The Endless Single Elimination Tournament after Regional #256:   Having completed 256 regionals involving all 2,041 different teams that Strat has printed (as of this moment), I've now played every Strat team I own, although it's taken me 44 years to be able to say that.  In recognition of this dubious accomplishment, I have collated the "historical documents" of this project up to this point into a single PDF document, which enables any interested reader (a group almost certainly limited to a highly select few) to search for information about the fate of their favorite teams or players.   Since anyone reading this has to be somewhat of a numbers buff, here are some stats: the volume is 1,022 pages long and contains 694,016 words, dwarfing Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (561,304), Gone with the Wind (418,053), Charles Dickens' longest work, Bleak House (360,947 words), Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (364,153) and all seven volumes of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia combined (345,535).  However, as always I must accept that my words-to-readers ratio is far higher than any of those authors, suggesting that perhaps I need to find other things to do.   At any rate, the Complete Regional edition is available for inspection or download at the link below; hope someone enjoys it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TTmDk4gmcTRrB2fivwSCOTKRGbBbwARi/view?usp=sharing

The ELO ratings and regional winners:  Now that all 256 regionals in the endless single elimination tournament are under my belt, with 2,041 different teams participating, there is a decent sample to examine whether ELO ratings for the history of MLB can provide any indication of who will win a regional in this crazy single-elimination tournament.  And, the final answer seems to be:  kind of.  As shown in the chart, the modal ELO seeding for the regional winner is indeed the top seed, but that favorite only won 22.3% of the regionals, which is considerably better than the 12.5% we’d see if winners were entirely random but certainly not a sure thing.  If your team is in the top half of entries in the regional, you are more than twice as likely to win as if you’re in the bottom half, but for some reason #2 seeds didn't do all that well.  However, the squads that fare most poorly are the #7 seeded out of the eight teams–the worst ELO-rated team in these groups wins the regional more often than the second-worst, although neither would be a great bet.  The #4 seeds were strangely successful, which has nothing to do with pairings because in this tournament the team matchups were entirely random rather than being based upon seeding such as is done in, for example, the NCAA basketball tournament.  If the pairings had been based on seedings with #1 always playing #8 in the first round and so forth, things might have gone differently.  However, when I started this tournament in 1980, Arpad Elo had only published his book on his rating system (for chess players) two years previously, so his system wasn’t comprehensively applied to baseball until several years after my first tournament games were played!  A final note:  the source that I’ve relied upon for MLB ELO ratings was bought out by Disney, which resulted in mass layoffs and resignations, so I've had to rely upon other sources for the past few years of rankings, which might have used different calculations for the ratings.   Regardless, we can see that as the tournament heads to the super-regional rounds, there aren't a lot of really bad teams remaining alive (28 seventh or eighth seeds, compared to 57 top seeds), but there are still plenty of mediocre squads around to cause havoc!

REGIONAL #256: This is it, the final regional with the only eight Strat stock teams that have not yet appeared in this tournament.  After this is over, all 2,041 teams that Strat has ever printed (as of this moment!) will have had their shot, and if somebody wishes to dismiss me simply as a “collector”, I can truthfully claim that I have actually played every team I’ve purchased. although it did take me 44 years after I first vowed to do so. And the last eight squads are kind of a mixed lot, with the most noteworthy team to me being an Indians squad from the year before their most recent pennant. There was also a Cardinals team that was both two years before and two years after pennants, so they would likely be competitive, and although I knew that the Tigers had made the postseason for 2024, I remembered their team from the previous year as having been pretty mediocre, which was how I suspected the rest of the group here would look. As such, I guessed an Indians/Cardinals final, which I thought would be basically a coin flip but I went with the Indians, only because one of their teams had won the first regional and I felt it would be nice symmetry if they won the last. The ELO ratings portrayed this as having a number of good but not great teams, with the Cards rating as top seeds over a Braves team that would be slightly favored over the Indians in the first round.

First round action

Two of the better teams in the bracket face off in round one as the #2 seed 2009 Braves face the #4 seed 2015 Indians.  The Braves won 86 games with SS Yunel Escobar getting some MVP votes and Javier Vazquez (15-10, 2.87) finished 4th for the Cy Young award, and there was some other talent in the rotation as well.  The Indians edged over .500 with an 81-80 record, with Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley getting a few MVP votes, although the back end of the lineup was uninspiring; Carlos Carrasco (14-12, 3.63) headed up a decent rotation, as both he and Cory Kluber were mentioned on some Cy Young ballots.  An RBI double by Francisco Lindor puts Cleveland ahead in the top of the 1st, but they miss a chance for another one in the 2nd when 1-12+2 Lonnie Chisenhall is out at the plate trying to score on a two-out single.  Chisenhall does make up for his bad split luck by converting a HR 1-5 for a solo shot in the 4th, but Matt Diaz leads off the bottom of the inning with a longball off Carrasco to keep the Braves within a run.  When the Indians smack two consecutive hard singles to lead off the 6th, the Braves decide they can’t afford to fall behind further and bring in Mike Gonzalez, and with the infield in he stymies the Cleveland offense to prevent any runs.  The Braves take that momentum into the bottom of the inning and a Martin Prado double past RF-3 Ryan Rayburn puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, so it’s Clevelands turn to play the infield in and head to the pen for the virtually unhittable Jeff Manship and his 0.92 ERA.  Rayburn atones for his earlier miscue with a nice catch and fires it home to keep the runner from scoring, and the Indians escape with no damage.  Kipnis then leads off the 7th with a flyball to LF-4 Garrett Anderson, who parlays it into a 3-base error, but Gonzalez whiffs two straight and Lindor flies out as the Indians squander yet another chance.  However, the luck of the Braves isn’t much better, as Gonzalez is injured on the first batter of the 8th and he’s out for the tournament, so closer Rafael Soriano comes in, and it doesn’t go well for him in the 9th.  Rayburn knocks a 2-run double to provide insurance for the Indian, but it looks needed as the Braves strike for two straight singles to lead off the bottom of the 9th and with the tying run at the plate the Indians move to closer Cody Allen.  Ryan Church then hits into a DP that scores a run to narrow the gap, but with two out Allen strikes out 37-year old Chipper Jones and the Indians survive and advance on the 4-2 win.

The 2009 Cubs went 83-78 and were not a bad team, with Derrek Lee finishing 9th for NL MVP and a decent rotation by Cubs standards that was led by Ted Lilly (12-9, 3.10) who had a nice WHIP but had issues with the gopher ball.  They faced the 1974 Brewers, who somehow got 74 wins with a rather anemic offense although George Scott and Don Money each got a couple of MVP votes, and Billy Champion (11-4, 3.61) topped a rotation that was not terrible.   The Cubs jump out to a lead in the top of the 1st on an Aramis Ramirez RBI single, but the slow-footed Lee is out at the plate to keep more runs from scoring.  However in the 2nd Brewer DH Bob Mitchell triples in a run, and he scores on a single by 18-year old SS Robin Yount and Milwaukee takes the lead.  In the 3rd Scott doubles in a run to pad the lead, but Ramirez responds with a 2-run homer in the 4th and the pad evaporates.  The Brewers strike back in the bottom of the inning as Young finds Lilly’s solid HR result, and then Day May finds and misses Lilly’s split HR result for a double and he scores on a 2-base error by Cubs SS-3 Ryan Theriot to reestablish the lead.  In the 6th it’s John Briggs with the missed HR split off Lilly, and 1-14 Scott is nailed trying to score, but the Cubs decide to move on to wild closer Carlos Marmol who comes in to retire the side.  When the Cubs get a leadoff walk off Champion’s card in the 8th, it’s Milwaukee’s turn to head to the pen for workhorse reliever Tom Murphy, but that goes badly.  After striking out Lee, Murphy allows a single and a walk to load the bases for Alfonso Soriano, and he crushes it into the County Stadium cheap seats for a grand slam and just like that the Cubs lead 7-5.  The Brewers aren’t giving up, as Bob Mitchell rips his second RBI triple of the game in the bottom of the 8th and Yount’s sac fly ties it up once again heading into the 9th.  Marmol has to give way to John Grabow in the 9th but he does the job, as does Murphy, and the game heads to extra innings.  An error by 3B-1 Money loads the bases for the Cubs in the top of the 10th, but Murphy gets out of the jam, and in the bottom of the inning Mitchell singles and Yount draws a walk off Grabow to put the winning run in scoring position with one away and defensive replacement Ken Berry at the plate.  But Berry finds a single on his card, 1-15 Mitchell sets sail for home, and the split is a 12, and the Brewers walk it off 8-7 in the 10th coming back from the grand slam to move on.  

In the Zoom game of the week, my brother Chuck decided to hop on and manage the 2009 Cardinals, putting me in a position to manage yet another Dodger team that seems to be popular in these last regionals, this time the 2001 Dodgers.    His Cardinals won 91 games and the NL Central, and Albert Pujols was the NL MVP while Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina also received some votes; Chuck went with Adam Wainwright (19-8, 2.68) who finished 3rd in the Cy Young race, one place behind teammate Chris Carpenter.  The Dodgers had a decent year with 86 wins, and their big bat was 6th place in the MVP race Shawn Green–who hit the only MLB ball retrieved by a member of my family, which involved my son, dad, and other brother at a Rockies game (as documented elsewhere in these chronicles)--but Chuck wasn’t there, for some reason.  Anyhow, Chuck’s Rockies allegiance goes to work quickly as Matt Holliday, tied for the Rockies team lead in World Series hits (the subject of my trivia question to Chuck), hits a solo homer in the bottom of the 2nd against LA starter Kevin Brown (10-4, 2.65) and the Cardinals take the lead.  The Dodgers can’t get anything across the plate against Wainwright until the 7th, when the aforementioned Green rips an RBI single to tie the game, but in the bottom of the inning the Cards pound Brown, who doesn’t record an out before he allows a 2-run single to Holliday and run scoring hits by Skip Schumaker and Molina make it 5-1 for St. Louis.  Paul Loduca smacks a solo shot in the 8th and the Dodgers narrow the game, and then in the top of the 9th Gary Sheffield follows a Wainwright walk with a 2-run homer and it’s a one run game with one away.  At that point Chuck opts to bring in closer Ryan Franklin and his 1.92 ERA out of the pen, and that’s just what the doctor ordered as he retires two straight to send the Cards to the semifinals as they hang on for a 5-4 win.

The very last round one game of the tournament is a bit anticlimactic because it’s between two middling teams, the 1993 Royals and the 2023 Tigers, although given the success of such teams in this project it might be appropriate.  The main attraction on the 84-78 Royals was starter Kevin Appier (18-8, 2.56) 3rd in the Cy Young voting, although SS Greg Gagne got a couple of MVP votes as did closer Jeff Montgomery, so they were favored here.  The Tigers had the reverse record at 78-84 and were a pretty mediocre lot, with Spencer Torkleson’s 31 homers being their main offensive weapon and Eduardo Rodriguez (13-9, 3.30) at the top of the rotation.   But it’s the Tigers who jump out to the early lead with a long solo homer from Jake Rogers in the bottom of the 2nd, although a two-out rally in the 5th involving three straight singles provides an RBI for Wally Joyner that ties things up.  However, in the bottom of the inning an error by SS-2 Gagne leads to runs on a Matt Vierling single and a Riley Greene fielder’s choice and the Tigers lead 3-1 after five.  When aging George Brett singles with two out in the 8th, the Tigers bring in reliever Will Vest to try to close things out, and he ends the threat while a Vierling double followed by singles from Kerry Carpenter and Torkleson chase Appier for Montgomery, but Rogers adds a sac fly to further extend the Detroit lead.  Vest blows through the Royals in order in the top of the 9th and the Tigers move on with the 5-1 victory.

The survivors

The 2015 Indians and the 1974 Brewers are matched in a round two battle to see who goes to the last regional final of the project.  The Indians had a Cy Young vote-getter in Corey Kluber (9-16, 3.49), while the Brewers would have to make do with Jim Slaton (13-16, 3.92).  However, in the bottom of the 1st George Scott finds a solid double on Kluber’s card and Darrell Porter dashes home from first with two outs for a quick Milwaukee lead.  More trouble is brewing for Cleveland in the 2nd as young Robin Yount singles Bob Mitchell to third, and he scores on Dave May grounder to extend the lead to 2-0.  Francisco Lindor leads off the 4th with a long homer that makes it a one run game, and then back to back hits off Slaton’s card in the 6th produces an RBI for Ryan Raburn that ties the game.  In the 7th, a missed SI 1-15 split is followed by a double, both on Slaton’s card, so the Brewers move to Eduardo Rodriguez to try to preserve the tie and he does keep any runs from scoring.  Kluber then allows two hits in the bottom of the 8th to put runners on the corners with one out, and so the Indians will burn closer Cody Allen and he records a key whiff to send the game into the 9th still tied, and when neither team can muster a threat we head to extra innings.  Rodriguez gets into trouble quickly in the top of the 10th, with two singles and a walk loading the bases with one out; but Raburn misses a SI* 1-8 and the Brewers escape. With Allen now burnt, the Indians move deeper into their pen for Bryan Shaw, and he survives the bottom of the 10th with Scott missing a HR 1-3 split that would have ended the game.  Rodriguez is now toast for Milwaukee, so they dig deeper for Ed Sprague, but that goes badly with three straight hits including an RBI single for Lonnie Chisenhall and the Indians take the lead into the bottom of the 11th.  But Don Money doubles off Shaw’s card to lead off the inning, and then Mitchell rolls the dreaded 6-5, HR 1-18 and he converts it to give the plucky Brewers a walk-off come from behind 4-3 win, and give Shaw a much-deserved loss.  

This semifinal game matches the bottom seeded 2023 Tigers against the top seeded 2009 Cardinals for a place in the final regional finals.  Being a division winner, it was no surprise that the Cards had a good starter available in the second round, but most teams’ #2 pitcher didn’t finish #2 in the Cy Young voting like Chris Carpenter (17-4, 2.24).   However, the Cards would be out the services of CF Colby Rasmus for the foreseeable future, as he was injured in the first round.  As for the Tigers, their rotation didn’t get really bad until the back end and Michael Lorenzen (5-7, 3.58) was a serviceable option.  But it’s Carpenter who starts out rough in the bottom of the first with two sharp singles, setting up a sac fly by the Tiger’s own Carpenter, Kerry.  Spencer Torkelson then nails a double off Carpenter’s card, but 1-14 Riley Greene runs more like Karen Carpenter and he’s cut down at the plate to kill the rally.   Javier Baez finds a 2-out RBI single on Carpenter’s card in the 2nd to extend the Tiger lead, but in the top of the 3rd an error by Tigers SS-2 Baez helps to load the bases, and the Cards grind out RBI singles by Matt Holliday and Mark Derosa as well as a bases-loaded walk to Julio Lugo for a 3-2 lead.   Holliday adds another 2-out RBI single in the 4th, but from there Lorenzen pitches well until Skip Schumaker leads off the top of the 9th with a double, and Tyler Holton is summoned from the pen and he prevents any damage.  That leaves it up to Carpenter, who sends down the Tigers in order, with retiring Tiger star Miguel Cabrera pinch hitting but flying out to end the game.   

The final regional final is a bit of a mismatch with the top seeded 2009 Cardinals entertaining the gritty #7 seed 1974 Brewers at Busch Stadium, and the pitching matchup wasn’t a bad one for this deep in the rotation, with the Cards’ Joel Pineiro (15-12, 3.49) against Milwaukee’s Kevin Kobel (6-14, 3.99).  For such a momentous game in this project, it was only fitting to have it Zoomed live, with brother Chuck reprising his successful guidance for the Cards from round one, leaving me to roll for the Brewers, which had been working for them so far, particularly in extra innings.  However, in the previous Friday Night Strat while playing a different project, Chuck had buried my White Sox with a three run homer from Albert Pujols (for the ‘21 Dodgers), and Pujols continues to perform for him here with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 1st that stakes St. Louis to an early lead.  But with these Brewers, I knew I just had to tie the game by the 9th given their extra innings success, and it didn’t take long for .226 hitting Dave May to step to the plate in the top of the 2nd, calmly point to his 3-2 home run, and roll exactly that for a two run blast and a tie ballgame.  Unfortunately the tie doesn’t last long, as in the bottom of the inning injury replacement Rick Ankiel rips a 2-out RBI double to put the Cards back on top.  From there on out both starters find their stuff, and nobody can mount a threat.  A walk in the bottom of the 8th and I call upon reliever Tom Murphy to keep the game within reach, and he does, sending the Brewers to the top of the ninth down by a run.  Chuck opts for closer Ryan Franklin and his 1.92 ERA to begin the 9th, and he blows through the Brewers in order, striking out May for the final out of the final game of the final regional, and the Cards move on to the soon-to-be-played super-regional round with the 3-2 victory.

Interesting card of Regional #256:  This is the last regional in the project, so it seems fitting to feature the best player on the regional-winning team who also happened to be the 2009 NL MVP.  This was Pujols’ third and final season to win the MVP award, which he did comfortably by leading the league in homers, OBP, and SLG%.  It was year nine of a remarkable stretch of the first ten years of his career, a decade in which he had the most career home runs of any major leaguer in their first 10 seasons, and during which he became the first player to post  100-RBI seasons in each of his first 10 years.  Although it wasn’t evident from his stats, the 2009 season was a particularly challenging season for Pujols, as he’d had problems with discomfort and tingling in his right elbow, and at the end of the 2008 season he had surgery to to relocate the ulnar nerve in his elbow; the surgery wasn’t entirely effective and he had a second operation on the elbow after this 2009 season, but in between he seemed to deal with the pain well enough to lead the league in WAR for the 5th year in a row.  Pujols went on to play 22 years in the majors, finishing with over 700 homers (4th all-time) and over 2000 RBI (2nd all-time), making him a lock for Cooperstown and earning him the almost equally impressive distinction of being the last “interesting card of the regional” for this project.

REGIONAL #255:  It’s down to the penultimate bracket in the tournament, and although there were no pennant winners, a few were fairly close.  There were Red Sox and Phillies teams that would win a pennant the following season and a Dodgers team that would win in two years later.  There was the final entry from the White Sox that would test my jinx against them, and squads from the Indians, Rangers, and a more recent version of the Red Sox that were probably middling but probably still had a better shot than the play-in teams.  With two Red Sox versions, I figured why not pick an all-Boston final and guessed that the 2017 variant would triumph over the 2021 team in the end.  The ELO ratings matched that prediction perfectly, although they indicated that the favorite would face perhaps their biggest challenge in the first round, from that Dodgers representative.

First round action

Play-in game:  In the play-in game between the 2018 Padres and the 2023 Royals (the last of four such play-in games in the tournament), I knew nothing about these two teams other than their ELO ratings suggested that they were terrible.  In fact, as I dug them out of my storage drawers, I tested myself and discovered that without looking, I could name hardly anybody on either team with 100% certainty, a sad commentary on my knowledge of contemporary baseball (but just ask me about a team from the 1930s or 1950s!).   The Royals lost 106 games and although Bobby Witt Jr. came in 7th in the MVP voting and Nelson Velazquez was an imposing DH with 17 homers in 162 ABs, their rotation was simply abysmal, with Brady Singer (8-11, 5.52) one of the worst round one starters I’d seen in a long time.   The 96-loss Padres didn’t have anyone to compare with those offensive weapons, but swingman Robbie Erlin (4-7, 4.21) had a far better card than Singer and the Pads had some decent arms in the pen.  Travis Jankowski leads off the game with a walk off Singer’s card, and he steals second off aging C-4 Salvador Perez and scores when Hunter Renfroe finds a DO** 1-19 at 5-7 on Singer’s flawed cardstock.  Austin Hedges then singles in Renfroe, but at least has the courtesy to do so off his own card, but the Padres quickly lead 2-0 before the Royals can bat.  Two walks begin the top of the 2nd before Jose Pirela finds that 5-7 double for another run, but SS-2 Witt turns a nice DP to prevent further damage and a Perez RBI single in the bottom of the inning cuts the lead to 3-1 San Diego.  A Hedges solo shot in the 3rd extends that lead, but the Royals get it back when MJ Melendez rips an RBI single past SD 2B-4 Pirela in their half of the inning.  Singer then pitches two scoreless innings so the Royal decide to let him begin the 6th rather than pulling him, and that decision is rewarded by an Eric Hosmer leadoff homer off Singer’s card, and Cole Ragans gets the call and he ends the inning but SD is now up 5-2.  But three straight singles to begin the bottom of the 6th sends Erlin to the showers in favor of Jose Castillo, although he can’t stop the flood as Drew Waters raps a 2-run single to make it a one-run game after six.  The Padres then lose DH Franmil Reyes to injury for a couple of games, although immediately afterwards Renfroe avenges his fallen colleague with a solo homer that pads the Padre lead somewhat.  San Diego then brings on closer Kirby Yates for the final two innings, and he preserves the 6-4 win that sends the Padres on to the tournament proper, for better or worse.  

This game was one of those first round matchups where the top two seeds face off in an effort to get their toughest competition out of the way.  The 2017 Red Sox won 93 games and the AL East although they were eliminated from the postseason by the trashcan Astros; they had Mookie Betts in 6th place for the MVP, Andrew Benintendi as the Rookie of the Year runner-up, and Chris Sale (17-8, 2.90) was the Cy Young runner-up while leading the league in strikeouts.   The second-seeded 2015 Dodgers won 92 games and the NL West, but they also made a quick postseason exit; Adrian Gonzalez got some MVP votes but their real weapon was their 2-3 finish in the Cy Young, with Zack Grienke (19-3, 1.66) getting the runner up spot and the game one start.  With two great pitchers, the game is a scoreless tie until the 6th, when the Dodgers get their first hit, a solo shot from Andre Ethier, but in the bottom of the 7th Jackie Bradley Jr. nails the only solid hit on Greinke’s card for a two-out RBI single that ties the game.  In the top of the 9th, Red Sox 3B-3 Eduardo Nunez makes a 2-out error, and the next batter, Joc Pederson, crushes a 2-unearned run homer, so now it’s up to Greinke to hold serve in the bottom of the 9th.  He gets one out, but Mitch Moreland draws a walk and the Red Sox insert pinch runner Rajai Davis as the tying run.  Christian Vazquez then rips a single and 1-17 Davis heads straight to third–but he’s out on a 19 split and that’s two away, Vazquez advancing to 2nd on the play.  In comes another pinch runner, but the Dodgers elect to stay with their ace to try to get out number three, but he issues the only walk on his card at 6-3 and now the winning run is at the plate in the form of Bradley Jr.  But Bradley pokes a grounder 2B-3 Enrique Hernandez who fields it cleanly, and the Dodgers pull off the 3-1 upset even though Sale allows only 3 hits while striking out 13 in the loss.  

The Zoom game of the week provided an opportunity to witness my White Sox jinx in real time, as the final entry from the South Siders in the tournament was the 89-win 2008 White Sox, who won the AL Central but rapidly exited the postseason losing the ALDS.  Even so, there were MVP votes for Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye, and Alexei Ramirez was Rookie of the Year runner-up; John Danks (12-9, 3.32) got the nod at the front of a decent rotation.  Aside from my jinx, the Sox were favored against the 1982 Indians that would be directed by Cleveland’s own Colavito fan, who indicated that he’s probably attended a number of their games in person that season.  The 78-84 Indians also had two MVP votegetters in Toby Harrah and Andre Thornton, Von Hayes got votes for Rookie of the Year, and Rick Sutcliffe (14-8, 2.96) led the AL in ERA and came in 5th for the Cy Young, so the teams looked more evenly matched to me than their ELO rankings or their records would suggest.  And ColavitoFan didn’t take long to start beating up on Danks, with three consecutive doubles in the bottom of the 1st providing RBI for Hayes, Ron Hassey, and Mike Fischlin and a 4-0 Cleveland lead.  In the top of the 2nd, Paul Konerko pesters the Indians with an RBI single that narrows the gap, and Danks seems to settle down, allowing only one further hit through five innings.  However, he loses his cool when CF lays down two consecutive bunts resulting in snake eyes for two hits, and Matt Thornton comes in to pour gasoline on the fire by allowing a bases-loaded single to Rick Manning for two more runs, and Mike Hargrove’s fielder’s choice scores another.  That provides the final 7-1 margin as Sutcliffe wraps up a three-hitter, and the Indians move on as the Sox join many of their franchise-mates in cold storage.

As the second part of a Friday Night Strat zoom doubleheader, Philadelphia’s own Tall Tactician elected to guide his 2021 Phillies while brother Chuck gamely accepted responsibility for the 2021 Red Sox despite having no dog in this fight. However, it was the Phllies who were underdogs in this match, as this Boston team won 92 games and came within two games of the pennant before falling in the ALCS. They had a strong lineup with Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers receiving support for MVP, but after Nathan Eovaldi (11-9, 3.79) who was 4th in Cy Young voting the rotation was pretty bleak. The Phillies were barely above .500 at 82-80, with NL MVP Bryce Harper a big weapon but with holes in the defense that could haunt Ranger Suarez (8-5, 1.36) even though his card was even better than Cy Young runner-up Zack Wheeler. Odubel Herrera starts things off in the bottom of the 2nd driving in a run, but the Phils strand runners and fail to turn it into a big inning. That big inning would have come in handy as Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber go back to back with solo homers in the 4th, and Boston moves ahead 2-1. The Phils continue to threaten and Chuck spends a lot of time on the phone to the bullpen, but Eovaldi consistently manages to get out of trouble. Even so, when the Phils hit Eovaldi’s 4-7 walk for the umpteenth time to lead off the bottom of the 7th, Chuck looks for a reliever with a better outcome at that roll, and Garrett Whitlock and his 1.96 ERA fill the bill and Whitlock locks down the Phils. Another solo homer by Christian Arroyo gives Boston some insurance in the 8th, and looking ahead to going deeper into a bad rotation, Chuck preserves Whitlock and Tanner Houck comes in for a perfect 9th to close out the 3-1 win and send at least one Red Sox team to the semifinals.

Having survived a play-in game, it was time for the 2018 Padres to move on to more challenging opponents, and the 2004 Rangers were an 89-win team with a formidable lineup headed by MVP vote getters in Michael Young, Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira; however, their rotation was not good, with Ryan Drese (14-10, 4.20) the best of the bunch.  However, the Padres would be without injured DH Franmil Reyes, and number two starter Joey Lucchesi (8-9, 4.08) had some trouble keeping the ball in the park.  The Padres get a run in the bottom of the 3rd when Freddy Galvis triples, and scores on a sac fly from Jose Pirela, but the lead proves short lived when Eric Young leads off the 4th by converting Lucchesi’s HR split;  two batters later, Teixeira converts the same split and then Kevin Mench nails Lucchesi’s solid HR to go back to back.  The pounding continues with an RBI single from Gary Matthews Jr. and a run-scoring fielders choice by Rod Barajas, and after walking the bases loaded the Padres can take no more of Lucchesi and try reliever Matt Strahm, who gets the final out but Texas leads 5-1.  A solo homer by Christian Villanueva in the bottom of the inning narrows the gap, and a 2-out double by Galvis in the 5th sets up a run-scoring single from Pirela that gets by 2B-4 Alfonso Soriano that brings the Padres within two.  Villanueva gets a 2-out double in the 6th but he’s cut down trying to score on a single by Austin Hedges; when SD gets two on in the 8th, the Rangers move to closer Francisco Cordero, and he closes things out as the final out is made by defensive replacement 2B-3 Andy Fox as the Rangers head to the semifinals with a 5-3 win due to one good inning, with only two hits to show for the rest of the game.  

The survivors

The #2 seeded 2015 Dodgers had eliminated the regional favorite in round one, and now they looked to have an easier task with the #7 seed 1982 Indians, who would not have the benefit of ColavitoFan’s winning management in this semifinal round.   Adding to Cleveland’s challenge was Clayton Kershaw (16-7, 2.13), who finished third in the Cy Young ballots, although Len Barker (15-11, 3.90) was a last decent option on the mound for the Indians before the rotation got ugly.  In the bottom of the 1st Von Hayes continues his successful tournament with a two-out RBI single to give Cleveland the early lead, but Barker begins the 4th with two straight walks and a squib single to load the bases with nobody out.  That sets up a 2-run single by Howie Kendrick that puts the Dodgers ahead, and from there Kershaw goes to work.  He holds the Indians scoreless, although in the bottom of the 9th he issues his first walk of the game to Toby Harrah, who ends up at second with two out as the tying run, and Mike Fischlin at the plate.  But Kershaw strikes him out for his 10th K of the game and the Dodgers squeak by with the 2-1 win; they make the finals despite only recording a combined 7 hits in their two games.  

The ELO ratings portrayed this as a pretty evenly matched semifinal game between the 2021 Red Sox and the 2004 Rangers, and they shared the similarity of having some wear on their bullpens with big dropoffs moving to their #2 starters:  Nick Pivetta (9-8, 4.53) for Boston and Kenny Rogers (18-9, 4.76), whose record was a lot better than his card.  With two sturdy lineups, the game promised to be a high scoring affair, and Rafael Devers starts off the scoring with a 3-run blast in the top of the 3rd to put Boston out front.  The Red Sox then miss two HR 1-12 splits on Rogers’ card in the 5th, but the resulting doubles give them one run and a single off the pitcher’s card by JD Martinez adds another; Hunter Refroe then misses another HR split on his own card but Martinez races home on the double, and Bobby Dalbec, apparently recovered from his first round injury, leaves nothing to the split die with a solid homer on his card and it’s 8-0 Boston and it’s time to fold ‘em on Kenny Rogers.  The Rangers get on the board in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an unearned run from a 2-base error by RF-2 Renfroe, but Xander Bogaerts converts a HR 1-3 split to get the run back for Boston, and the Red Sox go all in on the defensive replacements with the big lead.  The Rangers nonetheless pick up another unearned run resulting from an error by Red Sox 2B-2 Christian Arroyo, but it’s not needed as Pivetta cuffs the Rangers and the Red Sox head to the finals cruising to a 9-2 victory.

The regional final looks to be a competitive one, matching the #2 seeded 2015 Dodgers and the #3 seed 2021 Red Sox.  The ELO advantage of the Dodgers was somewhat negated by the fact that the rotation must now move past their two dominating starters, although Mike Bolsinger (6-6, 3.62) was still a better option than Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez (13-8, 4.74).  But Bolsinger gets into trouble in the bottom of the 1st, allowing a two-out RBI single to Bobby Dalbec but the Red Sox leave the bases loaded so it could have been far worse.  Enrique Hernandez, who is in the starting lineup for both teams, dribbles an RBI single under the glove of SS-2 Jimmy Rollins to put Boston up 2-0, although again it could have been worse as 1-10+2 JD Martinez is out at the plate trying to score on a Christian Arroyo single and ends the rally.  However, not to be outdone, the LA version of Hernandez swats a homer to lead off the top of the 4th, but Rollins get injured in the 5th to create a big defensive hole for LA.  Although Rodriguez is pitching well, the Red Sox move to their pen to begin the 6th, with Tanner Houck getting the call.  After a leadoff single by Kyle Schwarber in the 7th, the Dodgers respond with their closer, Kenley Jansen, and he prevents any damage but the Red Sox still cling to a one run lead.  So Boston decides that it’s time for Garrett Whitlock and his 1.96 ERA to begin the 8th, and they load up on the defensive replacements, having already committed three errors in the game.  However, in the 9th 2b-2 Arroyo starts things off with an error, and then Howie Kendrick singles to push the tying run to 3rd.  With nobody out, the infield comes in, and although Whitlock gets one out, PH Yasiel Puig converts a SI* 1-9 off Whitlock’s card to tie the game heading into the bottom of the 9th.  But the Red Sox begin the inning with two singles against Jansen, and now THEY have the crucial run on 3rd with nobody out and the infield comes in.  Jansen whiffs defensive replacement Alex Verdugo, but Hunter Renfroe delivers a single off a 3-11 roll and the Red Sox walk it off for a 3-2 win and the regional title.  

Interesting card of Regional #255:  With most of the teams in this bracket having been of recent vintage, there really weren’t too many obscure cards of interest in the batch, especially ones on teams that showed any life during the regional.  So I figured I’d go with a card from the winning Red Sox team, although this particular card was not eligible for use in the tournament–when players receive two cards (typically because they were traded across leagues), it is the higher AB/IP (combined stats) card that must be used, reflecting the total season contributions of the player.  As it turned out, Schwarber’s combined card was pretty good also, but either his eyes got better later in the season or the AL pitchers had worse control, because his OBP went up nearly 100 points upon being traded from the Nationals to the Red Sox at the trading deadline.  Officially on the disabled list when traded, he obviously recovered from his injury nicely because he helped lead Boston to the postseason, where he was a key factor in the Wild Card and ALDS rounds before the Red Sox were shut down in the ALCS.  Those 41 games with Boston were the sum total of his stint in the American League thus far in his career, as he became a free agent after the 2021 season and went on to lead the NL in homers in 2022 with the Phillies.  Still, the Red Sox were glad that he came for a visit, however brief, because he was instrumental in the 13th and final regional win for the historic franchise.