REGIONAL #135:  This bracket featured an eclectic group of teams, but only one that I knew for certain to be good–the pennant winning 1983 Phillies.  As for the rest, I was uncertain; I figured that the ‘97 Orioles might be pretty competitive, and I doubted that the ‘27 Red Sox and ‘58 A’s would be.  The others were a crap shoot, but at least there would be a second team from the newly acquired 1947 season, the Reds, to make things interesting.  The Phillies didn’t do very well against the Orioles in the ‘83 Series, but I felt that they might be motivated to exact some measure of revenge so I picked them to beat a different Baltimore squad in the finals.  The ELO ranks forecast the same final pairing, but weren’t impressed with the Phillies, ranking them as only the 7th best team in baseball during their pennant-winning season, and thus chose the  Orioles to win the bracket. 

First round action

Setting the lineup for the top-seeded 1997 Orioles, I have to say that I was impressed:  good power, solid starting rotation, strong defense, and an outstanding bullpen.  Not surprisingly, they won 98 games and I had forgotten that they won the AL East that season, losing out on a pennant in the ALCS.   They faced the 73-81 1958 A’s, who had a core of recognizable players like Maris, Cerv, Lopez, Terry, Daley–mainly because they all ended up on the ‘61 Yankees.  The A’s started swingman Ray Herbert (8-8, 3.50) as their best shot against Mike Mussina (15-8, 3.20), who was 6th in the AL Cy Young voting that season.   The game starts dubiously for the A’s in the top of the 1st when leadoff hitter Bob Martyn triples, the O’s bring the infield in to fend off scoring by the limited KC offense, and that works perfectly as Martyn is nailed at home on a Preston Ward grounder.  Things go better for them in the 2nd, as Hector Lopez finds Mussina’s HR result for a 2-run shot put KC ahead, while the O’s keep hitting into rally-killing DPs.  In the 4th, Baltimore loses DH Geronimo Berroa to injury, although they have a seemingly endless supply of candidates to replace him.  Bob Cerv leads off the 5th by also finding and converting Mussina’s 5-9 HR, but the Orioles finally respond in the bottom of the inning with a Mike Bordick sac fly and a clutch 2-out RBI single from Roberto Alomar, and the A’s lead is cut to 3-2.  When Mussina walks Bill Tuttle with one out in the 6th, I think about pulling him, but leave him in just long enough for Martyn to find that 5-9 roll again, and it’s now 5-2 and closer Randy Myers is called in desperation.  That doesn’t solve the problem, as in the 8th Martyn doubles DeMaestri home–putting Martyn one single short of a cycle–and Ward nails a single off Myers’ card that scores Martyn and the A’s lead expands.  The onslaught doesn’t stop there, and Myers is pulled for Arthur Rhodes, but he allows a few more baserunners and by the time Tuttle makes his second out of the inning to finally end it, the A’s lead 9-2.  The A’s batting around in the 8th provides Martyn with an at-bat in the 9th, and he seizes the opportunity with a base hit, completing his cycle which I believe is the first in the history of the tournament!  Herbert dispatches the Orioles in the 9th and the #1 seed is crushed by the #7 seeded A’s, 9-2.

According to ELO rankings, the 1927 Red Sox had the distinction of being among the 20 worst teams of all time, and after playing the terrible 1930 version of the team last regional it was hard to imagine this team being even worse.  But they were, going 51-103, with a team ERA of 4.79 and an offense that hit fewer than half the home runs provided by Babe Ruth that season.  They faced the 2006 Nationals, who may have lost 91 games but looked great by comparison, except for the near-total lack of starting pitching.  The Nats best option was spot starter Mike O’Connor (3-8, 4.80) while the Red Sox were at least able to send out their lone Hall of Famer, Red Ruffing (5-13, 4.67) albeit hardly in one of his better years.  Washington loses C Brian Schneider to injury in the 3rd, but both pitchers are in control until the 6th, when Nats RF-2 Austin Kearns misplays a Jack Tobin single that sets up a sac fly by Bill Regan for a 1-0 Boston lead.  A Jack Rothrock double in the 6th chases O’Connor for Nats closer Chad Cordero, but he yields a single to Phil Todt and the Red Sox extend their lead.   However, in the bottom of the 8th Kearns walks and Alfonso Soriano finally solves Ruffing, taking him deep for a 2-run shot that ties the game; a rattled Ruffing then walks three batters but whiffs PH Alex Escobar to keep the game knotted.  Neither team can score in the 9th so we head to extra innings, and both Cordero and Ruffing expend their final inning of eligibility keeping things tied after 10.  In the top of the 11th, new Nats reliever John Patterson is greeted by a Fred Haney grounder that Nats 2B-3 Jose Vidro can’t get to; Haney steals second on injury replacement C Brandon Harper and then Jack Tobin doubles in Haney to put the Red Sox on top.  That means Boston has to turn to its non-existent bullpen to try to hold the fort in the bottom of the inning, so Jack Russell of terrier fame is given the task.  Russell does the job, with 2B-3 Regan turning a game-ending DP, and the underdog Red Sox move on to the semifinals with the extra-inning 3-2 win.  

The 1983 Phillies won the NL pennant with a 90-72 record, although as noted earlier the ELO ranks thought that there were six teams better than them that season.  Still, the team had some weapons in Schmidt and Morgan (although Pete Rose was a waste of cardboard, as he often was towards the end of his career), as well as solid fielding and three good starters, with John Denny (19-6, 2.37) getting the first round nod.  They faced a steroid-era 2000 Rangers squad juiced with players like Rafael Palmiero, although they lost 91 games as they had some serious defensive holes and their pitching was largely dreadful, with Rick Helling (16-13, 4.48) being by far their best option.  The Rangers squander back to back doubles from Rusty Greer and Pudge Rodriquez in the top of the 1st, as Denny strands them both, although Gary Matthews’ leadoff double in the bottom of the inning produces the same lack of results.  However, a Mike Lamb 2-out double in the top of the 2nd does result in a run, and then Frank Catalanotto singles in Lamb to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.  The rash of doubles continues in the bottom of the inning, with two-baggers from Garry Maddox and Sixto Lezcano narrowing the margin to 2-1, and then a 2-run shot by Joe Lefebvre off Helling’s card gives the Phils a 3-2 edge.  Sarge Matthews connects for a solo shot off his own card in the 5th and the lead is 4-2.  A Gabe Kapler single in the 8th makes the Phils eye their bullpen, but they decide to stick with their ace and Denny comes through, retiring the side without incident.  The Phils thus enter the 9th with a two run lead and their full complement of defensive replacements in, but Denny doesn’t need them as the Rangers go down in order and the “Wheeze Kids” limp on with a 4-2 win, with Denny scattering seven hits.  

The 2001 Blue Jays were a pretty mediocre bunch, going 80-82 with uneven offense and defense, and their best starter was a 24-year-old named Roy Halladay (5-3, 3.16) who seemed to deserve more innings than he’d been getting to this point in his career.    They faced the hot off the Strat-press 1947 Reds, who would have been noticeably worse than their mediocre 73-81 record if not for the efforts of Ewell Blackwell (22-8, 2.47), the NL MVP runner-up that season.  Both teams start off the game looking offensively inept, getting runners on but unable to convert, with Jays 3B Felipe Lopez grounding into a DP in the 4th while getting injured being one example.  The teams keep stumbling through innings; Shannon Stewart leads off the 8th missing a HR 1-4/DO, but Blackwell bears down and strands him at second.  That seems to galvanize the Reds into a two out rally, as Grady Hatton doubles in Bert Haas (off Halladay’s card) and Eddie Miller singles Hatton home to give Blackwell a two run pad going into the top of the 9th with three defensive replacements coming in for additional insurance.   Blackwell gets two quick outs, but then I discover a 4th defensive switch I should have made, as Alex Gonzalez hits a grounder to Reds 1B-4 Babe Young.  But Young casually scoops the ball, steps on first, and it’s game over with the Reds heading to the semifinals with a 2-0 win, courtesy of the 6-hit gem by Blackwell.   

The survivors

Two bad teams that pulled off upsets in the first round get to vie for a berth in the regional finals as the #8 seeded 1927 Red Sox play host to the #7 seed 1958 A’s.  The starters were Ralph Terry (11-13, 4.24) for the A’s against Boston’s Slim Harriss (14-21, 4.17), which didn’t instill much confidence on either side.  In the bottom of the 2nd, the Red Sox manage to hit five X-Chart results, all of which were manned by “4” fielders on the A’s, and the results aren’t pretty as Boston takes a 2-0 lead on the resulting hits.  The Red Sox add another in the 4th when Grover Hartley triples off Terry’s card, and Jack Rothrock singles him home for his second RBI of the game and a 3-0 lead.  Another KC 2-base error in the 7th sets up a Jack Tobin RBI single and Boston adds to their advantage.  Meanwhile, Harriss is cruising and keeps the A’s off the scoreboard until two are out in the 9th; at that point Hal Smith converts a HR 1-5 for a solo shot, but Harriss gets the next batter and the underdog Red Sox take the 4-1 win and will make an unexpected visit to the regional finals.

This semifinal matched the pennant-winning, #2 seeded 1983 Phillies against the #5 seed 1947 Reds, featuring two veteran pitchers of considerable repute, with neither of them in one of their better seasons:  39 year old Steve Carlton (15-16, 3.11) against double no-hit Johnny Vander Meer (9-14, 4.40).  The Reds rattle Carlton early with two walks and a sharp Eddie Miller single giving Cincinnati a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st, but Sixto Lezcano promptly nails a solo shot in the 2nd to tie it up.  In the top of the 3rd, Joe Morgan comes to the plate, and the dice come up 1-12, and I look to his card nervously wondering what I would find there, but lo and behold, it’s a solid HR and the Phils lead 2-1.  Things then stay tight until the 8th, when Ivan Dejesus raps a clutch 2-out single and Schmidt takes off for home (1-16 with two out)--but he’s nailed and it remains a one run game.  It thus comes down to the bottom of the 9th; PH Ray Mueller gets a hit to lead off, but Carlton retires a second PH Bobby Adams and there is one out and the top of the order is up.  Frankie Baumholtz draws a walk, and 1-16 Tommy Tatum comes in to pinch run at second.  The Phils debate long and hard, and ultimately decide that their veteran starter is done for, and summon Al Holland from the pen to try to preserve the game.  Augie Galan grounds out, advancing the runners, so it's 2 away, tying run on 3rd, winning run on 2nd, and the Reds best hitter, Grady Hatton, is at the plate.  Here’s the pitch:  6-7, it’s in Holland’s killer 6 column and mighty Grady has struck out.  The Phils squeak their way into the finals with a 2-1 win and the Reds’ effort to become the second straight brand-new 1947 season regional champion falls short.

It’s another David vs. Goliath finals, with the pennant winning 1983 Phillies and Charlie Hudson (8-8, 3.35) facing what the ELO ranks list as one of the 20 worst teams in baseball history, the 1927 Red Sox and Danny MacFayden (5-8, 4.27).  A sac fly in the top of the 3rd by Ira Flagstead gives the Red Sox a 1-0 lead and quickly reminds the Phillies that Goliath often doesn’t fare too well in these matchups.  Fred Haney then leads off the 4th with a homer off Hudson’s card, and when Buddy Myer replicates that feat in the 5th the Red Sox lead 3-0 and the chorus of boos in Veterans Stadium is deafening.  The crowd is somewhat mollified in the bottom of the inning when, with two out, Pete Rose actually does something useful, converting a TR 1-3, and then Sarge Matthews follows with a 2-run shot off MacFayden’s card and Boston’s lead is narrowed to 3-2.  However, in the 8th, Matthews leads off the inning by rolling a 10-game injury; the Phils try to use that as a rallying point as Morgan squibs a single, advances to 2nd on a Lefebvre grounder, bringing up Mike Schmidt with the tying run in scoring position.  MacFayden is extremely cautious with Schmidt and walks him to get to Bo Diaz; Diaz whiffs and the game heads to the 9th with Boston still clinging to a one-run lead.  Hudson, who hasn’t allowed a hit since the 5th inning, sets the Red Sox down in order so now it’s up to the bottom of the Phillies order to try to pull out the game.  Maddox pops out, but Dejesus singles; Lezcano flies out and the Phils hopes are down to Len Matuszek, pinch hitting for Rose.  It’s a CATCH-X, Grover Hartley fields the foul cleanly, and the Red Sox pull off yet another improbable regional win for an #8 seed.  This is the 6th regional win for the Red Sox, joining 1950, 1978, 1983, 1996, and 2005, but this one is certainly the biggest head-scratcher in the bunch.

Interesting card of Regional #135:  Some Strat C&D players, myself included, bemoan the fact that the game company doesn’t seem to have changed their card patterns for decades.  I personally prefer the old-school patterns and wish they would revert to those; at least back then they had some unpredictable ones, and I’d include this card of one of my favorite players as one of them.  As I mentioned in my regional writeup, with Morgan at the plate I saw the dice pop up with a 1-12, and I instantly wondered what I would find there:  an injury?  Lomax?  No, to my surprise it was one of the complete extra-base hits that Joe had stashed in strange places around his card.  He only spent this one season with the Phils, and at this point he was 39 years old and in the penultimate season of his career.  Even though he was clearly not the player he was in his prime, I don’t think it was a coincidence that they happened to win the NL in that lone season when Joe was manning second base.

REGIONAL #134:  This week, the tournament was happy to welcome the 1947 and 2021 seasons to the party (most 1986 teams have already played using my originals), which means that the number of competing squads has now gone from 1,932 to 1,978 teams. This is why the tournament is endless, although this regional marks 1,072 different teams that have played so I am a little more than halfway through the collection.  Apparently to celebrate the occasion, my random team selector program picked a team from one of my new seasons, and not just any team, but the AL pennant winner 1947 Yankees.  Not only that, but for the first time in ages a regional draw included a second pennant winner, the 1938 Cubs, and threw in their archrivals the Cards from the same season.  There were also two entries from a Rangers franchise that had only won a regional once before; a Red Sox team deep in the curse of the Babe and an A’s team perhaps contending with the curse of Connie Mack; and a modern Mets squad in a trough between pennants.  Although my instincts told me that one of the three 21st century teams would prevail with their typically greater power and depth, I decided to go old-school and select the 1938 Cardinals in an upset over the Yankees in the final.   The ELO predicts the same two in the final, but ranks the Yankees as big favorites, with a potential semifinal matchup with the Cubs as the most highly anticipated pairing. 

First round action

The 1947 Yankees won 97 games, the AL, and the World Series, with MVP Joe Dimaggio patrolling CF behind a strong pitching staff headed by Superchief Allie Reynolds (19-8, 3.20).  Hot off the Strat printing press but long awaited, they were the 60th best team of all time according to ELO, while Neyer & Epsteins’ _Baseball Dynasties_ had them as 29th best using their standard deviation metric.  By any measure, this was a great team, but in this tournament that can be a curse.  Their opponent, the 2016 Rangers, was no slouch, having won 95 games and the AL West and sporting a core of sluggers unheard of in 1947, and Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32) had recently arrived from the Phillies to anchor the staff.  The Yanks score first when Hamels gets two quick outs, but then walks four batters in succession and New York leads 1-0 despite not having any hits in the game thus far.  In the 4th, the no-hitter ends abruptly as Yogi Berra leads off with a big fly, and then Hamels loads up the bases for Dimaggio, who hits the infamous “9” hole in his primary column to make the 3rd out, but the Yanks lead 2-0.  Charlie Keller leads off the 5th inning by barely converting a SI 1-19 with a 19 roll, then Tommy Henrich misses a HR 1-16/TR roll with an 18 but Keller scores and Berra drives in Henrich with a single that extends the Yankees lead to 4-0.  When the Yanks lead off the 6th with two straight hits, the Rangers decide Hamels isn’t the answer and they bring in their closer Sam Dyson to try to keep their fading hopes alive.  Dyson earns his keep, getting Dimaggio on a popout and inducing a DP ball from Keller and no runs cross the plate.  However, in the 8th the Yanks solve Dyson, with doubles from Berra and George McQuinn scoring two and it could have been worse but once again Dimaggio makes the final out with the bases loaded.  Meanwhile, Reynolds is cruising, and although Carlos Beltran breaks up the shutout in the 9th with a solo shot, it’s too little too late and the Yanks move on to the semifinals with the 6-1 win.  

The 89-63 1938 Cubs won the NL pennant with much the same team that had famously done so in 1935, although they had added Rip Collins from the Gas House Gang and Tony Lazzeri from Murderer’s Row which made for fond memories of those Old-Timer teams that were a big part of my childhood gaming.  The 1950 A’s, on the other hand, lost 102 games and finished last in the AL, and the record of their #1 starter Lou Brissie (7-19, 4.02) was pretty similar to that of the Cubs’ Bill Lee (22-9, 2.66), except in reverse.  Brissie doesn’t start well, walking the bases loaded in the top of the 1st, but the Cubs can only convert one run on a Collins sac fly.  They add a second run in the 2nd on a 2-out RBI single from Augie Galan, but the A’s threaten in the 3rd with three straight singles off Lee’s card to begin the inning.  However, Lee whiffs the next batter and then Cubs 2B-2 Billy Herman turns a beautiful DP and the A’s still have goose eggs on the scoreboard.  Herman adds to his heroics in the 4th with a solo shot off Brissie’s card, although Brissie hangs in there until the 8th, when the Cubs erupt for four runs with a Herman double and a Stan Hack 2-run homer (again off Brissie’s card) makes it a 7-0 lead.  In the bottom of the inning, A’s LF Paul Lehner leads off with a triple and it looks like maybe the A’s will stage a rally, but Lee bears down and the hapless A’s leave him stranded at third, and that’s the last noise that Philadelphia will make as the Cubs win easily 7-0 behind Lee’s 7-hit shutout, setting up a semifinal confrontation between the regional’s two pennant winners.

The 1938 Cardinals were a team in transition from the infamous Gas House Gang to the dynasty that would dominate the NL during the war years, but this squad was not nearly as good as either of those versions, going 71-80 to finish in 6th place.  They faced a 72-90 2002 Rangers team from a distinctly different era, with four players having SLG% greater than .500 but only two starting pitchers that had over 100 IP.  Out of those limited options, the Rangers took a gamble on Kenny Rogers (13-8, 3.84) to go against the Cards’ Bob Weiland (16-11, 3.59).  The Rogers gamble doesn’t pay off, as Enos Slaughter hits a 2-run homer in the 2nd off Rogers’ card, and later in the inning Terry Moore misses the same HR split but drives in two with the resulting double.  Jimmy Brown then singles Moore home, and the Rangers find themselves with a five run deficit heading into the bottom of the 2nd.  However, in the 5th Weiland begins the inning by dropping a groundball, and he seemingly loses composure allowing a single and then a massive 3-run shot by Carl Everett and the gap narrows to 5-3.  With the game tightening, a leadoff single by Slaughter in the 8th chases the Gambler in favor of Francisco Cordero and his 1.79 ERA, but Don Gutteridge greets him with a longball and the score moves to 7-3, although a solo shot by Rafael Palmiero recoups one of those runs in the bottom of the inning.  Weiland holds on until the bottom of the 9th, when an error by Cards SS-3 Lynn Myers is followed by a double from PH Frank Catalanotto, and there is nobody out and the tying run is at the plate with the top of the Rangers order up.  Weiland whiffs Todd Hollandsworth for one out; Everett grounds out; and it’s all up to ARod with the game on the line.   But, he hits a weak grounder and it’s game over with a 7-4 Cardinals win, and the dice mess with Texas as both Rangers entries in this bracket get bounced in the first round.  

The 2009 Mets had some notable players, but unfortunately they tended not to be in the prime of their careers, and they had little starting pitching past Johan Santana (13-9, 3.13), explaining why the team lost 92 games.  They were still ranked as much better than the 52-102 1930 Red Sox, whose hitters seemed to miss the offensive explosion that characterized that season, and whose rotation was fronted by two 20-game losers including their “ace”, Milt Gaston (13-20, 3.93).  The Mets jump out to a lead in the top of the 1st on an Angel Pagan RBI triple, although leading off the 2nd they lose SS Alex Cora to injury for the regional.  The Mets get another run in the 5th on a Carlos Beltran sac fly, but a Phil Todt RBI single in the 6th puts Boston on the board and makes it a one-run game.  The Mets defensive replacements come in for the bottom of the 8th, and when Santana issues a leadoff walk they look long and hard at the bullpen, but decide to let Santana try to finish things out, saving the pen knowing what the rest of their rotation looks like.   He gets out of the inning, and although a Daniel Murphy error in the 9th gives the Mets another scare, Santana takes care of things to finish out a 6-hitter as the Mets move on with the 2-1 win.

The survivors

The first semifinal was the matchup the fans had been waiting for, with two pennant-winners facing off in the form of the #1 seeded 1947 Yankees and the #2 seed 1938 Cubs.  The pitching matchup was a good one, with NY’s rookie Spec Shea (14-5, 3.07) going against Cubs veteran Charlie Root (8-7, 2.86).  However, the top of the 1st goes rough for Root; he walks Rizzuto to lead off the game, but Stirnweiss hits into a DP.  Then, Dimaggio singles, Keller walks, Heinrich walks, and rookie Yogi Berra brings them all home with a colossal blast onto Waveland Avenue for a grand slam; McQuinn misses a HR split for a double, but Root finally retires Billy Johnson for the third out.  Root thus issues three costly walks in the first inning–despite the fact that he only walked 30 batters all season and doesn’t have a single walk result on his card.  The Cubs respond in the bottom of the inning with two straight singles and then a Gabby Hartnett sac fly makes it 4-1,  but Stirnweiss pokes a 2-run homer off Root’s card and the Yankees are looking unstoppable.  Three straight Yankee hits to start the 4th and that’s it for Root, and in comes ol’ Dizzy Dean with the Cubs in a 7-1 hole, and he does end the inning without additional trauma.  Buoyed by the Diz, Cubs gloveman Billy Jurges atones for an earlier error with a 2-run homer in the 5th off Shea’s HR 1-8/flyB split, and it’s 7-3.  However, the Yanks get an unearned run in the 6th off the Cubs third error of the game, although the Cubs get it back in the 7th on a Frank Demaree sac fly.  The game moves to the bottom of the 9th; Shea retires the first batter but then walks two straight, and a Billy Herman double scores one and a Jurges walk loads the bases and puts the winning run at the plate in the form of Stan Hack.  The Yanks don’t trust their pen much and stick with Shea, and he retires Hack on a run-scoring flyball and it’s two outs with two on in a two run game, Augie Galan at the plate.   A single for Galan scores another and the tying run is now 90 feet away, with Hall of Famer Hartnett at the plate.  The Yankees are forced to admit that Shea has nothing left, and Joe Page is summoned from the pen to try to get the final out.  It’s a sharp grounder to 3B-2 Billy Johnson, who makes a diving stab and gets it to McQuinn in the nick of time and the Yankees survive with an 8-7 victory in an epic battle worthy of the contestants.   

The semifinal between the #4 seed 1938 Cardinals and the #6 seed 2009 Mets featured two rebuilding teams in transition between much more successful versions.  The shallow Mets pitching staff was painfully evident as the best they could muster was Tim Redding (3-6, 5.10), while the Cards had fewer offensive weapons than the Mets but were in better position on the mound with Bill McGee (7-12, 3.21).   The Mets begin the bottom of the 1st with two straight singles, one of which is misplayed by Joe Medwick, to set up a 2-run single from Carlos Beltran.  The Cards get a run back in the 3rd on a Johnny Mize RBI single, and add two more in the 4th on Lynn Myers single and a Terry Moore sac fly to take the lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning a Mize error opens the door for three runs, including another Beltran 2-run single, and the Mets regain the lead, 5-3.  A St. Louis walk and a single to open the 6th and the Mets aren’t taking any more chances with Redding, and Pedro Feliciano comes out of the pen; one run does come in on a Don Gutteridge sac fly but the Mets get it back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an RBI single by injury replacement SS Wilson Valdez.  For the 8th, the Mets bring in their closer, Francisco Rodriguez, and he impresses by striking out the Cardinal side in the 8th and knocking them down 1-2-3 in the 9th to earn the save in the Mets 6-4 win, earning them a trip to the finals–albeit with their starting SS and C both injured.   

It was a Subway Series version of a regional final with the #1 seed 1947 Yankees and the upstart #6 seed 2009 Mets, with the seeding difference being obvious in the pitching matchup between the Yanks’ Spud Chandler (9-5, 2.46) against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (10-12, 5.03).  As in the previous game, the Mets plan was to try to stay in the game long enough to turn it over to their bullpen in the 6th inning, but that looks unlikely as Pelfrey allows three runs to the Yanks in the top of the 1st before he records an out.  However, the Yankees quickly learn that Mets teams of this vintage always punch above their weight in this tournament, as they quickly score three to tie it up in the bottom of the inning, paced by a Gary Sheffield 2-run single, and Chandler is lucky to escape with the game tied as the inning only ended when Francouer hits into a bases-loaded double play.  In the second, the Yanks load the bases with two out, and then a walk to Henrich and a sharp single by Berra that scores two and Pelfrey is gone, with Elmer Dessens summoned from the pen, and he gets the third out but it’s now 6-3 Yankees.   In the 3rd, Angel Pagan becomes the third Mets regular to be knocked out of the lineup with an injury, but they avenge him in the 4th when a David Wright double and a two-base error by Yanks 1B-2 McQuinn leads to three runs that tie the game once again.  That tie doesn’t last long, as Berra leads off the 5th exploiting Dessens’ tendency to allow the longball, and later Rizzuto triples to drive in another and the Yanks regain the lead, 8-6.  The Mets turn to setup man Feliciano to start the 6th, and Dimaggio greets him by finding his HR result; the Mets finally go to FRod in the 8th and he pitches two perfect innings, but Chandler has found his stuff by then and the top seeded Yankees live up to their billing with a 9-6 victory and the 9th regional win for the franchise.

Interesting card of Regional #134:  With the 1947 season being a brand new arrival and having the AL pennant winner representing the season as its first entrant, it seemed only fitting to feature the most impressive hitting card from that team.  Given that Joe Dimaggio won the AL MVP award, you might think that would be his card, but no–King Kong Keller bettered Joltin’ Joe in both SLG% and OBP, albeit in far fewer ABs.  Unfortunately, those limited appearances were no fault of Keller’s; on June 5th of the 1947 season Keller led the league in home runs, RBIs, and runs scored, but after collecting a pair of base hits, he complained of soreness in his lower back, and left in the sixth inning.  The pain continued to worsen, and on June 27, Keller checked into the hospital for observation.  Two weeks later doctors removed a slipped disk from Keller’s spine; he didn’t play another game that season, and although he hung on for a few seasons in a limited role, he could no longer swing the bat the way that he had previously and was never able to play a full season again.  Thus, this card freezes his abilities in time just before the injury/surgery, in his prime at age 30.

REGIONAL #133:  It was just three regionals ago that I lamented the poor performance of my favorite teams in this project, accurately forecasting that my ‘83 White Sox would go down (via shutout, no less) in the first round.  And, here we go with another favorite Sox team, the 1994 version that “won” the AL Central and an MVP for Frank Thomas, but were robbed of a postseason appearance by the strike.  They now have their chance for glory in this regional, but they face obstacles besides my jinx, such as a Twins team just a season away from a pennant and a more modern Tiger team two seasons away from the AL flag.  The remainder of the bracket looked like they could be decent as well, and after a truly terrible team won the previous regional I doubted I’d be able to pick this one accurately.  However, tradition required a selection so I went with the Tigers over the Sox in the finals, figuring the Sox would get my hopes up only to dash them as they have over nearly every season (except one) of my life.  The ELO ranks added to the kiss of death for the Sox by listing them as by far the best team in the regional, predicting a win over the Twins in the final.  We shall see.

First round action

The 1964 Twins were just one season away from winning the first pennant for that franchise in more than three decades, but they only finished 79-83, and looking at the team I couldn’t figure out why they were under .500.  They had good offense from Killebrew, Oliva, Allison, Versalles  et al., three solid starters, and a good bullpen, and their Pythagorean projection agreed with me, predicting that they should have won 87 games.  Meanwhile, their opponent, the 1989 Orioles, did win 87 games to nearly win the AL East, but they overplayed their projection (in fact, they had lost 107 games in ‘88) and I felt that the ELO ranks were accurate in ranking the Twins as the better team.  The pitching matchup had the O’s Jeff Ballard (18-8, 3.43), 6th in the AL Cy Young voting, against Minnesota’s recent Hall of Fame inductee Jim Kaat (17-11, 3.22).  Killebrew begins the fireworks in the top of the first by crushing a homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead that could have been worse as Bob Allison and Don Mincher both missed HR splits (1-11 and 1-17) in the inning.  Allison leads off the 3rd leaving no doubt by nailing a solid HR on his card, but in the bottom of the inning Joe Orsulak leads off with a blast of his own and a couple of Kaat walks and a Zoilo Versalles error and the Twins’ lead narrows to 3-2.  In the 4th, Rich Rollins doubles with 2 out and C Earl Battey (1-8) lumbers home successfully to make it 4-2; the O’s threaten again in the bottom of the inning but Mike Devereaux ends the inning by grounding out and getting injured in the process.  In the bottom of the 7th, a 2-out, 2-run homer from Randy Milligan ties the game and Memorial Stadium is rocking; when Kaat issues a leadoff walk in the 8th the Twins move to Al Worthington and his 1.38 ERA, and he gets out of the inning without damage.  The game moves to the 9th still tied, and when Battey leads off the top of the inning with a single the Orioles bring in their closer, Gregg Olson, who is bailed out by a failed bunt from Bernie Allen that keeps the score knotted for the bottom of the 9th.  Worthington walks Tettleton, and then Twins CF-3 Jimmie Hall plays a Cal Ripken fly into a double, putting the winning run on 3rd with nobody out.  The infield comes in; Milligan walks, and Craig Worthington (no apparent relation to the Twins’ pitcher) hits a grounder to Versalles, who fields it cleanly for the first time in 5 X-chart attempts this game, and there is one out.  Orsulak pops out, and Billy Ripken grounds out, and we head to extra innings.  Neither team can do much until the top of the 12th, when Don Mincher tries that HR 1-17 split again and this time converts it for a solo shot to put the Twins up.  It’s now Johnny Klippstein’s game in the bottom of the 12th, and he sets the Orioles down in order to give the Twins the hard-fought 5-4 win.

Next up was a matchup of teams from the same season, the 2010 Tigers against the 2010 Diamondbacks.  I had picked the Tigers to win the regional vaguely remembering that those were the years of Verlander and Scherzer, and sure enough those two were there and were solid, but the rest of the rotation was not so good, team defense was mediocre at best, and aside from Miguel Cabrera there wasn’t a lot of firepower in the lineup, resulting in their mediocre 81-81 record.  That was still a far sight better than the 97-loss Dbacks, as when I was going through the cards to set their starting lineup, I kept wondering when I was going to run across somebody whose name sounded familiar.  Arizona had a couple of hitters, a couple of fielders, and a collection of starting pitchers who were different flavors of bad, with Ian Kennedy (9-11, 3.80) the best of the lot to go against Verlander (18-9, 3.37).  In the 3rd, a two-out error by Tiger 2B-3 Carlos Guillen opens the floodgates for consecutive RBI singles from Chris Young, Justin Upton, and Miguel Montero.  That’s the scoring until the top of the 9th, when Stephen Drew leads off with a homer that gives the Dbacks a 4-0 lead, but all eyes are on Kennedy as he is tossing a PERFECT GAME going into the bottom of the 9th.  Of course, the second I write that, Jhonny Peralta leads off the inning with a double to break up the gem, and to make matters worse I have to type his name four times before I can get the damn autocorrect to stop changing his first name.  Then, Alex Avila doubles to bring in Peralta, and it is starting to get interesting here in Comerica Park.  Kennedy walks Ramon Santiago and then Austin Jackson converts a squib single, and the bases are loaded with nobody out and the winning run at the plate.  Kennedy is obviously spent after losing his no-no and the Dbacks give the ball to Daniel Hudson to try to hang on to the win.  Johnny Damon hits a grounder to AZ 1B-3 Adam Laroche, who boots it and the bases remain loaded with the score now 4-2, and still nobody is out.  Hudson whiffs Cabrera to get one, Magglio Ordonez lifts a flyball to CF-2 Chris Young for a sac fly that scores Santiago, and it’s now two away with the tying run on second and Carlos Guillen at the plate, eager to atone for his costly error earlier in the game.  It’s on Hudson’s card:  SI* 1-12, and the split is a 13.  Guillen gets the double goat horns and the Dbacks barely hang on for the upset 4-3 win–one in which they lost 2B Kelly Johnson to injury with little depth to replace him.  

The 1983 Angels had some names that would lead one to believe they were better than they actually were, such as a Reggie Jackson who hit .194 with 14 HR, and I thought that their ELO ranking was better than their 92 losses merited.   The 94-loss 2004 Brewers had similar results but did so with a no-name cast of characters; their best hope lay in starter Ben Sheets (12-14, 2.70) who finished 8th in the Cy Young balloting and led the league in SO/W ratio, which is certainly more than Angels starter Ken Forsch (11-12, 4.06) could claim.  The Angels load the bases in the top of the 1st, but only manage one run on a Fred Lynn fielder’s choice, as Sheets whiffs Reggie! to end the inning.  The Brewers get that run back immediately when Lyle Overbay, whose error in the top of the inning had loaded the bases for the Angels, smacks a solo homer to make up for it.  In the 5th, Bobby Grich connects for a 2-run shot to put the Angels up 3-1, but in the bottom of the 6th DH Russell Branyan comes up with the bases loaded and clears them with a double to put the Brewers on top, and after a walk the Angels yank Forsch for Luis Sanchez, who immediately converts a DP to prevent further damage.  The game heads into the 9th with Milwaukee clinging to the 4-3 lead, and the Brewers decide that it’s Sheets’ game, but PH Ellis Valentine bats for Tim Foli and crushes a solo shot to tie the game.  Sheets then walks Brian Downing to face Grich, who sends his second 2-run homer of the game into the cheap seats and the Angels reclaim the lead, so it’s now up to Sanchez to hold on in the bottom of the 9th.  With one out, Keith Ginter rolls Sanchez’s 5-5 HR 1-5/flyB split and converts it with a 4, and it’s a one-run game.  Sanchez then whiffs Podsednik, so it comes down to PH Junior Spivey, who rolls in his big 3 column but it’s a 3-12, lomax, and it’s game over.  The Angels take the see-saw 6-5 victory; Sanchez gets credit for the win, but he’s burned up for the regional and there isn’t much else in the California bullpen to shore up their shaky starting pitching.

The 1994 White Sox went 67-46, the best record in the AL Central and the second best in the league.  However, there would be no postseason in that strike year, shortchanging one of the best Sox teams in recent memory, with Frank Thomas as AL MVP along with decent pitching and defense (although I always thought Ozzie Guillen deserved a “1” range, but I guess they were saving up fielding points for Derek Jeter).   They faced a 1983 Mariners team that lost 102 games, making them the #8 seed in the regional and without much to write home about–aside from a pretty fair #1 starter in Matt Young (11-15, 3.27), who would be matched against the Sox’ Jason Bere (12-2, 3.81) in a battle of guys with control problems.   In the top of the 1st, Young issues a walk to Joey Cora which is followed by a blast from Thomas–off Young’s card–and the Sox have a quick 2-0 lead.  Cora then allows .196-hitting Spike Owen to punch a two-out single past him in the 2nd that scores Rick Sweet, but the Sox regain the run in the 4th when Thomas leads off with a blast, this time on his own card, and it’s now Thomas 3, Mariners 1.  However, in the bottom of the inning Owen connects off Bere’s card for a 2-run shot to make it Owen 3, Thomas 3.  In the 6th, the Sox put runners on 1st and 3rd and with two out send PH Joe Hall and his .393 average to hit for Karkovice.  Hall delivers with a single (nestled between two solid HR results) to drive in one, and then Lance Johnson follows by nailing Young’s HR split for a 3-run shot that sends Young to the showers.  However, in the 7th Dave Henderson connects on Bere’s homer result for a 2-run HR that makes it 7-5 and the Sox bring in Jose Deleon to try to stop the bleeding, and he retires PH Richie Zisk and the apparently dangerous Spike Owen to do the job.  Nonetheless in the 8th the Mariners twice find Deleon’s only complete hit on his card and one of them is an RBI single for the other Henderson, Steve, and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th.  The Sox do nothing against Mike Stanton in their half of the inning, so for the bottom of the frame they bring in Paul Assenmacher to try to close things out.  He gets two quick outs, and then fans PH Domingo Ramos to earn the save as the Sox stave off the upset with the 7-6 nailbiter.  Worthy of note:  this completes a first round in which the visiting team won every game by one run.

The survivors

Hall of Slam

The first semifinal featured the #2 seeded 1964 Twins, who barely survived round one in an extra inning squeaker, and the #7 seed 2010 Diamondbacks, who lost one of their best players to injury but who had a bad pitcher come within three outs of a perfect game.   The Dbacks had plenty more bad pitchers to choose from, with Edwin Jackson (6-10, 5.16) seeming to be the least terrible option, while the Twins had a much better choice in Camilo Pascual (15-12, 3.30), who unfortunately is winless in 6 starts in this tournament despite a couple of strong outings.  A Tony Oliva solo shot puts the Twins up 1-0 in the top of the first, and a 2-out triple by Bernie Allen in the 2nd gives them another run, but in both innings Minnesota would have put up crooked numbers if they hadn’t hit into DPs before the big blows.  The Twins load up the bases in the 5th, bringing up Jimmie Hall with one out, and Twins fans cringe awaiting yet another DP, but Hall launches a moon shot for a grand slam and the rather meager crowd at Chase Field begins heading for the exits.  Versalles then singles and Earl Battey delivers the DP ball for the third time in five innings, but it’s hard to complain with a 6-0 lead.  However, that lead and the crowd exodus doesn’t last, as the Dbacks go to town on Pascual in the bottom of the inning, who in the process boots an easy DP ball to make matters worse, and by the time injury replacement 2B Augie Ojeda finally makes the third out the score is now 6-4 Twins after five.  In the 7th, the Twins lose their hero of game one, Don Mincher, to a minor injury, but it seems like both teams are spent from their 4-run 5th innings as neither squad manages a hit thereafter.  So, the Twins survive the 6-4 win and head to the finals, buoyed by the news that Mincher will be available and that their bullpen, taxed heavily in the extra innings of their round one game, is now fully rested thanks to Pascual’s complete game and his first tournament win.

It’s the #1 seed 1994 White Sox and Wilson Alvarez (12-8, 3.45) against the #4 seeded 1983 Angels, starting Bruce Kison (11-5, 4.05), to determine the other team in the regional final, and the Sox load the bases in the bottom of the 1st with nobody out–but fail to convert a single run.  The Sox then load the bases again in the 2nd, with Frank Thomas at the plate, but he flies out and the game remains scoreless.  In the 3rd, the Sox finally push a run across when Lance Johnson’s 2-out single scores 1-16 Darrin Jackson from second, with a 16 split roll.  However, in the 4th Sox 2B Joey Cora goes down with an 8 game injury, and the groan from the crowd can be heard in the Loop.  The groaning gets louder when the Angels load the bases in the 5th with nobody out, including their first hit, a Juan Beniquez double, and unlike the Sox they score them all with a Tim Foli fielder’s choice and a 2-run single from former Sox Brian Downing, and the Angels now lead 3-1.  Doug Decinces then leads off the 6th by converting Alvarez’s HR 1-9/flyB split, and a Fred Lynn double in the 8th chases Alvarez for Jose Deleon, who gets the Sox to the bottom of the 9th with no further damage and the top of the order up against Kison.  A walk to Tim Raines and a single by injury replacement Craig Grebeck brings up Thomas as the tying run with nobody out.  With their best reliever burnt, the Angels decide to stick with Kison, and he walks Thomas so once again the Sox have the bases loaded with no outs.  Kison then walks Julio Franco, and now the tying run is on second and Franco is the winning run on first.  Kison fans Robin Ventura, who thought about charging the mound but decided against it; and then Darrin Jackson rolls the gbA and it’s game over.  The Angels pull off the 4-2 upset for a trip to the finals, and another favorite Sox team heads back in defeat to the card catalogs despite allowing only four hits to the Halos.

BD whacks Twins

The regional finals match the #2 seeded 1964 Twins against the #4 seed 1983 Angels, but those seedings obscure the fact that neither team finished over .500 in their season.   For the Twins, it would be swingman Gerry Arrigo (7-4, 3.86) against Angels workhorse Geoff Zahn (9-11, 3.33), and the Angels draw first blood on an RBI double from Doug Decinces in the 3rd.  That seems to wake up the Twins, as they take the lead immediately in the top of the 4th on a 3-run homer by Zoilo Versalles, and then a two-run shot from Tony Oliva in the 5th makes it 5-1.  However, there are no signs of quit from the Angels, as a 3-run blast from Brian Downing in the bottom of the inning narrows the gap to one run, and with both teams having rested bullpens both starters would be on short leashes entering the 6th.  Thus, when Rod Carew pokes his 4th hit of the game in the bottom of the 6th to put runners on 1st and 2nd, the Twins summon Al Worthington from the pen, and that proves a disaster as Brian Downing crushes his second 3-run shot of the game to give the Angels the lead.  California then loads the bases in the 7th, but Worthington strikes out Tim Foli and the score remains 7-5 until Killebrew leads off the 8th with a moonshot, and when Mincher follows that with a double Zahn is gone and the Angels put their hopes in John Curtis.  He allows a single to Versalles, and with one out the Twins take a chance and send 1-9 Mincher home for the tie–and he’s nailed at the plate.  However, Versalles takes second on the play, and the next batter, Earl Battey, raps another single off Curtis’ card and Zoilo is 1-18 going home with two out and scores easily, game tied.  Worthington retires the side in the 8th–Downing missing a HR 1-5/flyB split–and we enter the 9th deadlocked at 7 apiece.  In the top of the 9th, Allison misses a HR 1-9/DO split; Oliva follows with a single but 1-13 Allison is cut down trying to score.  Foli then handles a Killebrew grounder and the game heads to the bottom of the 9th.  Fred Lynn leads off and gets injured for the remainder of the game; that brings up Decinces, and Worthington delivers:  1-7, a solid walkoff homer for Doug Decinces and a fourth regional win for the Angels, with 1983 joining 1977, 1989, and 2004 in the winner’s circle.  

Interesting card of Regional #133:  There may not have been an AL pennant winner in 1994 because of the strike, but there was an MVP, and it was this guy, with his second award in a row.  Of course, this was based upon a partial season, but I wanted to highlight the Big Hurt because it isn’t every season that a White Sox player wins the MVP.  In fact, it wouldn’t happen again for another 26 years–of course, in 2020, another “incomplete” season, this time for pandemic reasons.   Thus, it seems that the best way to get great performances out of Sox players is to not allow the league to have a complete season.  The way things are looking in the current MLB negotiations between the owners and players, I’m thinking that we might have another Sox MVP in 2022–if there are any cards at all.

REGIONAL #132:  My first impression on seeing the draw for this bracket was that I’d get to see a couple of the best power hitters that pharmaceuticals can produce, and that I felt sorry for the few pre-PED era teams in the group.  There weren’t any pennant winners, and the only team that seemed to be within a few years of winning one were the 2000 Giants, who captured the NL two years later.  However, I did remember that three Indians teams from the 1960s had previously won regionals, so I thought that perhaps the 1966 Indians might be good for some surprises.  I also remembered that Mark McGwire single-handedly drove the ‘96 A’s to a regional win, although I didn’t think his ‘95 card represented here would be quite as dangerous.  Even so, I predicted an all-steroids final with the 2000 Bonds/Giants over the 1995 McGwire/A’s.  The ELO rankings agreed with my pick of the Giants, as they ranked their 2000 team as the best in baseball that year despite not winning the pennant.  However, the rankings also suggested that the Giants had a tough road to the finals, where they were expect to face their rivals, the Dodgers, from the same season.

First round action

I was curious to see why the 45-105 1938 Phillies merited inclusion as one of the worst 30 teams of all time, according to the ELO rankings; it turns out that they had no power (Chuck Klein led them with 8 HR), half of the team were “4”s on defense, and their best pitcher was Al Hollandsworth (7-18, 4.36), who might have been a good #4 starter for another team.  They faced the 67-77 1995 A’s, who had no power shortage–I had doubted that McGwire could be as good as the ‘96 version that powered the A’s to the regional win, and this season Mac “only” hit 39 HR–but it was in 317 at bats in a strike-shortened season.  Todd Stottlemyre (14-7, 4.55) was on the mound for Oakland, but he starts dismally with a single and two walks, all off his card, to load the bases, and then Mike Bordick drops a double-play ball to let in one run, Chuck Klein singles for another, and the Phils lead 2-0 before the A’s have seen a pitch.  The A’s don’t do too well in the bottom of the 1st, as CF Stan Javier gets hurt and McGwire hits into an inning-ending DP.  In the 3rd, doubles by Phil Weintraub and Morrie Arnovich, both off Stottlemyre’s card, expand the lead to 3-0, but in the 5th the Phils lose Klein to injury for 5 games, which for this team might as well be for the rest of eternity.  Klein’s replacement, LF-4 Earl Browne, comes in just in time to turn a Scott Brosius fly ball into a triple, and Geronimo Berroa knocks him in to narrow the margin to 3-1.  Brosius singles in Rickey Henderson in the 6th, and it’s now a one-run game, but Stottlemyre allows a walk and a single in the 7th and he’s gone in favor of Jim Corsi, who delivers a walk and a 2-run single to George Scharein and it’s now 5-2 Phils.  However, in the 9th the A’s stage a 2-out rally, and a Bordick double makes it 5-3 and he represents the tying run on 2nd.  The A’s bring in Danny Tartabull to pinch hit with the game on the line….and he rolls in the middle of a 2 column full of whiffs, meaning that the Phils head to the semifinals with a 5-3 upset and this time around McGwire leads the A’s back to the drawers.  

The 86-win 2000 Dodgers were an uneven team, with half of the defense being “4”s but boasting five guys in the lineup with more than 20 HRs, led by Gary Sheffield’s 43, and a couple of very good pitchers, including Chan Ho Park (18-10, 3.27).   The 1966 Indians went an even 81-81 on the arms of a very good rotation, but spotty fielding and offense; Luis Tiant (12-11, 2.79) was tapped for the start.  The Dodgers get a rude awakening in the top of the 1st when Sheffield gets dinged up and has to leave the game, although fortunately for LA their bench seemed to have plenty of DH candidates for an NL team.  The Indians take a lead in the 3rd on a leadoff HR by Chico Salmon, converting a HR 1-4/flyB to move out in front 1-0; Salmon rolls the same result in his next AB in the 5th, but this time fails to make the split.  In the 7th, the Indians try to shore up their defense by bringing in Jim Landis in CF, and he immediately misplays a Dave Hansen single; a rattled Tiant then allows back-to-back triples by Mark Grudzielanek and Alex Cora (one on a 1-4 split, the second on a TR 1/ SI**) and suddenly the Dodgers have a 2-1 lead, but in the process lose Eric Karros to yet another injury–an 8 gamer that likely puts him out of the tournament.  Now armed with a lead, Park is relentless, and closes out a 4-hitter to give the Dodgers the 2-1 victory and a trip to the semifinals, for which Sheffield is expected to return.  Tiant allows only 5 hits in defeat but is undone by some unlucky split rolls, although there is little room for complaint as the Indians’ sole run came from similar luck.

The ELO rankings pegged the 1st-round matchup between the 2012 Orioles and the 2011 Angels as one between two pretty good modern era teams.  The Orioles won 93 games and made the postseason as a wildcard team; they had a powerful core of the lineup and a good bullpen but starting pitching depth was lacking, with Jason Hammel (8-6, 3.43) their best option.  The 86-win Angels didn’t have quite the lineup punch of the Orioles, partially because 19 year old Mike Trout was still finding his groove, but they had some talented arms, led by AL Cy Young runner-up Jared Weaver (18-8, 2.41).  In the bottom of the 1st the Angels move ahead 1-0 on a Torii Hunter RBI single, but lose key hitter 1B Mark Trumbo to injury.  They add a second run on a Peter Bourjos solo HR in the 3rd, and meanwhile the O’s can’t even muster a hit against Weaver until Wilson Betemit singles in the 7th, but he’s immediately erased on a DP.  After a leadoff walk by Vernon Wells in the bottom of the inning, Baltimore moves to closer Jim Johnson to try to stay in the game and he ends the inning without incident, but Howie Kendrick doubles off his card in the 8th and Alberto Callaspo singles him home.  The Orioles’ defense then falls apart, as SS-1 JJ Hardy drops a grounder, and LF-2 Nate McLouth misplays an Erick Aybar flyball into a double, and the Angels lead 4-0 heading into the 9th.  However, Weaver suddenly gets shaky, and a two-out double by Adam Jones scores a run and puts the tying run at the plate in the form of O’s leading HR hitter Chris Davis.  However, Davis fans, as he did 169 times that season, and the Angels escape with a 4-1 win as Weaver completes the 4-hitter. 

The ELO ranks had this as the game of the regional, with the #1 seed 2000 Giants against the #2 seed 2013 A’s.   According to those ranks, the 97-win Giants were the best team in baseball that season, although they lost in the NLDS to the Mets, and they had a steroid-packed lineup and some good relievers who would likely be needed, with Kirk Rueter (11-9, 3.96) getting the nod from a group of unimpressive starter options.  Their cross-bay rivals won 96 games and also won the West division in their league, and like the Giants the A’s lost in the divisional series; they were starting big-boned Bartolo Colon (18-6, 2.65), who came in 6th in the AL Cy Young balloting.  Things go horribly awry in the top of the 1st for Colon, as a walk and two singles through the A’s infield defense load the bases for the Giants; Ellis Burks knocks a sac fly, and then Jeff Kent knocks a deep fly for a 3-run blast and the Giants lead 4-0.  The A’s get one back immediately in the bottom of the inning as Jed Lowrie and Brandon Moss both hit doubles, and a Kurt Suzuki RBI single in the 4th narrows the SF lead to 4-2.  Both pitchers then settle into a groove, but when Colon allows runners on 1st and 3rd in the 8th the A’s move to their closer, Grant Balfour–and he immediately allows a double to Bobby Estalella, although only one run scores as Ramon Martinez is cut down at the plate to end the inning.  Rueter then heads into the bottom of the 9th with a 3-run lead, but a walk and a single puts the tying run at the plate and the Giants bring in closer Rob Nen to face the A’s leading HR hitter in Moss with one out.  Moss singles to bring in one, and now Josh Donaldson at the plate represents the winning run.  The roll is on Donaldson’s card, but it’s a gbA and the Giants survive with a 5-3 win and a trip to the semis.

The survivors

More dangerous in the field than at the plate

In their book “Baseball Dynasties”, Neyer and Epstein rank teams according to the combined standard deviations compared to league averages for runs scored and runs allowed; this regional’s semifinal entrant, the 1938 Phillies, were the 5th worst team since 1900 according to that metric.  Yet, they remain alive, with their leading “power” hitter injured and their winningest pitcher, Claude Passeau (11-18, 4.52) on the mound, ready to face the 2000 Dodgers.  The Dodgers were missing Eric Karros but LA’s top HR hitter Gary Sheffield would return to the lineup after the minor injury suffered in the first round, and Kevin Brown (13-6, 2.58) was licking his chops in anticipation of facing the feeble Phillie lineup.  Things start out grim for the Phils as leadoff hitter and 2B Heinie Mueller gets injured first thing in the top of the 1st, but that seems to spark the team as doubles by Hersh Martin and Buck Jordan, and a big error by LA LF-5 Gary Sheffield, lead to three runs for the Phils before the inning ends.  The Dodgers try to start climbing back into it with a Todd Hundley RBI single in the 3rd and another by Tom Goodwin in the 4th, but in the 6th Sheffield manages to play a Morrie Arnovich flyball into a two-run triple, and the Phillies lead is now 5-2.  Meanwhile, Passeau hasn’t allowed any hits since the 4th inning, but he walks two in the bottom of the 9th to face Sheffield, representing the tying run with one away.  Sheffield has the chance to atone for his atrocious fielding, and….he hits into a double play, game over, and the unlikely Phils move to the finals with two injuries depleting their already feeble lineup.

The top seeded 2000 Giants came into this semifinal game at full strength and with Livan Hernandez (17-11, 3.75), their winningest pitcher, ready to go on the mound.  Meanwhile, their opponent, the #5 seed 2011 Angels, had their top HR hitter, Mark Trumbo, still out with an injury, although Dan Haren (16-10, 3.17) was a pretty solid option as their starter.   Both starters begin strong, with Hernandez getting out of jams caused by three Giants errors in the early innings, but in the 5th Izturis raps a single for the first hit off Livan.  Giants CF-3 Marvin Benard then plays an Alberto Callaspo flyball into a double, so SF brings in the infield to try to keep the game knotted with weak-hitting (.174, to be exact) C Jeff Mathis at the plate.  However, a gbA++ and Mathis brings both runners home to put the southern Californians in the lead.  However, in the 6th Benard hits a leadoff double trying to atone for his fielding, then JT Snow singles him home, followed by a Barry Bonds blast that puts the Giants on top.  Benard does some more atoning in the 7th with an RBI single, and when Bonds doubles to lead off the 8th the Angels bring in Scott Downs, but Ramon Martinez atones for his two errors with an RBI single, Rich Aurelia adds an run-scoring double, and the Giants head to the 9th inning with a commanding 6-2 lead.  The Angels get a single from Vernon Wells followed by an Izturis double, and the Giants take no chances, turning to Felix Rodriguez to close things out.  Callaspo gets a run in on a sac fly, but that’s all the flying the Angels would do as the Giants head to the regional final with the 6-3 win.

No steroids here

This is perhaps the biggest David vs. Goliath regional final in the history of the tournament, with the #1 seed 2000 Giants, the best team in baseball that season, against the #8 seed 1938 Phillies, the worst team in baseball that season and by any metric among the worst in history.  In reading up on the 1938 Phillies trying to figure out how such an objectively terrible team could make the regional finals, I discovered that this was their first season in Shibe Park after moving out of the much smaller Baker Bowl, so I thought that perhaps the team was simply not well-constructed for their new environment.  The team only hit a total of 40 homers, nine less than Barry Bonds by himself, and with injuries to their #1 and #2 homer threats the Phils could only muster 28 for this game.  Of course, a move to a new park didn’t explain why the team was terrible in 1937 also, and the more spacious digs didn’t seem to help their pitching any–it was now time for staff workhorse Hugh Mulcahy (10-20, 4.61), whose efforts earned him the unfortunate nickname of “Losing Pitcher”.  The Giants were getting down into the dregs of their rotation, although surprisingly for a steroid-era team, their problems weren’t homers allowed; it was terrible control, with both Ortiz and Estes allowing more than 100 walks in less than 200 innings.  So the start went to Mark Gardner (11-7, 4.05), but the Phils .196-hitting C Bill Atwood finds and converts Gardner’s HR split in the 3rd to give the Phils a 2-0 lead as the fans at Pacific Bell Park look on in disbelief.  Meanwhile, the Giants don’t even get a hit against Mulcahy until the 5th, and when Gardner allows a 2-out double off his card in the 6th the Giants sense that emergency measures are necessary, and closer Robb Nen is brought in to try to salvage their chances.  Nen promptly walks Del Young, to bring up Atwood.  The roll:  4-5 on Nen’s card, HR 1-2/flyB, and the split die comes up: 1 (my laughter in reaction to that roll had my family members concerned about me).  Atwood thus coaxes a 3-run homer over the wall for his second blast of the game and the Phils lead 5-0, but the dice gods seem aggravated and in the 6th Phils CF Hersh Martin leads off by getting injured for four games–the third Phillie out of the lineup.  The Giants finally get untracked in the 8th and load the bases with nobody out, and with no bullpen to speak of Mulcahy isn’t going anywhere.  Ellis Burks then hits into a DP, which at least scores one, and Jeff Kent adds an RBI single and the gap is narrowed to 5-2 entering the 9th.  The Phils do nothing in the top of the 9th, so it comes down to the bottom of the Giants order.  Rich Aurelia doubles and Marvin Benard draws a 2-out walk, so the tying run comes to the plate in the form of JT Snow, with Bonds on deck.  But Snow grounds out, and the unlikely and injury-riddled Phils hoist the regional flag, with catcher Bill Atwood–a guy who had seven career homers–hitting two in the final to be named the even more unlikely MVP.

Interesting card of Regional #132:  Okay, so I did feature this guy once before back in Regional #103, but it was in his days with the Pirates and so this is sort of a before-and-after look into the steroid era.  Say what you want about his Hall of Fame candidacy, this is a nice looking card, although that 3-9 roll drives me crazy.  It’s also an interesting card in that it’s one of the few that has both the MLBPA logo as well as Bonds’ name on it, as shortly thereafter he decided he would negotiate his name/image/likeness rights separately from the players’ union and the game company no longer included his name on the cards.  Anyhow, in 2000 Bonds finished 2nd in the MVP voting to teammate Jeff Kent; Bonds was higher in WAR and OPS than Kent, although Kent had more RBIs–mainly because he batted after Bonds in the lineup.   At any rate, Bonds made up for any potential slight by then rattling off four straight NL MVP awards, a stretch that probably only ended because he missed most of 2005 trying to recover from knee surgery.  Referring to the half-decade that began with this card, his SABR bio probably puts it best:  “Debates will always rage, but statistically Bonds’ efforts from 2000 to 2004 can be claimed as the greatest five-year period ever for a hitter.”  Perhaps it is karma that his Giants lost in the regional finals to what was by all accounts one of the worst baseball teams of all time.

REGIONAL #131:  In the 1950s, the Yankees dominated the AL, but the performance of those teams in this tournament has been dismal, going zero for six in efforts to win a regional.  For this bracket it’s the turn of the pennant-winning 1958 Yanks team, who will face challenges from Orioles and Dodgers teams that would each win their league in the following season, two 21st century Toronto squads, and a longtime Yankee nemesis, the Splendid Splinter himself.  I suspected that the Yanks would be the rankings favorite but given their previous failures I doubted they would come through this time; instead, I picked the Dodgers over the Orioles in the finals.  As expected, the ELO rankings suggested that the Yanks would break their 50’s drought and finally come through with a regional win.

First round action

The 2010 Blue Jays were a 4th place team with 85 wins, but they had a formidable lineup led by Jose Bautista’s 54 round-trippers and a solid starter in Ricky Romero (13-9, 3.73) to begin the bracket.  As a team of the mid-60s, the 94-win 1965 Orioles couldn’t come close to the Jays power numbers, but were relying on defense and the pitching of Steve Barber (15-10, 2.69) to get them through.  Things start out auspiciously for the Jays in the top of the 1st when leadoff batter SS Yunel Escobar gets injured and has to leave the game, but then Bautista sends a solo shot into the cheap seats at Memorial Stadium and Toronto leads 1-0.  However, the Orioles bat around in the bottom of the inning, with Aparicio making 2 of the 3 outs, and rack up 6 hits–including a missed grand slam by Norm Siebern on a HR 1-10 split–and Baltimore ends the inning leaving the bases loaded but holding a 4-1 lead.   In the 5th, Siebern comes up again with the bases loaded, but only drives in one on a fielder’s choice, although that is followed by Jerry Adair’s second RBI single of the game and the O’s lead is now 6-1.  Meanwhile, Barber is cruising until the 9th, but Lyle Overbay leads it off with a homer and Barber starts to lose his touch, leaving with runners on 2nd and 3rd as Stu Miller is summoned to close things out.  Miller records two straight outs (one a sac fly), and the Orioles move on with a 6-3 win.

The 1955 Red Sox went 84-70 despite the efforts of Ted Williams, who had an OPS of 1.200 despite battling injuries during the season.  Their opponents, the 71-81 1934 Dodgers, didn’t have much pop in their lineup, with their leading HR hitter having only 14, but they did have the infamous Van Lingle Mungo (18-16, 3.37) on the mound to go against Boston’s Ike Delock (9-7, 3.76), who as far as I know did not have any songs written about him.  However, Mungo faces the music in the bottom of the 1st as Billy Goodman and Williams hit doubles and Boston takes an early 1-0 lead.  That doesn’t last, as in the 2nd leadoff hitter Sam Leslie picks Delock for pitcher’s-card homer to tie it, but the Red Sox take back the lead immediately when Norm Zauchin and Jimmy Piersall hit back-to-back doubles (both off Mungo’s card) to lead off the bottom of the inning.  Despite that boisterous start, the game then sinks into a display of offensive ineptitude, with the Red Sox hitting into three rally-killing DPs and the Dodgers unable to get to Delock again.  Brooklyn finally mounts a threat in the top of the 9th as Boston makes two straight errors to begin the inning, but Red Sox 2B-4 Goodman actually makes a key play and Delock fans Buzz Boyle with the tying and go-ahead run both in scoring position to close out the 2-1 Red Sox win.  

The 2019 Blue Jays had some great names that I was familiar with–Vlad Guerrero, Biggio, Bichette–although it was mainly because of their fathers; it was easy to see why they lost 95 games as they had no pitching depth, with only two starting pitchers with 100 innings or more.   Although Marcus Strohman (6-11, 2.96) was not terrible as their top option, the Jays still would have liked to borrow a couple of starters from the 95-win 1973 Dodgers, who had five good ones, paced by Don Sutton (18-10, 2.43) who was 5th in the Cy Young voting that year.   A Freddy Galvis solo shot in the 2nd gives the Jays the early lead, and the Dodgers’ attempt to strike back in the bottom of the inning ends in disaster as Joe Ferguson and Ron Cey are both cut down at the plate in consecutive at-bats.  Things stay status quo until the 7th, when Toronto C Danny Jansen nails Suttons HR split for a solo blast that makes it 2-0, but when Bill Buckner leads off the bottom of the inning with a single the Jays take no chances and move to their closer, Ken Giles, and his 1.87 ERA.  However, that doesn’t go well as Giles allows a hit to Russell and then Davey Lopes converts Giles’ HR 1-5 split for a 3-run shot that gives the Dodgers their first lead.  The Jays do get the tying run in scoring position in the top of the 9th, but Sutton bears down and closes out the 3-2 comeback win.

The 1958 Yankees went 92-62 and won the AL by 10 games as well as a tough 7 game World Series against the Braves.  Although starter Bob Turley came in 2nd in the MVP voting, I opted to go with young Whitey Ford (14-7, 2.01) because skipping over him in past matchups for 50s Yankee teams has not worked well for them.  He would face a strong lineup from the 97-loss 1999 Royals, featuring typical steroid-era power but a largely terrible pitching staff, with Jose Rosado (10-14, 3.85) by far their best option to start.   The Royals get on the scoreboard first when Johnny Damon’s sac fly scores Carlos Febles in the 3rd, but in the bottom of the inning the Yanks respond when Enos Slaughter contributes a sac fly of his own to tie it up.  KC regains the lead on a Joe Randa RBI double in the 6th, but once again the Yanks respond in kind with a Bill Skowron RBI double that knots it at 2-2.   New York threatens in the 7th when Tony Kubek hits a one-out triple; the Royals eye their terrible bullpen but stick with Rosado, who rewards them by stranding Kubek at third and the score remains even.  However, the Yanks break through in the 8th when Hank Bauer raps a clutch two-out single that scores two, and Rosado never recovers as two batters later Kubek adds a two run double to make it 6-2 New York.  The Royals put men on 2nd and 3rd in the 9th, but PH Sal Fasano lines into a double play and the Yankees escape the first round with a 6-2 victory, Ford tossing a 6-hitter.  

The survivors

The 1955 Red Sox and 1965 Orioles were winning teams from a decade apart, but they were miles apart in team construction with the pitching/defense O’s against the offense-minded Bostonians, led by Ted Williams who didn’t believe much in either defense or pitching.   Still, the Red Sox had a decent #2 in Frank Sullivan (18-13, 2.91) to go against the O’s Milt Pappas (13-9, 2.61), although Brooks Robinson converts a solo HR 1-5 in the top of the 1st to give Baltimore the early edge.  In the 3rd, the O’s get two straight hits against the Red Sox defense, one a Charlie Lau RBI single, but the Red Sox retaliate in the bottom of the inning with four hits and three runs, including a 2-run single from Jackie Jensen, and things could have been worse but the Sox killed the rally by hitting into a DP.   A Curt Blefary RBI single ties it up in the top of the 5th, and in the 7th the O’s load up the bases but Sullivan fans Norm Siebern and the score remains tied.  In the bottom of the inning, Billy Goodman avoids the DP and instead smacks an RBI single to give the Red Sox a one run lead, and when Jensen leads off the bottom of the 8th with a walk Pappas is gone in favor of Stu Miller, but the Red Sox still score when lumbering LF Boog Powell can’t get to a Sammy White line drive.   That puts the O’s down by two entering the 9th, and all they can muster is a Robinson single and Sullivan closes things out to give the Red Sox the 5-3 win and a trip to the finals in search of their 6th regional crown.

Turley twirls a two-hitter

The 1958 Yankees’ quest for dynasty redemption moves into the semifinals, riding the arm of AL MVP runner-up Bob Turley (21-7, 2.97).  However, they would face another solid arm, that of Andy Messersmith (14-10, 2.70) fronting the 1973 Dodgers, who had generated all of their runs in the first round game on a single roll off the pitcher’s card.   The Dodgers take a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd with two-out back-to-back doubles from Bill Russell and Davey Lopes, but in the 5th Hank Bauer whallops a 2-run HR to give the Yanks the lead.  In the bottom of the 8th, a Mantle double puts men on 2nd and 3rd with one out, but Messersmith delivers two whiffs in a row and the game heads into the 9th with the Dodgers down a run.  And Turley sets the heart of the LA lineup down in order to preserve the 2-hitter (those two doubles in the 3rd) and the Yankees head to the finals with a 2-1 win to face their longtime rivals.

It was an all-50s regional final featuring an epic matchup between two bitter rivals, the world champion 1958 Yankees and the 1955 Red Sox, with Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams facing off in their prime.  Neither of those stars had been a major factor in their teams reaching the finals, but fans of both were waiting for a breakout in this game.  The game would be played in Yankee Stadium, which is of particular note as the home team had won every game thus far in the regional, and the pitching matchup was a good one for #3 starters, Don Larsen (9-6, 3.07) for NY and George Susce (9-7, 3.06).  The Yanks lose Yogi Berra to injury to lead off the top of the 2nd, and it looks like he’ll be out for multiple games, but fortunately for them they have Elston Howard ready to come off the bench–who is arguably better.   The game remains scoreless until the 5th, when a two-out single by Gene Stephens is followed by a missed HR 1-7 split on Sammy White, but Stephens races home on the resulting double and the Red Sox lead 1-0.  In the bottom of the 6th, Enos Slaughter hits a leadoff triple and Susce walks Mantle, but records two straight popouts and it’s looking like he’s going to escape the inning.  At the plate is sub Elston Howard–and he finds and converts Susce’s HR 1-12 result and the Bronx erupts.  In the top of the 8th, a single, a walk, and an error by Yank 3B-1 Andy Carey loads the bases with one out for Williams.  New York eyes wild man Ryne Duren in the pen, but his wildness is an issue with the bases jammed, and so Larsen is told to get out of his own jam.  Williams hits a sac fly and one run is in, but then Yanks 2B-2 Gil McDougald drops a Jackie Jensen grounder and the bases are loaded once again.  This time, Larsen fans Norm Zauchin and New York clings to a one-run lead.  They get some insurance in the bottom of the inning when Mantle doubles, and Carey atones for his fielding miscue by shooting a single past SS-3 Billy Klaus that scores Mantle.  Susce can’t recover, allowing two more hits including a Bauer 2-run double, and by the time Tom Hurd can record the third out the Yanks have expanded their lead to 7-2 and the Sox face their final chance in the 9th.  When Jimmy Piersall singles and Sammy White doubles, the Yanks take no chances and now summon Duren, who strikes out two in a row to lock down the win and the regional title for the Yanks.  And, for the first time in many tries, a pennant-winning Yankee team of the 50’s emerges victorious and will ultimately proceed to the super-regional level.

Interesting card of Regional #131:  I present to you the 5th-place finisher in the AL MVP voting in 1958, a vote that was won by Jackie Jensen of the Red Sox.  I bring this up because I find that vote puzzling.  Jensen certainly had a good year, and led the league in RBI, but Mantle led the league in homers, walks, runs scored, and WAR (which was almost double Jensen’s); Mantle bested Jensen in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, and stolen bases, and although both were outstanding fielders, Mantle played a more demanding position.  And then, of course, there was the simple fact that Mantle’s team won the pennant and Jensen’s team finished 16 games behind them.  Once might argue that Mantle had to “split votes” with teammate Bob Turley, who finished 2nd in the voting, but then the same claim could be made about Jensen and Ted Williams, as the Splinter finished 7th in the voting and actually led the AL in batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS.  Finally, add to this a supposed “New York bias” among the baseball writers, and the fact that Mantle was an immensely popular player, and I’m just baffled that he finished FIFTH–behind Bob Cerv, of all people!  Perhaps it was some redemption that both Mantle and Jensen played in the finals, with Mantle helping his team to the regional win over Jensen’s squad.  Regardless–it’s a pretty good card.

REGIONAL #130:  I always dread it when one of my favorite teams comes up in this tournament, because they invariably lose early, typically to a worse team, and then they’re out of this project forever.   My fears this time centered on the “winning ugly” 1983 White Sox, for whom I witnessed in person their real-life win-or-go-home moment when they lost to the Orioles in game 4 of the ALCS in an extra-inning game that was scoreless after nine innings.  Although they wouldn’t be facing any pennant winners, my initial scan of the competition suggested a number of teams that could knock them off, including a Royals team from the same season that was between pennants, a Twins team that would win the World Series the following season, a Hank Aaron-led Braves squad, and what I suspected would be competitive outfits from the Red Sox and the Angels.  Figuring that with my luck the Sox would lose in round one, I guessed that the Angels would make the finals but lose there to the Twins.  The ELO rankings added to the kiss-of-death tally by naming the Sox as the bracket favorites over the Royals in the finals, although by the rankings their first round opponent Angels should be their biggest challenge.  

First round action

For the first game of the regional I’m having to hope that the 99-win 1983 White Sox can survive the consistently bad luck that befalls any of my favorite teams that play in this tournament.  Of course, their first misfortune is in drawing the 2007 Angels, the second best team in the regional and every bit as good as the Sox on paper, as their opponent in the first round.  With solid hitting, good defense, and a couple of very strong starters, it was easy to see why the Angels won 94 games and, as did the Sox, won the AL West.  For the starting pitcher, despite some misgivings I had to go with LaMarr Hoyt (24-10, 3.66 ), the AL Cy Young winner that we lost in the past year, as I felt Dewey deserved his shot.  For the Angels, John Lackey (19-9, 3.01) finished 3rd in the Cy Young balloting and was a bit less prone to the longball than Hoyt.  In the 3rd, Reggie Willitts doubles off Hoyt’s card and Orlando Cabrera scores to give the Halos a 1-0 lead, but Willitts gets injured on his next AB and will be out for one more game.  Meanwhile, in both the 4th and 6th inning, Greg Luzinski comes up with two runners on and two out–and he whiffs both times, highly reminiscent of his performance in Game 4 of the 1983 ALCS (I’m guessing they were both called third strikes).  It finally comes to the Sox last chance in the top of the 9th, down by a run but with the heart of the order up:  Fisk, Baines, Luzinski.  And down they go, in order, with Luzinski whiffing for the 3rd time of the game as the last out, and as I feared the Sox lose ugly and head back to storage while the Angels move on with a 1-0 win in which they only get 5 hits, while the Sox only manage 6.  

After watching one of my favorite teams get eliminated immediately in the prior game, I was worried about the prospects for one of my favorite players, Hank Aaron, as the 1967 Braves took the field against the 88-win, AL East division winning 1990 Red Sox.  The Braves went 77-85 even though Hammering Hank finished 5th in the MVP voting, and starter Phil Niekro (11-9, 1.87) was imposing, but after that the supporting cast had big holes.   Plus, they had the challenge of going against Roger Clemens (21-6, 1.93), who like Niekro also led his league in ERA while finishing 2nd in the Cy Young vote.  Not surprisingly, the game develops into a hell of a pitchers’ duel:  Clemens has a perfect game going until 1 out in the 8th, when Clete Boyer drills a hard single, and a rattled Clemens then allows another single to Felipe Alou and a double to Rico Carty and the Braves score the first run of the game.  Woody Woodward then squibs a single past SS-3 Luis Rivera to score another, and Clemens loses it, walking two in a row to score another run.  At that point, Boston has to get their roid-raged ace out of the game, and they send Larry Andersen in to face Aaron with the based loaded.  Aaron whiffs, so the inning that started with a possible perfect game finally ends with the Braves up 3-0.  Just to be safe, Boyer adds a solo homer in the top of the 9th, but it turns out to be unnecessary as Niekro finishes out the 5-hit shutout for the 4-0 win.  The Braves only muster 5 hits themselves, but they were nicely bunched after seven innings of helplessness against Clemens.

The 1985 Mariners only went 74-88 but they had a core of good players like Alvin Davis, Phil Bradley, and Jim Presley that I remember being quite useful in my draft leagues back in the day, plus they had a very solid #1 starter in Mike Moore (17-10, 3.46).  They faced the 2004 Rays (who were still Deviled at the time), who lost 91 games, which was actually the best season in the history of the franchise at that point, and the best pitcher they could muster was Rob Bell (8-8, 4.46).  The Rays score in the top of the 2nd on a couple of walks and a couple of squib singles, but leave the bases loaded and only take a 1-0 lead.  However, in the 3rd the Mariners move on top 2-1 courtesy of a Jack Perconte RBI triple followed by a Davis sac fly.  The Rays strike back in the 5th when Rocco Baldelli hits a 2-out double with two men on, but Tino Martinez is cut down at the plate and the score is knotted at 2-2 temporarily, until Bob Kearney finds Bell’s HR result for a solo shot in the bottom of the inning and the M’s regain a 3-2 lead.  Bell loads up the bases in the 6th and Al Cowens converts a SI* 1-6 to give Seattle another run, but Tampa closer Danys Baez comes in and retires the side without further damage.   However, Baez gets wild in the 8th, loading up the bases and the M’s bring in Ivan Calderon to pinch hit.  He misses a HR 1-9 split for the grand slam, but the resulting double clears the bases and the M’s have a commanding lead.  Moore sets the Rays down in order in the 9th for the 5-hit complete game 7-2 win; the M’s do lose DH Gorman Thomas to a serious injury but he will be replaced by his doppleganger, Ken Phelps.  

The 1983 Royals had to be a little nervous given that the winner of their division had just been eliminated from the tourney without scoring a run; KC did finish second to the White Sox but had a losing 79-83 record.  However, they faced the 1990 Twins, who had a worse record at 74-88 and finished last in their division.  On the mound were KC’s Paul Splittorf (13-8, 3.63) against the Twins’ Scott Erickson (8-4, 2.87), and Willie Wilson wakes up Erickson in the top of the 1st with a leadoff triple–but fails to score as Erickson fans the heart of the Royals lineup.  Trying to show the Royals how its done, Shane Mack leads off the bottom of the inning with a triple of his own, but Splittorf records two quick outs before a CATCH X ends up in a passed ball charged to John Wathan, and the Twins lead 1-0.  Doubles by Gary Gaetti and Gene Larkin in the 4th make it a two-run lead, although Wathan strokes an RBI single in the 5th to atone for his mistake and narrow the score to 2-1.  Hal McRae’s sac fly in the 6th scores Frank White to tie the game, but when Splittorf allows 2 hits to start the bottom of the 7th, the Royals elect to go to closer Dan Quisenberry.  That doesn’t go too well as Quiz allows 2 more hits, but the Twins only get one run out of it as Kirby Puckett (1-15) is nailed trying to score.  The Royals waste no time in retaliating as George Brett and Willie Aikens go back-to-back in leading off the 8th, and it’s the Twins turn to summon their closer, Rick Aguilera.  The closers hold court until the bottom of the 9th, when Quisenberry fails to lock up the game as a Dan Gladden single scores a lumbering Kent Hrbek (1-9) from second, which ties the game and sends it to extra innings.  The 10th passes uneventfully, but in the top of the 11th pinch hitter Butch Davis starts a 2-out rally with UL Washington doubling, Willie Wilson driving them both in with a single; Wilson then steals second and White knocks him in and the Royals take a three-run lead into the bottom of the 11th.  However, at this point Quisenberry is burned for the regional and the remaining KC bullpen options are frightening, with Mike Armstrong seeming to be the best of the lot.  Junior Ortiz immediately finds Armstrong’s solid 6-4 HR result to lead off the inning; he gets two outs and then Dan Gladden rips a triple, but Gene Larkin pops out and Quisenberry gets the sloppy win, Armstrong gets the sloppy save, and the Royals move on with a 7-5 win.

The survivors

Having shut out the regional favorite in the first round, the #2 seed 2007 Angels now get to assume the mantle of favorite, and they face the 1967 Braves, who came within 5 outs of having a perfect game thrown against them.  The Braves were not pleased that the Angels had yet another very good starting pitcher, Kelvim Escobar (18-7, 3.40), available to go against Atlanta’s Ken Johnson (13-9, 2.74).  In the 2nd, the Angels lose 2B Howie Kendrick to injury, and with LF Reggie Willetts already out from a first round sprain their team depth is being tested.  In the bottom of the 3rd, Willetts’ replacement in LF, Garrett Anderson, can’t get to a two-out Denis Menke flyball and it falls for a double, scoring Carty; that opens the door for an onslaught that includes two more doubles from Mack Jones and Clete Boyer, and an RBI single from Aaron, and by the time Escobar gets Alou for out number three, it’s 5-0 Braves.  The Braves threaten again in the 4th but Felix Millan (1-16) is nailed trying to score for the third out.  As the game heads to the 7th, the Braves bring in Bob Costas’ favorite Strat card, Gary Geiger, as a defensive replacement in CF.  In the 8th, Braves 2B Woody Woodward comes up with two on and two out, and not only does he make the third out, he gets injured and will miss the regional final–meaning that for the remainder of this game at least, the Braves now have an all-”4” DP combo because Millan started at DH. But at least Johnson assures that the Braves will get to that final, as he wraps up a 3-hit shutout (making two in a row for Atlanta) and they advance with the 5-0 win.

It was 80s night for this semifinal with two sub-.500 squads, the 1983 Royals and Bud Black (10-7, 3.79) against the 1985 Mariners and Matt Young (12-19, 4.91), with the underdog Mariners hoping to stay alive and maybe win the first regional for the franchise.  The Royals strike with speed in the bottom of the 1st when Willie Wilson singles, steals second against a hapless Seattle C-4 Bob Kearney, and scores on a George Brett single.  It gets worse for the Mariners when Jim Presley gets injured leading off the top of the 2nd, and with Gorman Thomas already laid up the M’s have no decent bench to cover.  A 2-run Wilson double and a fielder's choice score three more in the 2nd, and when Pat Sheridan whacks a 3-run homer in the 3rd the rout is on and Young exits with a 31.50 ERA for his efforts.  An Al Cowens RBI double in the 5th gets Seattle on the board to make it 8-1, and Jack Perconte adds another in the 8th with a 2-out RBI single, but the Royals aren’t worried–yet.  However, in the 9th Black muffs a Kearney grounder and throws it into the dugout on what would have been the 3rd out, allowing 2 runs to score and opening the door for the Mariners with no real help in the pen.  Ultimately, however, Black gets out number three, and the Royals escape with an 8-5 win and a date with the Braves in the finals.

The finals matched the #4 seeded 1967 Braves, who had been underdogs in every game they won, with the #5 seed 1983 Royals, who despite being ranked lower than the Braves had nonetheless been favorites in both of their prior games.  That wasn’t the case here, especially with a dropoff in the Royals’ rotation that meant a start for Steve Renko (6-11, 4.30) against Atlanta’s Denny Lemaster (9-9, 3.35).  Both teams were shorthanded, with Royals closer Quisenberry burnt for the regional and Braves 2B Woody Woodward injured, the latter hole filled by Bob Costas’s hero, Gary Geiger and his .162 average (Millan to 2nd, Carty to DH, Jones to LF, Geiger to CF).  Geiger gets a clutch 2-out single in the 2nd, but is robbed of an RBI when Alou (1-16) is out at the plate to end the inning.  The Royals show them how it’s done in the bottom of the inning, as they load the bases with two-out for their #9 hitter, U.L. Washington, and he delivers a clutch single and Hal McRae takes the extra base so KC leads 2-0.  Denis Menke responds for the Braves with a homer to lead off the 3rd to narrow the gap to one run, but the Royals get it back in the bottom of the inning with a Willie Aikens solo shot.  That lead dissipates in the 3rd as Rico Carty’s two-run blast ties things up, and then the Braves move in front when KC SS-2 Washington drops a Millan grounder and Menke singles Millan home.  Both pitchers ride it out from there but Lemaster is the master, completing a 4-hitter and the 4-3 victory that gives the Braves the regional, completing a nice little dynasty of 1967, 1968, and 1969 Braves teams that have done so.  However, on their last at-bat of the game, Felipe Alou is injured and he will miss the first game of their eventual (if I last that long) super-regional appearance. 

Interesting card of Regional #130:  In 1983, Butch Davis was a 25-year-old making his first MLB appearance for the Royals, and as you can see it went pretty well.  By tournament rules, Davis was eligible to DH because he had at least 100 ABs, but because KC already had Hal McRae serving effectively in that role, he was relegated to pinch-hit duties, and he did deliver an important one to help get his Royals to the regional finals.   But notice his stat line–how many modern-era players can you think of that had more triples than doubles AND homers combined, with at least 100 AB?  That stat line lends itself to an interesting card, and that solid 3-7 TRIPLE is a nice feature, but what I find particularly eye-catching is that 3-4:  HR 1-6/fly B.  Why did they give him an out as the second part of the split?  He had plenty of triple points to spare that could have been used to complete the split–my impression was that Strat would always complete a HR split with an extra base hit if the player merited sufficient points to do so.  If you’re thinking that the game company never has a HR/TR split, any classic Strat C&D player should remember the Old Timer 1927 Yanks and Earle Combs, with his 1-10 HR 1-5/TR split outcome.  At any rate, Butch never had much of a shot at another card like this, as he never hit above .245 again and the most ABs in a season he would ever get was 159–10 years after the card represented here.