SUPER-REGIONAL W:  This group of regional winners had a collection of franchises that had relatively few survivors at this level, such as the Browns, Mariners, and Royals; it also had two entries from the Blue Jays who would face off immediately for bragging rights in round four, a classic Red Sox team that unfortunately had lost one of the best cards in Strat history to injury in the first round of the tournament, and a very good Astros team that had just fallen short of a pennant in the playoffs.  That Astros team seemed like a likely candidate to capture the crown in this super-regional, with the teams in the bottom portion of the bracket looking like a crapshoot to me–I thought perhaps the Mariners might make the final.  The ELO ratings agreed with that assessment, with none of the bottom four rated as strong teams.

Round four action

For this round four matchup between the 1998 Astros and the 1941 Red Sox, Strat enthusiast Kevin traveled to Endless Tournament Central to helm his 102-win Astros against a Boston team that had lost .400-hitting Ted Williams to injury in the very first round of the tournament.  Still, these Red Sox, who finished 2nd in the AL, still boasted other Hall of Famers like Jimmie Foxx and Joe Cronin, although #4 starter Joe Dobson (12-5, 4.49) was at a disadvantage against Kevin’s Mike Hampton (11-7, 3.36).  The Red Sox grab the lead in the bottom of the 3rd courtesy of an RBI single from Dom Dimaggio, while Moises Alou singles in a run in the 5th to tie the game although the Astros leave the bases loaded.  Nonetheless, it’s killer bee time in the top of the 7th with Bagwell and Biggio driving in runs for a 3-1 Houston lead and Dobson heads to the showers.  However, with their best reliever burnt from their regional final, the Red Sox have to try their luck with another Hall of Famer, 41 year old Lefty Grove, but he is a shadow of his former self as Alou and Derek Bell drive in two more; Billy Wagner pitches the 8th and the 9th and the Astros head to round five with the 5-1 win, and the Splendid Splinter heads back to the card catalogs with almost no chance to show his stuff in this project.

For the round four matchup between the 86-win 1990 Blue Jays and the 76-win 2017 Blue Jays, we had to give Toronto denizen Eaglesfly the choice of which team to manage, and he went with the earlier version to avoid Vlad Jr., who wasn’t even on the team yet in 2017.  So brother Chuck was responsible for the underdog 2017s, with homer-prone Marcus Estrada (10-9, 4.98) getting the call against 1990’s Jimmy Key (13-7, 4.25) testing the bottom of the rotation for both squads.  Furthermore, both teams had their starting catchers injured with 2017’s backup also hurt, so backstops were at a premium, but fittingly it was 90’s catcher Greg Myers who connects with Estrada’s solid HR result for a solo shot in the top of the 3rd to give the elders the early lead.  In the 4th, it was Kelly Gruber’s turn, a solo shot on his own card, and that 2-0 lead only lasts until the bottom of the inning, when Key can’t lock down the 17s who rap out four runs, three of them on a bases-loaded double from Jose Bautista.  Tony Fernandez responds with an RBI single in the top of the 5th but he’s thrown out stealing, contributing to an 0 for 3 rate on SB attempts for the 1990 team courtesy of my terrible split dice rolling.  It remains a one-run game until the bottom of the 7th, when supersub outfielder Teoscar Hernandez converts Keys’ HR result for a 2 run shot, and Eaglesfly summons Jim Acker bemoaning that he left in Key for one batter too long.  However, in the top of the 9th it’s Chuck who gets that feeling, as the redoubtable PH Glenallen Hill locates Estrada’s solid 5-homer for a 2-run shot and it’s a one-run game with nobody out.  At that point, Chuck has to burn closer Pablo Osuna, but it proves worthwhile as he strikes out the side and the 2017 Jays hold on for the contested 6-5 win over their earlier counterparts.

The 94-loss 1997 Royals were another one of those teams that seemed to have no business participating in a super-regional, but that didn’t stop brother Chuck from volunteering to roll on their behalf against me and the 88-win 2007 Mariners.  Although the Royals’ Tim Belcher (13-12, 5.02) did little to instill confidence, he was still better than the only remaining option for the Mariners, a terrible Jeff Weaver (7-13, 6.44) who had one of the worst pitching cards to start in this project.  Sure enough, the Royals get a run in the top of the 1st with a Chili Davis RBI single, but they leave the bases loaded, and then Weaver gets a scoreless inning in the 2nd and things are looking a little better.  That is, at least until the 3rd, when Jeff King rips a 2-run triple past a fumbling RF-4 Jose Guillen, and then a solo homer by Jose Offerman in the 4th later followed with a 2-run homer from Jay Bell and then a decent Mariners bullpen can finally take over to try to dig out of a 6-0 deficit.  They make a good start at it in the bottom of the 5th with Ichiro and Guillen each driving in two to make it a two-run game after five.  King ups his RBI total with a solo shot in the 7th, and although the M’s load the bases in the bottom of the 8th to threaten, they can only produce one run on a Guillen sac fly; Dave Veres comes in from the pen to earn the save in a 7-5 win that keeps the Royals run alive.

This game involved an increasingly rare matchup of two old-school die-cut teams,those being the mediocre 80-82 1973 Yankees and the Cinderella 1950 Browns that had somehow won their regional despite a dismal 58-96 record.  However, it was hard to envision any glass slippers for the Browns with two of their best players injured during the regional, and some ghastly options for a #4 starter with Dick Starr (7-5, 5.02) perhaps the least bad.  Meanwhile, the Yankees had already gotten through the wife-swapping portion of their rotation, and they figured that Pat Dobson (9-8, 4.24) might be able to handle the Browns and keep swingman Lindy McDaniel available for relief work.  That decision is called into question when the second batter of the game, Dick Kokos, rolls Dobson’s solid HR result for a quick 1-0 Browns lead.  The Yanks don’t get a hit off Starr until Bobby Murcer’s single in the 4th, but although a couple of walks load the bases they come away empty.  With the offense not generating any scores, the Yanks move to McDaniel to begin the 6th even though Dobson has only allowed the one hit; NY threatens again with the bases loaded in the 6th but once again #9 hitter Gene Michael can’t bring anyone home.  And Starr continues to pitch over his head, shutting down PH Jim Hart for the final out of a 2-hit shutout and the Browns somehow manage to move on despite notching only three hits themselves.  

The survivors:  round five

After having his ‘90 Jays downed by Chuck and the 2017 Blue Jays, Eaglesfly abandoned the Jays and decided to let Chuck test his luck against the formidable 1998 Astros.  With pinch-roller Kevin out of the country, it would fall to me to direct the Killer B’s in their round five matchup, with ace Jose Lima (16-8, 3.70) going against the Jays’ Marcus Strohman (13-9, 3.09) in a good pitching matchup.  And both keep the game scoreless until the top of the 4th, when Jeff Bagwell scores from first on a Carl Everett double for a 1-0 lead.  But Toronto storms back in the 6th when 3rd string catcher Luke Maile, in because Russell Martin managed to get his second three-game injury in five tournament games, drives in a run on a single and he scores on a Teoscar Hernandez double to make it 2-1 Jays.  However, a critical error in the 7th by Toronto 3B-2 Josh Donaldson helps to set up a two run double by Bill Spiers, and then PH Sean Berry adds a sac fly and Craig Biggio contributes a 2-out RBI single and the Astros lead 5-2 after 7.  A leadoff double in the 8th chases Lima, and with Billy Wagner burnt Houston goes to Scott Elarton, who is the beneficiary of some insurance in the 9th courtesy of a Spiers RBI single.   The Jays get two on in the bottom of the 9th and Donaldson comes to the plate with a chance to make it a one run game, but he misses the 3-4 homer with a 3-3 roll and the Astros walk away with the 6-2 win, and a chance at a berth in the final field of 32.  

One would not have expected the 94-loss 1997 Royals and the 98-loss 1950 Browns to have been two of the 128 teams able to knock off four straight opponents in this tournament, but here they were; Chuck would try to replicate his previous success with the Royals with their ace Kevin Appier (9-13, 3.40) on the hill, while I would lead one of the only two Browns teams to win their regional, with top starter Ned Garver (13-18, 3.39) getting the assignment–with this Browns squad short two starters due to injuries.  The game began a lot like the Royals’ round four game, with Johnny Damon leading off with a triple and Chili Davis knocking him in with a single.  However, in the bottom of the 4th Les Moss ties the game with a solo homer, making him the top home run hitter named Les in this project; nonetheless, KC regains the lead as Jay Bell raps an RBI single past 2B-4 Owen Friend in the 5th.  Chuck inserts a slew of defensive replacements in the 6th to shore up a shaky Royals defense, but Appier hits a rough patch as a Moss double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd, and PH Bill Sommers cracks a single that scores two when the 1-10+2 Moss hoofs it home to give the Browns their first lead.  From there the Royals are Garvered, as they can only muster one hit in the final four innings and even though a St. Louis insurance run is cut down at the plate with a 1-14 chance, the insurance isn’t needed as the lowly Browns survive and advance to the super-regional final with a 3-2 win.

Super-regional finals

It was another David v. Goliath matchup for the super-regional final, although the slingshot has often proved to be a successful weapon in so many games in this tournament.  This time it was the 102-win 1998 Astros against the 58 win 1950 Browns, and to make matters even more lopsided, the Browns still had their best hitter, Don Lenhardt, on the DL, and they had a Houston problem with Randy Johnson (19-11, 3.28) on the mound against the Brown’s less impressive Al Widmar (7-15, 4.76).  However, Widmar keeps pace and the game begins as a pitching duel with only three hits between the two teams through four scoreless innings, but in the top of the 5th Bill Spiers continues his strong tournament performance with a triple, and Brad Ausmus lofts a sac fly for a 1-0 lead that looks like it might hold up the way that the Big Unit is delivering.  Jeff Bagwell then adds a solo shot in the 6th, and two more tallies for the Killer B’s are recorded in the 7th from Derek Bell and Bagwell which is more than enough for Johnson against the undermanned Browns.  The Unit finishes with a 3-hit shutout, fanning 11 and leading the Astros into the final field of 32 for the tournament, while the Browns head back to the card catalogs but should take pride in reeling off five straight wins against supposedly superior opponents.

Interesting card of Super-Regional W:   With a strong rotation, the super-regional winning 1998 Astros may not have needed much help from the bullpen, but that pen included a closer that was one of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, Billy Wagner.  This card nicely captures my recollection of his characteristics as a closer–ungodly strikeout numbers, an uncomfortable number of walks, and the hint of disaster lurking in the form of that 5-10 result.  Wagner describes this 1998 season as a turning point for him, when he was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Kelly Stinnett around the All Star break.  Wagner was able to return after a three week stint on the DL, which he said changed his perspective on pitching; after his return he described pitching more calmly and with greater control, and he had a career year the following season with a 1.57 ERA to finish fourth in the Cy Young award.  In this tournament he has racked up two saves in five and two-thirds scoreless innings, helping his Astros reel off six straight wins to become one of the final 32 teams surviving from the original 2,060 that began the project.