REGIONAL #231:  As I’m getting deeper in the tournament, the remaining teams get more and more recent, and as such this might be the last regional that is balanced between squads from the 20th and 21st centuries.  Both Dodgers entries represented milestones; the 1927 team would be the last team to enter from before the Kennedy administration, and the ‘98 version was the finale for the NL that season.  One of the two Cardinals draws was the main attention-grabber as it was the 2011 pennant winners; other noteworthy squads were the White Sox from two seasons after their “winning ugly” AL West win, and a Tigers team from two seasons after recording one of the worst records of all time.  My guess was that the pennant winning Cards would be the best of the group, and with the bottom part of the bracket looking like a crapshoot I went with the pandemic-year Brewers, as all teams from that season are pretty much a crapshoot.  The ELO rankings predicted the same outcome as I did, and noted that the top two teams in the bracket would be meeting in the first round.  

First round action

The 1985 White Sox went 85-77 and were the #3 seed in this bracket; Harold Baines and Carlton Fisk anchored the lineup and both received MVP votes, while 40 year old Tom Seaver (16-11, 3.17) proved he still had plenty of gas in the tank.  They faced the 2005 Tigers, who lost 91 games which was still better than they had been in the previous few years; they had a pretty potent lineup but their defense and pitching was putrid, with Jeremy Bonderman (14-12, 4.57) the best option on the mound.  In the top of the 1st, an error by Sox 2B-3 Scott Fletcher sets up an RBI single from Dmitri Young, fresh from contributing to a regional title in the previous bracket.  In the 6th, Tigers CF Nook Logan hits an RBI triple into one of the nooks of Old Comiskey and Detroit leads 2-0, and they go wholesale on the defensive replacements in the 6th to try to hang on to that edge.  One of those replacements, Curtis Granderson, knocks an RBI single in the 7th, and while the Sox mount a threat in the bottom of the inning loading the bases with one out, Tim Hulett hits into a DP to kill that rally.  From there, the anemic Sox offense makes Bonderman look like Superman as he finishes out a 6-hit shutout, and the Tigers move along to the semifinals with a 3-0 win and another Chisox team heads straight for the storage drawers without even pausing to muster up a run.

The luck of draw put the top two seeds against each other in the first round, the world champion 2011 Cardinals and the #2 seeded 1998 Dodgers.  The Cards won 90 games and eventually won the NL and the Series, but looking at the team in detail I wasn’t sure how they pulled that off.  Yes, the offense looked pretty good with Albert Pujols finishing 5th in the MVP votes, but the rotation was only okay with Kyle Lohse (14-8, 3.39) at the top and I didn’t remember running across a Series winner that had an all-”4” DP combo.  The Dodgers only went 83-79, but they had some offense of their own, led by Gary Sheffield, and Ramon Martinez (7-3, 2.83) had a dominating card, just sneaking into eligibility with 102 IP.  Back to back to back doubles in the top of the 1st by Trent Hubbard, Gary Sheffield and Raul Mondesi quickly put the Dodgers up 2-0, and Eric Young leads off the 2nd with a single, steals second on C-1 Yadier Molina, and scores on a Hubbard single to extend the lead.  When Charles Johnson adds a solo shot in the 6th to make it 4-0 Dodgers, the Cards realize they’re going to lose with Lohse and try Jason Motte from the pen, and he’s in control until the top of the 9th when an error by 3B-3 David Freese causes Motte to lose his composure, and he ends up walking in an insurance run that proves unnecessary as Martinez closes out a 5-hit shutout to send the pennant-winners packing and propel the Dodger to the semifinals with a 5-0 win.  

This matchup was between two bad teams from different eras.   The 1976 Cardinals lost 90 games, and their leading home run hitter was Hector Cruz with 13 having nobody else in double digits, but they had a deep rotation with John Denny (11-9, 2.52) at the top.  The 93-loss 2011 Orioles had most of their lineup hitting more homers than Cruz, but the starting pitching was frightening with Jeremy Guthrie (9-17, 4.33) being good enough to lose a bunch of games.   The O’s get on the board in the top of the 1st when JJ Hardy slides under the tag to score (1-12+2) on a two-out double from Mark Reynolds, but that lead is very short-lived as leadoff hitter Lou Brock converts a HR split on Guthrie’s card to tie the game immediately.  Ted Simmons then also knocks a solo shot off Guthrie’s card in the 3rd to give St. Louis the lead briefly, but the O’s begin the top of the 4th with four straight singles, the fourth being a 2-run knock by Derrek Lee, and Baltimore is back on top, 3-2.  As the game enters the 6th, Baltimore considers removing Guthrie but given their rotation they hope to preserve their pen somewhat; that doesn’t work out well as Guthrie allows back to back doubles by Willie Crawford and Jerry Mumphrey and the game is tied, with Troy Patton then summoned from the pen and he comes in to punch out PH Mike Tyson to end the inning.  Denny and new O’s reliever Jim Johnson stay the course through the 9th and the game heads to extra innings.  But Denny appears to be spent in the 10th, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and then 3B-4 Cruz boots a grounder to put the Orioles on top.  With the bases still loaded, Cards SS-3 Don Kessinger makes a two-base error for another two runs, and Denny is madder than the Mad Hungarian who relieves him, Al Hrabosky, but Al yields RBI singles to Matt Angle and Nick Markakis.  Johnson then sets the Cards down in the bottom of the 10th as they miss the split on his HR 1/flyB twice and the Orioles move on with the 8-3 win, but with more wear and tear on their bullpen than they would like.

The 1927 Dodgers (actually the Robins at the time) would be the last team from before 1965 to enter the tournament, with all teams from 1911 to 1964 that Strat has printed now having had their chance.  However, they were not a particularly good entry, as they went 65-88, with no power (Babe Herman the only double-digit HR hitter with 14) and some terrible defense, but they did have two Hall of Famers with Max Carey leading off and Dazzy Vance (16-15, 2.70) on the hill.  The 2020 Brewers were relieved to get away from the pandemic and do some time travel back to Ebbets Field; although they finished under .500 at 29-31, they were the #2 seed in the bracket and had some low AB wonders as well as one of their best starters, Brandon Woodruff (3-5, 3.05), mandated to start as their top guy in innings pitched.  Keston Hiura swats a solo homer in the top of the 2nd, and Christian Yelich adds a two-run shot in the 5th to extend the Brewer lead.  A two-base error by Brooklyn 2B-4 Jay Partridge adds to the lead in the 7th, and then in the 8th Yelich pokes his second two-run homer of the game and they head for the streetcars in Flatbush.   From there, Woodruff goes out in style, striking out the side in the 9th to lock down the three-hit shutout as the Brewers cruise to the semis with the 6-0 win.

The survivors

The 1998 Dodgers and the 2005 Tigers were both upset winners in round one, although the Dodgers were the #2 seed in the regional so their presence in the semifinals was not surprising.  The Dodgers had several decent starters to select from, and decided on swingman Brian Bohanon (7-11, 3.67) although really any of them would have been a better option than the Tigers’ Jason Johnson (8-13, 4.54).  However, both pitchers start out strong, with Bohanon carrying a no-hitter into the 5th and the Dodgers unable to find the sweet spots on Johnson’s card.  The Tigers suffer a big loss when SS Carlos Guillen is lost for the tournament to injury in the top of the 6th; when Eric Young leads off the bottom of the inning with a single off Johnson’s card and then steals second, the Tigers try to change the momentum by bringing in Kyle Farnsworth from the pen.  However, he promptly issues a walk and then yields a three-run homer to Gary Sheffield; after getting two outs, Farnsworth injures himself issuing a walk to Bobby Bonilla and it’s Fernando Rodney’s turn to pitch.  He gets the final out, and then in the 8th the Tigers narrow the gap when Brandon Inge triples and scores on a squib single from Curtis Granderson; Placido Polanco then converts a TR 1-2/flyB to score Granderson.  The Dodgers stick with Bohanon for the time being, and it pays off as he whiffs two straight Tigers to strand Polanco and the Dodgers cling to a one-run lead.  Rodney holds off the Dodgers in the 8th, so it’s up to Bohanon to hang on in the 9th, and although he walks the first batter, he then retires three straight to finish out a 4-hitter as the Dodgers head to the finals winning the 3-2 duel, only recording four hits themselves.

The semifinal between the #4 seed 2020 Brewers and the #8 seeded 2011 Orioles particularly seemed to favor the Brewers because their best starting pitcher, Corbin Burnes (4-1, 2.11) was mandated to get the start by virtue of his IP.   Meanwhile, Baltimore had a choice of several not-so-great options and went with Zach Britton (11-11, 4.61) in front of a bullpen depleted in their extra-inning first round win.  But it’s Burnes who starts of rough in the top of the 1st as the leadoff hitter doubles past the 5-rated pitcher and then scores on a missed HR split double from Mark Reynolds for a quick Baltimore lead.  Reynolds takes no chances on a split in the 5th, nailing his solid HR for a solo shot to put the O’s up 2-0, but Britton starts off the bottom of the inning with three straight walks off his card, and then Jedd Gyorko rolls a HR 1-16/flyB split and it comes up 18, scoring one on the sac fly and it’s 2-1 after five.  The Brewers then go to wholesale replacements and one of them, Tyrone Taylor, doubles with 1-14 Orlando Arcia on first, but Arcia is nailed trying to score with a 17.  However, another sub, Luis Urias, singles Taylor home and the score is tied, but in the top of the 8th Matt Wieters singles home 1-12+2 JJ Hardy with two out and Baltimore moves ahead once again, and for the bottom of the inning game 1 winner Jim Johnson is summoned from the pen to try to close things out.  However, the Brewers respond as Gyorko delivers a two-out RBI single to tie things up again heading into the 9th.  Chris Davis leads off the top of the 9th and makes contact for a double, and although Burnes strikes out two in a row and it looks like the runner will be stranded, Nick Markakis finds a TR 1-14/flyB at 4-11 on the pitcher and converts it for the go-ahead run.  So once again it’s up to Johnson, and this time he’s perfect and closes out a 4-3 win that vaults the bottom seed into the regional final.

The regional final looks a bit lopsided as the #2 seeded 1998 Dodgers take on the bottom-ranked 2011 Orioles for the bracket crown.  The Orioles had pulled off two upsets with final-inning heroics, but Jake Arrieta (10-8, 5.05) had a bad combination of issues with walks and gopher balls that promised to make things nerve-wracking for the Baltimore crowd.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers had some decent options, with Chan Ho Park (15-9, 3.71) supported by a fully rested bullpen.  However, Park’s defense lets him down in the 2nd as 3B-5 Bobby Bonilla waves at a single slapped past him, and that runner eventually scores on an error by SS-4 Mark Grudzielanek to put Baltimore up 1-0.  In the top of the 5th, the Dodgers load the bases against Arrieta for Raul Mondesi; he hits a sharp grounder to 3B-4 Chris Davis who can’t quite turn the DP and the game is tied.  However, Derrek Lee crushes a two-out, two-run homer in the 6th to put the pesky O’s back on top, and they decide not to press their luck with Arrieta and bring in their lone decent rested reliever, Troy Patton, to try to preserve the lead.  When Park yields a single to JJ Hardy to begin the bottom of the 8th, the Dodgers bring in closer Jeff Shaw and Adam Jones promptly takes him deep for a 2-run homer and the Camden Yards are rocking.  Armed with a four run lead, the O’s try to preserve Patton and bring in their unreliable closer Kevin Gregg, and although he puts a couple of runners on he escapes the inning to seal the 5-1 win for the underdog Orioles, capping a rare regional win for a bottom seed and the 6th for a Baltimore team.

Interesting card of Regional #231:  The 2020 pandemic-year Strat set had a variety of interesting cards as a result of the low usage that many players had, but this one can’t really be blamed on a miniscule sample as Orlando Arcia was the starting shortstop for the Brewers, and by 2020 standards he had quite a few plate appearances.  Unfortunately, it seemed like an awful lot of them resulted in a double play.  Having played Strat for a long time now, there have been a number of good players who had an uncanny knack of hitting into twin-killings for me; Dave Winfield and Eddie Murray are two who come to mind, to the point where I’d steal second with just about anybody if there were less than two out and one of those guys was at the plate.  However, I think Orlando here takes the cake; his Brewers only played two games in my tournament, but it seemed like there was somebody on first whenever he came up, and I rolled a three column every time.  Arcia did lead the NL in GIDP in 2020, and after getting off to an .091 start in 2021 the Brewers unloaded him to Atlanta, where he has thrived, making the All Star team last season.   I’m sure he was also pleased that he dropped to 25th place in GIDP to stay out of contention for the lead in that dubious category, but in the unlikely event I ever play the 2020 Brewers again…..he’s bunting.