SUPER-REGIONAL Z:  There were three pennant winners among the 64 squads that began this super-regional, but only one had survived to make this group of eight–a flash-in-the-pan Marlins team that went from wild card to Series champs.   However, there were some teams here that were with a season or two of their own pennants, including the Once Upon a Time in Queens Mets, the Bash Brothers A’s, and the Killer B’s Astros.  My guess was that it would be the A’s and the Mets in the final, with the A’s power prevailing over the Mets pitching; the ELO rankings selected the pennant-winning Marlins over a Cardinals team from the nineties to win what it portrayed as a fairly mediocre group of survivors.

Round four action

The 1984 Mets had most of the pieces in place that would frustrate Bill Buckner shortly thereafter, but they faced a pretty big dropoff in moving to their #4 starter, Bruce Berenyi (12-13, 4.45).   In contrast, the 1959 Orioles had begun a tradition in their new home in Baltimore of strong rotations, and Milt Pappas (15-9, 3.27) was an enviable option to have at the tail end of it, although the Orioles lacked the offensive weapons wielded by the boys from Queens.  Even so, the O’s load the bases in the top of the 1st courtesy of some walks on Berenyi’s card, but they can only convert one run on a sac fly from Gus Triandos.  The Mets cause isn’t helped any when leadoff hitter Wally Backman is knocked out of the game with an injury in the bottom of the 3rd, but his replacement Ron Gardenhire rips a ball past the infield that was holding Jose Oquendo on 1st and that ties the game in the 5th.  Mets DH Kelvin Chapman adds a 2-out RBI single in the 6th to give them the lead, and in the 7th Mookie Wilson chops a 2-out single, steals second, and scores on a Keith Hernandez hit to add to the lead. In the top of the 8th, a Gene Woodling leadoff single is followed by a double from Bob Nieman, and with the two runners in scoring position the Mets move to the pen for Doug Sisk, but Bob Boyd pokes a squib single to score one and then Mets C-3 Mike Fitzgerald can’t stop an errant Sisk pitch with two outs and the tying run crosses the plate.  However, in the bottom of the inning backup SS Rafael Santana bloops a 2-out RBI single, and then Gardenhire drives another hit that is misplayed by O’s LF-4 Bob Nieman and the Mets reassert their lead heading into the 9th.  The game is then turned over to Mets closer Jesse Orosco, and he shuts down Baltimore in order to close out the 5-3 win that sends New York to round five with the dominating top of their rotation coming up.  

The 1993 Cardinals won a solid 87 games and cruised through their regional outscoring opponents 22 to 7, and although #4 starter Rheal Cormier (7-6, 4.33) was quite hittable, their bullpen was deep despite closer Lee Smith needing rest.  The 1984 Rangers lost 92 games but had been able to overcome bad defense with decent pitching and timely hitting in their regional, and Danny Darwin (8-12, 3.94) was a pretty good option at the bottom of a rotation for a 90-loss team.  In the bottom of the 1st Larry Parrish finds Cormier’s solid 6-5 homer for a 2-run shot, and then an error by Cards 1B-4 Gregg Jeffries sets up another run on a fielder’s choice to make it 3-0 Texas after one.  Bernard Gilkey wastes no time striking back, leading off the 2nd with a triple and scoring on a Todd Zeile sac fly, and in the 6th Rangers SS-4 Curtis Wilkerson makes his second error of the game and that allows a run when PH Gerald Perry rips a single past 2B-4 Wayne Tolleson.   With the tying run now on third, the Ranger move to closer Dave Schmidt and he whiffs Mark Whiten to preserve the one-run lead.  A leadoff hit by Billy Sample and Cormier hits the showers, with Mike Perez tasked with keeping things close and he retires the side without damage.  However, in the 8th defensive replacement George Wright comes up with a clutch 2-out single that scores the speedy Sample and provides the Rangers with an insurance run; things get ugly from there as Perez loads the bases and Parrish delivers a 2-RBI single.  Les Lancaster then comes in only to walk the bases full once again, and Gary Ward delivers the grand slam; two walks later it’s backup catcher Marvis Foley with a 3-run homer and the Rangers bat around for a 10-run inning that has the Arlington crowd forgetting about the heat.  Hoping to preserve an overused Schmidt for a possible appearance in a regional final, Dickie Noles comes in to mop up and although he and the bad Ranger defense try to make it interesting by allowing a couple of runs, it’s not enough as Texas moves on with a dominating 13-4 win.

For Friday Night Strat, we recruited our Canadian representative Eaglesfly to manage perhaps the last remaining Montreal representative in the tournament, the 91-win 1987 Expos, to face me and the Bash Brothers in the 1987 A’s, whose 81-81 record was only a prelude to a couple of pennants that would follow.  We were at the dregs of the rotation and Montreal’s Floyd Youmans and the A’s Curt Young (13-7, 4.08) needed to hang on faced with depleted bullpens.  Tim Wallach’s RBI double in the bottom of the 1st provides les Expos with an early lead, and Vance Law and Hubie Brooks add run scoring hits in the 4th to extend their lead to 3-0.  Wallach adds a solo homer in the 7th and Mitch Webster adds a sac fly in the 8th, while Youmans is brilliant through 8 innings, fanning eight and holding the powerful A’s to three hits.  However, in the 9th Youmans comes back to reality, as Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach, and Mike Davis all poke run-scoring singles and the A’s put the tying run on base as Eaglesfly nervously summons Andy McGaffigan to try to get the third out before the lead crumbles entirely.  And he does the job as the Expos survive a 5-3 win and move on, while the A’s run ends at three wins as they head back into storage.

Strat enthusiast Kevin decided to make a pilgrimage to Endless Tournament Central for a shot at leading some of the remaining entries from the Astros franchise towards the final stages of the project.   For this game, he would helm the 2003 Astros, a solid 87-win team that lost their division by one game and who would go on to win the NL pennant two years later; however, in this round four game they were down to their #4 starter, an uninspiring Ron Villone (6-6, 4.13).  That left me to manage the 1997 Marlins, whose 92 wins were only slightly better than Houston but who had gone on to win the Series championship from a wild card playoff slot; they would have Al Leiter (11-9, 4.34) on the hill.  Both pitchers get off to a strong start, and Craig Biggio doesn’t break the scoreless tie until the top of the 4th with an RBI single, while the Marlins are held hitless through four.  However, they get their first hit in the bottom of the 5th when Villone loses control and walks in two runs, and when Jeff Conine adds a 2-run homer in the 6th for only the third Marlins hit, Villone is pulled for Brad Lidge.  The Marlins don’t record another hit, but the Marlins pen in the form of Robb Nen and Dennis Cook prove to be too much for the ‘stros and the pennant-winning Marlins close out the 4-1 win to survive and advance.

The survivors:  round five

It’s an altogether Orwellian round five game between the 1984 Mets and the 1984 Rangers, but the prospects look bleak for the Rangers, who lost 92 games while the Mets won 90 in the same season.  To make matters worse, the Mets would be sending out Rookie of the Year winner and Cy Young runner-up Doc Gooden (17-9, 2.60) and they would be getting Wally Backman back in the lineup after a minor injury.  The Rangers were hoping that Mike Mason (9-13, 3.61) would do better than he did in round one, when he staked the 2008 Dbacks to an 8-0 lead before getting pulled, precipitating a furious comeback for a 13-9 Texas win.  In the bottom of the 3rd, Gooden walks .182 hitter Ned Yost and then a single on his card is his first hit allowed; that seemed to rattle him because then Larry Parrish delivers a 2-out, 3-run homer and the Rangers continue an offensive display that has averaged over eight runs a game through the first four rounds.  A sac fly by Wayne Tolleson makes it 4-0 after four, and from there Mason is dominating.  He doesn’t allow anything off his card until a Rafael Santana single to lead off the 9th, but then he walks two and the bases are loaded with one out.  George Foster then hits a grounder towards the terrible Rangers up-the-middle defense, and true to form 2B-4 Tolleson drops it and one run scores, putting the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Darryl Strawberry.  The Rangers stick with their ace Mason, and he walks Strawberry and now the tying run is at second.  A glance at the Texas bullpen yields no obvious solutions, and so Mason pitches to Hubie Brooks, who pops out rolling in his prime column.  The Mets then summon an ancient icon to pinch hit for weak-hitting catcher Mike Fitzgerald:  40-year old Rusty Staub, with a chance to recapture past glories.  But it is not to be; Mason strikes him out for whiff number 7, just one shy of Gooden’s total, and the underdog Rangers earn a berth in the super-regional finals with a 4-2 win.

With Canadian partisan Eaglesfly having led the 1987 Expos through round five, he had to reprise his leadership against a world champion 1997 Marlins team, with both squads returning to the top of their rotations:  Florida’s Kevin Brown (16-8, 2.69) against Montreal and Dennis Martinez (11-4, 3.30).  It’s the tail end of the Expos order that gets them on the board first, with Casey Candaele and Herm Winningham contributing RBI knocks in the 2nd and Candaele adding an RBI double in the 3rd to make it 3-0 Montreal.  However, Marlins guest manager ColavitoFan had made a last-minute lineup replacement to insert Cliff Floyd into the order, and he responds with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 6th to tie the game.  Gary Sheffield then gives the fish the lead with a run-scoring triple in the 7th, and Martinez is pulled for Tim Burke, but that doesn’t go any better as Craig Counsel raps a bases-loaded single for two more runs in the 8th.  Meanwhile, Brown continues to work himself out of jams and he manages to close out a 6-3 win for the Marlins, and the last surviving Montreal squad goes down to eliminate their shot at the tournament title.

Super-regional finals

The super-regional final matches the World Series champion 1997 Marlins against an unlikely 92-loss 1984 Rangers team that had slugged their way past more highly rated opposition through their first five games; both starters were decent with Frank Tanana (15-15, 3.25) on the hill for the Rangers and Alex Fernandez (17-12, 3.59) getting the assignment for Florida.  The upstart Texans jump to a quick lead on an RBI single from Pete O’Brien in the top of the 1st, but then a series of misfortunes strikes.  First, the top of the 3rd inning ends with consecutive injuries to Buddy Bell and Larry Parrish, depriving the Rangers of two of their best hitters.  Then, in the bottom of the 3rd Tanana, who is cruising, is also injured, and closer Dave Schmidt comes in to immediately allow a single and then a two run homer to Charles Johnson and Florida leads with Texas having few weapons to work with.  They finally squeeze a few hits off Fernandez in the 8th, and Alan Bannister manages a squib single that ties the game, but Livan Hernandez comes in to shut things down and the game heads to extra innings.  Jay Powell enters the game in the 10th for the Marlins and he shackles the depleted Ranger offense, and in the bottom of the 11th Gary Sheffield converts a TR 1-3 against Dave Tobik that provides the walk-off RBI as the pennant-winning Marlins add a super-regional title to their list of accomplishments, moving on as one of the last 32 teams left standing.

Interesting card of Regional Z:  The 1997 Marlins were an interesting team, winning this super-regional and also the World Series, despite finishing under .500 in 1996 and losing 108 games in 1998.  This one-hit wonder achieved their moment with a collection of good ballplayers who I tend to associate with other teams, guys like Kevin Brown, Alex Fernandez, Moises Alou, Edgar Renteria, and the infamous Bobby Bonilla, whose salary was largely paid by the Mets.  There wasn’t much in the way of homegrown talent on this team, but one player who made a splash debut with the Marlins was this guy.  Livan Hernandez (not to be confused, like I do, with his half-brother El Duque) was a phenom in Castro-era Cuba, leading Cuba to the 1992 and 1993 World Junior Championships and having a dominant performance in the 1994 Baseball World Cup.  However, he defected through Mexico to the US in 1995 at the (alleged) age of 20, and given his background he was a perfect fit with the Marlins given Miami’s large Cuban community.  After one appearance in late 1996, he was brought up to the majors for good in mid-June 1997, and he made the most of it, being runner-up to Scott Rolen for NL Rookie of the Year.  However, it was in the post-season where he really made his mark, winning the MVP award for both the NLCS and the World Series, only the fourth time that had been done.  For his career, he had only appeared in 18 major league games when he started Game 1 of the 1997 Series, still the record for the fewest of any Game 1 starter in the World Series.

SUPER-REGIONAL Y:  There were three pennant winners that began this group of 64 teams, and two of them clashed in round two; however, only the third such team, the Cubs that finally broke the curse of the billy goat, made it to the super-regional level.  There were actually two Cubs teams represented here, which probably spelled doom for my White Sox given their jinx; I suspected that the 2016 champion Cubs would take this group, probably in an all-Cubs final just to taunt me.  The ELO ratings also pointed to those Cubs as the favorite, picked to defeat a middling Marlins team in round six, although the 2012 Cards were tapped as actually the second best team in the bracket, giving the Cubs a potentially dangerous rival in round five.

Round four action

The 1995 Cubs went a mediocre 73-71 but they had pulled off three straight wins in Regional #195 despite losing SS Shawon Dunston for perhaps the entire tournament; although #4 starter Kevin Foster (12-11, 4.51) had some trouble keeping the ball in the park, he had a fully rested bullpen behind him.  The 2005 Marlins had a similar performance at 83-79, and after three good starters at the top of their rotation they were now left with Brian Moehler (6-12, 4.55), whose card was littered with copious amounts of hits–but after three complete games their bullpen was also locked and loaded.  So, on paper it looked like a race to see who could knock out whose starter first.  The Marlins get a good start on that competition as Juan Encarnacion finds Foster’s solid HR result for a 3-run shot in the bottom of the 1st, but the Cubs get one back in the top of the 3rd when a 2-out Sammy Sosa triple is followed by a squib single past Marlins SS-2 Alex Gonzalez.  They add another with back to back doubles from Todd Zeile and Rey Sanchez in the 4th, and then a 2-run homer by injury replacement extraordinaire Todd Haney gives the Cubs the lead.  A 2-out solo shot from Luis Gonzalez makes it 5-3 Cubs, and come the 6th inning both teams head for the bullpen, with the Marlins bringing in Ron Villone and the Cubs going with Larry Casian.  They hold serve, and in the 8th both squads opt for their closers, Todd Jones for Florida and Randy Myers for the Cubs.  Myers makes it exciting as the Marlins get two runners on in the bottom of the 9th to set up a possible walk off homer, but the Cubs closer records the last out to earn the save in the 5-3 victory.  

It’s a Friday Night Strat grudge match between ColavitoFan’s 1989 Indians, regional winners despite a 73-89 record, and my 2019 White Sox, one of two Sox teams to still survive the Sox jinx despite a nearly identical 72-89 mark.  The Tribe had a pretty solid #4 starter in Bud Black (12-11, 3.36) while the Sox had no options and had to go with Dylan Cease (4-7, 5.79), who would develop into a decent pitcher, but not in 2019.   The Sox stake him to a quick lead in the bottom of the 1st as they keep pounding Black’s 6-5 split result, providing RBI singles for Jose Abreu, James McCann and Adam Engel, and Cease settles in to pitch some decent innings.  A solo homer for Brook Jacoby in the 6th narrows the Sox lead to 3-1, and a leadoff walk in the 7th and it’s time to desist with Cease.  In comes Evan Marshall to throw fuel on the fire, loading the bases with a single and a walk, and I have seen enough and will burn Aaron Bummer to try to stop the rally.  PH Dave Clark can’t get his Five, but he does get one with a sac fly, although it’s a Bummer for Indians fans as they can’t push across a tying run.  Bummer is perfect in the 8th, and for the 9th Alex Colome comes in to wrap things up and the Sox escape with the 3-2 win, setting up a round five matchup with their bitter rivals, the Cubs.

The  2012 Cardinals were an 88-win wild card team that came within a game of a pennant, and they also demonstrated their perseverance in winning some tight games in Regional #199; they had a variety of okay options for a number four starter, going with Joe Kelly (5-7, 3.53) against their cross-state rival, the 2011 Royals.  Befitting a 91-loss team, the Royals did not have great options at the bottom of the rotation and they hoped that Jeff Francis (6-16, 4.82) could deliver a competitive game to a fully rested bullpen.  It quickly becomes apparent that isn’t going to happen in the top of the 1st, as an RBI double by Allen Craig followed by 2-run homers from Yadier Molina and David Freese sends Francis to the showers before he can finish an inning.  The Royals try to begin a comeback in the bottom of the 2nd with a Mike Moustakas solo homer, but Freese responds with a sac fly in the top of the 3rd that makes it 6-1 Cards.  Eric Hosmer narrows the gap by a run with an RBI single in the 6th, but a solo shot from Carlos Beltran provides additional insurance for St. Louis in the 8th.  Jeff Francouer leads off the 8th with a homer for the Royals, but Matt Holliday provides the Cards with a 2-out 2-run double in the top of the 9th and Kelly wraps up the complete game 9-3 as St. Louis ends the unlikely run for the Royals and marches on to round five. 

For the Zoom game of the week, the Philly Phan known as the Tall Tactician would be at the helm of the 1965 Phillies, who won their regional to atone for their epic collapse in the preceding season.  However, they faced a formidable obstacle in the 2016 Cubs, who had broken the curse of the billy goat to become Series champions, and brother Chuck would attempt to continue his string of successes with Cubs teams in this tournament.  For the Phils, it would be Bo Belinksy (4-9, 4.84), who seemed to have more success with the ladies than with the curveball; the Cubs had a #4 starter in John Lackey (11-8, 3.35) who was as good as many teams’ number one.  However, the Cubs did have to contend with ongoing injuries to Javier Baez and Albert Amora, which put a few holes in their defense, but in this game it seemed that it was the “1” fielders for the Cubs who kept dropping the ball, one of which helped set up Bobby Wine for the first RBI of the game in the top of the 2nd.  However, the Phils could only watch in horror as Belinsky issues three walks in the bottom of the 3rd, and then Anthony Rizzo goes yard for the grand slam and it’s quickly 4-1 Cubs.  A 2-run single by Dexter Fowler in the 4th extends their lead, and a Kris Bryant sac fly in the 6th makes it look hopeless.  However, in the 8th the Phils show signs of the perseverance that got them this fair, with Richie/Dick Allen and Wes Covington driving in runs to make it 7-3.  A leadoff triple by Cookie Rojas in the top of the 9th and Chuck is starting to get nervous about Lackey, and Tony Gonzalez knocks a sac fly to put the Phils within three.  However, they would get no closer as Lackey lets the bullpen rest in a 7-4 Cubs victory that propels them on to round five.

The survivors: round five

The 2016 Cubs and Kyle Hendricks (16-8, 2.13) would face a stiff challenge in round five in the form of the 2012 Cardinals, with Kyle Lohse (16-3, 2.86) seeking to be the top Kyle in the bracket.  Even so, it didn’t take long for the Cubs to get things rolling, as Dexter Fowler leads off the top of the 1st with a homer and Willson Contreras adds an RBI double later in the inning; Anthony Rizzo adds a sac fly in the 2nd and the Cubs lead 3-0.  A solo homer from Allen Craig in the bottom of the 2nd narrows the gap a bit, but the Cubs explode against Lohse in the 4th as he can’t get an out; Matt Szczur buys a vowel in the form of a bases-clearing double as part of a five run inning and the Cards begin a parade of relievers to no avail.  The Cubs aren’t even done with the five run innings, either, adding another one in the 7th with injury replacement Javier Baez ripping a 3-run homer as the rout is on.  St. Louis makes a token rally in the 8th with RBI singles from Jon Jay and PH Pete Kozma, but the game is well out of hand by this point as Hendricks coasts to a 15-3 victory to propel the Cubs to the super-regional final.

In this round five grudge match, it’s the 2019 White Sox against the 1995 Cubs, so I have to recruit brother Chuck to manage the hated Cubs while I try to avoid the Sox jinx.  And sure enough, the gaming begins badly as the Sox started off getting crushed, but as the game progresses my scan of the historical documents reveals an anomaly–I’ve identified the round four starters for each team (i.e., the bottom of the rotation) instead of the staff aces at the top.  In consulting, we agree that it is unfair to both the eventual loser and winner of this game to skip the top rotation slot, and so it’s a do-over, with the Sox getting the far-better Lucas Giolito (14-9, 3.41) and the Cubs going with their ace, Jaime Navarro (14-6, 3.28).   And things go quite differently this time around, with Giolito being dominant in the early going.  Brian McCann continues his hot hand in this tournament with multiple teams, swatting a solo homer in the 2nd to put the Sox ahead, and then the Sox pile on the hits against Navarro in the top of the 5th, converting five singles into three runs and a 4-0 lead.  McCann adds another solo homer in the top of the 9th, and Giolito goes into the bottom of the 9th with a 2-hit shutout, but he’s losing his stuff and allows a couple of hits including a Rey Sanchez RBI single that gets the Cubs on the board.  Nonetheless, Giolito hangs on and the White Sox win the do-over 5-1; the Cubs file a protest with the tournament commissioner but since that’s me, that doesn’t go very far.  However, a much better Cubs team awaits the Sox in the super-regional final eager to make amends.

Super-regional finals

With the 2019 White Sox having defeated a Cubs team under suspicious circumstances in round five, the North Siders were itching for revenge with the Series champion 2016 Cubs ready to teach their younger siblings a lesson, with Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44) looking far better than the Sox’ Ivan Nova (11-12, 4.72).  Once again brother Chuck will roll the bones on behalf of the Cubs, but it’s me that starts off the top of the first hot, with a leadoff single followed by a double from a missed HR split on Tim Anderson.  With a 1-15 Leurys Garcia itching to head for home on the play, the peanut gallery opines that my split rolling would result in a sure cut-down at the plate, and they convince me to hold Garcia at 3rd; of course, Lester then strikes out the next two batters and a popout means the rally results in nothing.  The Sox do load the bases in the top of the 3rd, but all they can manage is a sac fly by Eloy Jimenez, good for a 1-0 lead, but a Brian McCann solo shot in the 6th and the Sox are up by two.  Even though Ivan Nova is giving up fewer hits than Aldo Nova had hits, his solid 6-5 homer is making me anxious and I move to closer Alex Colome to begin the bottom of the 6th, even though the peanut gallery point out that Colome still has a homer at 5-5, but only a 1-11 split.  Of course, the first roll of the inning by Chuck:  5-5.  He misses the split, making me feel a little better, but the second roll of the inning: 5-5 by Kris Bryant, and Chuck doesn’t miss the split this time.   The third roll of the inning is finally not a 5-5; it’s a 2-5, a solid homer on Anthony Rizzo, and the freaking Cubs have the lead; Colome exits for Aaron Bummer, but Dexter Fowler adds an RBI single and the Cubs lead 4-2 after six.  Lester is then in command, and with two out in the top of the 9th I turn in desperation to PH Wellington Castillo and point out that a 1-4 roll would make it a one run game.  A cooperative Wellington brings the beef with a 1-4, and now it’s Chuck’s turn to get nervous, so he summons the virtually unhittable Aroldis Chapman from the pen, and down go the Sox as the 2016 Cubs not only quash the curse of the billy goat, but they win the super-regional to gain the final field of 32–one of the few Series winners to do so.

Interesting card of Super-Regional Y:  Despite a lifetime as a Sox fan who has no time for the North Siders, I have to give it to the 2016 Cubs as they managed to not only break a 107 year streak by finally winning a World Series, but they also managed to win a super-regional in this tournament, reeling off six straight wins culminating in a victory over my Sox to send them to the final group of 32 teams left alive in this project.  Furthermore, their starting pitching was good enough that they only had to dip into their bullpen twice in that streak, both times resulting in a save for their closer Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman is currently in the 16th year of his career in 2025, and he made the All-Star team at age 37, which is a nice callback to the years when he was the dominant closer in baseball.  Leading up to the 2016 season partially represented on this card, he had been on a strong run for the Reds, but an offseason domestic violence charge coupled with the last year of his contract made him a target to move.  He was thus traded to the Yankees, and although the charges against him were not pursued by authorities, MLB suspended him for 30 games and he began his season in mid-May.  Although pitching well in New York, their bullpen was well stocked and so they dealt him to the Cubs in late July, where he joined the team just in time to finish out a game against none other than the cross town White Sox.  As evidenced by this card, he was pretty unhittable for the Cubs, and was strong in the postseason, at least until Game 7 of the World Series, where he blew the save and allowed the Indians to tie the game in the 9th.  However, that accomplishment actually set him up to be the first Cubs pitcher to earn the win in the final Series game in 108 years, when Chicago scored twice to take the lead for good in the 10th.