SUPER-REGIONAL S:  There were four pennant winners that began this group of 64, but three of them were in Regional #152 and the survivor of that bracket, the 2017 Dodgers, were the lone league champion in this group of eight.  The Dodgers were perhaps eager for revenge after getting trash-canned out of a Series win, but it looked like they would face some capable opposition in their quest to move on to the final set of 32 teams in the tournament.  These potential opponents included two Pirates teams on either side of their 1960 miracle squad, and entries from the Royals, Angels, and Twins that I seemed to remember having made strong runs in real life.  Still, the Dodgers seemed like the obvious choice as bracket favorites; I guessed that the steroid-era Twins would power past their opposition but that eventually their pitching would fall short in the finals.   The ELO rankings agreed, as they also had the Dodgers as prohibitive favorites, with the Twins really constituting the only real challenge they might face. 

Round four action

It’s the Beatlemania era for this round four matchup between the 1964 Indians and the 1963 Pirates, and being a pitching-rich era both teams had strong #4 starters for this game.  The Tribe had Jack Kralick (12-7, 3.20) while after three complete game wins in their regional the Pirates felt comfortable taking Al McBean (13-3, 2.58) out of the pen for a swing start in this game.  But Dick Howser begins the game by converting a split for a triple off McBean’s card, and he scores on a John Romano grounder, and later Tito Francona slides under the tag to score on a 2-out single by Leon Wagner for a 2-0 lead before the Bucs can bat.  The Pirates get another scare in the bottom of the inning when Roberto Clemente, who had already been knocked out for two games in the tournament regional, rolls an injury but he’s able to remain in the game.  In the 2nd slow-footed 1-9 Jerry Lynch tries to score for the Pirates on a single with two out, but he’s out by a mile, and it’s not until the 5th that Pittsburgh can get on the board with the faster Mazeroski able to score on a 2-out single by Smoky Burgess.  However, a Lynch single followed by a Donn Clendenon double to put two in scoring position with nobody out in the 6th, so Cleveland opts for Don McMahon and bring the infield in to try to keep the slim lead.  But young Willie Stargell rips a grounder ++ through the infield to score both runners and suddenly it’s a Pittsburgh lead.  And McBean’s rough start was quickly corrected, as he allows only one hit in the final six innings to complete a 5-hitter and the Pirates move on with the 3-2 comeback win.  

Both the 2004 Twins and the 1993 Angels had been pushed to extra innings in order to win their regional finals, meaning that both had some wear and tear on their bullpens with the bottom of their rotations coming up, with terrible Kyle Lohse (9-13, 5.34) for the Twins and the even worse John Farrell (3-12, 7.35) forced into service for the Angels because of a scarcity of innings in that strike year.  Surprisingly, nobody scores until Chad Curtis raps a 2-run double to give the Angels the lead in the bottom of the 3rd, and then the Twins’ primary power threat Justin Morneau immediately gets injured in the top of the 4th for the rest of the super-regional and beyond, making the picture even more bleak for Minnesota.  Even though Ferrell has a shutout going, the Angels go to their pen to begin the 6th, with Steve Frey, but in the 7th Cristian Guzman singles under the glove of 2B-3 Torey Lovullo to drive in a run that makes it a one-run game.  At that point the Twins summon reliever Juan Rincon to try to keep things close, and in the 9th Luis Rivas converts a SI 1-5 and then steals second to put the tying run in scoring position, but PH Shannon Stewart pops out on Frey’s card to send the underdog Angels on to round five with an unexpected 2-1 pitching duel, with California mustering only four hits in the win.   

The 69-85 1947 Cubs had relied upon fairly weak opposition, my White Sox jinx, and good work from their bullpen to win Regional #150, but they would now need #4 starter Hank Borowy (8-12, 4.38) to go late in the game against the 1955 Pirates.  However, in keeping with the fortunate draws of the Cubs, these Pirates were even worse on paper, going 60-94 but taking their regional despite ongoing injuries to Jerry Lynch and Johnny O’Brien, thanks to three strong complete game wins from the rotation.  However, the dropoff to Ron Kline (6-13, 4.15) was a big one and a 94-loss lineup missing two regulars was not a pretty sight.  The Pirates smallball their way to a run in the top of the 2nd on a double, a bunt and a sac fly from Dick Cole, while the Cubs load the bases in the 4th with a two-out rally but Don Johnson hits the Miami Vice hole in his best column and they get nothing to show for it.  In the 5th, weak hitting catcher Jack Shepard finds and converts Borowy’s HR split for a solo shot, and when Phil Cavaretta leads off the 6th with a base hit the Pirates pull Kline despite his shutout, and opt for Dick Hall who retires the side without incident.  In the top of the 7th RF-3 Bill Nicholson swishes on a Roberto Clemente flyball for a 2-base error, and Emil Kush is summoned from the pen with runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  Although he issues a walk to load the bases, the Cubs defense holds and it remains 2-0 Bucs going into the 7th inning stretch.   In the bottom of the inning, injury replacement 2B-4 Cole drops a Johnson grounder and Andy Pafko convert a 2-out SI* 1-12 split to drive in the Cubs’ first run; Cavaretta then further tests the terrible Pittsburgh defense and slaps a single past LF-4 Frank “the other” Thomas and the game is tied.  That holds to the bottom of the 9th, when Johnson leads off by driving a double past 3B-4 Gene Freese (who is apparently still a better fielder than his brother George).  Lennie Merullo singles off Hall’s card putting the winning run 90 feet away for the top of the order.  Hall gets Stan Hack to ground out, but then Pafko rips a liner into right, pinch runner Bobby Sturgeon trots home, and the reverse jinx for the Cubs continues to hold with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in which they hold the Pirates to only three hits.  

The 2017 Dodgers won 104 games and the NL pennant before losing a controversial Series to a trashcan-banging group from Houston, and as befitting a league champion they had a solid #4 starter in Yu Darvish (10-12, 3.86).  The 1987 Royals were a much less impressive 83-79 team but they had outscored their Regional #151 opposition 23 to 9 despite having lost Bo Jackson for the entire regional, and he would still be out for this matchup so it would be important for Bud Black (8-6, 3.60) to keep things close.  The Royals waste no time demonstrating their credentials, with Danny Tartabull smacking a 3-run homer in the top of the 1st for a rapid and healthy lead.  Back to back doubles by Curtis Granderson and Joc Pederson give the Dodgers a run in the bottom of the 2nd, and Darvish escapes a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 3rd to keep the Dodgers in striking distance.  In the 5th, Logan Forsythe misses Black’s 6-5 HR 1-3/DO split, the 4th time the Royals have done so in 5 innings, but Corey Seager finally makes him pay by singling in front of RF-4 Tartabull to score Forsythe, and the Royals lead is down to one.  Beginning with the 6th, both starters are on very short leashes, and it’s Black who gets pulled first after allowing a single to Yasmani Grandal, so John Davis enters the game; however, with two out Pederson doubles and the slow 1-8+2 catcher Grandal slides under the tag and the game is tied.  In the 7th, Chris Taylor draws a leadoff walk, steals second easily on C-4 Jamie Quirk, and races home on a Seager single and the Dodgers lead for the first time.  Cody Bellinger then doubles past 3B-4 Kevin Seitzer and a Justin Turner sac fly extends the LA lead, although the 1-14 Bellinger is out trying to score on a Yasiel Puig base hit.  Darvish yields a hit to George Brett in the 8th and the Dodgers summon Brock Stewart from the pen, who whiffs Steve Balboni and Frank White in succession to end that threat.  But in the 9th PH Lonnie Smith leads off with a single that LF-2 Pederson misplays, putting the tying run at the plate with nobody out.  PH Bill Pecota then singles and Smith scores easily, bringing up the top of the order with the tying run aboard and nobody out.  LA then reluctantly is forced to bring in Brandon Morrow to try to preserve the lead, and after a whiff, a walk, and another whiff Tartabull steps into the batter’s box.  However, he lofts a lazy fly and Pederson gloves it to seal the 5-4 win for the Dodgers and a visit to round five.  

The survivors:  round five

The 1963 Pirates and the 1993 Angels only won 74 and 71 games, respectively, but over four rounds of this tournament they’ve proven to have what it takes to win, and now both squads are back to the top of their rotation for round five:   Bob Friend (17-16, 2.34), who had tossed a 10-inning shutout for the Bucs in round one, and Mark Langston (16-11,3.20), who had a 3-hit shutout of his own under his belt for the Halos.  The Angels waste no time in breaking Friend’s scoreless streak, beginning the bottom of the 1st with three straight hits including a Tim Salmon RBI single, but a caught stealing and a DP prevent the inning from being worse for Pittsburgh.  A 2-out single by Rene Gonzales puts up another run for the Angels in the 2nd, but in the 6th an error by Langston helps to load the bases for Roberto Clemente; he misses a grand slam HR split, but two score on the resulting double and Jerry Lynch picks up the third runner on a sac fly and the Bucs take the lead.  A walk and a single to begin the 7th and the Angels decide that Langston is too rattled, so Mike Butcher comes in from the pen and he quickly escapes the jam when Bill Mazeroski pops into a DP on an attempted sacrifice.  However, in the 9th young Willie Stargell rips an RBI triple and Maz atones with a 2-out single that scores Pops, and Friend wraps up a new scoreless streak of seven innings as the Pirates march on to the super-regional final with the 5-2 win, their third come-from-behind win in a row.

The 1947 Cubs would need their luck to hold up in this round five matchup against the pennant-winning 2017 Dodgers, with both teams returning to the top of their rotation, with LA’s Alex Wood (16-3, 2.72) having the league’s best winning percentage while the Cubs’ Johnny  Schmitz (13-18, 3.22) led the league in losses.   Bill Nicholson leads off the top of the 2nd for the Cubs with a double, and Eddie Waitkus shoots a single in front of LA CF-3 Joc Pederson for an early Chicago lead, but in the bottom of the inning Yasmani Grandal rips an RBI single under the glove of Cubs SS-3 Lennie Merullo, and Curtis Granderson adds a sac fly that puts the Dodgers up 2-1.  Wood then survives a number of jams, but as the Dodgers are also held in check they opt for supercloser Kenley Jansen to begin the 8th in the hopes of preserving the one run lead.  And he records six straight outs, four by strikeout, to earn the save in the narrow 2-1 win that propels the Dodgers to the super-regional final.

Super-regional final

The super-regional final features the bracket favorite, 104-win 2017 Dodgers and Cy Young runner-up Clayton Kershaw (18-4, 2.31) against the 74-88 1963 Pirates, who had relied on their three Hall of Famers to get this far, while Don Cardwell (13-15, 3.07) would seek to reprise his four-hit complete game that he tossed in the second round.   The Pirates provide a quick demonstration of their mettle as Dick Schofield leads off the top of the 1st by finding Kershaw’s Achilles heel–a solid 5-5 home run that stuns the few Dodgers fans who arrived on time for the game.  However, in the bottom of the inning Cody Bellinger crushes a 2-run shot for an emphatic Dodger response and it’s game on.  The Pirates defense then crumbles in the 2nd, with errors by P-5 Cardwell, SS-3 Schofield, and 1B-2 Clendenon lead to four unearned runs, and in the 3rd Curtis Granderson gets an RBI triple on a missed HR 1-17 split and although Cardwell fans two to strand him at third, it’s still a 7-1 LA lead after three.  Jerry Lynch gets a run-scoring triple of his own in the 4th, but Donn Clendenon is promptly lost for the tournament with an injury and Lynch also gets stranded 90 feet away.  Three hits against Cardwell in the bottom of the 4th, the last an RBI double by Bellinger, and the Pirates move to the pen for Bob Veale and his 1.04 ERA, but Yasiel Puig singles in both baserunners to put the Dodgers up 10-2.  The Dodgers score on a Bellinger DP in the 6th to add to the pile, and then in the 8th Roy Face comes in to be battered with a Cory Seager RBI single followed by another 2-run homer by Bellinger.  The Pirates load the bases in the 9th with three singles for a last ditch effort, but Kershaw notches his 11th and 12th strikeouts of the game to end the beating and the Dodgers win the super-regional with a 14-2 blowout and stake their claim as a team to beat in the final round of 32.

Interesting card of Super-Regional S:  Although the 1963 Pirates fell short in the final, they did knock off five consecutive wins to get that far, and one of the reasons was timely hitting by a rookie that at age 23 was not yet being called “Pops” by his teammates.  Although he had a few appearances the prior season, 1963 was Stargell’s rookie year, and although it was probably the worst full season of his career, it deserves recognition as his first Strat card, the original of which is also presented here.  Stargell began playing organized baseball relatively late, and he was only the third best player on his high school team (behind future major leaguers Tommy Harper and Curt Motton), so he was not a particularly heralded rookie, and his early difficulties against LHP and the spacious dimensions of Forbes Field made for a slow start to his career.  He celebrated his first full season playing in Three Rivers Stadium by leading the majors with 48 homers, although he was famous for hitting tape-measure shots that would be a round-tripper anywhere–only four balls have been hit completely out of Dodger Stadium, and Stargell hit two of them.  In this tournament, the rookie Stargell had to step up after an injury to Pirates star Roberto Clemente, and he was good for one walk-off homer and five RBI in the five games leading up to the super-regional final–a pretty good showing for an unspectacular card.