REGIONAL #226:  For the first time in tournament history (I think), it’s 21st Century Strato Man as all eight entries hail from this millennium–a sign that perhaps I might actually have played all of the 2,041 unique Strat teams that I own before the game company releases another season.  I’m afraid the more modern teams tend to be somewhat faceless to me as my seasons of peak Strat activity tended to be in the 1970s and 1980s, so it was going to be a challenge to make predictions about this group–not that I’m correct very often, regardless.  I didn’t recognize any pennant winners (having failed to recognize one in the last bracket), but I did know that the 2001 Mets had won the pennant in the preceding season for that Subway Series, and there were two Cleveland entries that I thought bracketed another pennant winner somewhere in between them.  I wasn’t too sure about the remaining teams, although there was a Giants squad that should include one of the final seasons of the Nameless One, who I imagined would be pretty formidable.  My blind guess was that the Mets would survive a battle of the PEDs against those Giants and then best the 2010 version of the Indians in the finals.  The ELO rankings indicated that my selections were indeed poorly informed, and predicted that the 2008 Blue Jays (about whom I remembered almost nothing) would top the other version of the Indians to take the bracket.

First round action

The 2001 Mets had won a pennant in the preceding year and although they continued to have a decent rotation with Rick Reed (8-6, 3.48) getting the start, the offense aside from MVP vote-getter Mike Piazza was not really up to steroid-era standards.  Speaking of steroids, I was expecting to see an imposing card with no player name on the 2005 Giants, and sure enough it was there, but there was a catch:  it only had 42 ABs and so was not eligible to play until the 6th inning, and it sported an injury roll at 2-7.  Until then, Moises Alou was going to have to provide the offense in support of Noah Lowry (13-13, 3.78), the lone respectable starting pitcher on the staff.  Piazza makes his presence felt immediately with a 2-run blast in the top of the 1st, but from there Lowry settles in.  However, Reed is also sharp, and so when the Mets get a single and a walk in the 6th the Giants bring in Scott Eyre to try to keep the game close and he does so with no damage.  Bonds gets his first at bat as DH in the 6th but grounds out harmlessly, while Tsuyoshi Shinjo converts a HR 1-8 split for a 2-out 2-run shot in the top of the 8th for additional Met life insurance.  It proves to be a necessary policy, as in the bottom of the 9th JT Snow’s sac fly breaks the shutout and then an RBI single by Jason Ellison puts the tying run at the plate in the form of Omar Vizquel.  The Mets eye their bullpen but closer Armando Benitez looks like a disaster waiting to happen, so they stick with Reed, and he yields a single to Vizquel to put the winning run at the plate.  The Mets decide that four hits in the inning is enough and figure than Benitez can’t be much worse, so he comes in to face Edgardo Alfonzo, who is also playing 2B for the Mets.  The SF version rips a grounder to Mets SS-2 Rey Ordonez, who handles it beautifully and the Mets escape with the 4-2 win as Benitez gets the one-pitch save. 

On paper, the best matchup of the first round here was the #2 seeded 2019 Indians against the #3 seed 2005 Twins.  The Indians won 93 games and although they did not reach the post-season, they had MVP vote-getters in Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana, by far the best guitarist in this tournament.  They also had a solid rotation and although Shane Bieber was a Cy Young contender, the Indians would go with Mike Clevinger (13-4, 2.71) for the first round start.  The 83-79 Twins didn’t have quite the offensive firepower of the Indians but they had a formidable Santana of their own, Johan Santana (16-7, 2.87) who finished 3rd in the Cy Young ballots.  Both pitchers are dominating to begin, but in the top of the 5th Joe Mauer gets a leadoff single, and unusual for a catcher he is a B stealer and is held, and Nick Punto hits the gbA++ to send Mauer to 3rd, where he scores on a Lew Ford single for a 1-0 Twins lead.  The Twins bring in a couple of their supersubs in the 6th, but in the bottom of the inning a Jordan Luplow double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out.  Santana whiffs Santana, but with now two out Jose Ramirez crushes one into the gecko seats of Progressive field for a 3-1 Indians edge.  And that is all Clevinger needs, as he finishes with 15 strikeouts and the Indians progress to the semifinals with the 3-1 win.

The Zoom game of the week featured two partisans managing their own favorite franchises, with ColavitoFan once again representing Cleveland with the 93-loss 2010 Indians while Toronto denizen Eaglesfly would be guiding the 2008 Blue Jays.   The Jays were the bracket favorite with an impressive ELO ranking (although they only went 86-76) and in this game they looked particularly tough with Cy Young runner-up Roy Halladay (20-11, 2.78) on the mound.  ColavitoFan responded with the alleged Fausto Carmona (13-14, 3.77), who was actually Roberto Hernandez indulging in identity theft to sign a contract with the Indians as a 17-year old, when he was actually 20.  Whoever he was, he ran into trouble with the Jays in the bottom of the 1st inning, and RBI singles from Scott Rolen and Alex Rios staked Halladay to a 2-0 lead that had Eaglesfly putting in the defensive replacements and buying tickets for the semifinal.  Indeed, Halladay allowed only a single hit in the first six innings and Skydome participants began paying more attention to the hotel room windows in centerfield than to the game.  However, that all came to an abrupt end in the top of the 7th, as ColavitoFan startings digging into the formidable pile of cardstock that constituted the Cleveland club and he rolled out pinch hitter after pinch hitter.  One of them, Drew Sutton, raps a run-scoring single to make it a one-run game with runners on 1st and 2nd, and the call goes out for PH Carlos Santana, who has had so much success in this tournament that I’ve run out of guitarist jokes.  The Jays trust in their ace Halladay, but Santana’s smooth swing results in a soul sacrifice on behalf of Fausto, a three-run homer that silences the crowd.  ColavitoFan’s neighbor Travis Hafner then drives in another in the 8th, and Carmona looks like a completely different person after the 1st inning to lock down the Jays and propel the Indians to the semis with the 5-2 upset.

A Beltway series between two lackluster representatives, the 2022 Orioles were not the division winner they would become the following season and the 2009 Nationals, who lost 103 games and were wondering if it was too late to go back to Montreal.  The Orioles did finish above .500 at 83-79, and they had some power with virtually the entire lineup in double digit homers, but unfortunately most of them must have been solo shots because they didn’t seem to be able to get on base.  Dean Kremer (8-7, 3.23) was the best of an otherwise mediocre rotation, although a strong pen was there to help out.  The Nationals had Ryan Zimmerman receiving some MVP votes, but their rotation after John Lannan (9-13, 3.88) was largely non-existent.   But it is the Nats who strike first in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-out double from Josh Willingham that scores one, but 1-11+2 Adam Dunn doesn’t get it dunn in the running department as he’s out at the plate to end the inning with it 1-0 Washington.   However, in the 4th back to back RBI doubles from Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle give Baltimore the lead, and Mountcastle scores on a single by Austin Hays to make it 3-1 O’s.  Ramon Urias adds one of the aforementioned solo shots in the 6th, and a leadoff single in the 8th chases Lannan for Sean Burnett, who contributes a walk before Urias smashes his second homer of the game and the Orioles now lead by six.  From there, Kremer coasts and wraps up a 6-hit complete game in the 7-1 Baltimore win.  

The survivors

After the first round, the 2019 Indians were the highest surviving seed and for good measure they would have Shane Bieber (15-8, 3.28), who was 4th in the Cy Young voting, ready to try to make it an all-Cleveland final.  However, the 2001 Mets also had a solid rotation and Kevin Appier (11-10, 3.57) was a veteran presence on the hill.   Veteran or not, in the bottom of the 1st Francisco Lindor finds and converts Appier’s HR 1-13 split for a 1-0 lead.  The Mets get to the Biebs in the top of the 5th as Matt Lawton pokes a clutch 2-out 2-run double to put New York ahead, and from there both teams threaten but the starters hold on.  However, a leadoff single in the 7th for Desi Relaford and the Indians have Bieber fatigue, so they go with Tyler Clippard, who yields a single on a ++ with Relaford held but then Clippard bears down and kills the rally to keep it a one run game.  The pitcher then take us to the bottom of the 9th, where with one out Appier walks Roberto Perez, who is replaced by a pinch runner;  Oscar Mercado then grounds one to 2B-2 Edgardo Alphonso for what looks like a sure double play, but Alphonso boots it and the tying run is now in scoring position and the winning run is at first.  The Mets stick with Appier for one more batter, and that proves ill-advised as Jason Kipnis rolls that HR 1-13 split on Appier–but misses it.  The pinch runner scores on the resulting double, and 1-16 Mercado sets sail for home as the winning run.  The roll is a 14, and the Indians head to the finals with the walk-off 3-2 win despite only recording three hits in the game.  

After an upset win over the bracket favorite in round one, it was now the 2010 Indians’ responsibility to pull off another upset in order to secure an all-Cleveland final.  The obstacle would be the 2022 Orioles, whose rotation dropped off abruptly to Tyler Wells (7-7, 4.25) although the Indians were no more enthusiastic about starting Mitch Talbot (10-13, 4.41).  In the bottom of the 2nd Ramon Urias continues his torrid hitting in the regional with a solo homer to provide the O’s with the lead, but in the top of the 3rd Luis Valbuena responses by finding the solid HR result on Wells and it’s 1-1.  The tie is short-lived as in the bottom of the inning SS-2 Asdrubal Cabrera commits a two-base error that sets up an RBI double by Gunnar Henderson and Baltimore regains the lead.  In the 5th, Travis Hafner misses Wells’ split HR result and Shin-Soo Choo chooses a bad time to roll a 20 trying to score from 1st on the resulting double.  The Orioles make it worse with a 2-run homer from Ryan Mountcastle in the bottom of the inning, and in desperation the Indians try Chris Perez and his 1.71 ERA to try to stay in the game.  He holds the line, and a leadoff double by Cabrera in the 8th chases Wells for the O’s own C. Perez, this one Cionel with a 1.40 ERA, but he issues a single and a walk to load the bases with still nobody out.  Perez then whiffs Hafner and LaPorta to bring up Michael Brantley, who converts a split single off Perez’s card and the lead is cut to 4-2, but Jayson Nix flies out to end the rally.  The game heads to the top of the 9th, and Carlos Santana leads off with a pinch hit single, and Drew Sutton follows with a pinch-hit home run that ties the game, as the Indians pinch-hitters continue the magic they displayed in round one.  Cionel then allows two straight singles, and with the infield in Trevor Crowe steals second to put runners on 2nd and 3rd, and still nobody is out.  Choo walks to load the bases, and Hafner converts that split single on Perez and the Indians take the lead.  A sac fly from Brantley adds an insurance run, and Chris Perez will try to hang onto that two run lead in the bottom of the 9th, although it will burn him for the regional.  And he does, mowing the bottom of the O’s lineup down in order and it’s time to set the Cuyahoga on fire as the Indians take the come from behind 6-4 win to face their later selves in the final.  

The finals will keep the regional title in the Tribe as the #2 seeded 2019 Indians and the #7 seeded 2010 Indians face off, with little in common other than a very good guitarist on the roster.  But they also shared persistence, with both teams having come from behind in all their victories to reach this final.  After these close games, both squads had depleted bullpens, meaning the advantage of the 2019’s Trevor Bauer (9-8, 3.79) over 2010’s Justin Masterson (6-13, 4.70) looked particularly large.  Masterson issues four walks in the top of the 2nd, but almost gets out of the inning anyway due to a DP, but Jake Bauers records the first hit of the game for a 2-out 2-run single to put the favorites ahead.  Jose Ramirez adds to the lead with a squib RBI single in the 3rd, but the 2010’s get on the board with a 2-out run scoring double from Michael Brantley in the bottom of the 4th that makes it 3-1.  In the 6th Jayson Nix misses Bauer’s HR 1-17 split with a roll of 19, but the resulting triple makes it a one run game and with the tying run on 3rd with two out the 2010’s roll out their PH extraordinaire, Drew Sutton, but Bauer whiffs him and the 2019’s cling to a one run lead.  Francisco Lindor immediately extends it by leading off the 7th with a long bomb, but in the bottom of the inning PH Carlos Santana and Asrdubal Cabrera start off with back to back doubles and the 2019s opt for Aaron Civale out of the pen; he promptly yields a single and then a 2-run Matt Laporta double and suddenly the underdogs are on top.  Armed with a lead, Masterson is then masterful and the unheralded 2010 Indians pull off their third consecutive comeback win, besting their compatriots 5-4 to take the regional crown. 

Interesting card of Regional #226:  This is the rather singular card of one Glenn Williams–singular in that, well, there are a lot of singles on it, but also in that it was the only Strat card that Mr. Williams’ ever received.  You see, these 40 at-bats were the entirety of his MLB career, meaning that his career batting average of .425 far outdistances the .344 lifetime mark of that other Williams guy.  In fact, this Williams holds the post-1900 major league records for the most at-bats, and most hits, in a career in which the batter hit .400 or better.  One of the few Australian major-leaguers, he made his debut for the Twins on June 7th as a 28 year old rookie and went on a tear.   On June 28th he went 1 for 2 with a walk against the Royals, but two days later he injured his shoulder, and as it didn’t heal the decision was made to have surgery in September.  Unfortunately, he never regained his hitting form in the minors and never played another major league game, although he did have some successful appearances for the Australian national team in international play.  In this endless tournament, Williams was only to enter the game after the 5th as a low-AB wonder, and he did his part going 2 for 2, not surprisingly both singles, but it wasn’t enough as his Twins quickly headed back to the card catalog drawers with a first round loss.