SUPER-REGIONAL G:   There were five pennant winners that began in this group of 64 teams, but none of them made the super-regional level and only one even survived to their regional final.  Of the eight teams that did make up this batch, not a one was the top seed in their regional, but most (with one #8 seed exception) had ratings indicating that they were good teams, and their presence here was evidence that they were survivors.  Going by those rankings, the matchup in the final would be between two very different teams, the pitching and defense-rich 1954 White Sox and the homer-happy 2019 Twin, with the Sox rated as being the favorite.  However, taking my White Sox jinx into account, I figured that was unlikely, so I guessed that it would be the 1924 Reds would take the bracket in a 100th anniversary celebration, as they had outscored their opposition 25-7 in blowing through Regional #51.

Round 4 action

The 103-loss 1993 Mets were one of the worst teams to have won a regional, and now it was time to see if the clock was going to strike midnight on Cinderella in the super-regional.  They weren’t helped by a lingering injury to starting CF Ryan Thompson, although #4 starter Anthony Young (1-16, 3.77) was nowhere near as bad as his atrocious record would suggest.  The 78-win 1961 Indians were 20 games better than the Mets in real life, and they had powered through Regional #50 riding the longball and defeating the formidable 1984 Tigers in the finals.  It would be up to Wynn Hawkins (7-9, 4.07) to see if they could keep their run going.  The Indians get on the board first as 3B-4 Bobby Bonilla earns his perpetual Mets salary with a 2-base error that scores a run in the bottom of the 3rd, but Bonilla leads off the 4th with a single and he eventually races home on an Eddie Murray single to tie it up.  Chuck Essegian leads off the bottom of the inning with a tape measure homer to put Cleveland back on top, but Hawkins falls apart after getting two outs in the 6th, yielding three straight singles including a Jeff Kent RBI hit and Frank Funk is summoned from the pen and gets the final out but the game is tied once again.  However, in the 8th Bonilla triples and scores on a Murray single, both off Funk’s card, and the Mets lead for the first time in the game.  When Jimmy Piersall leads off the bottom of the 8th by missing Young’s HR 1-13/DO split with a 14 roll, the Mets move to Mike Maddux, but he’s not his brother and Tito Francona singles with Piersall racing home to tie the game entering the 9th inning.  However, that doesn’t last long as backup catcher Charlie O’Brien knocks a 2-run homer in the top of the 9th to send the Indians fans into a funk, and after three more straight hits the Indians are indeed de-Funked as they try Dick Stigman, but Bonilla laces a hit through a drawn-in infield and although Stigman then strikes out the side, the Indians enter the bottom of the 9th down 7-3.  With the big lead the Mets preserve Maddux and ask Jeff Innis to close out the game, but that looks unwise as a leadoff walk and a double on a missed HR 1-12 split from John Romano sets up an RBI single for Johnny Temple.  Innis then gets two outs but walks Piersall to bring up Francona with the bases loaded and the winning run at the plate.  But Francona pops out and the Mets’ unlikely run continues with the 7-4 win.

The Zoom game of the week was actually a doubleheader for the 1954 White Sox, who had somewhat miraculously made the World Series of TT’s project involving 20 of the greatest teams of all time.  In that project, I managed the Sox against the 1939 Yankees (the top ELO-rated team in history), and despite my Sox jinx they won the computer-based super-advanced game behind the strong arm of Sandy Consuegra.  Well, it just so happened that in my tournament they were now up in the super-regional after winning Regional #52, and it also just so happened that it was Consuegra’s (16-3, 2.69) in the rotation.  So, once again I would tempt my jinx and direct the Sox, this time in Basic form using good old cards and dice, against the 1924 Reds, who would be managed by ColavitoFan and who still retained many of the stars that rather suspiciously defeated the Sox in the Series in 1919.  Although the Reds had no home run power to speak of, they did hit a ton of triples and they had a remarkably deep rotation, with Dolph Luque (10-15, 3.16) being a strong option.  Consuegra had gone seven strong innings in the earlier computer game against the Yankees; perhaps he was showing signs of fatigue after that outing, because in the top of the 1st the Reds were relentless, batting around with particular assistance from Sox HOF 2B-2 Nellie Fox who booted a sure DP ball to provide Cincinnati with a quick 4-0 lead, a lead that could have been larger if they hadn’t left the bases loaded to end the inning.  That was not encouraging news for the Sox, who were not exactly an offensive powerhouse of a team, but in the bottom of the 2nd George Kell ripped a 2-out 2-run double that cut the lead in half to provide a glimmer of hope for the Comiskey faithful.  That glimmer seems to fade as an error by SS-1 Chico Carrasquel provides another unearned Reds run in the 3rd, but a Nellie Fox double in the bottom of the inning allows the Sox to keep pace and the Reds lead is 5-3 after three, but the Sox strengths of pitching and defense seem to have been left at home.  In the 4th, an Ed Roush triple and I go out to the mound to visit Consuegra and politely tell him that if he allows another run to score, I’ll not only pull him out of the game but also out of the state of Illinois.  This seems to strike a chord in him, as he settles in to strand Roush and proceeds to toss three consecutive perfect innings.  Meanwhile, in the bottom of the 7th PH Ron Jackson contributes an RBI double and he scores on a Carrasquel single to tie the game, and the roar of the crowd can be heard in useless DH Phil Cavarretta’s old ballpark on the north side.  ColavitoFan feels that Dolph has run out of Luque and Jakie May comes in to finish the inning, and he gets support in the top of the 8th with an RBI triple by Hughie Critz.  Consuegra gets another mound visit involving vague threats after putting on the Critz, and once again the strategy seems to work as he strands the runner but the Reds take a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the 9th.  A leadoff single by John Groth keeps the attention of the fans, and CF doesn’t like what he sees in May so Pete Donohue is brought in to try to finish things out.  But Kell pokes a squib single and PH Cass Michaels draws a walk to load the bases and put the winning run in scoring position with nobody out, and the top of the Sox order steps to the plate in the form of Chico Carrasquel, who owes his staff an unearned run.  In comes the infield, and Donohue delivers for a 2-9 roll, HR 1-8 and for a change I roll a low split of 6, and it’s a walk-off grand slam to the amazement of the Zoom crowd.  The Comiskey scoreboard explodes, discos are demolished across the city, and the Sox move on with the epic 9-6 win.

The only two 21st century teams in this bracket had a round four face-off, with the 2019 Twins being the favorite, a squad that clubbed 12 homers in the three games of their regional; they won 101 games and hit 307 team homers in that season, but Kyle Gibson (13-7, 4.84) was a hittable #4 starter and their bullpen had been taxed in a high-scoring regional final.  They faced the 89-73 2016 Orioles, who were built along similar lines as the Twins, but with less power and even worse pitching, as Wade Miley (9-13, 5.37) was their best option for a fourth starter.  Despite all that, the game begins as a pitcher’s duel, which ends when Pedro Alvarez begins the top of the 5th with a long homer that puts Baltimore in front 1-0.  In the bottom of the inning, O’s 2B-2 Jonathan Schoop drops a sure DP grounder because Twins 2B-3 Jonathan Schoop is bearing down on him, but Miley gets out of the jam with no damage.  However, in the 6th Max Kepler converts a HR 1-5 for a 2-run shot and a Twins lead, and an Alvarez single off Gibson’s card in the 7th sends the Twins to the pen for Sam Dyson, who prevents any damage.  When Miley starts off the 8th by issuing two walks, the O’s bring in closer Zach Britton and his 0.54 ERA, and he quickly dispatches the Twins to send the game to the top of the 9th with Baltimore still trailing by a run.  The Twins opt to burn Dyson since he’s pitching well, and this Dyson doesn’t suck as he strikes out the double agent Schoop to close out a hard fought 2-1 win in which the teams combine for only nine hits.  

The 83-71 1953 Cardinals had defeated a pennant winner to take Regional #56 as the #3 seed, but after three strong performances from the rotation, Joe Presko (6-13, 5.01) did not have a record that inspired confidence.  The 77-85 1990 Cubs had similar problems, with Steve Wilson (4-9, 4.79) facing his turn on the mound and 3B Luis Salazar was still out with a lingering injury from the regionals and would miss this round four game between old rivals.   Presko gets into trouble immediately as Andre Dawson rips a three run homer in the top of the 1st, but the Cards strike back in the bottom of the 4th when Ray Jablonski converts a 2-run triple off Wilson’s card.  Two batters later, Steve Bilko converts that same TR 1-5, and Del Rice follows with a “what’s that doing there” solid double on a 3-2 roll and the Cards take the lead.  When Red Schoendienst become the third batter of the inning to convert that 6-6 TR 1-5 split, another run scores and the Cubs insert Paul Assenmacher, who has an out at that roll.  When the Cubs single off Presko to begin the 6th, the Cards look for something in the pen but there ain’t much, so Presko continues and he immediately gives up a game-tying homer off his card to Mark Grace.  That convinces the Cards to try Hal White, who retires the side, but in the 7th Shawon Dunston doubles off White and then races home on a single by Dwight Smith, and the Cubs have regained the lead.  Mark Grace leads off the 8th with a double and he scores on a Ryne Sandberg single for additional insurance, which looks like it may be needed as Peanuts Lowrey doubles in the bottom of the inning and Assenmacher is out of gas.  That means that it’s time for the Wild Thing, as Mitch Williams comes out and he retires the side with nary a walk.  White holds in the top of the 9th, so it’s up to Williams in the bottom of the 9th, and a single by PH Eddie Stanky and two BBs off the Wild Thing’s card load the bases with two out for Jablonski.  But he grounds out harmlessly and the Cubs survive and advance with Williams getting the save in the 7-5 win.  

The survivors:  Round 5

Two teams that seemed to get things done with smoke and mirrors face off, with the 103-loss 1993 Mets battling the 1954 White Sox, who required a walk off grand slam in their previous game to reach this point.  Returning to the top of the rotation for round five was particularly good news for the Mets, who could send out Dwight Gooden (12-15, 3.45) against Virgil Trucks (19-12, 2.78) for the Sox, and the two starters had quite similar cards with nearly identical patterns.  The Sox pick up where they left off with three straight hits, the last one an RBI single for Minnie Minoso but 1-15 Nellie Fox is cut down trying for third on the hit to kill the rally.  Ferris Fain contributes a 2-out RBI single in the 3rd to make it 2-0 Chicago, and the Mets don’t get a baserunner until a Jeremy Burnitz single in the 5th.  They do load the bases with two away in the 6th, but Trucks strikes out Eddie Murray to keep the Mets off the scoreboard.  Burnitz leads off the 7th with a triple, and a sac fly from Jeff Kent makes it a one-run game while Gooden has found his groove and is blowing through the Sox lineup, assisted in the bottom of the 8th when Fox misses a HR 1-9 split with a 10 and gets stranded at second.  But Trucks bears down, and sets the heart of the Mets lineup down in order in the 9th to finish with a 4-hitter and send the Sox to the super-regional final by winning the 2-1 duel.

This round five matchup between the 1990 Cubs and the hammerin’ 2019 Twins was a relief for both squads, because they now were able to loop around to the top of their rotation.  For the Cubs, that involved a Hall of Famer in Greg Maddux (15-15, 3.46) although arguably the Twins’ Jose Berrios (14-6, 3.68) might have had a better season.  The Twins get a 2-out RBI single in the top of the 1st by Miguel Sano off Maddux’s card for a quick lead, but in the bottom of the inning Andre Dawson hawks one into the stands and the Cubs move ahead 2-1.  They squander an opportunity to move further ahead in the 3rd when 1-13+2 Mark Grace is cut down at the plate trying to score on a Hector Villanueva (or Villanova, if you’re Harry Caray) two-out single, and that run would have been useful because Sano leads off the 4th with a long homer.  However, the Twins take their turn as victims of my bad split rolls when Jonathan Schoop misses a HR 1-14 and gets stranded at second and the game remains tied.  In the bottom of the inning the Cubs quickly get two runners aboard but Joe Girardi hits into a triple play, taking note to recommend against that in his future managerial career.  In the bottom of the 7th, Dwight Smith converts Rosario’s HR split, located at 6-5, and the Cubs take the lead while the Twins summon Sergio Romo from a depleted bullpen.  But things don’t get any better, as Romo issues two straight walks and then two straight errors by C-4 Mitch Garver and SS-3 Jorge Polanco lead to a run on no hits for additional insurance.  It’s now up to Maddux and he tosses a perfect 9th as it’s Cubs win, Cubs win by a 4-2 score and they move on to an unexpected appearance in the super-regional final.

For the super-regional final, it’s time for the 1954 White Sox to hop on the L and travel to the north side to take on the 1990 Cubs in Wrigley, with the entire city taking sides.  The Sox would attempt to overcome my Sox jinx, which should be operating at full steam against a Cubs team, with stalwart Billy Pierce (9-10, 3.48) while the Cubs were hoping Mike Harkey (12-6, 3.26) would replicate his strong outing in the second round.  A two out single by Johnny Groth in the top of the 4th scores Ferris Fain to put the Sox on the board, but the Cubs respond in the bottom of the inning as Ryne Sandberg races home on a Hector Villanueva single to tie it at 1-1.  Minnie Minoso misses a HR 1-13 split to lead off the 6th but ex-Cub Phil Cavarretta finally does something useful, singling Minoso home to raucous boos from the bleachers.  However, again that lead doesn’t last long as 1B-1 Fain drops an Andre Dawson grounder and Villanueva rockets a 2-run homer onto Waveland Avenue and the Cubs move ahead 3-2.  In the 7th Nellie Fox misses that same HR 1-13 split on Harkey and the slowest runner in the game, Sherm Lollar, is out by a mile trying to score with two away, so the Cubs lead remains intact.  Dwight Smith then immediately rolls Pierce’s HR 1-11 split, which of course he doesn’t miss and the Cubs extend their lead to the delight of the yuppie scum filling the box seats.  And this time the White Sox have no 9th inning miracles up their sleeve as Harkey holds on for the 4-2 win, and the Cubs take the super-regional crown with their fourth straight victory over a higher-rated opponent.   

Interesting card of Super-Regional G:  it was bad enough having the hated Cubs eliminate my ‘54 White Sox in the finals, but I also had to admit that Sox HOFer Nellie Fox wasn’t even the best second baseman on the field in that game.   That honor belonged to this guy, another HOFer who had his career year in OPS but only finished 4th in the MVP voting, despite being the first second baseman to lead the NL in homers since Rogers Hornsby in 1925.  Not only that, he became only the third major leaguer to post at least 40 home runs and 25 stolen bases in a season (trivia alert:  who were the first two?)   Finally, he also set a major-league record of 123 consecutive games at second without an error, completing a trifecta of a guy who could hit, run, and field, all at a crucial infield position.  Unfortunately, he didn’t get much of a chance to play in the big spotlight games, as the Cubs never won a pennant during his career and made only two appearances in the postseason–in which Sandberg posted a 1.098 OPS, clearly doing his part.  Part of the blame here may rest with bad Cubs management, and Sandberg’s frustration with these issues led to a brief retirement in 1994 because the Cubs didn’t seem serious about winning.  Indeed, as I was watching the Cubs plow through teams with better records in six rounds of this tournament, I had to wonder:  how could a team with this card, along with Greg Maddux and Andre Dawson in his prime, only manage a 77-85 record?  Whatever the reason, they certainly seem to have what it takes to survive and advance in the brutal single elimination format.

SUPER-REGIONAL F:  With all of the regionals in the tournament completed after a mere 44 years, we go deeper into the brackets with rounds four through six, the sixth such super-regional to be played.  The 64 teams that initially comprised this group included four pennant winners, but only one of those–the 1989 A’s of Bash Brothers fame–had survived to round four, and they had knocked off one of the other league champs on the way there.  Even so, two other squads in the 1927 Cardinals and the 1991 Dodgers had also been the top seeds in their regionals, while the remaining regional champs were mainly middling teams with one notable exception:  the 1957 A’s, who had triumphed in their regional despite being the worst rated in their group by a long shot.  Will their magic continue in the super-regional round, where teams must lead off with the bottom of their rotation?   According to the ELO ratings, the Bash Brothers are favored to take the bracket over the ‘27 Cards, if the latter can get past those ‘91 Dodgers in round four.

Round 4 action

The 1971 Giants won 90 games and the NL West, and they rode strong pitching that only gave up 12 hits across the three games of Regional #41.  With names like Mays, McCovey, Bonds, and Kingman in the lineup, they had preserved Hall of Famer and Cy Young vote-getter Juan Marichal (18-11, 2.94) for this start, presenting a formidable challenge for any team.  However, even though the 1983 Red Sox were a sub-.500 team at 79-83, they had four Hall of Famers of their own in Yaz, Eckersley, batting champion Wade Boggs and 4th place MVP Jim Rice; however, it was Mike Brown (6-6, 4.87) or a truly awful Eckersley (5.61 ERA) at the bottom of the rotation, and these Red Sox hadn’t played any team with nearly the rating of the Giants in winning Regional #42.  Both pitchers escape jams in the first few innings, but in the top of the 5th Willie Mays misses a HR split with  two out but Ken Henderson scores on the resulting double to give the Giants the lead.  Mike Gallagher raps a two-out single in the 6th and a surprising fleet Dave Kingman (1-15+2) slides under the tag to score and provide some insurance, and after Brown issues a walk the Red Sox dig through a spent bullpen and come up with Oil Can Boyd, who stops the squeaking but the Giants lead by two.  In the 8th, Kingman miss his HR split for the second time of the game, but an elderly McCovey creaks home and Kingman then scores on a misplayed grounder by Boyd.  A two out RBI single by Chris Speier scores the third run of the inning and the Giants are in firm control, as is Marichal as he completes the 6-hit shutout to lead San Francisco deeper into the super-regional, and a new turn through a rotation that tossed shutouts in three of the first four rounds.  

This is the type of game you expect to see in the super-regionals:  two #1 seeds from their regionals, each facing their stiffest challenge yet.  The 1927 Cardinals’ 92-61 record was the second best in the NL that season, with Frankie Frisch the MVP runner up with Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey getting votes.  Pitchers Jesse Haines and Pete Alexander also got MVP support in those pre-Cy Young award days, but they had already had their turn in winning Regional #43 and Flint Rhem (10-12, 4.42) was a huge dropoff in the rotation.  The 1991 Dodgers went 93-69 with a lineup of elderly big names who had made those names in other places, but their rotation was no joke as Bobby Ojeda (12-9, 3.18) was only one of many good options for a #4 starter.  The Cards load the bases with nobody out in the top of the 1st, but Ojeda almost pitches his way out of the jam until his 2B-4 Juan Samuel drops a two-out grounder that gives St. Louis the one-run lead.  But Rhem gets reamed in the bottom of the 2nd, loading the bases with nobody out and then surrendering RBI singles to Samuel and Alfredo Griffin before a Darryl Strawberry homer makes it 6-1 and the Cards move to their only decent reliever, Fred Frankhouse.   They also respond with RBI singles from Wattie Holm and Ray Blades in the top of the 3rd that narrow the score to 6-3, but LA gets a 2-run triple from Strawberry who has completed the hard parts of a cycle in the first 3 innings, and when Eddie Murray doubles Straw home it’s 9-3 Dodgers.  The Cards show that they won’t go quietly with three more runs in the top of the 4th, fueled by a Frisch double, but they have to put in Art Reinhart in the 6th, and he yields a solid double off his card to Mike Scioscia, but 1-10+2 Kal Daniels is out at the plate to end the threat.  Ojeda then gives up a walk and a double off his card to lead off the top of the 7th, so with the tying run at the plate the Dodgers go to their much better bullpen for Jay Howell.  However, Holm sends a liner towards LF-4 Daniels who plays it into a 2-run single and it’s a one run game entering the 7th inning stretch.  Strawberry doubles in the bottom of the 8th to put him a single short of a cycle, but he’s stranded and the LA crowd jeers as he’s pulled for a defensive replacement for the 9th inning.  In the 9th, Taylor Douthit does draw a walk, but Holm hits into a game-ending DP accompanied by a meaningless injury, because the Cards go back into storage and the Dodgers survive 9-8 to move into round five.

The super-regional favorites were the 1989 A’s, the 99-win Series champions of Bash Brothers fame, but they would be facing an 84-win 1984 Royals team that had allowed a total of one run in their regional games, coming off two consecutive complete game shutouts.   This would be the Zoom game of the week, with ColavitoFan controlling the Royals while TT and Eaglesfly opted for a “college of coaches” approach in steering the A’s.  None of this managerial crew had much choice for the starting pitching as both teams were down to their #4 starters, KC’s Charlie Leibrandt (11-7, 3.63) and Oakland’s Storm Davis (19-7, 4.36).  In the 3rd the Royals get on the board with an unearned run when a ball bounces off the head of RF-3 Jose Canseco for a 2-base error, and Eaglesfly coaxes TT into intentionally walking George Brett to pitch to the feast or famine Steve Balboni.  However, that strategy goes bye-bye as Balboni crushes one into Mount Davis of the Coliseum and KC leads 4-0.  Carney Lansford and Mark McGwire drive in runs in the bottom of the 5th to narrow the lead to 4-2, but Davis quickly gets into a jam in the top of the 6th and is pulled in favor of Rick Honeycutt–who issues a bases loaded walk to PH Jorge Orta to extend the Royals lead.   Again Oakland responds, as Leibrandt gets into a jam of his own and gives way to closer Dan Quisenberry. But senior statesman Dave Parker pushes a run across and it’s now 5-3 KC, and the college of coaches are getting schooled by the split die as every attempt at adventurous baserunning ends in disaster.  The Royals get another RBI on a fielder's choice from Darryl Motley in the 7th, but Lansford converts the HR split on Quiz for a 2-run blast and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th.  The A’s have Dennis Eckersley on the hill to keep things close, but this time pitching to Brett in the top of the 9th proves to be a mistake as he smacks a solo shot to provide a little bit of insurance heading into the 9th.  ColavitoFan opts to try to preserve Quiz for later rounds and signals for Joe Beckwith to finish out the 9th, but Canseco greets him with a long solo shot and once again the lead is down to a run.  However, with two out in the bottom of the 9th it’s up to the last Oakland catcher, Ron Hassey; he can’t cope with Beckwith and the Royals hang on to pull off the 7-6 upset and send the Bash Brothers back to the storage drawers.

The 59-94 1957 A's were one of the first #8 seeds to win a regional, and their path to this super-regional was not easy either, as they had to defeat each of the top three teams in their bracket to get here.  Ironically, this team did far better in the tournament than the far more famous 1961 Yankees, with whom the A’s shared many players in common as the Yanks’ “farm team”.  They still had a number of decent options for a #4 starter, with Arnie Portocarrero (4-9, 3.92) getting the call.   Their opponents were the 1993 Reds, whose 73-89 record was not so great either, but these Reds had knocked off the top two teams in their regional; however, their pitching options were frightening and John Smiley (3-9, 5.62) was actually better than other options.  The Reds come up short in the bottom of the 1st when 1-10+2 Hal Morris is out at home on a 13 split for the final out.  Another baserunning fiasco costs them a run in the 2nd when A stealer Reggie Sanders is caught stealing immediately before Chris Sabo homers, but the Reds still lead 1-0 after two.  Lou Skizas finds a solid homer on Smiley in the top of the 3rd for a 2-run shot and a KC lead, but the Reds consider themselves fortunate that Smiley allows nothing else in his mandated five innings, and they go do reliever Jerry Spradlin to begin the 6th.  That proves to be a good thing as Hal Smith immediately rolls the number that would have been a solid homer on Smiley, and Spradlin holds on while a Barry Larkin triple in the bottom of the 7th ties the game.  Briefly, it turns out, as Skizas leads off the 8th with his second homer of the game, and with no bullpen to speak of it’s up to Portocarrero to get six outs.  But he doesn’t get it done in the 8th, issuing two walks and then committing an error to load the bases; Sabo then sends a grounder under the glove of SS-2 Joe DeMaestri and the game is tied heading into the 9th.  Spradlin holds serve in his final inning of eligibility in the top of the 9th, but so does Portocarrero and it’s extra innings between two bad teams that refuse to lose.  Johnny Ruffin is the Reds’ best option out of the pen, and he handles the A’s in the 10th.  Portocarrero is now down to his last inning, but Roberto Kelly leads off by converting a TR 1-3, and in comes the KC infield to try to cut off the winning run.  Portocarrero gets two outs with Kelly still stuck at 3rd, and the Reds send up PH Cecil Espy in the hopes that he can draw a walk.  But it’s a flyball to LF-3 Bob Cerv, and he waves at it as it goes by for the walk-off hit that sends the Reds forward with the comeback 4-3 win, with the team eager to revisit the top of their rotation after burning what little pen they have.  

Round 5 semifinals

As should be the case in a round five game, this matchup featured two good teams who would be looping back to their starters from round one; 1991 Dodgers and Tim Belcher (10-9, 2.62) against the 1971 Giants and John Cumberland (9-6, 2.92).   For such a significant game, it was fitting that Giants fan Alan G. from the Facebook groups made a Zoom appearance as the special guest roller for the San Francisco nine, while I would manage the Dodgers, which had been working out pretty well for elder statesmen on their roster thus far.  Both pitchers begin the game in good form, but in the bottom of the 3rd Cumberland issues a walk and then Brett Butler, who has consistently been a factor for several different teams in this tournament, converts a TR 1-8 off Cumberland’s card and the Dodgers have a 1-0 lead over their arch-rivals.  Eddie Murray then leads off the 4th for LA with a homer on his own card, and in the 5th Brett Butler once again demonstrates that, frankly, he doesn’t give a damn about my bad split die rolling, converting a HR 1-3 split off Cumberland for one of his two homers in ‘91.  Meanwhile, Belcher is giving Giants fans dyspepsia, and in the 7th Alan, knowing that runs are going to be hard to come by, shows his confidence in another Alan G., namely the 1-11+2 Alan Gallagher who sets sail for home on a Tito Fuentes double trying to break the ice.  But the split gods are uncooperative, and Gallagher is thrown out at home, probably by the dice-blessed Butler.  From there it gets no better; the Giants do have the meat of the order going for the 9th, but Belcher is up to the task, striking out Bonds, McCovey, and Kingman in succession to wrap up the four-hit shutout and the Dodgers win 3-0 to earn a berth in the super-regional final.  

These next round five contestants were fairly mediocre squads on paper, but they had both proved their mettle against formidable opponents.   The 1993 Reds were very happy to return to the front of their rotation for Jose Rijo (14-9, 2.48), 5th in the Cy Young votes and the NL leader in WAR.  On the other hand, the 1984 Royals had begun round one with Mark Gubicza (10-14, 4.05), in an effort to preserve their top starters for tougher competition, a decision that might come back to haunt them here.  Rijo breezes through the Royals lineup the first time through without a baserunner, and the KC offense isn’t helped any when C Don Slaught gets injured in the 3rd.  In the bottom of the 4th, Roberto Kelly singles, steals second on replacement C John Wathan, and races home on a Reggie Sanders single to hand Rijo a lead.  Sanders then steals second himself, and Chris Sabo singles him home and the Reds are up 2-0 after four.  In the 5th, the Reds load the bases on a single and two walks, setting up Sanders for a 2-run single, although Gubicza is fortunate that things didn’t get any worse as he strands the bases loaded.  Meanwhile, Rijo goes through the Royals order a second time with no baserunners, but Darryl Motley finally breaks up the perfect game with a single off Rijo’s card in the 8th.  Wathan garners their second hit in the top of the 9th, and when Hal McRae walks that brings up George Brett with two away, but he flies out harmlessly and Rijo’s two-hit shutout propels the Reds to the super-regional final with a 4-0 win.  

Super-regional F finals

For the super-regional final, the 93-win 1991 Dodgers come in as big favorites over the sub-.500 1993 Reds, and the depth of the LA rotation heightened the advantage with Mike Morgan (14-10, 2.78) wielding a significantly better card than the Reds’ Tim Belcher (9-6, 4.47), although coincidentally a younger version of Belcher had just tossed a shutout for the Dodgers in the previous game.  However, it’s the plucky Reds who get on the board first, with Hal Morris converting a TR 1-4 split in the bottom of the 1st and then scoring on a Kevin Mitchell sac fly.  The Dodgers quickly tie the game on a 2-out double by Mike Sharperson in the top of the 2nd, although slow-footed Mike Scioscia is out by a mile at the plate trying to score a second run.  The Reds take the lead again in the 6th when Barry Larkin scores while Mitchell is hitting into a double play, and in the 7th Reggie Sanders converts that same TR 1-4 on Morgan (a 6-5 roll) for another run.  Sanders scores on a Joe Oliver sac fly to add some insurance, and Mitchell adds a tape measure solo shot in the 8th while Belcher baffles his old teammates and finishes up a 2-hitter, both by Sharperson, and the unlikely Reds post the 5-1 win to take the super-regional crown.

Interesting card of Super-Regional F:  Mostly remembered by me as a slugger for the Giants during the 80s, Kevin Mitchell spent a more forgettable second half of his career bouncing around to different teams and countries (including Japan and Mexico) with a reputation as a malcontent and clubhouse cancer.  Traded to the Reds after a lackluster 1992 in Seattle, Mitchell looked like he was recovering the form that made him the 1989 NL MVP until injuries ended his season in August.  Nonetheless, as evident from this card, when healthy he was still a force to be reckoned with, and he was the primary offense weapon on a sub-.500 team that managed to pull off the super-regional win.   Mitchell didn’t hit a home run in rounds one through six of the tournament until his last at-bat of the super-regional final, but he did drive in 7 runs in those games and he managed to get himself into position many times to be driven in by Reggie Sanders and Chris Sabo.  At last report Mitchell has turned around his life in many ways, mentoring kids in his native San Diego and living healthier after being diagnosed with diabetes after his playing days ended.  However, his career lives on in the endless single elimination tournament, as his Reds are one of the final 32 teams with a chance to win it all.

The Endless Single Elimination Tournament after Regional #256:   Having completed 256 regionals involving all 2,041 different teams that Strat has printed (as of this moment), I've now played every Strat team I own, although it's taken me 44 years to be able to say that.  In recognition of this dubious accomplishment, I have collated the "historical documents" of this project up to this point into a single PDF document, which enables any interested reader (a group almost certainly limited to a highly select few) to search for information about the fate of their favorite teams or players.   Since anyone reading this has to be somewhat of a numbers buff, here are some stats: the volume is 1,022 pages long and contains 694,016 words, dwarfing Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (561,304), Gone with the Wind (418,053), Charles Dickens' longest work, Bleak House (360,947 words), Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (364,153) and all seven volumes of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia combined (345,535).  However, as always I must accept that my words-to-readers ratio is far higher than any of those authors, suggesting that perhaps I need to find other things to do.   At any rate, the Complete Regional edition is available for inspection or download at the link below; hope someone enjoys it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TTmDk4gmcTRrB2fivwSCOTKRGbBbwARi/view?usp=sharing

The ELO ratings and regional winners:  Now that all 256 regionals in the endless single elimination tournament are under my belt, with 2,041 different teams participating, there is a decent sample to examine whether ELO ratings for the history of MLB can provide any indication of who will win a regional in this crazy single-elimination tournament.  And, the final answer seems to be:  kind of.  As shown in the chart, the modal ELO seeding for the regional winner is indeed the top seed, but that favorite only won 22.3% of the regionals, which is considerably better than the 12.5% we’d see if winners were entirely random but certainly not a sure thing.  If your team is in the top half of entries in the regional, you are more than twice as likely to win as if you’re in the bottom half, but for some reason #2 seeds didn't do all that well.  However, the squads that fare most poorly are the #7 seeded out of the eight teams–the worst ELO-rated team in these groups wins the regional more often than the second-worst, although neither would be a great bet.  The #4 seeds were strangely successful, which has nothing to do with pairings because in this tournament the team matchups were entirely random rather than being based upon seeding such as is done in, for example, the NCAA basketball tournament.  If the pairings had been based on seedings with #1 always playing #8 in the first round and so forth, things might have gone differently.  However, when I started this tournament in 1980, Arpad Elo had only published his book on his rating system (for chess players) two years previously, so his system wasn’t comprehensively applied to baseball until several years after my first tournament games were played!  A final note:  the source that I’ve relied upon for MLB ELO ratings was bought out by Disney, which resulted in mass layoffs and resignations, so I've had to rely upon other sources for the past few years of rankings, which might have used different calculations for the ratings.   Regardless, we can see that as the tournament heads to the super-regional rounds, there aren't a lot of really bad teams remaining alive (28 seventh or eighth seeds, compared to 57 top seeds), but there are still plenty of mediocre squads around to cause havoc!