola was pitching from the stretch much of the night, allowing three hits in the top of the 1st but getting bailed out courtesy of Ichiro and Randy Winn both getting caught stealing by rubber-armed Twins C-4 Mark Salas.  However, Winn contributes a sac fly in the 3rd and the Mariners draw first blood, and in the 5th they load up the bases for John Olerud, who smacks a 2-run single to provide additional padding.  The Twins can’t manage a second hit against Piniero until the 5th, and although the third time through the order they begin to get some baserunners, they repeatedly leave those runners in scoring position with no payoff.  In the 8th, the Twins again bring the tying run to the plate and Rick has seen enough of Piniero, summoning Rafael Soriano and his 1.53 ERA to end the threat; he does exactly that, blowing through four straight Twins to notch the save to share in Piniero’s 6-hit shutout as the Mariners head to their second straight regional final with the 3-0 win.  

The second Zoom semifinal featured my #6 seeded 2001 White Sox, seeking to atone for the ‘59 team’s demise in the previous regional, against the 4th seed 1989 Dodgers, with the Tall Tactician stepping in to the role of Tommy Lasorda for the game.  The strength of these Dodgers was the rotation, and Tim Belcher (15-12, 2.82) was a round two starter who came in 6th in the Cy Young voting; for the Sox, Sean Lowe (9-4, 3.61) was only voted most likely to be traded to Pittsburgh after the season.  Those votes increased in the top of the 3rd when John Shelby, the .183 hitting Dodger CF, finds and converts Lowe’s 5-5 HR split for a solo shot and a 1-0 lead, which looked pretty substantial since I had now gone 17 straight innings without scoring in a Zoom game.  However, that streak was broken in the 4th by an aging Jose Canseco, in the final year of his career, smoking an RBI double to tie the game, and an injury to Dodger DH Franklin Stubbs put a crimp in an already suspect LA offense.  With 1st base open and two away, TT elects to walk dangerous (with the bat and the glove) Carlos Lee to load the bases to get to Royce Clayton; the role of 3-8 hits the hole in Clayton’s strong column to end the inning–and it would have been a solid HR on Lee, so TT chose wisely.  In the 6th a leadoff double by Jose Valentin rattles TT, who seeks to take advantage of a strong Dodger bullpen by moving to Alejandro Pena; that move proves less effective as the first batter he faces, Paulie Konerko, ignites the scoreboard with a 2-run homer and the Sox lead 3-1.  However, in the 7th it’s Jeff Hamilton’s turn to find and convert Lowe’s 5-5 HR for another solo blast, and with closer Keith Foulke only having two innings of eligibility remaining, the Sox hope that unheralded Matt Ginter can hold LA at bay.  He gets the final out of the 7th, but he allows 2 straight hits to begin the 8th, with the second one by Willie Randolph scoring the tying run, and I’ve got to move to Foulke to try to stay in the game.  Foulke does his job, as does Mike Morgan for the Dodgers, and TT inserts closer Jay Howell for the bottom of the 9th hoping to send the game to extra inning, as Foulke is now burnt and the remainder of the Sox bullpen is ghastly.  But Howell walks the leadoff hitter, defensive replacement Aaron Rowand, and then Royce Clayton rips a grounder that gets past immobile 1B-4 Eddie Murray for a single that sends Rowand to 3rd as the winning run with nobody out.  Up to the plate steps #9 hitter Sandy Alomar Jr., who loft a flyball deep enough for Rowand to score and the Sox survive a see-saw game for a 4-3 win on a walk-off sac fly.  

For the second regional in a row, it was going to be a ChiSox/Seattle final, but this time the tables were turned as it would be the 2003 Mariners coming in as the top seed against an underdog 2001 White Sox team that was seeded 6th in the bracket.  I managed to jinx the Sox in the prior bracket in a live Zoom game, but this time it would be the typical solitaire rolloff, where my Sox jinx has been particularly pronounced.  However, it didn’t seem to me like a jinx would be required for the Sox to lose this one, with Jon Garland (6-7, 3.69) having control issues and their only good reliever burned, while the Mariners would have a solid pen available in support of Ryan Franklin (11-13, 3.57).  Things start rough for Garland in the bottom of the 1st as Ichiro singles, decides not to test Alomar’s arm after getting caught stealing twice in the semifinal, and then he uses his speed to race home on a Randy Winn double to give Seattle the quick lead.  Bret Boone then singles past SS-2 Royce Clayton and John Olerud brings both runners home with another double; a single gets by P-3 Garland, a walk loads the bases, and the 9th hitter of the inning, Jeff Cirillo, rips a 2-run single as the Mariners bat around en route to a 5-0 lead after one inning.  As if that’s not enough, Paul Konerko begins the 2nd inning by getting knocked out of the game with an injury,  and when Winn knocks a 2-run double when he misses Garland’s HR split in the 4th, the Sox move to Matt Ginter out of the pen who ends the inning without further damage.  In the 5th, Mariners 3B-2 Cirillo drops a grounder, and that rattles Franklin as he loads up the bases and then issues two consecutive walks to Magglio Ordonez and Jose Valentin; Cirillo then atones by turning a nifty DP to end the inning as Seattle still leads comfortably at 7-2.  Jose Canseco knocks a solo HR in the 8th off Franklin’s card, but even though Franklin is tiring he hangs on and whiffs Canseco for the last out in the 9th to secure the 7-3 win and the regional title for the Mariners, as they defeat the White Sox in the bracket final for the second time in a row.  

Interesting card of Regional #211:  This selection features another installment in the “pretty good final Strat cards of their career” series.  This is the last card for the infamous Jose Canseco, and if you blinked you might not have even known that he ever played for the White Sox, but he did and he played an important role here in leading the team to the regional final.  He didn’t get a full season of at-bats at age 36, perhaps because the Sox already had a DH in the Big Hurt and Canseco’s bad fielding (rf-5(+1)e16 for those curious) by this time was legendary after a fly ball bounced off his head for a homer.  Still, an OPS of .843 isn’t too shabby, pretty close to his career mark of .867; he certainly didn’t want this to be his last card, as he attempted to sign with several teams after this in an effort to reach 500 career homers, but he ended with 468 after this season.  However, by this time there were whispers about the source of his home run power (curiously absent in his identical twin brother, Ozzie), whispers that Canseco emphatically confirmed in his 2005 tell-all autobiography _Juiced_ in which he claimed to have introduced steroids to the baseball world beginning in 1985.  If he wasn’t one before, that book certainly made him a pariah in the baseball world, and when his name first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot, he received only 1.1 percent of the vote despite a slew of impressive accomplishments such as being the first 40-40 hitter in MLB history.  Although he will probably never make the HOF, he is the GOAT in one respect:  he does hold the record for the player with the most career homers who was stopped by the police while driving with a goat wearing diapers in the back seat.  

REGIONAL #210:  After nearly 1,700 teams have played in this tournament, my random team selector program finally popped out one I’ve been dreading for a while–the pennant-winning Go Go Sox of 1959, one of my favorite teams.  If I like them so much, then why should I dread this draw?  It’s the jinx; all of my beloved Sox teams, the 2005 champs, the 1983 winning uglies, the 1977 South Side hit men, the 1967 hitless wonders, even the 1919 Black Sox–every one of them were knocked out in the first round, not a single victory among them.  The bracket even looked pretty winnable, with nobody else within immediate range of a pennant; the closest was probably a Red Sox team three years after the infamous Bill Buckner Series.  The rest of the bracket looked to me to be pretty middling, but I figured that the Chisox would exit in round one as is traditional, and that the Red Sox would go on to take the regional, with my guess of the Rockies losing in the final being a totally random selection.  The ELO ratings did have the White Sox as the favorite over an apparently good Mariners team in the final, but they also suggested that all of the other teams in the top half of the bracket were nearly as good as the Chisox, further reducing their odds of survival.  But, you gotta roll the dice and take your chances.

First round action 

The Friday Night Strat crowd agreed to humor me and allow me to try to beat the jinx by playing my 1959 White Sox live in the Zoom game of the week, with StratFan Rick agreeing to take the helm of the 2010 Padres.  The Go Go Sox won the AL with a 94-60 record, and they were all about speed, pitching and defense, led by AL MVP Nellie Fox; however, there were some rumblings in the crowd when I selected Bob Shaw (18-6, 2.69) for the start over their Hall of Famer Cy Young winner.  But I liked Shaw’s control against a good 90-72 Padres team that won 90 games, with Adrian Gonzales finishing 4th in the MVP voting with more homers than most of the Sox added together, and an unbelievably good bullpen ready to back up Mat Latos (14-10, 2.92) who got some Cy Young votes himself.  I wrestled with the decision about the DH for the Sox, with big Ted Kluszewski flexing his biceps while the lineup was being set, but at the last second I opted to put backup catcher John Romano at DH.  That decision proved to be an astute one as Romano blasts a solo shot in the bottom of the 1st to set off the exploding scoreboard  at Comiskey Park.  However, the celebration proved to be short-lived, as in the top of the 3rd the Sox defense looks more like the ‘62 Mets as errors by 3B-2 Bubba Phillips and SS-1 Luis Aparicio leave the crowd stunned and lead to three unearned runs for a 3-1 Padres lead.  Then, in the bottom of the 4th Romano comes to the plate and it’s another 2-4 roll, this one reaching the upper deck for another solo shot, and before the inning is out a Jim Landis RBI triple ties things up.  Both pitchers then settle in, but after the traditional 7th inning stretch trivia session Jim McAnany knocks a single, and first base coach Eaglesfly Roy calls for Jungle Jim Rivera as a pinchrunner.  He advances to 2nd on a grounder and then Phillips atones for his earlier error with a single, the fleet Rivera races home, and the Sox lead.  In the 8th, Rick pulls Latos for Joe Thatcher and his 1.29 ERA, but an RBI knock by Sherm Lollar adds an insurance run and Shaw holds on in the 9th for a jinx-defying 5-3 win, with all of the San Diego runs being unearned.

This was another first round matchup between two teams that were pretty highly ranked.  The 2014 Pirates surprised me by being the #3 seed, as they won 88 games and made a brief postseason appearance as a wild card.  Andrew McCutchen came in 3rd in the MVP votes and Josh Harrison also received some MVP support, while their bullpen was strong and the rotation was solid, fronted by Edinson Volquez (13-7, 3.04).  I was also surprised to discover that the 1989 Red Sox were only the #5 seed, as I had picked them to win the bracket, but they were barely over .500 at 83-79.  Still, with Wade Boggs leading the league in OBP and doubles (51!), and Roger Clemens (17-11, 3.13) on the mound this was not a team to take lightly.  However, an error by 3B-3 Boggs in the top of the 1st sets up an RBI single for Starling Marte, and Travis Snider adds another and the Pirates jump out to a 2-0 before many Fenway fans can get out of the T station.  However, they got there in time to watch the Pirates defense collapse, with errors from 3B-2 Harrison and SS-3 Jordy Mercer populating the bases for RBI hits from Ellis Burks and Danny Heep, and Jody Reed adds a sac fly and Boston takes a 4-2 lead after only one inning of play.  The Pirates are undaunted, as in the top of the 2nd they rake Clemens’ card for hit after hit, with RBI singles by Neil Walker and McCutchen and a 2-run double from Harrison quickly putting the Pirates back in the lead.  When Clemens allows two straight hits to start off the 5th, it’s apparent that he doesn’t have his stuff today and the Bosox trot out Lee Smith to try to keep the Pirates from adding to their total, but Pedro Alvarez greets Smith with an RBI single and then #9 hitter Ike Davis knocks a 3-run homer over the Green Monster prompting some fans to head  back to the T station.  They miss RBI singles from Heep and Reed in the bottom of the inning, and the game enters the 6th with the Pirates leading 10-6.  Ike Davis leads off the 7th with his second homer of the game, a 2-run shot that extends the gap, and meanwhile Volquez is cruising until the 9th.  Then, the Red Sox begin reeling off the hits, loading the bases for a squib RBI single from Burks followed by a grand slam from Nick Esasky, and don’t look now but suddenly it’s a one run game and there’s still only one out.  The Pirates then reluctantly have to turn the game over to closer Mark Melancon, and although Heep immediately finds a single on Melancon’s 1.90 ERA card, the reliever retires the next two in order to wrap up a wild 12-11 win for the Pirates.  

The 2017 Rockies had a decent 87-75 record with Nolen Arenado and Charlie Blackmon finishing 4th and 5th respectively in the MVP votes, and Jon Gray (10-4, 3.67) was a pretty good starter at the top of the rotation, at least by Colorado standards.   They faced the 1984 Indians, with a mirror image 75-87 record, who had Bert Blyleven (19-7, 2.87) finishing 3rd in the Cy Young ballots and Andre Thornton getting a few MVP votes as their main offensive threat.  Blyleven has a no-hitter going until the 4th, until a walk and a Trevor Story home run off Bert’s card ends that abruptly; the Indians try to respond quickly in the 5th but Brett Butler (1-16) is nailed at home trying to score on a Julio Franco single.  In the bottom of the inning, the Rockies load the bases with two out and Arenado rips a 2-run single past 2B-4 Tony Bernazard to extend their lead.  The Tribe get on the board in the 6th, although the run comes when Jerry Willard hits into a DP so it’s a bit of a mixed blessing.  Story adds a second 2-run homer to his resume in the 8th, this time off his own card, and Gray finishes out the game allowing 7 hits as the Rockies enjoy Story time en route to an easy 6-1 win.

I learned from Strat colleagues that the 1995 Mariners held a special place in the hearts of Seattle fans, as they won the AL West with a 79-66 record and were the first M’s team to reach the postseason, downing the Yankees but ultimately falling short in the ALCS.  They had Edgar Martinez finishing 3rd in the MVP votes, Jay Buhner was 5th, and Randy Johnson (18-2, 2.48) was 6th and an easy winner of the Cy Young award, although the remainder of the rotation would likely need a killer Norm Charlton to bail them out in relief.    They faced the 1996 Twins, who compiled a mediocre 78-84 record and although they had MVP vote-getters at the top of the order in Paul Molitor and Chuck Knoblauch, the rotation was a mess with Brad Radke (11-16, 4.46) sadly better than other options.  The M’s get off to a fast start in the bottom of the 1st as Vince Coleman singles, steals second, and scores on an Edgar single; Buhner then doubles and he and Edgar both score on a Tino Martinez single, and it’s the Martinez’s 3, Twins 0, with Carmelo phoning in requesting a tryout.  The M’s decide they don’t need Carmelo as the next batter, Mike Blowers, puts one in the seats for a two-run shot and the Kingdome is deafening.  Down 5-0 and still with only one out, the Twins pull Radke who has amassed a 135.00 ERA and try Mike Trombley, and he only gets out of the inning unscathed because Alex Diaz misses a SI 1-18 split.  The Twin get a leadoff double from Roberto Kelly in the 2nd and then a walk and a single load the bases with nobody out; that brings up Twins SS Pat Meares, who rolls a 1-12 for the LOMAX and it’s a triple play which is what the Big Unit was planning all along.   However, the bad Seattle defense rears its ugly head in the 3rd, as 2B-4 Joey Cora drops a Knoblauch grounder, who steals second and then scores when LF-4 Coleman manages to turn a Ron Coomer fly ball into a double.  A walk to Marty Cordova and then Kelly finds a DO 1-9/flyB at Johnson’s 6-3 result; he converts the split for a two out, two run two bagger and its a whole new ballgame.  In the 4th, Cora tries to make up for his terrible glove work with a two out RBI single; Coleman then singles Cora to 3rd and Trombley drops a Gar grounder to allow Cora to score for additional insurance.  Tino Martinez then leads off the 5th by wrapping one around the foul pole for another run and Trombley exits for a wild Dan Naulty, and that doesn’t go well, with two errors and a Luis Sojo triple making it 10-3.  Naulty finally gets out of the inning in an unusual way; with three A stealers in a row for the Mariners, Alex Diaz, Cora and Coleman all reach first consecutively, and with C-4 Greg Myers behind the plate, all three attempt a steal of second, and all three are thrown out consecutively–the first time I think I’ve ever seen that happen.  The Twins show signs of life in the 7th as Coomer and Cordova hit back to back doubles off Johnson’s card with two out, and when Cordova scores on a Kelly single the Seattle lead is cut to three and the Mariners are pondering whether their ace is going to be able to hold on. And he does, finally putting together a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th to finish out a sloppy 10-7 win, assisted by the Twins committing five errors and hitting into a triple play. 

The survivors

This was a semifinal final matchup of the top two seeds in the bracket.  The pennant winning 1959 White Sox had survived my jinx in a FTF zoom game in round one, but now it was time to see if they could do so in solitaire mode, which is where the bad mojo most strongly manifests.  On the bright side, the Sox would be able to trot out a Cy Young winner and Hall of Famer in Early Wynn (22-10, 3.16) to battle the 2014 Pirates, who put up a 12-spot in the first round but still barely managed to win.  However, the Bucs had a deep rotation and Vance Worley (8-4, 2.85) had a better ERA and better control than Wynn, so it was hard to argue the Sox had an advantage there.  In the top of the 5th, the Sox miss their third HR split of the game but Earl Torgeson’s 1-16 missed split still results in an RBI triple; Aparicio singles him home and is then caught stealing by C-1 Russell Martin, but the Sox now lead 2-0.  Travis Snider then leads off the bottom of the inning with a gruesome 10 game injury, and in the 7th Nellie Fox’s two-out double scores the 1-14+2 Torgeson to provide Wynn with a little insurance, forcing the Pirates to summon Tony Watson and his 1.63 ERA from the pen to put out the fire.   He does so, and is helped when Sherm Lollar leads off the 8th with the 4th missed HR split of the game for the Sox and is promptly stranded at second.  However, in the 9th Aparicio knocks a two-out single and this time successfully steals second; as designed, Nellie Fox responds with another hit and the 1-17+2 Aparicio dashes home–and is safe on a split roll of 19.  SS-1 Aparicio then makes his second error of the regional on the first ball of the bottom of the 9th, but Wynn bears down and retires the next three in a row to seal the two-hit shutout–with both hits coming from Andrew McCutchen.  The Sox thus pull out the 4-0 win in classic Go Go style and head for the finals, much to my surprise.  

The #2 seeded 1995 Mariners’ rotation got a lot worse after Randy Johnson, and with the shortened season the M’s only had two options to choose from for this semifinal, neither of them good.  The start went to Tim Belcher (10-12, 4.52), with Seattle hoping for five decent innings before going to some strong arms in the pen.  Although the #5 seed 2017 Rockies had more options, they were equally bad, with German Marquez (11-7, 4.39) getting the start despite having trouble keeping the ball in the park.  The top of the 1st starts bad for Seattle as DJ LeMahieu raps a leadoff single followed by a long homer by Charlie Blackmon, while in the bottom of the inning Joey Cora leads off reaching first on an error by C-3 Jonathan Lucroy, but then Lucroy promptly throws him out trying to steal second and the M’s swear off base-stealing forever.  However, Rockies 1B Mark Reynoldsis knocked out of the game with an injury to lead off the 2nd, and in the bottom of the inning Marquez issues a 2-out walk to Mike Blowers and then Dan Wilson finds Marquez’s solid HR result and the game is tied.  Not to be outdone, Blackmon finds and converts Belcher’s HR split to lead off the third for his second dinger of the game and the Rockies regain the lead, but a two-out double by Edgar in the 5th ties the game once again.  Jay Buhner follows with another double that scores two and the Mariners grab the lead for the first time, which puts Marquez at the 5-run threshold and the Rockies waste no time in bringing in Pat Neshek with his 1.59 ERA.  He gets out number three, but after five the Mariners lead 5-3 and a couple of promising youngsters in Griffey Jr. and ARod are free to enter the game to shore up the defense (and the offense).  Seattle is hoping that Belcher can go a little longer and preserve the pen, but injury replacement Pat Valaika hits a double in the top of the 6th after missing the HR split and the Mariners summon the unhittable Norm Charlton who quickly dispatches the Rockies to prevent any damage.  The Mariners get consecutive singles from their two kids and then Alex Diaz successfully beats out a bunt for the second time this game, loading the bases for EMart who clears them with a double and the Mariners are pulling away.  Buhner then puts the exclamation point on things with a 2-run homer and Neshek has to go after not recording any outs in the 7th.  Chris Rusin comes in to end the inning, but the Mariners are in double digits and to preserve Charlton the Mariners bring in Bill Risley.  That goes terribly wrong in the 9th, as an RBI single by Lucroy, a 2-run double from Gerardo Parra, and a 3-run homer by Ramiel Tapia off Risley’s card, and suddenly it’s a two run game with two out and powerful injury replacement Valaika at bat.  The Mariners can afford no more of that so in comes Jeff Nelson to try to get the one needed out; it’s a 6-12 roll but Valaika isn’t the DH and it’s an out on Nelson who earns the one-roll save to send the Mariners into the finals as they cling to the 10-8 win.  

With two core member favorites doing battle, it was time for an emergency Friday Night Strat zoom meeting between my 1959 White Sox and StratFan Rick’s 1995 Mariners for the regional crown.  Both teams had legacies of achievement that fell just short–the Go-Go Sox eliminated in six games in the Series by the Dodgers after winning their first pennant since the Black Sox fiasco, while the M’s lost in six in the ALCS to the Indians after making their first postseason appearance after becoming an expansion team.  I liked the pitching matchup of my Barry Latman (8-5, 3.75) against the Mariners’ only remaining option, Chris Bosio (10-8, 4.92), but Bosio starts the game with three perfect innings while Latman escapes jams, including one created by SS-1 Aparicio’s error that extends his streak of three straight games with an error.  But Little Looie atones with a single in the 4th, when he steals second on C-3 Dan Wilson and scores on a Nellie Fox single.  Sherm Lollar adds an RBI single but the Sox strand two runners to end the inning up 2-0.  In the 5th, Earl Torgeson rolls Bosio’s HR 1-11 result but misses the split for the 5th straight HR split missed by the Sox in this regional, and Torgeson is stranded at second to keep the game at 2-0.  In the 6th, Tino Martinez puts one into the seats for a solo shot and the Kingdome comes to life, with Rick heading to the bench to insert promising rookies with names like ARod and Griffey Jr.  And that pays rapid dividends, as Junior belts a 2-run homer in the 7th and Seattle leads, and the Chisox in desperation turn to Turk Lown for help.  Unfortunately, the Mariners pen has far better options, and Jeff Nelson tosses a hitless 8th while the literally unhittable Norm Charlton does the same in the 9th, closing out a combined 4-hitter as Seattle captures their third regional (joining 1990 and 2007) with the 3-2 win.  And my beloved Sox will Go-Go back into the storage drawers, hoping someday for the endless single elimination tournament-loser’s bracket edition.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #210:  This is a tale of two very different Cy Young winners from the two teams that made the finals in this regional.  39-year old Early Wynn won the award in 1959 when only one winner was named across both leagues; he captured 81% of the vote while also finishing third in the MVP voting, bested by two of his White Sox teammates.  Wynn led the league in wins but also in walks allowed, as reflected in his card.  31-year old Randy Johnson won his Cy Young with a 97% share and came in 6th in the MVP votes; he led the league in winning percentage, ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, and fewest HR/9, and he walked a little more than half as many as Wynn, finding remarkable control after leading the AL in walks issued three years in a row in the early 90s.  Johnson was so much better than the other pitchers in his rotation that it bordered on comical; for Wynn, I didn’t even start him in the first round as I felt that teammate Bob Shaw (third in the Cy Young votes) had a better card.  In short, I think Johnson’s card looks a lot more impressive than Wynn’s.  However, in this bracket it was Wynn with the far better performance, a 2-hit shutout of the #3 seed in the regional, while Johnson was battered for seven runs by the worst team in the bracket and his Mariners only won because their opponents committed five errors.  Still, both of these pitchers led their team to the edge of glory, in real life and in this tournament, although here it was really Johnson's bullpen teammates who pushed the Mariners to the regional crown.