REGIONAL #222:  After the previous bracket, I was happy to see some diversity of eras in this group, with two seasons from the 1950s putting in their final tournament contestants, and other representatives from the 70s, 80s, and 90s in addition to a couple of 21st century squads.  In contrast, according to my memory the quality level of the group looked pretty consistent, teams that I was guessing were pretty decent although none were very close to a pennant year.   Some big names would make an appearance, such as pre-roid Barry Bonds and post-peak Ted Williams, but I found it difficult to pick a favorite in this group.  Other than assuming that the White Sox would fall victim to my usual jinx, I was totally in the dark but predicted an all-1992 final between the Pirates and the Cardinals, with the Pirates prevailing for what would be their most modern team to take a regional.  The ELO rankings came to the same conclusion, indicating that the toughest challenge for the favored Pirates would come in the first round against the Mariners.

First round action

This first round matchup between the top two seeds of the bracket was a natural for the Zoom game of the week; the favored 1992 Pirates winning 96 games and the NL East before losing a seven-game NLCS, while the 2014 Mariners won only 87 games but had a great equalizer on the mound in the form of Cy Young runner-up Felix Hernandez (15-6, 2.14).  However, as the guest managers of the M’s, ColavitoFan was unimpressed with a lineup that had some difficulty reaching base, while Nacster would skipper a Pirates team that boasted NL MVP Barry Bonds in his final year in Pittsburgh and Doug Drabek (15-11, 2.77) was 5th in the Cy Young votes.  Not surprisingly, the game begins as a pitcher’s duel, and with little action on the basebaths Nac decides to party like it’s 1909, reverting to deadball strategies and beating out two bunts (in Basic, mind you) in the bottom of the 5th to set up a 2-run single by Don Slaught for a Pirates lead.  That holds up until the top of the 8th, when Seattle finds Drabek’s weak spots and muster four hits, two of them RBI knocks from Michael Saunders and Kyle Seager, and the Mariners now possess a 3-2 edge and Hernandez is still looking strong.  However, Nac dips back into the John McGraw playbook and beats out yet another bunt, advances that runner into scoring position with a successful sacrifice–and Jeff King signals his displeasure with smallball by putting one into the Monongahela River and suddenly the Pirates have regained the lead.  Drabek comes out and sets down the Mariners in order in the top of the 9th and the top-seeded Pirates move on with a tightly contested 4-3 win.

The ELO ratings for the first round game between the 1954 Tigers and the 1976 Cubs portrayed the two teams as evenly matched, with neither being very good.  The Tigers finished 68-86 with little pop in the offense other than family patriarch Ray Boone, although besides Boone everyone else was a pretty good fielder and the rotation was solid, fronted by Ned Garver (14-11, 2.82).  The Cubs went 75-87 and had a bit more pop in the lineup, but less defense and pitching with Ray Burris (15-13, 3.11) good as long as he could avoid the longball.  Some smallball works for the Tigers in the bottom of the 2nd as a walk and a bunt sets up a run-scoring squib single by Bill Tuttle for a Detroit lead.  In the 3rd, it’s the Cubs defense that provides opportunities, as LF-2 Jose Cardenal misplays a Walt Dropo single that sets up a sac fly from Jim Delsing, and then Dropo scores when 1B-4 Rick Monday waves at a Frank House single as it goes by him.  The Cubs get on the board in the 4th when Manny Trillo misses Garver’s HR 1-13 split but 1-15+2 Joe Wallis is able to score on the resulting double; the Tigers get the run back in the bottom of the inning when Tuttle rolls his solid triple and then scores on a sac fly by Harvey Kuenn that almost bangs a wall.  The Cubs move to Bruce Sutter at the first sign of trouble in the 6th to try to keep the game within reach, and he holds as the Cubs make it a two-run game in the 7th on a sac fly from Mick Kelleher.  Sutter is lights out, striking out the side in the bottom of the 8th but it is to no avail as Garver finishes out a 4-hitter and the Tigers move forward, winning 4-2.  

This first round matchup featured two middling teams that were closely matched according to their ELO ratings.  The 1959 Red Sox went 75-79 but might have been much better if Ted Williams hadn’t suffered through an injury-plagued season in which he hit an un-Splinterlike .254; their rotation wasn’t bad with swingman Ike Delock (11-6, 2.96) as their choice for the opener.  The 1992 Cardinals had a better record at 83-79 but their most recognizable players were a bit past their prime, although Bob Tewksbury (16-5, 2.16) had his career year, finishing 3rd in the Cy Young sweepstakes and exhibiting his typically remarkable control (20 walks in 233 IP).  In the bottom of the 2nd, Cards 3B-3 Todd Zeile drops a grounder from Bob Costas’s nemesis Gary Geiger, which opens the door for a two-out two-run double from Sammy White on a missed HR split.  Pete Runnels is tossed out (1-13) at the plate in the 3rd trying to score on another missed HR split, but Williams does get across in the 4th after another missed HR split gets him a double and White drives him in.  That seems to distract Tewksbury, who allows RBI singles to Gene Stephens and Pete Runnels before he can end the inning and the Sox have a 5-0 lead after four.  A double by Dick Gernert in the 5th and Tewksbury is toast, with the Cards moving to closer Lee Smith in desperation to face Williams.  The Splinter is unimpressed and knocks an RBI single off Smith’s card, and as the 6th begins Boston makes some defensive adjustments with a substantial lead.  The Cards see that as an opportunity and push across two runs on a Luis Alicea sac fly and a Tom Pagnozzi single past Boston SS-4 Don Buddin, but St. Louis leaves the bases loaded and that’s their high water mark as Boston fastens Delock on the door for the Cards to win 6-2, in the process outhitting St. Louis 18-4 while missing splits and leaving numerous runners in scoring position, an issue they will need to remedy going forward.

This matchup looked gruesome as it featured the two teams with the worst ELO ratings in the bracket.  It looked to me like the 2017 White Sox wouldn’t need my jinx for an early elimination, as they were the bottom seed on the bracket with 95 losses and they traded away some of their regulars midseason after throwing in the towel, leaving Jose Quintana (4-8, 4.49) as the best of a bad rotation.  The 1987 Padres were the second-worst rated team with 97 losses, although their Pythagorean projection suggested that they underperformed and they did have the league batting leader and 8th in the MVP votes in Tony Gwynn, with Eric Show (8-16, 3.84) the best of a sorry rotation.  In the bottom of the 1st, Carmelo Martinez misses a 1-15 split for a grand slam but three runs score on the resulting double and the Padres quickly have a substantial lead.  The Sox get one back when a 2-base error by SS-2 Garry Templeton sets up a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Tim Anderson, and then RBI singles from Yolmer Sanchez and Alen Hanson tie it up in the top of the 4th.  The Padres reclaim the lead in the 5th when Randy Ready drives in Gwynn with a triple, but when Leury Garcia pokes a one-out single in the 7th, the Padres move to Goose Gossage who racks up two strikeouts that both would have been hits on Show’s card.  However, seeking to not cook the Goose, the Padres bring in Lance McCullers for the save in the 9th, and he allows three straight singles with the last one by Jose Abreu getting under SS-2 Templeton’s glove that scores the game-tying run.  Quintana holds in the bottom of the 9th and the game heads to extra innings, with the offensive ineptitude of both teams evident as the game proceeds.  Finally, in the bottom of the 14th the Padres mount a threat against Sox reliever Anthony Swarzak as two-out singles from Shane Mack and Templeton put the winning run on 3rd, with defensive replacement Chris Brown at the plate.  Swarzak delivers, and Brown puts it into the stands at Jack Murphy Stadium as the Padres survive with a walk-off 7-4 extra inning win.

The survivors

After surviving the second best team in round one, the top seeded 1992 Pirates saw a clear path to the regional title, but it would have to go through the 1954 Tigers and Steve Gromek (18-16, 2.74) against the Bucs’ Zane Smith (8-8, 3.06).  Smith donates the lead to the Tigers in the bottom of the 3rd with a double and an RBI single, both off his card, but Gromek returns the favor as the first batter of the 4th, Don Slaught, converts the pitcher’s HR split to tie the game.  Gromek is rattled, and a few batters later Alex Cole also converts that HR 1-18 split with an 18 for a three run homer and a 4-1 Pirates lead.   Gromek settles down but the limited Tigers offense can’t produce anything until the bottom of the 9th, when Harvey Kuenn leads off with his third hit of the game and Ray Boone follows by converting Smith’s HR 1-6 split and suddenly it’s a one run game with nobody out.  The Pirates don’t like the homers on closer Stan Belinda, so they opt for young knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, and he survives an error from 3B-3 Jeff King to close out the game as the Pirates hang on for a 4-3 win to move to the finals.

The semifinal between the #4 seed 1959 Red Sox and the #6 seeded 1987 Padres involved three Hall of Famers, although Boston’s one HOFer had perhaps his worst season, the Padres’ bullpen was seriously taxed from their 14-inning marathon in round one.  It was Boston’s Frank Sullivan (9-11, 3.94) against swingman Mark Davis (9-8, 3.99) for San Diego, but the first swing in the top of the 1st by leadoff man Gene Stephens converted Davis’ HR result for an immediate Red Sox lead.  However, in the bottom of the 3rd Padres HOFer Tony Gwynn returns the favor with a two-run shot off Sullivan’s card and San Diego moves in front 2-1.  In the 5th Boston regains the lead as Pete Runnels rips an RBI triple, and he scores when Frank Malzone knocks a single past 3B-4 Randy Ready; a rattled Davis then loads up the bases so Ted Williams can loft a sac fly that makes it 4-2 Boston.  However, in the top of the 6th Boston loses SS Frank Buddin to injury for the rest of the regional, and sensing weakness the Padres pull within one in the bottom of the inning with a Carmelo Martinez RBI single.  But in the top of the 7th the Splendid Splinter converts a double off Davis’s card to drive in a run and San Diego calls upon Goose Gossage to try to keep it close, but Williams ultimately scores on injury replacement Pumpsie Green’s sac fly to extend the Boston lead.  From there Sullivan only gets stronger and the Red Sox finish out the 6-3 victory to earn a berth in the bracket final.

The regional final matched the #1 seed in the bracket, the 1992 Pirates with Randy Tomlin (14-9, 3.41) on the mound, against the #4 seeded 1959 Red Sox and Tom Brewer (10-12, 3.77), with Boston playing shorthanded without their starting shortstop.  In the bottom of the 1st, Gene Stephens, who had led off their semifinal game with a homer off the pitcher’s card, again rolls Tomlin’s HR split, and although he misses it for a double he scores on another double from Frank Malzone.  Two batters later Dick Gerhert cracks a 2-run homer and it’s a quick 3-0 lead for the underdog Red Sox.  But the Pirates had come from behind in each of their previous games, and they begin the process in the top of the 4th as Barry Bonds finally makes some noise with a 2-run homer that unnerves Brewer, who walks two and then allows an RBI single to Alex Cole that ties the game.  The Red Sox respond in the bottom of the inning with a sac fly from Ted Williams that puts them ahead once again, but the Pirates tie it again in the 4th after Jose Lind doubles and ultimately scores on a Don Slaught fielder’s choice.  Things look grim for already shorthanded Boston in the 5th when they lose their star RF Jackie Jensen to injury for the rest of the tournament, but they rally around their fallen comrade with a barrage of hits in the 6th that doesn’t stop when young Tim Wakefield comes in to give up a 3-run homer to injury replacement Vic Wertz, and by the time Stan Belinda manages to eventually record the third out of the inning the Red Sox lead 11-4 and Fenway is rocking.  From there, Brewer just has to be adequate and he is, propelling the Red Sox to their 9th regional win and their third of the Ted William era.  However, they will be facing the first game of their super-regional, whenever that might be played, without two of their starting position players and with unexciting options for a #4 starter.

Interesting card of Regional #222:  This is another example of a card from a turning point in Strat card-dom.  This was the first season of the perforated cards, the first season with colored ink on the Basic side, one of the last seasons of the classic card patterns that I had grown up with, and the only season with the shaded diamond background designed to thwart photocopiers, although it proved to be more effective in being unreadable by the old eyes of their aging player base.  Still, if you put on the bifocals, you may see a rather nice specimen of a hitter’s card, with that solid three-column that I always loved (although I wonder why 3-4 wasn’t a solid triple?) and some nice results located in the other columns as well.  Throw in top-flight defense and speed and you’ve got yourself a pretty good ball-player.   This was probably the Hall of Famer’s best season, leading the league in hitting and hits and posting the best WAR in the National League, but he only finished 8th in the MVP voting, even finishing behind teammate Mark Davis on the 97-loss Padres.  In fact, Gwynn never won an MVP award and finished in the top five only once, when he was just 24 years old.  Despite this seeming lack of recognition during his career, he was elected to the Hall of Fame on his first try with the eighth-highest voting percentage in Hall of Fame history.  After his death at age 54 from salivary gland cancer, which likely resulted from his long-term use of chewing tobacco, MLB named the NL league batting title after the Padres icon, a recognition nicely exemplified in this card.