REGIONAL #221:  I began this tournament in 1980, and my slow off-and-on progress over the years has led to most pre-21st century teams having made their appearance among the 1,760 teams that have already played.  As such, the draw for this group consisted almost entirely of squads from 2000 on, and perhaps it’s a sign of my advanced age that the more recently a team played, the less I remember about them.  So my blind appraisal of this group was pretty blind indeed–I knew the Cubs entry was two seasons away from their first Series win since Moses parted the Red Sea, and most of the ‘98 Red Sox were probably familiar to me as I’d spend a year in Boston a season or two before and went to a fair number of Red Sox games and they were pretty good.  There was also a Cardinals team that had won the pennant in the prior season, and a pandemic year Mets squad that might prove interesting.  The multiple-entry franchise in this group was the Padres, with two shots including one from a few years back that I vaguely remembered being competitive in a very tough division.  My guess was that it would be a finals between arch-rivals, the Cubs and the Cardinals, and I went with the Cards to win just so I could root against the Cubs.  The ELO rankings mostly confirmed that my memories were bad (for example, the Cubs were in fact the bottom seed), other than the one that the Red Sox had some talent as they were favored to win over an Orioles team that I was surprised to see was ranked pretty well, given that I just played a terrible O’s squad from two seasons later in the last regional.    

First round action

The 2014 Cubs would win a championship in two seasons, but you’d never know it from this 73-89 last place team that had no real hitters other than Anthony Rizzo (who got some MVP votes), and a rotation that was terrible other than Jake Arrieta (10-5, 2.53), who finished 9th for the Cy Young and should have received a Purple Heart for pitching in front of this defense.  They were decided underdogs against the 2005 Padres, who actually managed to win the NL West with an 82-80 record although they were quickly eliminated in the postseason.  The Padres had a more balanced offense with some MVP support for Brian Giles, although like the Cubs their rotation was baked other than a Jake, this one Jake Peavy (13-7, 2.88) although Trevor Hoffman in the bullpen was also mentioned on a few MVP ballots.  Both Jakes are in fine form until the bottom of the 5th, when .169 hitting Cubs “DH” Javier Baez converts his HR 1-10/flyB split for a two run Cubs lead.  When Ryan Sweeney bounces a single in front of Padres RF-3 Brian Giles in the bottom of the 7th, San Diego decides it’s time for Hoffman, who immediately yields a triple to Baez off Hoffman’s card, and Baez scores on a Chris Coghlan single that’s also off the pitcher’s card, and my sense that Hoffman has a pretty crappy card for a closer with 43 saves seems to be validated.  However, it matters little, as Arrieta is dealing and finishes up a four-hit shutout in which he fans 11 to lead the Cubs to the semis with a 4-0 win.

This first round game featured two teams with good ELO ratings that would both be terrible within two years.  For the 81-81 2015 Orioles, it was pretty much the same players as the group that appeared in the prior regional, but with better years, with Manny Machado 4th in the MVP ballots and Chris Davis also getting votes while leading the league in homers (47) and strikeouts (208).  Wei-Yin Chen (11-8, 3.34) headed up a mediocre rotation but there were some strong arms in the bullpen.  Meanwhile, the 86-win 2021 A’s had a decent staff with Chris Bassitt (12-4, 3.15) getting the round one start, but after 8th place MVP contender Matt Olson there weren’t many threats in the lineup.  Bassitt gets hounded in the top of the 1st when a couple of singles and a walk sets up a two out grand slam by Steve Pearce off the pitcher’s card, and although he settles down to pitch a perfect 2nd, he’s injured on the last out of the inning and has to leave the game.  Matt Chapman homers to lead off the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1, and then in the 3rd the A’s use Andrew Chafin and his 1.83 ERA to replace Bassitt, but immediately Davis converts a TR 1-2/SI as the only solid hit on Chafin’s card.  Davis scores on a Caleb Joseph fielder’s choice to extend the O’s lead in the 3rd, but Oakland gets the run back in the 5th on an RBI double from Olson.  Machado greets new A’s pitcher Lou Trivino with a tape-measure homer to lead off the 7th and then the next batter Davis puts one even deeper into the stands for back to back blasts, but when Chen loads up the bases in the bottom of the inning with nobody out the Orioles call on Mychal Givens of the 1.80 ERA to bail them out.  That goes poorly, as Seth Brown crushes his first pitch for a grand slam and all of a sudden it’s a one run game. In the top of the 9th Baltimore gets a little insurance on an RBI single from defensive replacement David Lough, and it’s up to Givens to hang on.  But Starling Marte walks to lead off the bottom of the 9th and Olson misses a HR 1-10 split, but his double makes him the tying run with nobody out.  Not liking what they see from Givens, the O’s bring in Darren O’Day 1.59 ERA, who immediately walks Brown to load the bases.  Baltimore looks for the DP from slow-footed catcher Sean Murphy, but he smacks a single to score Marte and 1-11 Olson takes off for home to tie the game; he’s under the tag and the game is tied with nobody out and the winning run on 2nd.  O’Day records a whiff but then yield another single off his card, this one to Josh Harrison, and 1-13 Seth Brown dashes for home; he’s safe and the A’s stage a remarkable comeback, walk-off 9-8 win 

The Zoom game of the week featured the bracket’s top seed, the 1998 Red Sox, against a pandemic year 2020 Mets, with long-suffering Mets fan Frank directing traffic while I took the helm of the Red Sox, being pretty familiar with the team as I had gone to Fenway several times in the preceding seasons.  These Red Sox were a formidable team that won 92 games and made the postseason as a wild card, and they boasted two of the top five MVP candidates in Nomar Garciaparra (2nd) and Mo Vaughn (4th), and Pedro Martinez (19-7, 2.89) was the Cy Young runner-up.  Frank’s Mets went an unimpressive 26-34 but they had weapons in the lineup, with Domonic Smith getting MVP votes and some pandemic-fueled low AB wonders ready to join the fray after the 5th inning, but their defense was atrocious and their pitching staff frightening with an impressive exception in Jacob deGrom (4-2, 2.38), who finished third in the Cy Young and fortunately happened to be the Mets’ top IP starter, which on pandemic teams means that he automatically starts round one.  However, in the top of the 2nd Troy O’Leary notches an RBI double on a missed HR split and the Red Sox briefly take a lead, but Robinson Cano smacks a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to tie it up.  In the 4th, Reggie Jefferson moves it on up into the empty stands at Citi Field that makes it 2-1 Boston, and an RBI single from Darren Bragg in the 6th gives Pedro some additional insurance.   But it’s now the 6th inning and the Mets begin their parade of pandemic peculiarities, and Jake Marisnick, who came in to upgrade a CF-4 to a CF-1, also happened to have some pandemic power and he proved it with a 3-run homer and a Mets lead.  A solo blast from Dom Smith in the 8th and deGrom has all he needs to finish out a 5-3 win and oust the regional favorite, with Frank guiding the Mets to an upset and the semifinals.

I had blindly picked the 2014 Cardinals to win this regional because I knew they were coming off a pennant year, and indeed they won 90 games and made it to the NLCS.  They did so due to a very strong rotation fronted by Adam Wainwright (20-9, 2.38), finishing 3rd for the Cy Young; however, their lineup had way more guys named Matt (3) than players with more than 25 homers (0), so offensively they were basically a small ball team that had no team speed.  I had thought that the 2021 Padres finished better than 79-83, but that was probably because I remembered Fernando Tatis Jr. leading the NL in homers and finishing 3rd in the MVP votes before being suspended for PED use the following year; the San Diego rotation was not very good after Joe Musgrove (11-9, 3.18) and curiously most of their offense came from their infielders and not their outfielders.  The Cards quickly prove that they are no doorMatts as in the bottom of the 1st Matt Carpenter singles and Matt Adams launches a 2-run dinger, and after an out Matt Holliday adds a solo shot to make it 3-0, and the Cardinals front office immediately tries to sign as many inactive Matts as they can find, offering contracts to Matt Williams, Matty Alou, and Matt Lauer.  Jhonny Peralta leads off the 3rd with a gritty battle against the spellchecker, eventually converting Musgrove’s HR split; Matt Holliday follows with a double and he scores on a Yadier Molina single that makes it 5-0.  In the 4th, Tatis launches a tape measure solo shot that seems to rattle Wainwright, but he recovers in time to whiff Eric Hosmer with two runners in scoring position to keep a comfortable lead.  The Cards record two straight hits to lead off the bottom of the 5th and Musgrove must go, so wild Austin Adams comes in to try his hand and he induces two straight grounders to 2B-2 Adam Frazier, who wipes out the threat.  However, in the 8th Jon Jay adds some insurance with an RBI single, and although the Padres try to stage a 9th inning comeback with an RBI double from PH Austin Nola, it’s not enough as the Cards sew up a 6-2 win and move on as the top remaining seed in the bracket, while the Padres watch both of their entries in this group get bounced in the first round.  

The survivors

After having their starting pitcher injured in the second inning in the previous round, the 2021 A’s were hoping Frankie Montas (13-9, 3.37) would be able to go deep in this semifinal against the 2014 Cubs, who were fortunate that Jason Hammel (8-5, 2.98) squeaked over the 100 IP threshold to be eligible to start.  The Cubs take the lead when Justin Ruggiano converts a HR split to lead off the top of the 2nd, but they give it away when 3B-3 Luis Valbuena drops a Tony Kemp grounder allowing a run to score.  The A’s then take a lead when Seth Brown leads off the bottom of the 7th with a long blast, and when Sean Murphy follows with a single the Cubs bring Pedro Strop out of the pen to try to keep it close.  However, the A’s put another across on a Josh Harrison fielder’s choice, and Strop is bailed out when 1-14+2 Mark Canha is tossed out at the plate for the third out, but Oakland leads 3-1 heading into the 8th.  The Cubs waste no time getting back into the game as they load the bases in the top of the 8th with nobody out, and with the Oakland pen burnt it’s up to Montas to get out of his own mess.  And he does a decent job, only allowing a sac fly to Anthony Rizzo so the A’s lead is cut to one.  The Cubs then hand Oakland some insurance as errors by CF-3 Ruggiano and 1B-2 Rizzo produce a run, but Chicago then puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with one away in the top of the 9th.  A fielder’s choice by Ryan Sweeney brings the Cubs within one and the tying run is 90 feet away, but Montas bears down and whiffs game one hero Javier Baez and the A’s survive with a 4-3 win and head to the finals.  

After riding the arm of deGrom to survive the first round, the 2020 Mets were now faced with a significant step down to Rick Porcello (1-7, 5.64) as their second most prolific starter.  On the other hand, the 2014 Cardinals were blessed with four solid starters and Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74) and the three Matts were clear favorites here.  But it doesn’t take long for the Mets to get going as Jeff McNeil walks and Pete Alonso crushes a long homer, and after Cards RF-3 Randal Grichuk misplays a Michael Conforto single the hits keep coming, with RBI singles from Robinson Cano and Amed Rosario putting the Mets up 4-0 as they bat around.  However, in the bottom of the 2nd the Cards make it a one-run game when Kolton Wong raps an RBI single followed by a 2-run double from Yadier Molina, and in the 4th the Mets ugly defense rears its head as errors from C-4 Wilson Ramos and LF-3 Jeff McNeil gift the Cards a run and the game is tied.  Lynn essentially walks the bases full in the 5th but is bailed out when Rosario hits into a rally-killing DP, and the game heads to the 6th still knotted at 4-4 and it’s time for the Mets’ supersubs to enter the fray.  Jake Marisnick is the first of those and he doubles, Brandon Nimmo pokes a single and the Cards go to the pen in the hope that Pat Neshek and his 1.74 ERA can hang on.  But they miscalculate and play Alonso at double-play depth, and they can’t convert his grounder and a run scores to put the Mets up.  The Cards respond with a couple of singles in the bottom of the inning, and it’s the Mets’ turn to call for help in the form of reliever Erasmo Ramirez, and he mows down the opposition with a card that has no complete hits on it.  Mets supersub Tomas Nido then belts a solo shot in the 7th to extend their lead, and in the 8th Marisnick leads off the inning with his second double in as many ABs and Nimmo singles him home for additional insurance.  The Mets again gift the Cards a run in the bottom of the inning on an error by defensive replacement SS-2 Andres Gimenez, but Cano gets that one back in the top of the 9th with a solo shot from Cano.  Jeurys Familia is brought in to close things out in the bottom of the 9th, and he deals the Cards three straight outs as the pandemic Mets survive four errors to win 8-5 and earn a berth in the finals.  

The bracket final matched two near-contemporaries, the #4 seeded 2021 A’s and Sean Manaea (11-10, 3.91) against the #6 seed 2020 Mets and a surprisingly solid David Peterson (6-2, 3.44) as their starter, which was determined for this pandemic team in strict order of IP.  The Mets’ bad fielding quickly costs them in the top of the 2nd, as a 2-base error by 3B-4 JD Davis allows a run to score and the A’s grab a lead.  In the 3rd, a Sean Murphy double extends the lead but 1-11+2 Matt Olson is out trying to score to end the rally.  However, in the bottom of the inning Manaea commits a two-out error that loads the bases for Pete Alonso, who delivers a two-run single and the game is tied–briefly, it turns out, as Matt Chapman opens the top of the 4th with a long homer into the cardboard fans at Citi Field.  Peterson never recovers from that, as the A’s proceed with a barrage of hits including two consecutive doubles allowed by the Mets outfield, and the only out Peterson can get is a successful squeeze play by Elvis Andrus.  The Mets dip into the pen for Justin Wilson and his first pitch is a 2-run homer to Olson, so by the time the inning is over the score is 8-2 and even the fan cutouts are heading for the subway. Chapman leads off the 5th with his second homer of the game, and come the 6th inning the Mets send out their pandemic wonders in an effort to claw back from a seven-run deficit.  However, the A’s are showing no signs of letting up as Olson smacks an RBI single past P-5 Wilson, and even the Mets’ supersubs don’t have an answer as Oakland cruises to the 10-2 victory and the A’s record their 7th regional title.   

Interesting card of Regional #221:  This card represents the second full season from a 24-year old shortstop that had won the Rookie of the Year award the prior season, and in this season he was the runner-up for the AL MVP in a year of remarkable performances.  If you were around at the time, you may remember that he immediately became a huge sensation in Boston, with chants of “Nomah” ringing through Fenway, and with cards like this it was easy to see why everyone assumed that he was on a straight path to the Hall of Fame.  However, over time his relationship with the Red Sox management soured, perhaps fueled by a rumor that they were attempting to acquire ARod to replace Garciaparra, and he became increasingly unhappy.  So, at the trading deadline in 2004, the Red Sox sent the fan favorite packing to the Cubs, and magically the Sox suddenly got much better, going 42-19 for the remainder of the season, and besting the Angels and Yankees in the playoffs and sweeping the Cardinals in the Series for their first championship since 1918.  Meanwhile, Nomar was never the same player even though he was only 30 years old; he did have one strong season with the Dodgers but whether it was injuries, steroids, or Fenway, his ticket to the Hall of Fame never got punched.  Even so, he is certainly the greatest player ever named “Nomar”, leading to the trivia question (no Googling!):  how did he get that name?