Introducing the FINAL FOUR:  Sectional II winner

The 2011 Phillies won their fifth consecutive National League East championship, and also finished with the best record in baseball for the second straight year. However, they were eliminated in the NLDS by the eventual World Series winning Cardinals, and the loss ended a dynasty and began the longest active postseason drought in the NL at the time. One of the major preseason moves made by the Phils was to re-sign Cliff Lee, whom they had traded to the Mariners the previous season in order to acquire Roy Halladay.  With the addition of Lee to a rotation of Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt, some have called this the best rotation of all time, boasting three of the top five vote-getters for the Cy Young award; furthermore, three of them were in the top 10 in career winning-percentage, and the fourth was an NLCS and World Series MVP.  The most successful of an era of Phillies teams that all progressed far in the tournament, this team had to survive repeated injuries, including a 15-gamer to Chase Utley that sent him packing for the entire tournament, but that still left four MVP vote-getters in the lineup including Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino, and Hunter Pence.  Teams defeated to reach round ten:  1957 Senators (2295) 5-4; 1958 Dodgers (1576) 2-1; 2020 Nationals (760) 8-6; 1950 Cardinals (649) 18-2; 1964 Pirates (1311) 4-1; 2009 Reds (1752) 4-2; 1960 Giants (881) 5-2; 2006 Dodgers (1228) 4-1; 2012 Nationals (460) 3-2.   Key performers:  Ryan Howard 2 HR 7 RBI, Raul Ibanez 2 HR 6 RBI, Shane Victorino 1 HR 5 RBI, John Mayberry Jr. 1 HR 6 RBI.  Injuries: Chase Utley 7 games remaining (out of tournament).