REGIONAL #229:  There were two teams that stood out to me in the draw for this group:  the pennant-winning Astros from the year before last, and a Nationals team that was a few years from their first pennant.  Another that stood out was one of the last entries from the 1970s, a Braves team that was one of two representatives, and there were also two version of the Reds, and I didn’t think that any of the four would be all-time greats.  I thought the Bay Area might produce a dark horse, as there was an A’s team in the declining years of the Moneyball experiment and a Giants team that might have been decent, but my money was on the Astros to best the Nats in the finals.  For a change, the ELO rankings sized up the regional very similarly to my blind guesses, and predicted the same outcome.

First round action

The bracket kicks off with a matchup between two competitive entries, the #2 seeded 2006 A’s and the #4 seed 2011 Braves.   The A’s won the AL West with 93 wins but were denied a pennant in the ALCS; it was a bit jarring to see their primary offensive weapon, Frank Thomas, with “Oakland” printed on his card, but he was good for 39 homers which got him 4th place in the MVP vote, and Barry Zito (16-10, 3.83) was by far the best starter on the staff.  The Braves won 89 games to finish 2nd in the NL East; they had 7 guys in the lineup with double-digit homers and a killer bullpen to support a rotation fronted by Tim Hudson (16-10, 3.22).  In contrast to what he usually does when playing for my White Sox, Thomas makes his presence felt in the bottom of the 1st with a long solo homer for a 1-0 Oakland lead, but the Braves immediately tie it in the 3rd when a Martin Prado double sets up a sac fly from Alex Gonzalez.  Dan Uggla leads off the 6th with a homer to put the Braves ahead, and after two outs Jason Heyward connects off Zito’s card for another, sending the A’s to the pen for closer Huston Street as they feel the game slipping away from them.  Uggla leads off the 8th and again he homers, and in the 9th Chipper Jones connects for Atlanta’s fourth solo homer of the game, while Hudson locks down his former teammates to finish out a 6-hitter as the Braves move on with the 5-1 win.  

It’s a top seed vs bottom seed matchup with two teams from the same season, the world champion 2022 Astros and the cellar-dwelling 2022 Reds.  The Astros were no fluke, winning 106 games and sweeping the ALDS and ALCS, and they had three players in the top 10 in MVP voting in Yordan Alvarez (#3), Jose Altuve (#5), and Justin Verlander (#10), and another three–Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Framber Valdez–also receiving votes.  Verlander (18-4, 1.75) was the runaway winner of the Cy Young award, and in the unlikely even that he got into trouble there was a killer bullpen ready to help out.  Meanwhile, over in the NL the Reds were losing 100 games and seemed to value quantity over quality as it looked like they gave playing time to half of the city of Cincinnati in an effort to find someone that could hit over .210, and although Hunter Greene (5-13, 4.44) had one heck of a strikeout card it didn’t seem to help him win many games.  The Astros don’t waste any time, as in the top of the 1st Altuve doubles and Alvarez then cracks a 2-run homer for a quick lead.  However, the Reds get it back in the 2nd when a Joey Votto double is followed by a 2-base error from Houston SS-2 Jeremy Pena that scores two, but in the 4th Pena atones with a long solo homer to put the Astros back on top.  In the 5th Yuli Gurriel doubles and Michael Brantley singles him home to stretch the lead, but Jake Fraley makes it a one-run game in the bottom of the 8th with a solo homer and the nervous Astros have activity in the pen but for the time being decide to stick with their ace.   He yields a single to Mike Moustakas in the bottom of the 9th but the Reds can’t take advantage so the Astros barely survive the 4-3 win; Greene wins the strikeout battle over Verlander 13 to 8, but Verlander wins the war.

The 1976 Braves were one of the last remaining teams from the 70s to take their shot in this tournament, and they weren’t a particularly good example as they lost 92 games with limited offense, although they had a couple of good starting pitchers including Andy Messersmith (11-11, 3.04), who had just signed with the Braves after successfully challenging baseball’s reserve clause over the previous winter.   They faced an equally bad 88-loss 2008 Reds team, who had Rookie of the Year runner-up Joey Votto contributing power but only had one good starter in the rotation, Edinson Volquez (17-6, 3.21), who finished 4th in the Rookie of the Year ballots. Things go smoothly for the pitchers until the top of the 4th, when the Braves open with a pair of hits and then Ken Henderson singles in a run; Rowland Office then misses a HR split and the 1-15 Henderson is nailed at the plate for the first out of the inning.  Office scores on a Rod Gilbreath fielder’s choice and the Braves stake Messersmith to a 3-0 lead.  In the 6th, Office continues working with an RBI single that gets under the glove of SS-3 Jeff Keppinger, but in the bottom of the inning Votto finally gets the Reds on the board with a 2-run homer that makes it 4-2 Atlanta.  The Braves respond in the 7th as Jim Wynn cannons an RBI single past 1B-3 Votto, and when Willie Montanez adds a double the Reds finally see no option but to go to Jeremy Affeldt as the best of a bad bullpen; he strands runners on 2nd and 3rd to keep the Reds in the game.  Bad Braves fielding helps the Reds load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 8th; PH Jerry Hairston Jr. drives in one on a sac fly, but Messersmith escapes without further damage.  In the top of the 9th, Wynn proves he’s no toy cannon with a long solo homer with two outs to provide insurance, but it’s not needed as Messersmith goes through the Reds 1-2-3 to seal the 6-3 win and the Braves move on.   

For the Zoom game of the week, it was only natural that Natsfan manage a good 2017 Nationals team that won 97 games and the NL East, with half of their lineup getting MVP votes in Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman, and Max Scherzer (16-6, 2.51) winning the Cy Young award with two other Nats starters also receiving votes.  With no other takers I manned the helm of the 2011 Giants, who went 86-76 with a less imposing offense, although Pablo Sandoval got some MVP support and their rotation was excellent with Tim Lincecum (13-14, 2.74) 6th in the Cy Young votes despite posting a losing record.  The matchup had the feel of a pitching duel, but the Nats scored a pair in the bottom of the second with Howie Kendrick and Adam Lind driving in runs, and Michael Taylor added a long solo homer in the 3rd to make it 3-0 Washington.  However, after that Lincecum was dominant, allowing only one hit, and in the 4th the Giant rallied to try to catch up, getting runners on 1st and 3rd with key offensive cog Sandoval at the plate.   However, Sandoval rolls a gbA + injury, and although a run scores it kills the rally and knocks the Giants’ main weapon out of the game.  Scherzer continues to pitch strong, but in the top of the 9th a walk and a double puts the tying run in scoring position with nobody out, and Natfan nervously makes a call to the pen for Sean Dolittle–and he does a lot, squelching the rally to strand both runners and the Nats head to the semifinals with a 3-1 win despite only recording four hits against the Giants’ pitching.

The survivors

For this semifinal the bracket favorite 2022 Astros had the 5th place finisher for the Cy Young, Framber Valdez (17-6, 2.82) available to go, while the 2011 Braves countered with Tommy Hanson, whose few hits on his card tended to go a long way.  Thing start out a little rough for Houston as RF-1 Kyle Tucker makes a two-base error on the first roll of the game, and then a rattled Valdez yields two walks off his card to load the bases for Brian McCann; McCann rolls a HR 1-14 but misses the split for the slam, although all three runners score on the resulting double and McCann scores on a Martin Prado single to stake the Braves to a big lead.  Dan Uggla adds to the lead with a 2-out RBI double in the 4th, although Yordan Alvarez gets that run back with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to try to get Houston launched.  In the top of the 5th, a single by Alex Gonzalez and a double from Jack Wilson and the Astros have seen enough of Valdez, who did whiff nine in 4+ innings of work, and try Ryne Stanek’s 1.15 ERA to quell the threat.  It makes no difference as Michael Bourn drives in both runners with a sharp single and Atlanta’s lead expands to 7-1.  McCann drives in another run in the 6th with an RBI single, and although the Astros try to make some noise in the 9th and score on a passed ball by C-2 Brian McCann, it is to no avail as the Braves send the top seed back to the drawers with an 8-2 win as Hanson mmmbops the Astros to the tune of six hits allowed with nine strikeouts.

The 1976 Braves were trying to be the second Atlanta squad to pull off a semifinal upset and make it an all-Braves final, but they had their work cut out for them going against a strong 2017 Nationals team and an imposing Stephen Strasburg (15-4, 2.52), third in the Cy Young voting but only second in the rotation.  The Braves would counter with knuckleballer Phil Niekro (17-11, 3.29), who did manage to lead the league in wild pitches although fortunately for him that would not be a factor under Basic rules.  The Nats don’t get a hit until the #9 batter comes up in the bottom of the 3rd, when C Matt Wieters converts a HR 1-6 split for a solo shot, but in the 5th Vic Correll, also the #9 hitter and also the catcher, also hits a solo shot and the game is tied.  But Strasburg gets stronger as the game progresses, and it enters the 9th with the teams still knotted at one apiece.  Strasburg blows through the Braves in the top of the inning, and Niekro quickly dispatches two batter, but with two out Anthony Rendon misses his HR 1-2 split but still ends up as the winning run in scoring position with a double.  Daniel Murphy steps to the plate and singles, and the 1-15+2 Rendon heads home for the win.  The split roll:  17, Rendon slides under the tag of backup catcher Dale Murphy and the Nats head to the finals with a 2-1 win, with Strasburg fanning 10 and the Braves still arguing about the call at the plate.  

The regional final was also the Zoom game of the week as Natsfan reprised his management of the #3 seeded 2017 Nationals while I took the #4 seeded 2011 Braves, since they had cruised through the first two rounds under my solitaire guidance.  Being good teams, they both had deep rotations with the Nats sending out Gio Gonzalez (15-9, 2.96) while the Braves had Jair Jurrgens (13-6, 2.96) on the mound.  Things start out rough for the Braves, as in the bottom of the 1st their SS-2 Alex Gonzales commits a two-base error to lead things off, putting Trea Turner in position to score on a Michael Taylor single and the Nats lead before the Braves can record an out.  Jurgens gets out of the jam and settles down, at least until the next time Taylor is up in the 3rd, as the Nats CF pokes a solo shot to extend their lead to 2-0.  Bryce Harper adds another solo homer in the 6th, and the Braves try Eric O’Flarety in relief but it matters not as Gonzalez is in control; at least until the 8th, when the Braves get runners on 1st and 3rd and Natsfan signals for Matt Albers to quell the threat; he whiffs two in a row and it’s all over but the credits as the Nationals limit the Braves to three hits to win 3-0, capturing their 4th bracket as Washingtonians to join another four regional wins as the Expos. For this Nats team, it was clearly their pitching that carried them, as they only managed 8 runs and 13 hits total across the three games of the regional.

Interesting card of Regional #229:  For this group I followed the nomination offered by a Facebook Strat group member, and will feature the first Strat card of the rookie backup catcher for the 1976 Atlanta Braves:  Dale Murphy.  Brought up at the end of the season for a cup of coffee, Murphy outhit the alternatives at catcher for a bad Braves team but had trouble with baserunners, with 70% of attempted steals against him being successful; this earned him a +1 catchers arm from Strat in one of the first seasons to include such ratings. The following season he began in the minors and his throwing woes continued; ultimately the Braves brought him up at the end of the season to try again, and things behind the plate went even worse.  Shifting him to 1B for the 1979 season worked a bit better, but it was the move to CF in 1980 where everything, both offensively and defensively, began to come together.  He received MVP votes that season, won back-to-back MVPs in ‘82 and ‘83, won back-to-back NL HR titles in ‘84 and ‘85, but it’s a good thing that WTBS provided a chance to showcase his talents, because the Braves were a perennially bad team with Murphy as the main bright spot.  Murphy made only one appearance in the postseason, with the Braves eliminated in the NLCS in 1982.  Perhaps his lack of postseason credentials has played into his lack of success in consideration for the Hall of Fame, where he is one of only four multiple MVP-winners eligible but not enshrined; also hurting his candidacy were the batting statistics of the steroid era which made Murphy’s stats look pedestrian by comparison.   At any rate, he never received more than 23% of the necessary 75% of ballots, and he fell off the ballot in 2013, but he had a career of which any backup catcher should be proud.