REGIONAL #225:  The tournament is sort of running out of entries from before the nineties, and this bracket was a prime example with most of them 21st century teams; this was also the first time I’d run my team selector program after revising it to include 2023, although at the time they had been shipped but had not arrived.  However, there was no need to wait on Fedex as none of these current teams were picked, although the 2022 Dbacks, who would be the NL pennant winners in that following set, were there, as was a Jeter-era Yankees team that had won the AL three years before and would do so again three years later.  Other teams that might have some potential could be an Indians team at the beginning of a good decade for them, and the later of the two Detroit entries might be competitive; I had a feeling that the rest of the field didn’t look very promising.  Given the sad history of the Jeter Yankees in this tournament, I doubted they would go all the way and I picked the Dbacks to beat them in the finals.  The ELO ratings didn’t care about jinxes and portrayed the Yankees as the best team in baseball that season; they picked them over a seemingly mediocre Dbacks team in the finals but tapped the earlier of the two Tigers teams as the major competition for the Yanks in a potential semifinal game.  

First round action

The 2022 Diamondbacks were a far cry from the team that won the NL the next season, losing 88 games with an offense that had difficulty getting on base, but one of the things they did have in common was a strong performance by Zac Gallen (12-4, 2.54) who finished 5th in the Cy Young votes.  Facing Gallen did not bode well for a bad 99-loss 2009 Pirates team who had rookie Andrew McCutchen as their only bright spot, with Ross Ohlendorf (11-10, 3.92) at the top of a rotation that got steadily worse.  The Dbacks get a run in the bottom of the 1st on doubles from Josh Rojas and Corbin Carroll, but Brandon Moss ties it in the top of the 5th with a two-out RBI single.   The game stays knotted until the bottom of the 7th, when Alek Thomas leads off by wrapping a homer around the foul pole, and after a 2-out single by Rojas the Pirates summon reliever Steven Jackson, who is greeted with a long homer by defensive replacement Emmanuel Rivera, and the Dbacks continue to pound Jackson until he manages to end the inning with Arizona holding a four run lead.  From there, Gallen can cruise as he wraps up a four-hitter in which he fans 11 and the Dbacks head to the semis with the 5-1 win.  

This first round game involved an evenly-matched pairing of two of the worst-ranked teams in baseball history, the 2018 Tigers and the 2005 Royals.  The Tigers lost 98 games but still managed to finish 3rd in an apparently terrible AL Central, with a team that didn’t have much power or ability to get on base, a hit or miss defense, and Matt Boyd (9-13, 4.39) atop a lackluster rotation.   The Royals lost 106 games, and although they might have been able to get on base slightly better than the Tigers, they also had little pop, bad defense, and a miserable rotation with Runelyvs Hernandez (8-14, 5.52) somehow better than a terrible year from 21 year old Zack Greinke.  The Tigers defense falls apart in the bottom of the 3rd, with an error from SS-1 Jose Iglesias and a three-base error by RF-4 Nick Castellanos, followed by a wild pitch, all set up a five run inning with Emil Brown contributing a 2-run double to the onslaught.  A leadoff single to begin the 6th and the Tigers decide to try Alex Wilson out of the pen, and he mows down the Royals; the Tigers take heart and load the bases to score a run on an error by KC’s 3B-3 Mark Teahen, but aging Miggy Cabrera whiffs to end the threat and in the process is injured for the remainder of the regional.  Wilson continues to be perfect until two out in the 8th, when Terrence Long finds Wilson’s solid 4-5 HR result for a solo shot to provide some additional insurance. That looks like it may be necessary, as Castellanos shoots a 9th inning two out double past LF-3 Long for a run and there are now two runners in scoring position, but a faltering Hernandez manages to get the third out and the Royals hang on for a 6-2 and a trip to the semifinals. 

For the Zoom game of the week, it was ColavitoFan once again manning the helm of a Cleveland squad, this one the 77-85 1990 Indians, who were clearly not the team they would become later in the decade.  Bud Black (13-11, 3.57) was decent enough at the top of the rotation, but he had the challenge of facing the bracket favorite in the 2006 Yankees, who won 97 games and the AL East, with the Tall Tactician seeing if his tactics could surmount the poor showing of the Jeter-era pinstripers in this tournament thus far.  Speaking of Jeter, he was the runner-up for the AL MVP, and teammates ARod, Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano also received votes, while Mike Mussina (15-7, 3.51) would get the round one start over a Cy Young runner-up, demonstrating the depth of the rotation.  The Indians get in trouble in the top of the 2nd with two walks and an error loading the bases for Johnny Damon, who earns his free agent dollars with a bases-clearing double and the Yanks move out to a formidable lead.  And although ColavitoFan is rocking it on the trivia questions, he isn’t rolling it on the dice, hitting the holes in his players’ best columns and missing splits so consistently you’d think I was rolling the die (which in fact I was).  Coupled with Mussina looking strong and a 9th inning courtesy call from Mariano Rivera, the Indians go down with only three hits and no runs to their name, and despite a solid showing from Black the Yankees move on in their quest for their first Jeter-era regional win with a 3-0 shutout victory.

From memory I had assumed that the 2006 Tigers would be bad, as I knew that they had been epically terrible in the prior few seasons and in fact had lost 91 games in ‘05.  However, it entirely slipped my mind that they actually won 95 games and the AL pennant in ‘06, with MVP votes for Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez as well as Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander (17-9, 3.63), who was also 7th in the Cy Young ballots.  I had also guessed that the 1985 Rangers might have been slightly better than a 99-loss team with a limited offense and a rotation with nothing aside from Charlie Hough (14-16, 3.31).  The two starters prove to be the star of the show; Verlander allows two hits in the first two innings and then the Rangers can’t touch him for the rest of the nine, and Hough allows four singles but the Tigers eliminate all four through double play balls, so after nine innings the two teams are still knotted in a scoreless tie.  The Rangers finally break the ice in the top of the 10th when Detroit 1B-3 Sean Casey commits a two-base error that turns into a run on a Don Slaught double, but Slaught is cut down at the plate for the third out and the game heads to the bottom of the 10th with Hough three outs away from the semifinals.  Carlos Guillen leads off with a walk and he steals second, fearing the DP ball; he takes third with two out on a flyball A from PH Brent Clevlen, so the tying run is 90 feet away with the game up to Ordonez.  Hough throws a wicked knuckler, Ordonez pops out, and the Rangers pull off a 1-0 upset in a game with only four hits for each team and no earned runs allowed. 

The survivors

The 2022 Diamondbacks may not have been the same team that won the pennant the following year, but they felt they had a smooth path to the finals with Merrill Kelly (13-8, 3.37) sporting a nice card and facing a bad #7 seed in the 2005 Royals and DJ Carrasco (6-8, 4.79), who perhaps should have stuck to spinning records.  But it’s Mike Sweeney who starts things off for the Royals with a solo shot in the bottom of the 1st, but they miss a chance to extend their lead in the 5th when 1-14+2 Mark Teahen is cut down for the 3rd out while trying to score on a Ruben Gotay double.  Meanwhile, Carrasco keeps the beat going but falters in the 6th, allowing a two-out RBI single to Daulton Varsho that ties the game, and the Royals summon closer Mike MacDougal and he successfully strands the tying run on third.  However, he is not so fortunate in the 7th as Ketel Marte swats a sac fly that gives the Dbacks a 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the inning, the Royals bring in LF-4 Matt Stairs for his bat, which doesn’t amount to anything for KC but it does for the Dbacks in the 8th as a 2-run triple bounces by Stairs to pad the Arizona lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning David Dejesus lands an RBI double off Kelly’s card, and the next batter Aaron Guiel misses Kelly’s HR split for a double that makes it a one-run game, and the Dbacks send for Kyle Nelson out of a bad bullpen.  He retires two in a row to send the game to the 9th, but in the bottom of the 9th Nelson walks the first two batters and then yields a single to Teahen, but 1-10 John Buck is nailed at the plate trying to tie the game.  Now with one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Nelson whiffs Angel Berroa to bring up PH Denny Hocking off a terrible KC bench.  Hocking does his job and draws a walk to load the bases for Dejesus, while the Dbacks look for anybody in the bullpen with better control than Nelson, but to no avail.  So Nelson delivers to Dejesus and sure enough, it’s a walk on Nelson’s card and the game is tied.  Now it’s to Guiel for the win, and Nelson blows it by him and the game heads to extra innings.  The first batter of the 10th, new DH Stone Garrett crushes one into the fountains to chase MacDougal for Ambiorix Burgos, who may sound like some sort of medication but successfully treats the symptoms as he ends the inning without further damage.  But Nelson regains his composure in the bottom of the 10th to retire three straight and the Diamondbacks fend off the pesky Royals with a 5-4 win to earn a berth in the finals. 

This was a seemingly lopsided semifinal matchup with the 97-win 2006 Yankees facing the 99-loss 1985 Rangers, and to underscore the imbalance the Yanks had the Cy Young runner up, Chien Ming Wang (19-6, 3.63) going against a mediocre Mike Mason (8-15, 4.83) for Texas.  But, it’s the Rangers who strike first in the bottom of the 1st, with Gary Ward stroking an RBI double off Wang’s card.  However, Mason’s wildness loads the bases in the top of the 3rd, and Robinson Cano ties the game with a sac fly and then Jason Giambi clears the remaining bases with a double and New York moves out to a 3-1 lead.  They add to it in the 5th when Jeter actually contributes with a 2-run double, and then ARod singles him home and the Yanks have a comfortable edge.  Giambi adds a solo homer in the 7th that would have been for more if Jeter hadn’t been caught stealing; in the 8th they get a scare when Jorge Posada rolls his injury, but he’s okay and stays in the game.  However, two batters later Johnny Damon rolls HIS injury, and this time the split die isn’t so kind with a 19 and Damon is gone for the tournament.  The Rangers get a run in the bottom of the inning on a Larry Parrish sac fly, but the Yankees batter Texas reliever Greg Harris in the top of the 9th with a two-run single from Jeter and then, after he’s caught stealing once again, defensive replacement Andy Phillips slaps a solo homer.  From there Wang is on cruise control and the Yankees head to the finals with a 10-2 win, although their defense takes a significant hit with CF Damon out of the picture.  

The final was a matchup that both I and the ELO rankings predicted, the top seeded 2006 Yankees with Derek Jeter attempting to lead the team to their first regional win under his captaincy, against the 2022 Diamondbacks who were playing like they could maybe win the pennant in their next season.   Both teams were experiencing a big dropoff in their starting pitching; the Yanks would go with 42-year old Randy Johnson (17-11, 5.00) but had a fully rested pen ready to bail him out at the first sign of trouble, while the Dbacks’ Zach Davies (2-5, 4.09) was a big step down from their other Zac.  The first batter of the game, Josh Rojas, hits a ball to LF-4 Hideki Matsui who is only in the game due to the injury to Johnny Damon, and Matsui watches it go by for a double.  The Big Unit then bears down and strands Rojas at second, and then in the bottom of the 3rd Davies issues three walks to load the bases with one out and Jeter at the plate, with a chance to lead the way.  But the roll is on the pitcher’s card, a 6-9…wait, that’s a solid HR and Jeter trots around the bases with a grand slam and the Bronx goes wild.  Davies then walks three straight to begin the 4th and when Melky Cabrera’s fielders’ choice brings in another Yankee run, the Dbacks can pull Davies (who allowed only one hit) for the equally wild Caleb Smith and he retires the side without further damage.  In the 8th, Jeter singles for only the second NY hit of the game, both by him, but the AA stealer is caught stealing second making him 0 for 3 in that department in this regional.  But it doesn’t matter as the creaky Unit doesn’t allow a hit after the 4th inning and the Yankees cruise to their first Jeter-era regional title with Johnson’s five hit, 5-0 shutout.  The regional win is the Yanks’ 11th, although only the second from the past 25 years.

Interesting card of Regional #225:  If you roll on this guy’s card, you can be pretty certain that one of two things is going to happen.  I’ve shuffled through a lot of bad cards in the 1,800 teams that have played in the tournament to this point, but I can’t remember another where, beginning with the 1-2 roll and working your way down, you’d need to check 26 results before you came to one that wasn’t a strikeout.  Not to be confused with the guy who played in the Incredible Hulk TV show, Brian Bixler played four seasons in the majors, although I’m not exactly certain why–this card represented the best year of his career in batting average and OPS, and at least according to Strat it wasn’t his glove that kept him around.  However, Bixler can’t be blamed for the immediate exit of his Pirates from the regional, as he didn’t make an appearance–not even as a pinch-runner, a role he served in his first real life home game as a rookie where he failed to break for home on a squeeze play that ultimately cost the Pirates the game.