SUPER-REGIONAL L:  Although seven pennant winners had begun this round of 64, they went a combined 5-7 and not a single one won their regional.  Nonetheless, the surviving squads here were a solid bunch, with the sole mediocre team, the 1977 Angels, having triumphed in a regional that included three of those seven pennant winners, so they were hardly afraid of being underdogs.  However, I doubted that they would be able to sustain their success against high quality opponents; my guess was that a modern Yankees team would best a 70s Orioles team to go on to the final field of 32.   The ELO rankings predicted the same result in the finals, which would be an interesting matchup of modern power hitting vs. the great rotation of the O’s from those years.  Even so, I was also looking forward to seeing how the two pre-war entries from the Tigers would fare against some tough modern competition. 

Round four action

Two Orioles teams from very different eras must face off in round four to see which one will represent the franchise going forward in the tournament.   The 1975 Orioles won 90 games courtesy of a strong rotation, and Doyle Alexander (8-8, 3.05) was about as good a #4 starter as you could ask for.  The 2013 Orioles won 85 but were built very differently, riding Chris Davis’s 53 homers but Wei-Yin Chen (7-7, 4.07) had an unnerving tendency to allow extra base hits.  That tendency becomes obvious in the bottom of the 1st as Lee May converts Chen’s hefty HR split for a 2-run lead, and in the bottom of the 5th it’s elderly Brooks Robinson taking advantage of that result for another 2-run homer.  However, an error by 1B-4 May sets up a 3-run blast by Davis in the top of the 6th and suddenly it’s a ballgame, so the 2013’s pull Chen and give it to Darren O’Day to keep it close.  The 75’s get men on 2nd and 3rd with two out in the bottom of the 7th but O’Day whiffs Don Baylor to keep the 2013’s hope alive, which turns out to be key when Matt Wieters homers to lead off the 8th.  A following single by Brian Roberts and it’s the 75’s turn to go to the bullpen, and Dyar Miller comes in and retires three straight and the game is tied heading into the 9th.  Miller gets into trouble immediately in the top of the 9th with a walk followed by an Adam Jones double; 1-12 Danny Valencia is held at 3rd and the infield comes in with nobody out.  But Manny Machado lofts a sac fly and the 2013s take the lead for the first time heading into the bottom of the 9th; with nobody else decent in the pen, O’Day will be burnt for the super-regional but it’s his game to save.  Veteran Tommy Davis comes up to pinch hit but he fails to convert a HR 1-2/flyB, and that’s one out.  But PH Al Bumbry draws a walk and another PH Doug Decinces follows with a single–but the 1-17 Bumbry is cut down trying for 3rd with a 19 split roll.  Jim Northrup then grounds one to 2B-2 Roberts, who fields it cleanly and the 2013’s pull off a come-from-behind 5-4 win, despite only recording five hits.

In the Zoom game of the week, Jonathan would lead his hometown 2012 Nationals who had powered through Regional #92 despite a rash of injuries, and although SS Ian Desmond would be returning to the lineup for this round four game, C Kurt Suzuki was still unavailable, meaning that #4 starter Ross Detwiler (10-8, 3.40) would have an unfamiliar batterymate.   Still, they had a manageable opponent in the 88-loss 1977 Angels, who rode two very good starting pitchers through their regional, but Ken Brett (7-10, 4.25) looked far more generous with the hits.   And Brett shows his generosity quickly, allowing four hits in the bottom of the 2nd to set up a Ryan Zimmerman sac fly and a two-run homer by Danny Espinoza provide a 3-0 Nats lead.  The Angels retaliate in the top of the 3rd when Bobby Bonds walks, steals second, and scores on a Don Baylor single, but Zimmerman launches a solo shot in the 4th to make it 4-1, and as manager of the Angels I am itching to get Brett off the mound as soon as rules permit.  That happens in the 6th, and Mike Barlow does somewhat better although Zimmerman slams his second solo shot of the game in the 8th.  In the meantime, Jonathan calls upon Craig Stammen and Drew Storen to preserve the lead, and they do so–however, not everything is roses in the capital as SS Desmond and 2B Espinoza both go down with 7 game injuries, meaning that the Nats must try to manage the remainder of the tournament without their very strong double play combination.   Still, they get by the Angels, who can put together only six hits as Washington cruises to the 5-1 win and advance, battered and bruised, to round five.

After a few recent rough outings managing some Indians regional winners, ColavitoFan was willing to forego a Zoom game with the 2000 Indians, letting me roll for the 90-game winners who had an all-1 infield; if there are other teams that had this, there aren’t many.   However, he did submit a recommendation to use Steve Woodward (4-10, 5.85) as the #4 starter, preferably as briefly as possible.  The 75-79 1941 Tigers would call upon Schoolboy Rowe (8-6, 4.14) and hope that their all-4 DP combo could stop a few balls from getting through the infield.  The Tigers show their stuff in the bottom of the 1st, leading off with two straight singles that set up a Bruce Campbell sac fly; Pinky Higgins then misses Woodward’s HR split but a run still scores on the resulting double.  After a walk, Birdie Tebbetts doesn’t mess around with splits and finds Woodard’s solid HR result for a 3-run shot, and it’s to the bullpen for Paul Shuey as Woodard lasts two-thirds of an inning.  The Indians start to dig out of the hole with a Manny Ramirez RBI single in the 3rd, and Jim Thome adds a solo shot in the 8th to gain a little more ground.  But although Shuey and Justin Speier hold the Tigers hitless in 7+ innings of relief, the damage is done as Rowe scatters 11 hits and Detroit moves on with the 5-2 win.

Two regional winners from 90+ years apart face off in this round four game, testing the mettle of their #4 option in their rotations.  The 2019 Yankees won 103 games but fell short in the ALCS; they were the top ranked team in this super-regional, having made it through Regional #96 with heavy support from a deep bullpen, but they might need those bullpen arms with a very hittable JA Happ (12-8, 4.91) on the mound.  The 1927 Tigers went 82-71 and didn’t use a single bullpen inning in winning their regional, probably because their bullpen was largely useless, but Ownie Carroll (10-6, 3.98) looked like he might need some help himself.  He gets some in the top of the 1st from .398 hitter Harry Heilmann, who nails a solo homer in the house of the Babe, but the pinstripers respond immediately with an error by 3B-3 Jack Warner setting up a sac fly from Aaron Judge and a 2-run triple by Gleyber Torres for a 3-1 Yankee lead after one.  However, in the 3rd Heilmann adds a sac fly, and then a two-out rally erupts with RBI singles by Jackie Taverner, Heinie Manush, and a 2-run single from Warner give the Tigers a lead and the Yankees an excuse to pull the hapless Happ, with an unhittable Luis Severino coming in for long relief.  But he walks the bases loaded and Johnny Neun singles for another two runs, and when the dust clears the Tigers now lead 8-3.  Judge responds with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, and you get the sense that this game is a long way from over.  An RBI single from Warner and a run-scoring double by Larry Woodall and the Tigers hit double digits in the 4th inning, but a Yankee run scores on a fielder’s choice in the 5th to narrow the gap to 10-5, although Torres ends the inning by getting injured.  However, in the 6th Carroll walks the first three batters of the inning, then allows a run-scoring single to Mike Tauchman and a fielder's choice from Brett Gardner scores another.  Another walk loads the bases again and a Gio Ushela sac fly makes it now a two-run game.  Seeking to keep the momentum, New York turns it over to Adam Ottavino and his 1.90 ERA to begin the 7th, and he holds off the Tigers while in the 8th an error by Detroit SS-1 Taverner leads to a Gio Urshela sac fly and it’s a one run game entering the 9th.  Ottavino holds, and although Carroll walks PH Cameron Maybin to put the tying run aboard, Carroll gets a DP ball out of DJ Lemahieu and the Tigers hold on for the 10-9 upset, sending the powerful Yankees back to the card catalogs.  

The survivors:  round five

The 2012 Nationals remain alive despite having a third of their starting lineup injured, including both halves of their very good DP combo; the good news was that their ace Gio Gonzalez (21-8, 2.89), who came in third in the Cy Young ballots, would be on the mound.  On the other side of the Beltway, the 2013 Orioles would be sending out Scott Feldman (12-12, 3.86) who was decent but not in the hunt for any pitching awards.  However, it’s Gonzalez who starts off terribly, not recording an out until after RBI doubles from Nick Markakis and Danny Valencia, and even that out comes from 1-12 Chris Davis getting thrown out at home.  JJ Hardy adds an RBI single and the O’s lead 3-0 before the Nats can swing a bat.  Things get worse in the 2nd when injury replacement 2B-2 Steve Lombardozzi drops a Markakis grounder to allow another run, but in the bottom of the inning Adam Laroche converts Feldmans’s HR split to make it 4-1 Baltimore.  The Nats get a run on the fielder’s choice in the 3rd to cut the lead to two, and Gonzalez begins pitching like an ace.   The Nats threaten with two baserunners in the 7th, and Baltimore looks at their pen but their best reliever is burnt and the alternatives aren’t encouraging, so Feldman is left in but he surrenders an RBI single to Tyler Moore and it’s a one-run game entering the 8th.  However, a triple by Matt Wieters gives the Orioles an insurance run in the top of the 9th, which proves fortuitous as Bryce Harper crushes a solo shot in the bottom of the 9th to draw back within one.  Injury replacement Jhonatan Braxton then rips a double to put the tying run in scoring position with one out, and again the O’s look at the pen but opt to stick with Feldman.  He’s bailed out with a fine play by 2B-2 Brian Roberts for the second out, but up comes Tyler Moore, who’s gonna make it on his own with a 6-5 roll, converting the HR split for a walk-off 6-5 win to send the battered Nats to the super-regional finals.  

A distinctly feline aura surrounds the round five matchup between the 1927 Tigers and the 1941 Tigers, with the sole commonality between the two squads being the Mechanical Man, Charlie Gehringer, manning second base.  Both were back to the top of the rotation, with 27’s Earl Whitehill (16-14, 3.36) and 41’s Al Benton (15-6, 2.96) sporting nice cards, so a pitching duel might be in order.  But it doesn’t take long for the 27’s to get on the board, as a 2-run homer by Bob Fothergill in the bottom of the 1st stakes Whitehill to a 2-0 lead.  However, he walks the first three batters of the 4th inning, then allows a Frank Croucher single for one run and then walks the elder Gehringer for another; after recording two outs he then issues his 5th walks of the inning to Pat Mullin to score another, and then Bruce Campbell strokes a 2-run single when he finally get a ball over the plate and the 41’s take a 5-2 lead.  They then put together a 2-out rally in the 8th and get an RBI single from defensive replacement Tuck Stainback, and things look bleak for the 27’s going into the bottom of the 9th down by four and having only one hit since the 1st inning.  However, with two outs they refuse to go down, and score a run on a Jackie Tavener double that was a missed HR split that would have put the game within one.  A walk loads the bases, and PH Marty McManus delivers a single that makes it a two-run game, and the winning run is now at the plate in the form of Lu Blue.  The 41’s don’t have anyone better in the pen than Benton, so they stick with their ace and Blue lofts a fly towards the best fielder on the 41’s, LF-1 Barney McCoskey, and he makes it look easy as the 27’s leave the bases full and the ‘41 Tigers move on by holding on for the 6-4 win.  

Super-regional final:  round six

The tattered remnants of the 2012 Nationals somehow limp into the super-regional finals despite having suffered four injuries for a total of 18 games in their five previous tournament wins.  Although they would still be missing both halves of their DP combo, starting C Kurt Suzuki would be back from the DL, which upgraded their defense but downgraded the offense provided by his replacement; Stephen Strasburg (15-6, 3.16) would be on the mound for the Nats.  They faced a healthy 1941 Tigers team who had somehow managed five straight convincing wins without benefit of any defense or bullpen, but sporting the best nicknames in the bracket.  After his round five walkoff homer, everyone in DC wants to marry Tyler Moore, and he keeps it up with an RBI single under the glove of aged 2B-4 Charlie Gehringer for a Washington lead in the top of the 3rd.  Michael Morse then drives in Moore with a single past 3B-3 Pinky Higgins, and a passed ball by C-2 Birdie Tebbetts allows another run to score as the Tiger nicknames prove better than their gloves.  The Tigers do respond in the bottom of the inning with a 2-out rally to load the bases and a walk to Bruce Campbell scores a run, but they leave the bases jammed and it’s 3-1 Nats after three.  When the Tigers begin the bottom of the 6th with two straight hits, Strasburg is relieved by Craig Stammen, who gets a DP ball out of Higgins but a run does score to cut the Nationals’ lead to one.  The Tigers defense holds in the top of the 7th with two straight successful plays from 4-rated infielders, and in the bottom of the inning Stammen walks the bases loaded with two away, but Rudy York whiffs to end an inning with three men on for the second time in the game.  Drew Storen comes on in the 8th to try to wrap up the game for the Nats, but he promptly commits a 2-base error to put the tying run in scoring position, and Detroit sends out HOF PH Hank Greenberg.  Storen gets him out as Greenberg avoids injury with a 4 split roll, but then Gehringer walks and offensive replacement C Jhonatan Solono drops a popup and the bases are loaded for Rip Radcliff–who pops out and Washington clings to the one-run lead entering the 9th.  Bridges holds in the top of the 9th, so the game rests on Storen’s arm, but singles by York and Tebbetts put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run at 1st, although with no replacements on the bench the Tigers can’t pinch run for the slow York.   That makes it up to Higgins, but it’s on Storen’s card for a lazy fly ball and the injury-riddled Nationals continue their improbable run, with the 3-2 victory sending them to the round of 32.  Note that if they can keep it up and make the Final Four–they will get their DP combo back!

Interesting card of Super-Regional L:   The 1927 Tigers made it through five rounds of this tournament, and it was in no small part due to the efforts of this Hall of Famer.  It is because of players like Harry Heilmann that I am disappointed that the game company seemingly refuses to print any new pre-WWII seasons, because I think that there are so many greats in that golden era of baseball that fly under the radar of contemporary fans.  Obviously, Strat is banking on a nostalgic desire to play with the players we remember from our youth, with endless reprints or reimaginings of seasons from the 1970s and 80s, but as someone who’s been playing the game since that time, what really captured my imagination even back then were the old-timers, guys like Heilmann who died before I was born.  Strat was how I learned about them, and to this day I can remember the lineup of the 1927 Yankees or 1934 Cardinals better than I can any contemporary teams, even the one that I pull for (the 2024 White Sox?  Give me a break).  But greats like Heilmann fade into obscurity, despite feats like batting .400 and winning batting titles every other season throughout the 1920s.  Come on, Strat, throw us history lovers a bone–how about a new prewar season like 1939, or 1929, or  ‘21 or ‘22, or maybe even a centennial edition of 1925?