SUPER-REGIONAL CC:   From this group of 64 teams, the lone pennant-winner from the four that began the tournament was the 2015 Mets, and they would have a difficult road in front of them to continue past this super-regional.  Some big names stood in their way, such as Clemente, Jeter and ARod, McGwire, Juan Soto, and a dominating Nationals rotation.  Given the struggles of the Jeter-era Yankees in this tournament, I figured the Mets would get past them into the finals, where I guessed that they would meet a tough Nationals pitcher of some sort, and my hunch was that the Nats would prevail.  The ELO ranking for the Mets wasn’t particularly good, and they indicated that the Yankees would beat them as well as the Nats in round six to move on.  However, my skepticism about the Yanks of that era continues and I’d be comfortable gambling that it would not be them.

Round four action

For a Friday Night Strat matchup, noted Tribe partisan ColavitoFan would manage the unlikely regional winner 2010 Indians with their 93 losses against brother Chuck and the 2006 Yankees, who won 97 games and the AL East.  The Yanks had suffered some dings during their regional run, and although Hideki Matsui was now back from injury, Johnny Damon would be on the DL for the foreseeable future.  At the end of their rotation the Yanks had Jaret Wright (11-7, 4.49) although a fully rested Mariano Rivera was ready to step in if needed; meanwhile, the Indians had to go with Jake Westbrook (6-7, 4.65), and things went south for him quickly with a 2-run homer from Alex Rodriguez in the top of the 3rd.  The beatings continue in the 4th, and a two-run double for Jason Giambi and a Robinson Cano RBI single chases Westbrook for Carlos Carrasco.  Unfortunately that doesn’t slow down the Yanks, as ARod adds another 2-run homer in the 6th and then after a 7-run 8th the remaining Cleveland fans stream for the exits.  However, what does seem work against the Yanks is the injury bug, as Matsui is injured once again, this time probably for the duration of the tournament, and in the 8th it’s Wright who lands wrong, injured for seven games and forcing the Yanks to dip into their pen.  That provides an opportunity for Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner to drive in a couple of token runs in the 8th, and Chuck resorts to bunting with everyone in the 9th to avoid further injuries as the Yanks can coast to a 15-2 win but they’ll be seriously shorthanded in the outfield as they move forward.

The 2015 Mets won 90 games and managed to pull off two upsets in the playoffs to win the National League pennant before falling four games to one in the World Series.  They had survived their regional but lost catcher Travis D’Arnaud for several games to injury, and they faced a big dropoff in moving to their #4 starter Jon Niese (9-10, 4.13).  Their opponents in round four were the 82-80 2023 Padres and spot starter Nick Martinez (6-4, 3.43); the Padres had dramatically underperformed their Pythagorean win total of 92 and had demonstrated their potential with a strong run through their regional.  And they take no time in asserting themselves here, with a 2-run homer by Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the 1st giving them a quick lead and then another 2-run shot by Fernando Tatis Jr. in the 2nd extending that margin.  An RBI single from Curtis Granderson in the 3rd gets the Mets on the board, but Sanchez retaliates with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning and San Diego leads 5-1 after three.  Tatis adds a run-scoring triple in the 5th, and other than a long solo homer by the formidable Yoenis Cespedes in the 6th, the Mets have no answers to Martinez, who closes out a 5-hitter and the Padres move on with a workmanlike 6-2 win.

One more Friday Night Strat matchup sees Tall Tactician in charge of the 2017 Nationals, who won the NL East with 97 wins and blew through their regional on the strength of three very good starting pitchers.  Unfortunately, #4 in the rotation, Tanner Roark (13-11, 4.67) is nowhere near in the same class as those three, providing a bit of an equalizer against the 73-win 1997 Cardinals and Todd Stottlemyre (12-9, 3.88) with EaglesFly in the manager’s seat and brother Chuck rolling the dice.  The Nats begin the top of the 1st with a leadoff triple by Trea Turner, but Stottlemyre fans three in a row to strand him; however, Todd gets rapped for back-to-back solo homers from Adam Lind and Howie Kendrick in the 2nd and Washington takes the lead.  That lead is cut in half by a solo blast from Ray Lankford in the 3rd, and Lankford repeats the performance in the 6th and it’s a tie ballgame since Stottlemyre hasn’t allowed another hit since the Kendrick blast in the 2nd.  TT relieves the erratic Roark in the 6th with Matt Albers; he does the job but he’s already taxed from heavy use in the regional and closer Sean Doolittle comes in to begin the 8th charged with keeping the Cards at bay.  But a single, a Mark McGwire walk, and a grounder put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out and John Mabry steps to the plate; he finds a clean single on Doolittle’card, one run is in, McGwire lumbers in to make it two, and that was all Stottlemyre needs as he finishes out a nifty 4-hitter and the Cards pull off the 4-2 upset to stay alive for another round, sending the last surviving representative of the Expos/Nationals franchise back to the card catalogs.

Another Friday Night Strat matchup pits ColavitoFan and the 90-win 1965 Pirates against brother Chuck and the 93-loss 2011 Orioles, one of those teams that made one wonder how they got this far.  The pitching matchup at the bottom of the rotation was as lopsided as might be expected, with the Pirates Bob Friend (8-12, 3.24) a quality option as compared to the O’s Alfredo Simon (4-9, 4.94) wielding a card with numerous extra-base landmines.  The Bucs find some of those quickly, with Donn Clendenon driving in Willie Stargell with a triple in the bottom of the 1st; Stargell then adds an RBI triple of his own in the 3rd and he scores to push the lead to 3-0 for Pittsburgh after three.  A JJ Hardy solo homer in the 4th gets Baltimore into the game, but another Stargell triple in the 5th and a Jim Pagliaroni sac fly and it’s 5-1 Pirates.   Matt Wieters pokes a solo shot in the 7th to narrow the lead, and a leadoff double in the top of the 8th and ColavitoFan heads to the bullpen for Don Schwall, who gets one out before surrendering a two-run homer to Hardy and suddenly it’s a one run game.  Having seen enough of Schwall, the Pirates move to their closer Al McBean, and all hell breaks loose.  Before he’s done with the inning, McBean stocks the bases for a 3-run homer from Wieters to give the O’s the lead, and then McBean yields another three run shot to Adam Jones in the 9th before he’s sent to cold storage in favor of young Wilbur Wood.  But by this time it’s far too late as Baltimore scores nine runs in the final two innings to provide reliever Jim Johnson with the 11-5 comeback win and the O’s unlikely run continues.

The survivors:  round five

The story of this round five matchup promised to be the offensive might of the 2006 Yankees, who had put up 15 runs in their previous game, against Cy Young winner Blake Snell (14-9, 2.25) and the 2023 Padres; Mike Mussina (15-7, 3.51) would be going for the AL East-winning Yanks.  The Padres give Snell a lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI double from Xander Bogaerts, and although Derek Jeter ties it in the top of the 3rd with a run scoring single, in the bottom of the inning Gary Sanchez picks up where he left off in round four with a 3-run homer.  In the 4th, it’s Juan Soto’s turn for a 3-run blast and Mussina is gone for Mariano Rivera, but not even the HOF closer can stem the tide as a bases loaded triple by Fernando Tatis Jr. in the 6th, and Soto and Manny Machado add RBI pokes to the total and the Yankees start packing for the long flight back to New York.  Snell coasts with the big lead, and the Padres cruise to a 12-1 rout to earn a berth in the super-regional finals.  

Somehow two mediocrities had won four in a row to survive for this round five matchup, and although he had rolled the dice for both of these teams in the previous round, brother Chuck was put in charge of the 1997 Cardinals.  The 89-loss Cards were slight favorites over a 93-loss 2011 Orioles team that had to face Andy Benes (10-7, 3.10) with the MLB loss leader, Jeremy Guthrie (9-17, 4.43).  Although Guthrie starts the game off in trouble repeatedly, he shows a knack for getting out of jams, but when he loads the bases in the top of the 5th with nobody out, a sac fly by Gary Gaetti puts a number on the scoreboard for a St. Louis lead.  Guthrie gives way to reliever Troy Patton in the 6th, and he does the job until pinch hitter Micah Franklin crushes a solo homer in the top of the 9th to give Benes some insurance, but it’s not really needed as Benes finishes out a 2-0 shutout, fanning nine while allowing seven hits–two of them involving me converting a SI* 1-2 split.  Alas, that seemed to be the extent of my dice-rolling luck and the clock strikes midnight on the O’s Cinderella run.

Super-regional final

The super-regional final paired two unheralded teams, the 2023 Padres and the 1997 Cardinals, with the second of two Benes brothers going for the Cards in the form of Alan Benes (9-9, 2.89) against Michael Wacha (14-4, 3.22) for San Diego.  The Padres start the scoring in the top of the 3rd with a solo homer by Jake Cronenworth, and in the 6th a two-run single by Juan Soto gives them a 3-0 lead, with Wacha in control.  However, in the bottom of the 7th an error by Soto sets up a pinch-hit RBI single by low-AB wonder Micah Franklin, and in the 8th a Ron Gant double makes it a one-run game heading into the 9th.  TJ Mathews gets the assignment to try to keep the game close for the Cards, but that doesn’t go according to plan as Cronenworth and Trent Grisham tag him for two more runs, while Padre closer Josh Hader and his 1.28 ERA come in to slam the door on the Cards and secure the 5-2 victory for the Padres.  The super-regional win sends the Pads into the final field of 32 for the tournament, a feat that supports the contention that the 92 Pythagorean wins for this team are more representative of their potential than the 82 wins that they actually achieved under manager Bob Melvin.

Interesting card of Super-Regional CC:  The 1997 Cardinals reached the sixth round of this tournament before falling in the super-regional final.  They had powered through Regional #230 on the bat of Mark McGwire, who had been traded to the Cards at the end of July and had hit 24 homers in just 174 ABs to produce a monster card that was featured in that regional write-up.  However, McGwire’s went suddenly silent in the super-regional, and they only reached the final courtesy largely because of this guy, a low-AB wonder who accordingly was only allowed to enter any game after five innings had been completed.  So, getting one or two at-bats as a replacement DH, Franklin stepped up and powered the 89-loss Cardinals to a shot at the final field of 32, a shot that fell just short.  Although not quite McGwire-caliber, Franklin’s card is one that anybody would be happy to send up as a pinch-hitter with the game on the line.  Thing is, this is not just Franklin’s career year–it is his entire career!  That is correct; his entire career consisted of these 34 at-bats; he never made an appearance in the majors before this season, and never made another.  Franklin was 25 years old in this 1997 season, and I am baffled as to why no other team was willing to take a flyer on him, particularly in the AL where he seemed well suited to DH.  I mean, in 1998 the Rays and the Tigers managed to lose 97+ games with DHs that both had seasons producing a negative WAR–if I was their GM, I would have been on the phone to try to get Franklin for the MLB minimum, how could it have gone worse?  But sadly he never got that shot, later spending some time playing in Japan and Korea before retiring to some coaching assignments in the minors.  I still have my old-school Hall of Fame series cards in Basic with the best season on one side and the card for the player’s career stats on the other; it may be some consolation for Franklin to know that his career stats SOM card–in other words, this one–ranks up there with the best of those HOFers.