SUPER-REGIONAL F:  With all of the regionals in the tournament completed after a mere 44 years, we go deeper into the brackets with rounds four through six, the sixth such super-regional to be played.  The 64 teams that initially comprised this group included four pennant winners, but only one of those–the 1989 A’s of Bash Brothers fame–had survived to round four, and they had knocked off one of the other league champs on the way there.  Even so, two other squads in the 1927 Cardinals and the 1991 Dodgers had also been the top seeds in their regionals, while the remaining regional champs were mainly middling teams with one notable exception:  the 1957 A’s, who had triumphed in their regional despite being the worst rated in their group by a long shot.  Will their magic continue in the super-regional round, where teams must lead off with the bottom of their rotation?   According to the ELO ratings, the Bash Brothers are favored to take the bracket over the ‘27 Cards, if the latter can get past those ‘91 Dodgers in round four.

Round 4 action

The 1971 Giants won 90 games and the NL West, and they rode strong pitching that only gave up 12 hits across the three games of Regional #41.  With names like Mays, McCovey, Bonds, and Kingman in the lineup, they had preserved Hall of Famer and Cy Young vote-getter Juan Marichal (18-11, 2.94) for this start, presenting a formidable challenge for any team.  However, even though the 1983 Red Sox were a sub-.500 team at 79-83, they had four Hall of Famers of their own in Yaz, Eckersley, batting champion Wade Boggs and 4th place MVP Jim Rice; however, it was Mike Brown (6-6, 4.87) or a truly awful Eckersley (5.61 ERA) at the bottom of the rotation, and these Red Sox hadn’t played any team with nearly the rating of the Giants in winning Regional #42.  Both pitchers escape jams in the first few innings, but in the top of the 5th Willie Mays misses a HR split with  two out but Ken Henderson scores on the resulting double to give the Giants the lead.  Mike Gallagher raps a two-out single in the 6th and a surprising fleet Dave Kingman (1-15+2) slides under the tag to score and provide some insurance, and after Brown issues a walk the Red Sox dig through a spent bullpen and come up with Oil Can Boyd, who stops the squeaking but the Giants lead by two.  In the 8th, Kingman miss his HR split for the second time of the game, but an elderly McCovey creaks home and Kingman then scores on a misplayed grounder by Boyd.  A two out RBI single by Chris Speier scores the third run of the inning and the Giants are in firm control, as is Marichal as he completes the 6-hit shutout to lead San Francisco deeper into the super-regional, and a new turn through a rotation that tossed shutouts in three of the first four rounds.  

This is the type of game you expect to see in the super-regionals:  two #1 seeds from their regionals, each facing their stiffest challenge yet.  The 1927 Cardinals’ 92-61 record was the second best in the NL that season, with Frankie Frisch the MVP runner up with Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey getting votes.  Pitchers Jesse Haines and Pete Alexander also got MVP support in those pre-Cy Young award days, but they had already had their turn in winning Regional #43 and Flint Rhem (10-12, 4.42) was a huge dropoff in the rotation.  The 1991 Dodgers went 93-69 with a lineup of elderly big names who had made those names in other places, but their rotation was no joke as Bobby Ojeda (12-9, 3.18) was only one of many good options for a #4 starter.  The Cards load the bases with nobody out in the top of the 1st, but Ojeda almost pitches his way out of the jam until his 2B-4 Juan Samuel drops a two-out grounder that gives St. Louis the one-run lead.  But Rhem gets reamed in the bottom of the 2nd, loading the bases with nobody out and then surrendering RBI singles to Samuel and Alfredo Griffin before a Darryl Strawberry homer makes it 6-1 and the Cards move to their only decent reliever, Fred Frankhouse.   They also respond with RBI singles from Wattie Holm and Ray Blades in the top of the 3rd that narrow the score to 6-3, but LA gets a 2-run triple from Strawberry who has completed the hard parts of a cycle in the first 3 innings, and when Eddie Murray doubles Straw home it’s 9-3 Dodgers.  The Cards show that they won’t go quietly with three more runs in the top of the 4th, fueled by a Frisch double, but they have to put in Art Reinhart in the 6th, and he yields a solid double off his card to Mike Scioscia, but 1-10+2 Kal Daniels is out at the plate to end the threat.  Ojeda then gives up a walk and a double off his card to lead off the top of the 7th, so with the tying run at the plate the Dodgers go to their much better bullpen for Jay Howell.  However, Holm sends a liner towards LF-4 Daniels who plays it into a 2-run single and it’s a one run game entering the 7th inning stretch.  Strawberry doubles in the bottom of the 8th to put him a single short of a cycle, but he’s stranded and the LA crowd jeers as he’s pulled for a defensive replacement for the 9th inning.  In the 9th, Taylor Douthit does draw a walk, but Holm hits into a game-ending DP accompanied by a meaningless injury, because the Cards go back into storage and the Dodgers survive 9-8 to move into round five.

The super-regional favorites were the 1989 A’s, the 99-win Series champions of Bash Brothers fame, but they would be facing an 84-win 1984 Royals team that had allowed a total of one run in their regional games, coming off two consecutive complete game shutouts.   This would be the Zoom game of the week, with ColavitoFan controlling the Royals while TT and Eaglesfly opted for a “college of coaches” approach in steering the A’s.  None of this managerial crew had much choice for the starting pitching as both teams were down to their #4 starters, KC’s Charlie Leibrandt (11-7, 3.63) and Oakland’s Storm Davis (19-7, 4.36).  In the 3rd the Royals get on the board with an unearned run when a ball bounces off the head of RF-3 Jose Canseco for a 2-base error, and Eaglesfly coaxes TT into intentionally walking George Brett to pitch to the feast or famine Steve Balboni.  However, that strategy goes bye-bye as Balboni crushes one into Mount Davis of the Coliseum and KC leads 4-0.  Carney Lansford and Mark McGwire drive in runs in the bottom of the 5th to narrow the lead to 4-2, but Davis quickly gets into a jam in the top of the 6th and is pulled in favor of Rick Honeycutt–who issues a bases loaded walk to PH Jorge Orta to extend the Royals lead.   Again Oakland responds, as Leibrandt gets into a jam of his own and gives way to closer Dan Quisenberry. But senior statesman Dave Parker pushes a run across and it’s now 5-3 KC, and the college of coaches are getting schooled by the split die as every attempt at adventurous baserunning ends in disaster.  The Royals get another RBI on a fielder's choice from Darryl Motley in the 7th, but Lansford converts the HR split on Quiz for a 2-run blast and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th.  The A’s have Dennis Eckersley on the hill to keep things close, but this time pitching to Brett in the top of the 9th proves to be a mistake as he smacks a solo shot to provide a little bit of insurance heading into the 9th.  ColavitoFan opts to try to preserve Quiz for later rounds and signals for Joe Beckwith to finish out the 9th, but Canseco greets him with a long solo shot and once again the lead is down to a run.  However, with two out in the bottom of the 9th it’s up to the last Oakland catcher, Ron Hassey; he can’t cope with Beckwith and the Royals hang on to pull off the 7-6 upset and send the Bash Brothers back to the storage drawers.

The 59-94 1957 A's were one of the first #8 seeds to win a regional, and their path to this super-regional was not easy either, as they had to defeat each of the top three teams in their bracket to get here.  Ironically, this team did far better in the tournament than the far more famous 1961 Yankees, with whom the A’s shared many players in common as the Yanks’ “farm team”.  They still had a number of decent options for a #4 starter, with Arnie Portocarrero (4-9, 3.92) getting the call.   Their opponents were the 1993 Reds, whose 73-89 record was not so great either, but these Reds had knocked off the top two teams in their regional; however, their pitching options were frightening and John Smiley (3-9, 5.62) was actually better than other options.  The Reds come up short in the bottom of the 1st when 1-10+2 Hal Morris is out at home on a 13 split for the final out.  Another baserunning fiasco costs them a run in the 2nd when A stealer Reggie Sanders is caught stealing immediately before Chris Sabo homers, but the Reds still lead 1-0 after two.  Lou Skizas finds a solid homer on Smiley in the top of the 3rd for a 2-run shot and a KC lead, but the Reds consider themselves fortunate that Smiley allows nothing else in his mandated five innings, and they go do reliever Jerry Spradlin to begin the 6th.  That proves to be a good thing as Hal Smith immediately rolls the number that would have been a solid homer on Smiley, and Spradlin holds on while a Barry Larkin triple in the bottom of the 7th ties the game.  Briefly, it turns out, as Skizas leads off the 8th with his second homer of the game, and with no bullpen to speak of it’s up to Portocarrero to get six outs.  But he doesn’t get it done in the 8th, issuing two walks and then committing an error to load the bases; Sabo then sends a grounder under the glove of SS-2 Joe DeMaestri and the game is tied heading into the 9th.  Spradlin holds serve in his final inning of eligibility in the top of the 9th, but so does Portocarrero and it’s extra innings between two bad teams that refuse to lose.  Johnny Ruffin is the Reds’ best option out of the pen, and he handles the A’s in the 10th.  Portocarrero is now down to his last inning, but Roberto Kelly leads off by converting a TR 1-3, and in comes the KC infield to try to cut off the winning run.  Portocarrero gets two outs with Kelly still stuck at 3rd, and the Reds send up PH Cecil Espy in the hopes that he can draw a walk.  But it’s a flyball to LF-3 Bob Cerv, and he waves at it as it goes by for the walk-off hit that sends the Reds forward with the comeback 4-3 win, with the team eager to revisit the top of their rotation after burning what little pen they have.  

Round 5 semifinals

As should be the case in a round five game, this matchup featured two good teams who would be looping back to their starters from round one; 1991 Dodgers and Tim Belcher (10-9, 2.62) against the 1971 Giants and John Cumberland (9-6, 2.92).   For such a significant game, it was fitting that Giants fan Alan G. from the Facebook groups made a Zoom appearance as the special guest roller for the San Francisco nine, while I would manage the Dodgers, which had been working out pretty well for elder statesmen on their roster thus far.  Both pitchers begin the game in good form, but in the bottom of the 3rd Cumberland issues a walk and then Brett Butler, who has consistently been a factor for several different teams in this tournament, converts a TR 1-8 off Cumberland’s card and the Dodgers have a 1-0 lead over their arch-rivals.  Eddie Murray then leads off the 4th for LA with a homer on his own card, and in the 5th Brett Butler once again demonstrates that, frankly, he doesn’t give a damn about my bad split die rolling, converting a HR 1-3 split off Cumberland for one of his two homers in ‘91.  Meanwhile, Belcher is giving Giants fans dyspepsia, and in the 7th Alan, knowing that runs are going to be hard to come by, shows his confidence in another Alan G., namely the 1-11+2 Alan Gallagher who sets sail for home on a Tito Fuentes double trying to break the ice.  But the split gods are uncooperative, and Gallagher is thrown out at home, probably by the dice-blessed Butler.  From there it gets no better; the Giants do have the meat of the order going for the 9th, but Belcher is up to the task, striking out Bonds, McCovey, and Kingman in succession to wrap up the four-hit shutout and the Dodgers win 3-0 to earn a berth in the super-regional final.  

These next round five contestants were fairly mediocre squads on paper, but they had both proved their mettle against formidable opponents.   The 1993 Reds were very happy to return to the front of their rotation for Jose Rijo (14-9, 2.48), 5th in the Cy Young votes and the NL leader in WAR.  On the other hand, the 1984 Royals had begun round one with Mark Gubicza (10-14, 4.05), in an effort to preserve their top starters for tougher competition, a decision that might come back to haunt them here.  Rijo breezes through the Royals lineup the first time through without a baserunner, and the KC offense isn’t helped any when C Don Slaught gets injured in the 3rd.  In the bottom of the 4th, Roberto Kelly singles, steals second on replacement C John Wathan, and races home on a Reggie Sanders single to hand Rijo a lead.  Sanders then steals second himself, and Chris Sabo singles him home and the Reds are up 2-0 after four.  In the 5th, the Reds load the bases on a single and two walks, setting up Sanders for a 2-run single, although Gubicza is fortunate that things didn’t get any worse as he strands the bases loaded.  Meanwhile, Rijo goes through the Royals order a second time with no baserunners, but Darryl Motley finally breaks up the perfect game with a single off Rijo’s card in the 8th.  Wathan garners their second hit in the top of the 9th, and when Hal McRae walks that brings up George Brett with two away, but he flies out harmlessly and Rijo’s two-hit shutout propels the Reds to the super-regional final with a 4-0 win.  

Super-regional F finals

For the super-regional final, the 93-win 1991 Dodgers come in as big favorites over the sub-.500 1993 Reds, and the depth of the LA rotation heightened the advantage with Mike Morgan (14-10, 2.78) wielding a significantly better card than the Reds’ Tim Belcher (9-6, 4.47), although coincidentally a younger version of Belcher had just tossed a shutout for the Dodgers in the previous game.  However, it’s the plucky Reds who get on the board first, with Hal Morris converting a TR 1-4 split in the bottom of the 1st and then scoring on a Kevin Mitchell sac fly.  The Dodgers quickly tie the game on a 2-out double by Mike Sharperson in the top of the 2nd, although slow-footed Mike Scioscia is out by a mile at the plate trying to score a second run.  The Reds take the lead again in the 6th when Barry Larkin scores while Mitchell is hitting into a double play, and in the 7th Reggie Sanders converts that same TR 1-4 on Morgan (a 6-5 roll) for another run.  Sanders scores on a Joe Oliver sac fly to add some insurance, and Mitchell adds a tape measure solo shot in the 8th while Belcher baffles his old teammates and finishes up a 2-hitter, both by Sharperson, and the unlikely Reds post the 5-1 win to take the super-regional crown.

Interesting card of Super-Regional F:  Mostly remembered by me as a slugger for the Giants during the 80s, Kevin Mitchell spent a more forgettable second half of his career bouncing around to different teams and countries (including Japan and Mexico) with a reputation as a malcontent and clubhouse cancer.  Traded to the Reds after a lackluster 1992 in Seattle, Mitchell looked like he was recovering the form that made him the 1989 NL MVP until injuries ended his season in August.  Nonetheless, as evident from this card, when healthy he was still a force to be reckoned with, and he was the primary offense weapon on a sub-.500 team that managed to pull off the super-regional win.   Mitchell didn’t hit a home run in rounds one through six of the tournament until his last at-bat of the super-regional final, but he did drive in 7 runs in those games and he managed to get himself into position many times to be driven in by Reggie Sanders and Chris Sabo.  At last report Mitchell has turned around his life in many ways, mentoring kids in his native San Diego and living healthier after being diagnosed with diabetes after his playing days ended.  However, his career lives on in the endless single elimination tournament, as his Reds are one of the final 32 teams with a chance to win it all.