REGIONAL #156:  This bracket featured a grab-bag of teams from this millennium along with two pre-war squads that decided to crash the modern party, and none of them were within hailing distance of a pennant.  The 1927 Giants had been a dynasty earlier in the decade and I guessed that they still had some talent available; among the modern teams, there was a Royals team before they got good and Tigers and Expos teams that had previously been good; there was also a pandemic Rangers team and entries from that season can have unpredictable results. I thought that the bottom of the bracket here would be much stronger than the top, but had no clue about who might win, so I went old school and picked the 1927 Giants over the 2017 Tigers in the final.   The ELO rankings agreed with my pick of the Giants to win the regional, but they indicated that I overlooked the other vintage team in the group, the 1938 Indians, who was predicted to make it an all-golden era final.

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First round action

The ELO ranks characterized this first round game as a battle between two terrible teams, the 98-loss 2017 Tigers against the even worse 110-loss 2021 Orioles.  The pitching matchup of Detroit’s Michael Fulmer (10-12, 3.83) against the O’s John Means (6-9, 3.62) was hardly one for the ages, but whoever managed to win this game would be looking at some truly frightening options for round two.  Baltimore’s Means had a serious problem with gopher balls, which doesn’t take long to show up as Alex Presley leads off the game with a HR off Means’ card, and in the 3rd Andrew Romine leads off with the same HR roll.  A rattled Means then allows back to back doubles to Jeimer Candelario and Nick Castellanos (that’s nine syllables worth of last names there), and the Tigers now lead 3-0.  In the 4th, Miggy Cabrera rolls the same result on Means but this time misses the split, and he gets stranded at second while the O’s are just waiting to get Means through the requisite 5 innings before pulling him.  He doesn’t quite make it there unscathed, as Candelario finds Means solid HR result so there is no doubt about it, a solo shot.  Baltimore brings in Cole Sulser to begin the 6th, and he controls the Tigers until a 2-out double by James McCann in the 8th scores Castellanos to make it a five-run lead.  Meanwhile, Fulmer is sharp but starts to run out of gas in the 9th, loading the bases with two out, but Baltimore has no decent pinch hitters for Maikel Franco, who flies out and Fulmer closes out the shutout, scattering eight hits in the 5-0 win.

According to the ELO ranks, I had overlooked the 1938 Indians as a good team in my initial scan of the regional; I remembers the 20’s and the 40’s as strong years for Cleveland, but this team went 86-66 to finished 3rd in the AL with a strong lineup anchored by Hal Trosky, Earl Averill and the legendary Jeff Heath.  However, the pitching staff was worrisome, and Bob Feller (17-11, 4.08) was young and very wild, walking 208 batters!   They faced the 2020 Rangers, and  like Forrest Gump’s chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get from a pandemic year team.  What you got with the Rangers was a 22-38 team with three guys in the lineup below the Mendoza line, although at least their highest IP starter, Lance Lynn (6-3, 3.32) also turned out to be their best.  Lyn Lary scores on a Heath grounder in the top of the 1st to give the Tribe a quick lead, and they extend it in the 2nd when Bruce Campbell finds Lynn’s solid HR result for a solo shot.  However, in the bottom of the 2nd Feller walks four Rangers and the Cleveland lead is cut to 2-1.  Not for long, as in the 3rd Trosky misses Lynn’s split HR result but drives in two on the resulting double, and although Feller walks three straight in the bottom of the inning, he escapes with no runs scored.  A two-out solo shot from Heath in the 5th makes it 5-1 Cleveland, but the Rangers quickly get the run back when Shin-Soo Choo leads off the bottom of the inning with a shot into the stands at the empty Globe Life Field.  The Rangers bring in Joely Rodriguez to begin the 6th, trying to use their weird low IP cards to their advantage, and he holds the Indians at bay while Jose Trevino and Rougned Odor go back to back with solo shots in the bottom of the inning, and it’s suddenly a one run game.   Cleveland responds again, as Frankie Pytlak doubles to lead off the 7th and the Indians catcher plods home on a Lary single, and they add another in the 8th when new Rangers reliever Kyle Cody loads the bases.  Feller then bears down, striking out Joey Gallo for the final out to finish out the 7-4 win; Feller tosses a 5-hitter (3 of which were home runs) in which he walks 10 and strikes out 7.

After setting the lineup for the 1927 Giants, I was feeling pretty good about picking them to win the regional, as there were an amazing SIX Hall of Famers in their starting lineup plus another on the mound in the form of spitballer Burleigh Grimes (19-8, 3.53), and their 92-62 record left them only two games out of the NL pennant.  Still, their opponent, the 2014 Brewers, to me looked better than their 82-80 record, with some power throughout the lineup and a decent rotation fronted by Wily Peralta (17-11, 3.53).  Grimes looks masterful in the 1st, striking out the side to begin the game, while George Harper leads off the 2nd by crushing one into the stands at the Polo Grounds to give the Giants an edge.  In the 3rd, it’s HOFer Travis Jackson knocking in HOFer Rogers Hornsby, and Jackson scores on a single from HOFer Mel Ott and the Giants lead moves to 3-0, and Grimes is still throwing a perfect game until Carlos Gomez draws a walk in the 4th, with the no-hitter lost to an Aramis Ramirez single in the 5th.  A Mel Ott sac fly extends the Giants lead in the 5th, so when Edd Roush leads off the 6th with a single, the Brewers waste no time in going to Mike Fiers out of the pen to try to keep the game within reach.  He does his job until HOFer Fred Lindstrom finds and converts Fiers’ HR split in the 8th, and Grimes wraps up his 3-hitter with a perfect 9th as the Giants move on with the 5-0 win.

The 2009 Royals lost 97 games and they looked like they deserved each loss, but they had one and only one thing going for them–starting pitcher Zack Greinke (16-8, 2.16), who won the Cy Young Award despite pitching for a terrible team.  They were ELO favorites over the 2000 Expos regardless, as the Expos lost 95 games and although their lineup had steroid-era power with seven guys in double digit homers led by Vlad Guerrero’s 1.074 OPS, their pitching staff also looked like steroid-era victims, with Javier Vasquez (11-9, 4.05) being the best of bad alternatives.  Outpowered, the Royals try smallball in the 2nd as Willie Bloomquist singles, steals second, and races home on a Mitch Maier base hit, but the Expos show their muscle with a 2-out, 2-run homer from Orlando Cabrera in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.  However, Vasquez is having trouble getting anyone out, and three singles in the top of the 3rd ties the game, and a Billy Butler RBI single in the 5th puts the Royals up once again.  With Vasquez having allowed 9 hits in 5 innings, the Expos move to Scott Strickland in the 6th, and he sets the Royals down in order and the Expos get down to business immediately in the bottom of the inning as Vlad leads off with a colossal homer to tie the game back up.  Then, in the bottom of the 8th, just like he did in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series (I wuz there), Geoff Blum leads off the inning with a homer and Montreal regains the lead.  The Expos try to preserve some use for Strickland and bring in Ugueth Urbina to close things out in the 9th, and he allows a leadoff single to PH Jose Guillen which is followed by a Maier triple, off Urbina’s card, and the game is tied with the go-ahead run at 3rd with nobody out.  The infield comes in, but Coco Crisp gets the ball to the outfield for a sac fly and the Royals take the lead.  Urbina then allows another triple off his card to David Dejesus, but he gets stranded at 3rd and the Royals take the one-run lead into the bottom of the 9th, with their ace Greinke trying to finish it out.  The Expos go down in order, and the Royal go on with a come-from-behind 5-4 win–but with no more Greinke’s available in the rotation.

The survivors

The 2017 Tigers made it to the semifinals, but as befits a 98-loss team their starting rotation from here on out would be frightening, with Daniel Norris (5-8, 5.31) somewhat less terrible than the alternatives.  In contrast, the 1938 Indians felt good about Mel Harder (17-10, 3.83), who had much better control than their first round starter, Bob Feller.  The Indians miss a chance to score in the bottom of the 1st when 1-15 Lyn Lary is cut down trying to score on a John Kroner double, but Kroner gets his RBIs back in the 2nd with a bases loaded double, and along with a Bruce Campbell solo HR the Indians move out to a 3-0 lead.  The Tigers lose 2B Ian Kinsler to injury in the 4th, but in the bottom of the inning the Tribe loses SS Lary for 6 games, assuring that neither of these teams will be at full strength for the finals if they survive this game.  In the 5th, a 2-base error by Tiger LF-3 Andrew Romine along with two passed balls from C James McCann leads to another Cleveland run, but RBI singles from Miggy Cabrera and Jose Iglesias in the 6th get the Tigers on the board to pull within two.  A solo shot from Jeimer Candelario makes it a one-run game in the 7th, and in the 8th the Tigers move to reliever Shane Greene after Norris allows a leadoff single to Hal Trosky; Trosky ends up scoring on a Ken Keltner grounder and Harder and the Indians take a 2-run lead into the 9th.  Harder gets one out, but then 3B-1 Keltner drops a Candelario grounder for an error, RF-4 Campbell can’t get to a Nick Castellanos line drive, and then Mikie Mahtook doubles to put the tying run on 3rd and the go-ahead run on 2nd with one out.  With no pen to speak of, the Indians stick with Harder and bring the infield in, but James McCann finds Harder’s HR split; he misses the split but two runs score on the resulting double and the Tigers grab the lead for the first time in the game.  Cabrera then singles in McCann and now it’s Detroit that takes the two-run lead into the Cleveland half of the 9th; Greene sets them down 1-2-3 and the underdog Tigers move on to the finals with the come-from-behind 7-5 victory, bolstered by three costly errors by the Indians.  

The 1927 Giants had a number of passable but not spectacular choices for starter against the 2009 Royals, settling on Larry Benton (17-7, 4.09), while the Royals had an even bigger dropoff from their round one starter moving from a Cy Young winner to Brian Bannister (7-12, 4.73).   Things start off rough for Bannister in the top of the 1st when Fred Lindstrom misses a HR split for a double, but then Rogers Hornsby leaves no doubt about the next one as he puts it way back into the Polo Grounds stands for a 2-0 lead.  However, the Giants are quickly reminded that this is a Royals team that came from behind in the 9th to get here, as in the bottom of the 1st the Royals pound out four hits, including RBI singles from Miguel Olivo and Alberto Callaspo, and the game is quickly tied.   The Royals then load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 4th, and Yuniesky Betancourt raps a 2-run single to put the upstart Royals in the lead.  With Bannister having held on to the lead heading into the 6th, he’s on a very short leash.  Billy Butler gives him some padding with an RBI double in the 7th that comes on a missed HR split, but Bannister proves not to need it as he closes out a 6-hitter (four in the 1st inning) and the Royals head to the final, eliminating the top seed with a 5-2 win.

An unlikely regional final between the 97-loss 2009 Royals and the 98-loss 2017 Tigers looked like it could get ugly with two bad starters on the mound with KC’s Gil Meche (6-10, 5.09) against Detroit’s Matt Boyd (6-11, 5.27).  A spate of wildness by Meche in the 2nd sets up an RBI single from injury replacement Jim Adduci to give the Tigers an early lead, and a solo shot from Miguel Cabrera extends it to 2-0 in the 4th.  A two-out RBI triple from Alberto Callaspo gets one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, but 3B Mark Teahen makes the last out for the Royals and gets knocked out of the tournament with an injury in the process.  Mitch Maier finds and convert’s Boyd HR split for a solo shot in the 5th that ties the game, but when the Tigers respond with a couple of single in the 6th the Royals move to their fully rested bullpen, taking no chances and bringing in closer Joakim Soria who quickly puts out the fire with no damage.  In the bottom of the 6th, David Dejesus leads off by missing Boyd’s HR split but the result is still a triple, and the infield comes in as does round two winner Shane Greene from the pen to try to keep the run from scoring.  But Greene walks three straight batters to drive one in, and another scores when injury replacement Alex Gordon hits into a DP, and the Royals take a two-run lead into the 7th.  In the 8th, Gordon makes the third base spot look like the drummer position for Spinal Tap as he’s injured for 10 games.  Figuring to try to save Soria for later in the tournament, the Royals bring in Robinson Tejada for the 9th inning, and he does his job to close the 4-2 win for the Royals and earn the 5th regional win for the franchise–and the first for one of their 21st century teams.  Despite having Greinke as the biggest weapon on this team, he was probably their least effective starter, and this was very much a team win for the Royals, who showed some pluck in playing from behind in every game in the bracket but ultimately prevailing as the #4 seed.

Interesting card of Regional #156:  Back in Regionals #90 and #91, I featured the cards of Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan, two guys who led their leagues in both strikeouts and walks issued.  In discussing Ryan’s card, I pointed out that his walk total for that season (1977) had only been exceeded once in the modern era.   And this is the card that did so–a 19 year old Bob Feller who was getting his first chance as a regular in the rotation.  Feller managed to win his game in the regional despite walking 10 batters–seven in two innings–but it must have been agonizing for Indians manager Ossie Vitt to watch this kid pitch.  In this day of metrics, OBP, and pitch count, you really have to wonder if guys like Feller, Ryan, Johnson, and Bob Gibson, who was also featured recently, would get the chance from their teams to work out their control issues against major league opponents.  Funny, all of those guys pitched a LOT of innings when they were young and they were wild as they come–but they all went on to have lengthy, successful careers.  I wonder if we’ll ever see another pitcher from this mold again.

REGIONAL #155:  This bracket featured the pennant winning, mustachioed 1972 A’s who looked to me to be the class of a rather undistinguished-looking collection of teams.  The only other squad that caught my eye was the ‘85 Cubs, who I knew had been a contender in their previous season, although I wasn’t certain how much of a dropoff they experienced following that success.  I didn’t think the elder statesmen in this group, the deadball Browns and post-war Senators, would stand a chance, although any of the remaining more modern era squads could be dark horse candidates.  Regardless, I picked the A’s over the Cubs in the final; the ELO ranks agreed, backing up my impressions by characterizing the A’s as a big favorite over a group of largely bad teams–but that is a designation that has often proved to be the kiss of death in this tournament.

First round action

The 2011 Mets were a mediocre 77-85 team who had some speed at the top of the lineup but an uninspiring pitching staff, fronted by R.A. Dickey (9-13., 3.28) who was hoping that his newly mastered knuckleball would be working.   Still, the Mets were considerable ELO favorites over the 2016 Twins, a 103-loss team with a very good second baseman in Brian Dozier and little else to support a pitching staff with one good starter, Erwin Santana (7-11, 3.38).  The Twins grab the lead in the top of the 2nd when Eddie Rosario rolls and misses Dickey’s HR split, but fleet Byron Buxton scores from 1st on the resulting double.  The Mets retaliate with a Jason Bay 2-out, 2-run homer in the bottom of the frame that puts NY ahead, but they suffer a setback in the 4th when David Wright, who has been killer for the Mets in this tournament, has to leave the game with an injury.  The Mets don’t get another hit until Daniel Murphy doubles in the 7th, but he’s tossed out at the plate (1-13) trying to score on a single by injury replacement Ruben Tejada and Santana escapes with no damage.  Meanwhile, Dickey has been getting out of jams all game, but in the 9th he gets the first two outs with no issues; however, Eduardo Nunez then rolls and misses Dickey’s HR split, and then Joe Mauer does the exact same, and the game is tied.  That brings up Dozier, who has been quiet all game, and the Mets stick with Dickey, but it wouldn’t have mattered as the 1-8 rolled is a solid HR for Dozier and a two-run lead for the Twins.  That is it for Dickey, and Miguel Batista comes in to get the last out, so now it’s Santana against a bunch of Mets defensive replacements.  The Mets scrape out a couple of singles but Santana strands those runners to complete a 5-hitter and propel the underdog Twins on to the semifinals with a 4-2 win.

The 1972 A’s went 93-62 and won the AL and the World Series, largely on the strength of a great pitching staff because the lineup had some holes offensively (e.g. Ted Kubiak, .205 average) and defensively (e.g. Angel Mangual, CF-4).  Still, with 20 game winner Catfish Hunter (21-7, 2.04), the A’s were odds on favorites against a 95-loss 2002 Orioles team that had a bit of steroid-era power but little ability to get on base, although starter Rodrigo Lopez (15-9, 3.57) did finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting, which also proved to be his best season.  Lopez lucks out in the top of the 1st when Joe Rudi misses a HR 1-10/DO split and gets stranded at second, and then in the 3rd Mangual leads off by missing his HR split also.  However, #9 hitter Kubiak rolls Lopez’s HR result and this time they don’t miss the split, giving the A’s the lead, but Geronimo Gil returns the favor in the bottom of the inning by converting Hunter’s HR split for a solo shot that makes it 2-1 A’s.  In the 5th Rudi blasts a 2-out RBI double past 3B-4 Tony Batista to extend the Oakland lead, and the A’s decide to go to defensive replacements in the 6th to support Hunter in a tight game.  However, in the bottom of the 6th Gil singles and then Gary Matthews Jr. rolls Hunter’s HR 1-12 and misses with a 13 split, but that puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  With Rollie Fingers already up in the pen, Hunter delivers to Melvin Mora, who smacks a hard single that scores both runners and the game is tied.  But the A’s respond in the 7th, when defensive replacement Mike Hegan triples to lead off the inning; the O’s bring the infield in and another defensive rep, .182 hitter George Hendrick, rips a ball through the drawn-in infield and the A’s retake the lead.  Then, the third defensive specialist of the inning, Tim Cullen, smacks a double but the 1-15 Hendrick is cut down at the plate and the A’s take a one-run lead into the bottom of the 9th.   Then, Batista atones for his fielding problems in a big way, leading off the inning with a homer that ties things up and chases Hunter for Bob Locker, with no extra base chances on his card, out of the pen.  The next batter, Jeff Conine, rolls what would have been Hunter’s HR result but it’s an out on Locker, who retires three in a row and the game heads to extra innings.  Lopez and Locker both do their jobs in the 10th, and with Lopez now toast the Orioles bring in Jorge Julio, who blows through the A’s in the 11th including a classic strikeout from Reggie Jackson.  But Locker is also in fine form, and he shuts down the O’s for his four innings, but is then burnt for the regional and he has to turn the ball over to Darold Knowles in the 13th.  Julio is similarly used up after the 14th, during which he adds another epic strikeout of Jackson to his total, and when Knowles sets the O’s down in order in the bottom of the inning Baltimore moves to yet another strong reliever, Buddy Groom, to begin the 15th.  Groom picks up where Julio left off, fanning Jackson again in the 16th, but Knowles is perfect in his final inning of eligibility for the regional and the game moves to the 17th inning.  The A’s do nothing in the top of the inning, and Rollie Fingers finally comes in for the bottom of the inning and holds off the O’s so the game goes to inning 18.  Groom is perfect in his final inning of regional use, and Fingers does his job so it’s on to the 19th and new Baltimore reliever Yorkis Perez, who allows the first Oakland hit in 12 innings but the A’s still can’t score, and neither can the Orioles so we head to inning 20.  Perez walks Hendrick and Cullen to lead things off, bringing up the top of the A’s order; he then also walks Campaneris and the bases are load, nobody out, infield is in, and Joe Rudi is at bat.  Rudi lines out, but then Mike Epstein rips a grounder to 3B-4 Batista, who throws the ball into right field for a 2-base error; Perez then walks Jackson and Bando to drive in another and the Orioles drag Perez off the mound and see if Willis Roberts can end the inning.  That answer is no, as Hegan smacks a 2-run single and by the time that Hendrick makes the final out, the A’s lead 9-4 and they bring in Dave Hamilton for the bottom of the inning to try to save Fingers’ eligibility.  Hamilton allows three singles to the first four batters of the inning, but is bailed out when Mike Bordick hits into a double play and the 20 inning marathon finally comes to an end with the A’s surviving their 9-4 win, but with a good portion of their bullpen burnt for the regional.  

The 1985 Cubs were a mediocre 77-84 that dropped off considerably after winning 96 games and the NL East in the prior season, but they had still a decent lineup headed up by nice years from Ryne Sandberg and Keith Moreland, and Dennis Eckersley (11-7, 3.08) was a solid anchor for the staff.  They faced a 45-107 1911 Browns team that had an ELO rank that placed them among the 20 worst teams of all time, a squad whose leading home run hitter had 3 and five of their nine starting hitters had zero, although Barney Pelty (7-15, 2.83) wasn’t a bad pitcher, certainly by comparison to the rest of their staff.   In the bottom of the 3rd, Browns RF Al Schweitzer takes a break from his humanitarian work in Africa to deliver an RBI double, but that seems to wake up the Cubs who begin the 4th with three straight hits, and a Thad Bosley RBI single and a Moreland sac fly put the Cubs up 2-1.  But the Browns show some grit when their DH and leading HR hitter (with 3) Joe Kutina leads off the bottom of the inning by sending this newfangled lively baseball into the far reaches of Sportsman's Park to tie it back up, and then Jimmy Austin finds and converts Eckersley’s HR split with two out in the 5th for a solo shot and the lead.  However, a two-out error by Browns 2B-4 Frank Laporte puts the tying run in scoring position for Bob Dernier, and pinch runner Billy Hatcher races home on Dernier’s clutch single to tie the game once again.  The Browns try to respond in the bottom of the frame, but their lone Hall of Famer, 37-year-old Bobby Wallace, is cut down at the plate trying to score on a single by PH Dave Rowan.  Pelty then loads up the bases with Cubs in the top of the 8th; the Browns play for the DP from Keith Moreland and get it but a run scores and the Cubs regain the lead.  However, with two out in the bottom of the 8th the Browns record back to back triples from Kutina and Willie Hogan to tie it back up; with Lee Smith warming up in the pen the Cubs let Eckersley pitch to PH Dode Criss, and that proves to be a mistake as Criss kisses it goodbye, rolling and converting Eck’s HR result for a 2-run shot and the lead, with the Cubs finally summoning Smith who fans Wallace for the third out.  That brings up the Cubs down two entering the top of the 9th, and Ron Cey draws a walk and then Dernier singles with two out to put the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Gary Matthews.  But Pelty whiffs Sarge and it’s game over, Cubs lose as the Browns, who hit 17 HR all year, smack three in this 6-4 win to advance to the semis.

The 1996 Pirates lost 89 games and their carded team was even worse than that, as they traded away most of their starting rotation mid-season which left them with Jon Lieber (9-5, 3.99) as their only option for round one–although he was by far the best alternative regardless.  Even so, they were still ELO favorites over the 64-90 1947 Senators, who had only one batter in their punchless lineup with double digit homers (Stan Spence, with 16) but they did have some low AB wonders on the bench and Walt Masterson (12-16, 3.13) heading up an okay rotation.  In the top of the 2nd, Lieber walks two and then Eddie Yost rolls up Lieber’s solid 6-5 HR result, and the Nats jump to a quick 3-0 lead.  Lieber commits a 2-base error on a Sherry Robertson grounder in the 4th, and then Pirate CF-4 Mike Kingery waves his arms futilely at a Yost liner and the Pittsburgh defense hands Washington another run.  In the 6th the Nats turn to their bench for some further ammunition, and a leadoff single pushes the Pirates to bring in Dan Plesac and he gets out of the inning with no damage.  In the bottom of the 7th the Pirates finally get to Masterson, who had only allowed two hits to that point, and they smack four hits including RBI singles from Carlos Garcia and Charlie Hayes to narrow the score to 4-2.  Plesac comes up big in the 8th, whiffing superscrub PH Gil Coan with two runners on to keep the Pirates in the game.  That brings it up to Masterson to hold on in the bottom of the 9th, but a walk and 3b-2 Yost’s second error of the game brings up Jay Bell as the winning run with one out.  The Nats eye their bullpen but decide to stick with Masterson; the Pirates eye a nameless pinch-hitter (aka Keith Osik) but don’t want to lose Bell’s glove if the game gets tied.  The roll is a 3-6, gbA on Bell (and a solid DO on Osik), and it’s game over, the Senators win 4-2 and become the third team in this regional in the bottom 300 teams of all time to advance to the semifinals.  

The survivors

The first round survivors in this bracket included three seemingly terrible teams, all with at least 90 losses, and one World Series winner that was fortunate to have survived a 20 inning marathon in round one that burned most of its bullpen.  The latter team, the 1972 A’s, was matched against the 2016 Twins, and as might be expected from a pennant winner the rotation of the A’s offered far better options, like Blue Moon Odom (15-6, 2.51), than the Twins and Hector Santiago (13-10, 4.70).  In the bottom of the 1st, a two base error by Twins SS-4 Eduardo Nunez sets up an RBI single for Reggie Jackson, and Dave Duncan leads off the 2nd with a long blast that makes it 2-0.  The Twins respond with three straight singles in the top of the 3rd, the last an RBI poke for Brian Dozier, but Odom bears down to strike out two in a row to maintain a one run edge for the A’s.  However, in the bottom of the inning Santiago walks two and then the Twins defense falters again as CF-2 Byron Buxton makes a two-base error on a Bando fly to score one, bringing up Duncan with two out and two on–and he crushes his second of the game for a 3-run shot that puts the A’s comfortably ahead.  Reliever Taylor Rogers comes in to get the third out but Oakland leads, 6-1.  A solo shot from Eddie Rosario in the 4th narrows the lead a bit, but the A’s get it back on a 2-out RBI single from Mike Epstein.  In the 6th, Reggie lets loose a prodigious blast for a 2-out, 3-run homer that sends the crowd into a frenzy and sends Rogers to the showers in favor of Brandon Kintzler.  Buxton responds with a 2-run homer in the top of the 7th to make it 10-4, and in the 8th the Twins load the bases and it’s clear that Odom is struggling, but with the A’s bullpen shot it will be a blue moon before they pull him; Odom is bailed out by the highlight film DP from defensive replacement Tim Cullen to keep any runs from scoring.  Odom hangs on in the 9th to get the complete game, despite allowing 14 hits, and the 10-4 win sends the top seeded A’s swaggering into the finals.

Two unlikely semifinalists face off with the #6 seed 1947 Senators against the #8 seeded 1911 Browns, and the “favored” Senators were sending out a Hall of Famer in Early Wynn (17-15, 3.64) while the Browns brought out Roy Mitchell (4-8, 3.84).  The Browns squander a chance in the top of the 2nd when Burt Shotton doubles but Joe Kutina (1-10) is cut down trying to score, but Al Schweitzer donates a sac fly in the 3rd and the Browns then grab a 1-0 lead.  That lead holds as Mitchell is dominating, but in the bottom of the 8th the Nats’ supersubs come off the bench and Rick Ferrell’s leadoff single is followed by a Gil Coan triple, but Mitchell keeps Coan from scoring and we enter the 9th with the game tied.  Wynn does his job in the top of the 9th; in the bottom of the inning Stan Spence rolls Mitchell’s HR 1-5/DO but misses the split and gets stranded, and the game heads to extra innings.  Wynn allows two singles in his final inning for the top of the 10th, but escapes with no damage, and Mitchell similarly gets through his half of the inning and both starters must leave after tremendous efforts.  It’s now up to the bullpen, and Washington’s Tom Ferrick is a nice option who dispatches the Brown in the 11th.  St. Louis brings in Ed Hawk, who gets through the 11th, but when he has to face the Nats supersubs in the 12th Hawk is greeted by a leadoff double by Ferrell.  That brings up the remarkable Coan, and the Browns elect to pitch to him; Coan raps a single and the lumbering 1-8 Ferrell ignores the stop sign and heads for home.  The split roll:  4, Ferrell is safe and the Senators move on to the regional final winning the 2-1 extra inning battle in walk off style. 

It’s a David v Goliath regional final, with the world champion, top seed 1972 A’s and Ken Holtzman (19-11, 2.51) looking like overwhelming favorites against the 90-loss 1947 Senators and Ray Scarborough (6-13, 3.41).  The Nats quickly show that they aren’t intimidated, as in the bottom of the 1st Mickey Vernon doubles and then scores on a Stan Spence single, and the A’s are now behind for the first time in the regional–but not for long, as a Dave Duncan sac fly immediately ties it in the 2nd.  The Senators are unfazed, as Al Evans leads off the bottom of the inning by lofting a flyball that A’s CF-4 Angel Mangual manages to turn into a triple, and then Sherry Robertson doubles to put Washington back on top.  The hits continue, and when SS-2 Campaneris lets a double play ball through the infield for a single, Mickey Vernon make the A’s pay with a 4-10 roll that’s a solid HR on Holtzman, and when the dust finally settles the Senators lead 6-1 after two innings, and the A’s pen, depleted by their 20 inning marathon in the first round, is scrambling to find an option.  In the bottom of the 5th Vernon converts his own HR 1-3 split for a solo shot and that’s it for Holtzman, with Joel Horlen coming in on the wrong end of a big lead.  He makes that worse, as the Senators open the 6th with a remarkable SEVEN straight singles, and Dave Hamilton replaces Horlen who fails to retire a single batter in the inning, and the Nats now lead 12-1.  The A’s finally decide to try to mount a comeback with two out in the 9th, as PH Mike Hegan hits a 2-run triple followed by a Tim Cullen double, but Scarborough finally strikes out Campaneris and the Senators win 12-4 and capture only the third regional for a Senators team, joining 1911 and 1967.   Mickey Vernon’s two homers and two doubles wins him player of the game recognition, but it was the Senators’ pitching staff that really proved most valuable in this regional.  

Interesting card of Regional #155:  When your team doesn’t have much offense, it’s nice to have a guy like this who, under tournament rules, can come in after the 5th inning for some late game heroics.  Unlike most of these low AB wonders in my tournament who have been non-factors (we’re looking at you, Rudy Pemberton), Coan played an important role in helping his underdog Senators win the regional, as he provided most of their offense in their second-round extra-inning win.  It’s easy to dismiss this card as a flash in the pan, but Coan was a promising player–he was the Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 1945 and after his 1946 rookie season, none other than Ted Williams called Coan “the most promising prospective big league star.”  However, Coan developed appendicitis in the spring of 1947 and spent much of the season recovering with extended rehab in the minors, where he batted .340 with 22 homers; recalled in September, he put together the impressive 42 at-bats represented by this card.  Coan did have a couple of .300 seasons once he became a regular, even getting some MVP votes in 1951, but he never became the star that the Splendid Splinter predicted.  Even so, this offering from the recently introduced 1947 season has my vote for entry into the Strat Card Hall of Fame.

REGIONAL #154:  No pennant winners in this group, but there were a variety of pairs:  two Orioles teams, two 1990 teams, and the last two squads from 1962 to take their shot in this tournament.  My first glance at this collection suggested that many of them might be decent but that none would be great; I knew that the Cardinals would take the NL a few years after this ‘62 squad so I picked them to win; from memory I had no rational basis for selecting any of the teams from the top half of the bracket who would face them, but I figured the most recent team, the 2018 Orioles, would do so simply because of the typical power and depth advantages of modern squads.   The ELO ranks did think that my selected Cards team was the second best in the group, but they would face the top ranked team in round one in the ‘95 Orioles–with my prediction of the 2018 Orioles in the finals as comical being by far the worst rated team in the bracket.  So, in the final those ranks forecast the elder Orioles over a Padres team seeking to become the second straight San Diego regional winner.  

First round action

Little did I know when I blindly picked the 2018 Orioles to reach the finals that they had 115 losses and their season-ending ELO rating placed them among the 50 worst teams of all time, nicely symbolized by Chris Davis and his .168 average with 192 strikeouts.  Picking a starting pitcher presented no decent options, with swingman David Hess (3-10, 4.88) getting the nod mainly because he had the fewest innings pitched in which to be terrible.  They faced the 74-88 1990 Brewers, who had some remnants from the Harvey’s Wallbangers era as well as an aged Dave Parker, but it was a team with too many DH’s and not enough fielding in support of Ted Higuera (11-10, 3.76) and the rest of the staff.  In the bottom of the 1st a 39-year old Parker shows that he’s still dangerous, crushing one into the far reaches of County Stadium for a solo shot, and Greg Vaughn adds a 2-run blast in the 2nd to make it 3-0 Brewers.  However, in the 4th a 2-out rally by the Orioles, featuring RBI singles from Trey Mancini and Tim Beckham, makes it a one-run game, and Adam Jones then doubles in Jonathan Villar in the 5th to tie the game.  When Parker doubles to lead off the 6th, followed by a squib single by Gary Sheffied, the Orioles figure that they aren’t going to get many shots at a win so they bring in Mychael Givens to relieve Hess; unfortunately, Givens isn’t much of a fielder as a P-4 and he turns a Rob Deer grounder into a 2-base error to relinquish the lead.  That is followed by a Paul Molitor RBI single and then a Greg Vaughn DP scores Deer, so it’s 6-3 Brewers heading into the 7th.  The Orioles try a rally in the 9th as Danny Valencia leads off with a HR on Higuera’s card; Caleb Joseph adds a double but gets no further as Higuera strikes out Davis and Villar to close out the 6-4 win.

The 1962 Indians went 80-82, with eight guys in the starting lineup in double digit homers and 20-game winner Dick Donovan (20-10, 3.59) a nice option on the mound.  They faced a 75-87 1990 Padres team with two Hall of Famers in Tony Gwynn and Roberto Alomar whose Pythagorean record suggested that they should have been a .500 team, and they had a good staff ace in Ed Whitson (14-9, 2.60), so it looked to me like the two teams were pretty closely matched.   The Indians break the ice in the top of the 3rd when DH Gene Green singles in Ty Cline, but the Padres get three squib singles in the 4th to load the bases, although they only convert one run on a Benito Santiago fielder’s choice that ties the game.  When the Indians get runners on 1st and 3rd with one out in the 6th, the Padres opt to use their advantage in the pen and bring in Greg Harris, but he walks Willie Kirkland to load the bases and then Tito Francona raps a hard single that scores two and the Indians lead, 3-1.  SD gets one back in the bottom of the inning when Gwynn leads off with a triple and, after two failed efforts to get him home, Santiato singles to make it a one-run game.   Harris and then Craig Lefferts hold the fort, and then in the bottom of the 9th the Padres get singles from Santiago and Mike Pagliarulo and the tying run is 90 feet away with one out.   The Indians elect to stick with their ace Donovan and play for the DP from Garry Templeton, and he cooperates, hitting the game-ending gbA on his own card and sending the Indians to the semifinals winning the 3-2 nailbiter.

This first round game between the 1995 Orioles and the 1962 Cardinals matched the best two teams in the regional, according to the ELO ranks.   The Orioles were the top seed despite being an under .500 team, going 71-73 in that strike year but having some big bats in Palmiero, Baines and Ripken, and a couple of very good starting pitchers including Mike Mussina (19-9, 3.29), who led the AL in wins and was 5th in the Cy Young vote.  The Cards finished over .500 at 84-78, and were led by an elder Stan Musial, with a .924 OPS at age 41, and a young Bob Gibson (15-13, 2.85) who was already beginning to frighten the National League.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Charlie James finds and converts Mussina’s HR split for a 2-run shot, and in the 4th an error by 1B-2 Rafael Palmiero sets up a Julian Javier RBI double that makes it 3-0.  Gibson stymies the O’s until the 8th, when a 2-base error by defensive replacement SS-3 Dal Maxvill is followed by a Palmeiro flyball that LF-4 Musial turns into a 2-run triple, and so the tying run is on 3rd with one out.  Gibson lets one fly at batter Jeff Manto’s head, but he hangs in there and smacks a HR 1-7, and although he misses the split it’s a sac fly and the game is tied.  However, in the bottom of the inning Curt Flood and Bill White lead off with singles and the O’s call upon Jesse Orosco to try to get out of the jam, facing a Musial intent upon atoning for his fielding mishap.  Musial squibs a split single to bring in Flood, and then Ken Boyer converts another split single to load the bases, and there’s still nobody out.  A whiff and then a gbB that gets the runner at home and it’s looking like Orosco might get out of the inning, but then defensive rep Bobby Gene Smith pokes another split single and then Javier and Maxvill both draw bases loaded walks and the Cards enter the 9th with a four run lead.   Gibson shuts the Orioles down in the 9th, striking out two of three to complete his 5-hitter and the Cards take the battle of the top seeds by a 7-3 margin.  

I thought the 83-79 1989 Rangers looked pretty familiar, with Palmiero and Baines anchoring the lineup, and wondered if I had recently played a Rangers squad from that era, and no–they were both on the Orioles in the preceding game.   But unlike Baltimore, these Rangers had one Nolan Ryan (16-10, 3.20) on their side, which apparently helped make them slight ELO favorites over the 2012 Mariners, who had a pretty decent Felix Hernandez (13-9, 3.06) anchoring their staff but had almost nobody who could get on base, having traded Ichiro to the Yankees in midseason.  In the top of the 3rd, Baines does something he couldn’t do in the previous game, knocking a 3-run blast with two out to put the Rangers in front.  However, in the bottom of the 4th Casper Wells converts a strange 5-2 DO 1-18/flyB off Ryan’s card, and a flustered Ryan then allows a single to Jesus Montero that makes it 3-1.  The Rangers promptly get that run back in the 5th on a fielder’s choice by Ruben Sierra, and as the game progresses both squads suffer injuries, Rangers SS Fred Manrique for the regional, and Mariners C John Jaso for two games; more pile up in the 8th as Rangers C Geno Petralli is out for the tournament (15 games) and M’s CF Michael Saunders is knocked out for the remainder of the game.  But Ryan stays healthy, and cruises until there are two out in the bottom of the 9th, when Wells finds and converts Nolan’s HR split for a solo shot; that’s the last gasp for Seattle, however, and the battered Rangers limp on with a 4-2 win and Ryan wins the strikeout battle against Hernandez, 12 to 9.   

The survivors

In this semifinal, the 1962 Indians for the second game in a row find themselves to be a slight ELO underdog to a team with a worse record than they had, this time the 1990 Brewers, and Milwaukee’s Ron Robinson (12-5, 2.91) was better at keeping the ball in the park than the Indians’ Pedro Ramos (10-12, 3.72).  Ramos suffers from some shoddy Cleveland fielding in the top of the 2nd when SS-3 Woodie Held commits a 2-base error that sets up a Robin Yount flyball that CF-2 Ty Cline turns into a two-run double.  In the 3rd, Ramos has nobody to blame but himself as Paul Molitor hits Ramos’ solid 4-10 homer for another two runs, and in the 4th a double and two walks loads the bases full of Brewers for Gary Sheffield, who finds and converts Ramos’ 4-9 HR 1-8 for a grand slam that sends Ramos to the showers for Bill Dailey from the pen.  But the Brewers aren’t done, as Indians 3B-2 Bubba Phillips drops a grounder to set up a 2-run blast from Greg Vaughn, so by the time Dailey records the third out it’s Brewers 10, Indians 0.  In the 6th, the Brewers start bringing in the scrubs for safekeeping, and that doesn’t stop the bleeding as backup 1B Greg Brock leads off the inning with a homer.  The Indians finally try to make some noise in the 9th, getting runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out, but the Brewers bring the infield in to try to preserve Robinson’s shutout, and it works like a charm; Robinson closes out the 6-hit gem and the Brewers move on to the finals with the 11-0 blowout, where they will attempt to be only the 3rd team in the franchise to take a regional.

Both the 1962 Cardinals and the 1989 Rangers reached the semifinals with the assistance of Hall of Fame starting pitchers, and their #2 starters weren’t bad but were nonetheless a bit of a dropoff, with the Rangers’ Kevin Brown (12-9, 3.35) going against the Cards’ Ernie Broglio (12-9, 3.00).   The Cards were the highest remaining seed in the bracket and the Rangers had the added disadvantage of having their starting catcher and shortstop both out for the regional.   However, it’s the Rangers who start off the scoring in the bottom of the 1st when Rafael Palmiero finds Broglio’s homer result for a solo shot and a one run lead.  That lead is short lived as Brown can’t seem to get anyone out in the 2nd, as the Cards rip off four straight singles and take a 3-1 lead.  The Rangers try to mount a threat in the 3rd but Cards C-3 Gene Oliver throws out A stealers Cecil Espy and Julio Franco to bail out Broglio, and they squander another opportunity in the 6th when Pete Incaviglia grounds out with the bases load–and gets injured in the process, adding to the Texas hospital bills.  Meanwhile, Brown has settled in, but so has Broglio, who suffers from a bit of wildness but only allows 3 hits until the 9th, when injury replacements Rick Lead and Jeff Kunkel both hit singles to put the winning run at the plate with two out.  But Broglio retires PH Jack Daugherty to cement the 3-1 win and propel the Cards into the finals.

The regional finals pit the #2 seed 1962 Cardinals, the team that I picked to win the group, against the #4 seeded 1990 Brewers, a franchise that had won only two such brackets in this tournament (as compared to 8 previous wins for the Cards).   Larry Jackson (16-11, 3.75) had been a workhorse for the Cards, while Chris Bosio (4-9, 4.00) had been more of a spot starter for Milwaukee but looked better than the alternatives.  Regardless, both start out the game in good form, and things remain scoreless until the bottom of the 4th, when Ken Boyer finds Bosio’s solid 4-10 HR result for a solo shot.  That one run holds up as Jackson is lights out until the top of the 9th, when Yount leads off the inning with only the 3rd hit of the game for the Brewers, and then the unbelievable occurs as CF-1 Curt Flood makes a two base error on a Dave Parker fly, and the tying and go-ahead runs are in scoring position with nobody out.  The infield comes in as does reliever Bobby Shantz, the first call to the bullpen the Cards have made in the regional.  Shantz delivers to Gary Sheffield, who pokes a grounder past defensive replacement SS-3 Dal Maxvill and the game is tied, with still nobody out.  The Cards keep the infield in, so Sheffield steals second, and then Paul Molitor hits a DO 1-5/flyB on Shantz’s card; he misses the split but it’s a sac fly and the Brewers lead for the first time in the game.  In come the defensive replacements for Milwaukee for the bottom of the 9th to try to support Bosio against the bottom of the Cards lineup.  Bosio gets two quick outs, but then PH Fred Whitfield hits Bosio’s 4-9 HR 1-4/DO result, misses the split, but puts the tying run in scoring position in the form of pinch runner Minnie Minoso, with Julian Javier at the plate.  The Brewers consider walking Javier to get to the even weaker-hitting Maxvill, but decide to pitch to him and he flies out harmlessly to give the Brewers the 2-1 come from behind win and the regional crown, only the third for their franchise–joining 1987 and 2003.

Interesting card of Regional #154:  His team got knocked out in the regional final, but a 26-year old Bob Gibson got them past the first round even though 1962 was certainly not his finest season (as anyone who owns the 1968 Cardinals can attest).   Still, it was a significant season for him, as he was named as an All-Star for the first time while beginning to master the control problems that he had early in his career.  It’s interesting to me that as his BB/9 rate started to decline, his HBP/BF rate began to increase–making me think that with his increasing control was an increasing willingness to use the chin music he was famous for, but which he probably hesitated to use when he wasn’t sure where the pitch would end up.  Now, for us Strat players, his 1962 season was significant because it was his FIRST Strat card, shown here along with the Advanced version that was released in the late 1980s (which was the version I used here in the tournament).  For trivia buffs, I believe the 1962 Advanced set was the first time that the game company issued a season that they had already printed, but with updated features, and of course in 2019 the company decided we needed yet another version with SADV features (instead of a new golden-era season that we haven’t seen before, for example).  Note that the original 1962 Gibson card is not only bigger, but it’s a little bit better; anyone who has the SADV version can compare to further see how the tinkering with the formulas has evolved, but I’m happy with my old-school versions.

REGIONAL #153:  After a bracket with three pennant winners, this regional looked far less competitive, although there was one pennant winner, the 2016 Indians.   The rest of the groups didn’t look like much to me at first glance; there was a Tigers team from the 90s that I thought might be decent and there were two other teams from the 2016 AL, with the Angels possibly breaking through after two straight losses in regional finals.  I predicted that the Indians would live up to their billing and handle this collection, and for karma’s sake I picked them to beat the Cubs (to whom they lost in the 2016 Series) in the final.  The ELO ranks had the three 2016 AL squads as the three top seeds and really the only decent teams in the group, predicting the Indians to best the Mariners in the final.  

First round action

The 75-87 2010 Cubs were sufficiently bad to get manager Lou Piniella fired midseason, although somehow interim skipper Mike Quade got them to go 24-13, for which he was rewarded with the job “permanently”, at least until he was replaced after the following unsuccessful season.  Still, they were ELO favorites against the 73-79 1976 Padres, who had a major power outage with Dave Winfield’s 13 HR being the only bat in the lineup with double digit power.  Still, somehow Randy Jones (22-14, 2.74) managed to win 20 games with that offense behind him, an achievement that earned him Cy Young honors and a seeming edge over the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster (15-12, 3.85).  With two out in the bottom of the 1st, Winfield and Mike Ivie hit back-to-back doubles to give the Padres an early edge, and when Dempster walks the first two batters of the 3rd that sets up RBI singles from Winfield and Dave Rader that make it 3-0.  That lead dissipates quickly, as the Cubs reel off four straight hits with two out in the 4th, the last one a 2-run double by Blake Dewitt on a missed HR split that gives the Cubs a 4-3 lead.  The Padres tie it back up on a clutch 2-out single by Rader that scores John Grubb, but the Cubs reassert themselves in the 7th with a Starlin Castro RBI triple followed by Kosuke Fukudome’s sac fly.   However, when Winfield doubles in Jerry Turner with one out in the bottom of the inning, the Cubs decide to try closer Carlos Marmol despite his propensity for wildness.  Marmol gets one close enough to the strike zone for Ivie to rip a single that scores Winfield and ties the game once again heading into the 8th.  And once again in the top of the 8th the Cubs respond, as Marlon Byrd smacks a 2-out RBI single past Padres SS-3 Enzo Hernandez.  The Cubs thus take a one run lead into the bottom of the 9th, where they bring in defensive replacements and decide to let Marmol get one out before pulling him to preserve his innings.  However, he walks Turner and then Grubb singles Turner to 3rd, so the tying run is 90 feet away and the winning run is on first in the form of pinch runner Luis Melendez with Winfield up.  Marmol still is the best option given his strikeout pitch, so he stays in to face Winfield, who laces a hard single to tie the game and now the winning run is on 3rd with nobody out.  Marmol remains in to face Ivie, and Ivie rips a single off his own card (as were all previous singles this inning, because Marmol has none on his card) and it’s ballgame; Marmol never does get that last out and the Padres move on with the wild 8-7 comeback win.  

The 2016 Mariners were the #2 seed in this bracket, winning 86 games and featured three 30+ HR guys in Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, and Kyle Seager.  Although they had a solid bullpen, their rotation left something to be desired, with Felix Hernandez (11-8, 3.82) still the best option although hitting the downside of his career.  Their opponent, the 2012 Marlins, lost 93 games with their main weapon coming in the form of Giancarlo Stanton and his .969 OPS; top starter Mark Buehrle (13-13, 3.74) boasted good control but had an uncomfortable tendency to allow the longball.  That tendency becomes apparent, albeit with some luck, in the bottom of the 1st when Cano converts a HR 1/DO off Buerhle’s card for a 2-run shot and an early Mariners lead.  However, Mariners RF-3 Franklin Gutierrez, playing right in place of the even worse fielding Nelson Cruz, commits two errors and allows a 2-run double to John Buck in the top of the 2nd to single-handedly provide the Marlins with a 3-2 lead.  A two-out single by Omar Infante scores Stanton in the 3rd and Miami extends their lead, but then their own poor fielding shows up in the bottom of the inning as 3B-5 Greg Dobbs commits two errors and then Cano laces a single through a drawn-in infield that scores two more that puts Seattle back into the lead, 5-4.  Then it’s Miami’s turn as they lead off the 4th with three straight hits and retake a 6-5 lead before Hernandez can get the third out, and when Infante leads off the 5th with a homer the Mariner’s have seen enough of Hernandez and fetch Mike Montgomery from the pen, who survives another double allowed by Gutierrez’s fielding without further damage.  When Buerhle allows a leadoff single to Leonys Martin in the 6th, the Marlins move to Steve Cishek to try to retain their lead, and he quickly retires the side.  Seeing how well that worked for Miami, the Mariners then bring in their own version of Steve Cishek to begin the 7th, and he survives an error by 1B-3 Adam Lind to keep it a 2-run game.  Miami then brings in some defensive replacements to get their two “5” fielders out of the lineup, and although they’d like to preserve their version of Cishek, the rest of the bullpen is a disaster and so they elect to burn him to try to assure the win.  However, Martin leads off the bottom of the 8th with a single and then PH Mike Zunino converts a DO 1-8/flyB and the speedy Martin races home to make it a one-run game, and Nori Aoki ties it with a double off Cishek’s card.  Gutierrez atones for some of his fielding miscues with a single, and Aoki scores on a Cruz grounder and the Mariners take the one run lead into the 9th.  Having watched Cishek blow a save for the Marlins, the Mariners decide to avoid having him have two blown saves in one game and turn the game over to Edwin Diaz to pitch the 9th.  The Marlins get singles from Infante and Stanton, but then they get down into their defensive replacements and without any viable pinch-hitters remaining, Emilio Bonifacio hits into a double play and the Mariners, courtesy of their bullpen, pull out the 8-7 win.  In an unusual turn, Steve Cishek manages to be both the winning and the losing pitcher.  

Although they would become famous in a few years as the Whiz Kids, the 1947 Phillies were ranked as the worst team in the regional, with a 62-92 record and Andy Seminick leading a punchless squad with 13 homers.  However, they did have Harry the Hat Walker, who led the NL with a .363 average that included 16 triples, and Dutch Leonard (17-12, 2.68) was a solid staff ace.  The 79-83 1990 Tigers had Cecil Fielder, whose 51 homers were nearly as many as the team total for the Phils, but the supporting cast wasn’t that strong and Jack Morris (15-18, 4.51) had his usual problems with the gopher ball.  Both pitchers start the game in control, and scoreless innings go by as any threat is usually erased by the double play for both teams.  In the top of the 7th, Emil Verban singles for the Phils and then Morris issues a 2-out walk to Lee Handley, so the Phillies bring in PH Ralph Lapointe.  Fearing those homer results on Morris, the Tigers elect to go to the pen for Jerry Don Gleaton, even though Morris is pitching a shutout and is not happy about being pulled.  He is even unhappier when Lapointe hits a single, but Verban (1-15) is nailed at home for the final out and the game remains scoreless.  Tiger Stadium continues to roar when Travis Fryman leads off the bottom of the inning with a homer off Leonard’s HR 1-5 split to take the lead.   Gleaton walks two Phils in the 8th but whiffs Del Ennis to end that threat with no damage, and Alan Trammell doubles in Tony Phillips for an insurance run in the bottom of the inning–but the Tigers lose CF Lloyd Moseby for the tournament to a 10-game injury.  The Tigers summon Mike Henneman to close out the game in the 9th, and he puts the Phils down in order to preserve the 2-0 shutout, with both teams being limited to five hits apiece.  

The 2016 Indians won 94 games and the American League, losing the Series in 7 games; they were stocked with power up and down the lineup (excepting catcher, which was the one big hole in the offense) and Cory Kluber (18-9, 3.14) came in third in the Cy Young voting.  The 2016 Angels won 20 games fewer in the same league, and although they had Mike Trout as the AL MVP, their starting rotation fronted by Matt Shoemaker (9-13, 3.88) was uninspiring and they had one of the most impressive collections of gbAs on their cards that I remembered seeing in a team; I checked and they only came in 2nd in the AL in GIDP with 147, but perhaps that’s because as a team their OBP wasn’t that great.   Even so, it’s the Angels who start out strong, as Kluber allows four hits and makes a 2-base error in the bottom of the 2nd to spot LA a 3-0 lead.  The Indians respond in the 3rd when Tyler Naquin smacks a 2-out solo homer; Angels LF-5 Jefry Marte then allows a triple to Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis singles the guitarist home to make it a one run game.  A Jose Ramirez double in the 4th scores Coco Crisp to tie the game, and Francisco Lindor follows that with a 2-run single to give the Indians the lead.  A leadoff single to Kipnis in the 5th and the Angels have to turn to their best reliever, Cam Bedrosian and his 1.12 ERA, to try to keep the game in reach.  He quickly dispatches the Indians, and in the 7th the Angels mount a threat when Andrelton Simmons singles, is held on first, and then Carlos Perez knocks a single from a gbA++ that sends Simmons to third.  After a long conference on the mound, the Indians decide to go to their relief ace, Andrew Miller, hoping to get the strikeout to strand Simmons or get the DP to end the inning.  Miller gets Kole Calhoun to pop out, and then whiffs Yunel Escobar to prevent any runs from scoring.  Another threat materializes in the top of the 8th when 2b-2 Kipnis drops a Trout grounder, and then Marte singles Trout to 3rd with nobody out.  However, Miller then records three straight strikeouts, and again the threat is averted.  By the 9th, Bedrosian, who has been near-perfect, is now toast for the regional and Joe Smith (apparently not an alias) comes in and sets down the Indians; the Tribe wishes to preserve Miller for later rounds and brings in Dan Otero to close things out in the bottom of the 9th.  And so he does, retiring the Angels in order and sending the Indians on to the semifinals with a 5-3 victory, courtesy of some gutsy relief pitching from Miller.  

The survivors

One might expect that when a 73-win team that has one pitcher win 22 of those, the rotation for the 1976 Padres would drop off pretty fast, but Brent Strom (12-16, 3.28) was not a bad #2 starter, and the SD bullpen, such as it was, was still at full strength after their round one win.  The same could not be said for the 2016 Mariners, who used four pitchers to survive their first round battle, although each retained some eligibility if needed to support James Paxton (6-7, 3.79), selected because he had better control and fewer longball issues than the alternatives.  The M’s put up a run quickly when Padres 3B-2 Doug Rader drops a grounder from leadoff hitter Nori Aoki in the bottom of the 1st, and he eventually scores when Nelson Cruz grounds into a DP.  Given that both of these teams came from behind multiple times in their round one wins, it is no surprise that the Padres respond, with an RBI triple from Jerry Turner followed by a John Grubb sac fly in the top of the 3rd putting SD in the lead.  Seattle evens it back up with a sac fly from Franklin Gutierrez in the bottom of the inning,  In the 5th, Grubb misses a HR 1-5 split but Turner races home on the resulting double, and then Willie Davis, who had narrowly missed an injury his previous at bat, singles home Grubb and the Padres claim a two run lead.  Having pitched his requisite 5 innings, Paxton is on a very short leash and when Enzo Hernandez pokes a one out double in the 6th, he’s gone and the Mariners start to turn to the trio of relievers that got them through round one, starting with Mike Montgomery who ends the inning without any damage.  Strom gets in trouble in the bottom of the frame, putting men on 2nd and 3rd with two away but retiring Adam Lind on a flyball to retain the 4-2 lead, and then SS-3 Enzo Hernandez converts a key DP in the 7th to squelch another Seattle rally effort.  However, in the bottom of the 8th Gutierrez finds and converts Strom’s HR result for a solo shot, and the Padres bring in Bruce Metzger to try to preserve the now one-run lead.  It’s a good thing, too, as Nelson Cruz rolls the same 5-10 result as Gutierrez but on Metzger it’s a flyout to surehanded Willie Davis, and the game proceeds to the 9th.  Steve Cishek sets the Padres down in the top of the 9th, and so it’s Metzer against the M’s for the game.  He records two quick outs but then Leonys Martin converts a SI 1-16 with a 16 roll, and that brings up backup SS Shawn O’Malley and his .229 average–and he cannot be pinch hit for under tournament rules, because the Mariners have no remaining shortstops on the bench.  So the Mariners decide to go for broke, with the A stealing Martin looking to get into scoring position against the Padre’s weak armed backup C-4 Bob Davis; Martin takes off for second and he’s gunned down, game over, and the unlikely Padres head to the finals with the 4-3 win.  

The 1990 Tigers survived the first round with a 5-hit shutout from Jack Morris and a couple of relievers, but that looked unlikely to continue with Dan Petry (10-9, 4.45) being the least terrible option to throw out against the regional favorite 2016 Indians.  Still, the Indians’ rotation wasn’t that great after Kluber, and Danny Salazar (11-6, 3.87) was not without his own weaknesses, and the Tribe bullpen had already seen some use in the first round.  Alan Trammell finds one of Salazar’s weaknesses to lead off the game, rolling the latter’s HR 1-13 result but missing the split roll for a double, but Salazar strands him to escape the inning.  In response, Jose Ramirez leads off the bottom of the 1st by rolling Petry’s HR result, and he does not miss the 1-17 split roll and so the Indians claim a lead courtesy of their first batter of the game.  Two straight walks and a single by Lonnie Chisenhall and it’s 2-0 Indians after one.   An RBI double in the 2nd from .167-hitting catcher Yan Gomes makes it 3-0, but the Tigers get on the board in the 3rd when injury replacement Milt Cuyler misses Salazar’s HR split but this time Trammell is there to single him home.  The trend continues in the 4th; Cecil Fielder leads off the inning by missing the split for a third time on Salazar’s HR 1-13 result, and Salazar strands him for no damage, and then in the 5th Tyler Naquin finds Petry’s HR result and the Tigers again convert that split for a solo shot that makes it 4-1.  However, a walk and a long single to leadoff the top of the 6th and the Indians have lost confidence in Salazar and turn to Andrew Miller, realizing that this will burn him for the regional.  Miller whiffs Lou Whitaker, but then Miller’s weakness is revealed–he can’t field, and he turns a Larry Sheets grounder into a double that makes it a two-run game with runners on 2nd and 3rd.  The infield comes in, and in a debatable move Mark Salas comes in to pinch hit for Mike Heath.   Miller fans Salas and retires Cuyler and the Indians remain in front.  When Chisenhall leads off the bottom of the 6th with a double off Petry’s card, the Tigers go the same path as the Indians, burning their bullpen to try to stay alive and bringing out Jerry Don Gleaton, their round one winner; he burns through three straight and the game heads to the 7th with Cleveland holding the 4-2 lead.  Both Miller and Gleaton do their jobs in the 7th but both are toast at that point; the Tribe bring in Brian Shaw who sets the opposition down in order in the 8th, as does Lance McCullers for the Tigers.  That brings the game to the 9th; Cleveland decides to stick with Shaw, and he rewards them by pitching his second perfect inning to send the Indians to the finals with the 4-2 win, with the Tigers demanding an inquiry into suspicious split dice function.

The #1 seed 2016 Indians made it to the finals, but it wasn’t an easy road and their bullpen was taxed in two close wins, with relief hero Andrew Miller burnt for the final, and with Carlos Carrasco’s (11-8, 3.32) gopher ball tendencies, that could come into play.  Still, they were overwhelming ELO favorites over the #7 seeded 1976 Padres and Dave Freisleben (10-13, 3.51), a guy I have to admit I have no memory of.   But things start off bad for Carrasco, as Padres’ Jerry Turner leads off the game with a single, 1B-4 Carlos Santana drops a grounder, and then Dave Winfield hits one of Carrasco’s HR results; he misses the split but the resulting double scores two runs and Mike Ivie singles Winfield home for another.  A Willie Davis double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd, and with two out Enzo Hernandez singles in Ivie, but miraculously Davis (1-19 with two out) is nailed at the plate to end the inning, but the score is still Padres 4, Indians yet to bat.  A Francisco Lindor RBI single in the 3rd puts the Indians on the board, but when Carrasco allows a leadoff single to Ivie in the 6th the Indians turn in desperation to Dan Otero from the pen in an effort to stay in the game.  That proves futile, as Davis triples off Otero’s card to score Ivie and the Padres extend their lead to 5-1.  Otero settles down after that, but the Indians can’t figure out Freisleben until Carlos Santana leads off the bottom of the 9th with a homer.  However, it’s too little too late, as Freisleben then retires three straight to come out of obscurity and clinch the regional crown for the underdog Padres with the 5-2 upset.  The Padres win all three games without hitting a single home run, and somehow managed to win even though their worst pitching performance of the regional was turned in by their Cy Young Award winner.  This is only the second regional win for the Padres, with the 1971 squad having been another unlikely winner, suggesting that in this tournament the franchise seemed to peak shortly after being created as an expansion team!

Interesting card of Regional #153:  This guy played a pivotal role in getting his team to the finals with clutch relief performances, and once he was burnt up the Indians promptly faltered in the big game.  Miller’s season was interesting in that he got support for the Cy Young Award, first as a reliever who didn’t come close to leading the league in saves, and then as a player who pitched for two different teams, being traded midseason from the Yankees to Cleveland.   Still, as is evident from his card, he had a heck of a year.  This is a card where almost nothing can go wrong, but when it does, it goes very wrong.  But aside from that one result, every other non-fielding chance on this card is a strikeout with one exception, and that is only at a snake eyes roll.  He pitching in four games in both the ALCS and the World Series and was named MVP of the ALCS, which was pretty much the peak of his career; Miller retired after last season, finishing with a 55-55 record and 63 saves in 16 seasons of work.  But as far as this card is concerned, if you need to strand that runner at third with less than two out, there aren’t many better options than Miller time–as long as you stay away from that 4-4.

REGIONAL #152:  This group was one of the weirdest draws in tournament history and it was colored Dodger Blue, as it featured three pennant-winning Dodger squads from three very different eras.  That certainly seemed to stack the odds in favor of the Dodgers, although it was unfortunate that three of their great teams would have to fight it out in the same regional.  However, I thought they’d have some good competition, such as a ‘62 Tigers team from right after their famous AL runner-up squad, an Angels team from a few years after their finalist squad from the previous regional, and an Expos team that might be a factor.   There was also a pandemic Pirates team that like all 2020 squads could be a wild card because of all the wild cards from that season.  Two of the Dodgers pennant winners were on a collision course for the semifinals, and I guessed the more modern 2017 version would take that battle over the ‘49 version and then triumph in the final over the ‘88 Dodgers, barring any heroics from Kirk Gibson.   The ELO ranks agreed with that prediction, with the 2017 squad having a season ending ELO placing them in the top 100 teams of all time, although the 1949 version was just out of that range.

First round action

The 1988 Dodgers won 94 games, the NL, and a memorable World Series; they had NL MVP Kirk Gibson anchoring the lineup and NL Cy Young winner Orel Hershiser (23-8, 2.26) on the mound.  However, they faced a very dangerous 1997 Expos team, who might have only gone 78-84 but had their ace Pedro Martinez (17-8, 1.90) ready to go; Pedro was also the NL Cy Young winner and despite the great season from Hershiser, Martinez was probably the best pitcher in the regional.  As such, a pitching duel was to be expected, although Hershiser’s defense lets him down in the 3rd when a single past 2b-3 Steve Sax ultimately turns into a run on a passed ball from C-1 Mike Scioscia, and the Expos lead 1-0.  They add another run in the 4th on doubles from Vlad Guerrero and Mike Lansing, and that’s looking like plenty because the Dodgers can’t do a thing against Martinez.  When Scioscia converts a SI* 1-15 to lead off the 9th, it’s only the second hit of the game for LA and only the second baserunner–the first coming when Steve Sax led off the first inning with a single past Lansing.  Scioscia is wiped out in a double play, Sax goes down and the Expos win 2-0 behind the 2-hitter by Pedro; he only faces 28 batters, and struck out 14 of them.  Hershiser only allows 6 hits, but it’s not good enough in this matchup as Dodgers pennant-winner #1 goes down and Kirk Gibson can only limp back into storage. 

The 1991 Angels saw their ‘88 version go down in the finals of the previous regional, but this squad was a better team, going 81-81 and adding elder statesmen like Dave Winfield and Lance Parrish and starting Mark Langston (19-8, 3.00) who was 6th in the Cy Young vote that year.  That could be overkill against the 2020 Pirates, who were a uniquely bad team going 19-41 in that pandemic season, and although there were a couple of interesting low AB wonders on the bench, they only had 3 guys in the starting lineup with an OBP over .300 (the highest being .326) and their mandatory starting pitcher, Trevor Williams (2-8, 6.18) allowed 15 homers in 55 IP, with a card that reflected that ratio.  The Pirates hope that Williams can last until the 6th, but he loads the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 1st and yields a 2-run single to Gary Gaetti before ending the inning.  In the 3rd, the Pirates lose 1B Colin Moran to injury for the tournament, but can bring in .359 hitter Phillip Evans as a replacement which softens the blow.  Another bright spot for the Pirates is that Williams settles down, primarily by having the Angels roll on their own cards, and he gets through 5 innings and is only down 2-0, so the Pirates bring in the less dangerous card of Nik Turley to try to keep it close.  And the Pirates then tie it up in the 7th, courtesy of an RBI triple from PH Anthony Alford, who then scores on an error by 1B-2 Wally Joyner.  Evans then raps an RBI single and the Pirates take the lead and Langston takes a shower, replaced by Bryan Harvey who had been brilliant for the Angels in the previous regional.  Not so much here, as he issues a walk to load the bases and then gets taken yard by Bryan Reynolds for a grand slam and the Anaheim Stadium crowd begins to head to Disneyland.  The exodus pauses in the bottom of the inning when Luis Sojo rips a double past inept Pirates RF-4 Gregory Polanco to score Parrish, and then Dave Gallagher smashes another double and the Pirates lead is cut to 6-4.  In the 8th, the Pirates relieve with another Nick, Tropeono, but he gets victimized by Bucs fielding as well with a 2-base error from SS-3 Kevin Newman and then a double to Lee Stevens allowed by CF-3 Alford, who stayed in the game as a defensive replacement.  At that point, a rattled Tropeono grooves one to Lance Parrish, who deposits it in the grandstands for a 2-run shot and suddenly the Angels are back in the lead and Tropeono is yanked for Richard Rodriguez, who finally ends the inning.  That takes us to the 9th, where the Angels seek to preserve Harvey and bring in Mark Eichhorn to try to protect the one-run lead.  That he doesn’t, as the second batter Adam Frazier converts his own HR 1-12; Rodriguez sets down the top of the Angels order in order and we head to extra innings.  Eichhorn is flawless in the top of the 10th, and in the bottom of the frame Joyner leads off with a double but then Rodriguez records two quick outs.  Up steps Lance Parrish, and it’s a 1-5 roll, HR 1-15/flyB for the game; split roll is a 14 and Parrish’s second homer of the game is a walk off for the wild extra-inning 9-7 victory for the Angels.

Winners of 104 games and the NL, losing the Series to the trashcan-banging Astros, the 2017 Dodgers looked like a team that deserved their top seeding in this regional:  deep starting pitching, strong bullpen, and an offense where seven guys in the starting lineup hit more than 20 homers.  Clayton Kershaw came in 2nd in the Cy Young voting, but because Kershaw had a bit of a problem with the longball the Dodgers instead went with Alex Wood (16-3, 2.72) for round one; Wood came in 9th in that Cy Young balloting and led the league in winning percentage.  The Dodgers faced the 1962 Tigers, who were no slouch either, going 85-76 but having all eight regulars in double digit HRs, and a DH in Vic Wertz who would easily be good for 20 over a full season.  The Tigers would send Hank Aguirre (16-8, 2.21) to the mound in what looked like the best round one matchup in the group.  The Tigers strike in the bottom of the 2nd with three hits, one a squib RBI single from Norm Cash, but they leave the bases loaded and only get the one run.  The Dodgers take the lead in the top of the 4th on a Yasiel Puig 2-run homer, and in the 6th they add another run on 2-out back-to-back doubles from Yasmani Grandal and Curtis Granderson.  In the 9th, Corey Seager gets an RBI single off Aguirre’s card and the latter is pulled for Terry Fox, but Cody Bellinger drives in another on a fielder’s choice and Wood takes a four run lead into the bottom of the 9th.  It’s quickly reduced as Dick Brown leads off with a homer, but Wood recovers and retires the next three to secure the 5-2 win and these Dodgers move on.  Worthy of note:  the ‘62 Tigers used here were the die-cut advanced versions that were printed probably around 1989; the original Basic-only 1962 version of the team is the only original Strat team I am lacking.  Anybody have one to swap??

The 97-57 1949 Dodgers won the NL with good seasons from many of the classic players from those teams such as Robinson, Reese, Furillo, Hodges, and Campanella.  Boasting excellent fielding as well, the pitching was a little thin but Don Newcombe (17-8, 3.17) was solid at the top of the rotation.  They faced the 1992 Astros, who were a team that seemed fortunate to go 81-81 (indeed, their Pythagorean projection was for 74 wins); aside from before-their-prime versions of Biggio and Bagwell, there wasn’t much to brag about, although swingman Mark Portugal (6-3, 2.66) seemed to give them their best shot against the Dodgers.   In the bottom of the 2nd, the Dodgers roll Portugal’s HR 1-10/DO twice in a row (no skidders, I use a dice tower!) and while Duke Snider misses the split, Gil Hodges converts it and it’s 2-0 Brooklyn.  However, it’s a brief lead as in the top of the 3rd the Killer B’s sting with a 2-out rally involving a Biggio RBI double and Bagwell singling Biggio home to tie the game.  The Dodgers recapture the lead when Campenella leads off the 4th with a triple and scores on a Snider fielder’s choice, and they pick up an insurance run in the 6th with a Hodges RBI single.  The Astros cut it back down to a one-run game when Luis Gonzalez scores on a PH single from Bennie Distefano, and they threaten in the 8th with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, but with nothing in the pen Newcombe comes through and gets out of the jam.  A leadoff single by Furillo in the bottom of the inning and Houston, which does have a bullpen, brings in Xavier Hernandez who retires the side, but it’s to no avail as Newcombe sets the Astros down in the 9th and the Dodgers survive with a 4-3 win.

The survivors

The 1997 Expos defeated a world champion in the first round on the strength of a near-perfect pitching performance from their ace, but now they find themselves up a creek without a Pedro in the semifinal against the 1991 Angels.  Dustin Hermanson (8-8, 3.69) had the challenge of being the follow-up act for the Expos, while the Angels were armed with Jim Abbott (18-11, 2.89).  Dustin gets dusted by the Angels in the bottom of the 1st, with Wally Joyner knocking in Dave Gallager and then Junior Felix adding a 3-run shot and it’s quickly Angels 4, Expos 0.  From there on out, Hermanson is strong, but Abbott is stronger and the Expos can’t solve his unorthodox pitching motion.  Abbott finishes out a 4-hit shutout, with Gary Gaetti turning the DP to record the final outs of the 4-0 win and for the second straight regional, an Angels team from this era makes the finals.  This time, though, the Angels know that whatever team they face in the final, it will be a pennant-winning Dodgers squad.

The same franchise but nearly 70 years and a continent apart, this semifinal matched the 2017 Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw (18-4, 2.31) and the 1949 Dodgers with Preacher Roe (15-6, 2.79) to see who would carry the Dodger banner forward.  The 2017ers load the bases in the top of the 1st with two out for Austin Barnes, who rolls his HR 1/DO and misses the split but clears the bases on the resulting double and the modern squad jumps to an imposing lead.  The 49ers then nail Kershaw for three straight hits to lead off the bottom of the 1st, including an RBI single from Jackie Robinson who promptly steals second, but a highlight reel catch from Yasiel Puig in RF holds Brooklyn to just one run.  The 2017 team loads the bases once again in the 2nd, and a walk and a fielder’s choice makes it 5-1 in favor of Los Angeles, but in the 3rd the 2017s lose 2B Logan Forsythe for the remainder of the regional to injury.  That seems to take the wind out of the sails for LA, and in the bottom of the 7th Brooklyn again rattles off three straight hits against Kershaw, the third being a pinch hit RBI single for Tommy Brown, and Kershaw and his gopher ball tendencies are pulled for Brock Stewart, expected to be the first in a succession of LA relievers.  Stewart promptly allows a single off his card, but 1-15 Marv Rackley is cut down at the plate on an ill-advised attempt to score, and Brooklyn gets only one run on four hits in the inning.  Stewart is sharper in the 8th, and in the 9th Puig finds Roe’s solid 4-5 HR result for a 2-out, 2-run shot that provides comfortable padding for the bottom of the 9th, and LA brings in Brandon McCarthy to mop things up.  He isn’t much of a janitor, as he gets two outs and then two singles and a walk load the bases for Gene Hermanski; he walks and now Jackie Robinson is at the plate as the tying run.  LA stops messing around and summons nearly unhittable closer Kenley Jansen, but Robinson squibs a Single* and the bases are still loaded and now Carl Furillo is at bat as the winning run.  But Jansen bears down, whiffs Furillo and Los Angeles wins the battle of the Dodgers 7-4 and moves to the finals for a Freeway battle against the Angels. 

The regional final matched the top-seeded 2017 Dodgers against the #5 seed 1991 Angels, who had a similar squad win regional #148 and another reached the final of the previous bracket.  The Angels would trot out tournament workhorse Chuck Finley (18-9, 3.80), who contributed wins to both of those aforementioned California successes, to face Rich Hill (12-8, 3.32) of the Dodgers, who still had 2B Forsythe out to injury and had some wear on the bullpen.  The Dodgers, who tend to live and die by the home run, get a 2-run shot from Curtis Granderson in the bottom of the 2nd to take the lead.  In the top of the 3rd, the Angels get one back when Wally Joyner singles in Luis Polonia, but Chris Taylor leads off the bottom of the inning with a homer and it’s now 3-1.  Another 2-run shot from Granderson in the 4th and that’s it for Finley, as in desperation the Angels bring in closer Bryan Harvey to try to get back into the game.  A solo homer from Joyner in the 5th makes it 5-2, and Harvey holds the Dodgers until Lance Parrish can hit a 2-run homer off Hill’s card in the 8th to make it a one run game, and Brandon Morrow comes in from the LA pen.   Harvey is toast by the 8th and Mark Eichhorn comes in to try to keep it close; he does so, and so it’s Morrow vs. the top of the Angels order in the 9th in a one-run game.  The inning begins with Dodger SS-2 Corey Seager making a 2-base error on a Polonia grounder, and the Dodgers bring in closer Kenley Jansen to try to keep the runner from scoring.  He walks Dave Gallagher, and Joyner grounds out with the runners advancing, so the tying run is on 3rd and the go-ahead on 2nd with one away.  Jansen strikes out Dave Winfield, and the game is up to Gary Gaetti–but he grounds out and the Dodgers pull off the nail-biter with a 5-4 win to capture the 9th regional win for the franchise.  

Interesting card of Regional #152:  The ‘97 Expos won one game in this tournament, and it was because of this guy, who defeated a Series champion by pitching to only 28 guys in a complete game, and striking out 14 of them.  If you want to get a hit off his card, as you can see you'd better be good with the split die.  Viewed as a relief pitcher coming up by the Dodgers, they kept his older brother Ramon but traded Pedro after his rookie season to Montreal for Delino Deshields, a trade they would come to regret.  The Expos had the wisdom to believe that the 160-pound Martinez could be a starting pitcher, and he thrived in that role.  However, Montreal was not fielding otherwise competitive teams and Pedro’s 1997 Cy Young Award was mainly seen by them as increasing his trade value.  Thus, the Expos dumped him after the season to the Red Sox, for whom he won another two Cy Young trophies and provided a number of memorable postseason appearances.   He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015, his first year of eligibility, and he continues to hold the career record for strikeouts per nine innings for a RHP.

REGIONAL #151:  This was an interesting collection of teams, many of whom were a year or two from glory.  There were the Braves just after the last pennant of their 90s dynasty, the Giants a year before making a shot heard round the world, the Royals a couple of years after their Denkinger Series win, a Mets team a couple of years before a pennant, and two Angels teams, one of which I thought might have fallen just short in the AL and the other at the beginning of the Mike Trout era.   The Cubs would take a shot at a second straight regional win, but I didn’t think there would be much chance of that; instead, I guessed the Braves would take the ‘88 version of the Angels in the finals.  The ELO ranks agreed with me on the favorite, but they suggested that I missed my estimate of those competitive Angels by a few years, and had the 1950 Giants as the competition for the Braves in the finals.  

First round action

Two seasons after their Series win, the 1987 Royals were still a decent 83-79 team with weapons like Brett, Bo Jackson, and Danny Tartabull in the lineup and a capable rotation fronted by Bret Saberhagen (18-10, 3.36).  By the ELO ranks their opponents, the 2013 Angels were pretty much equally decent despite a somewhat worse 78-84 record, with 21-year old Mike Trout finishing second in the MVP voting and CJ Wilson (17-7, 3.39) at the top of the rotation.   The Royals take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Bye-Bye Balboni nails a solo shot off one of his oddball HR numbers, but they miss an opportunity for a second run later when Jamie Quirk is cut down at the plate trying to take an extra base on an Angel Salazar single.  In the 4th, they are dealt another blow when Bo Jackson gets hurt and is out for the rest of the regional, but that seems to galvanize the Royals as Kevin Seitzer nails a 2-run triple in the 5th, Danny Tartabull drives in Seitzer with a single, and Bo’s replacement Gary Thurman knocks in Tartabull to chase Wilson for Scott Downs.  Downs finally ends the inning, but not before a Balboni sac fly makes it 6-0 Royals.  The Angels respond in the 6th when Kole Calhoun smacks a 2-run homer off Saberhagen’s card, but Willie Wilson leads off the bottom of the inning with a triple and Seitzer’s sac fly adds more padding to the KC lead.  In the 9th, the Angels try to make some noise when Josh Hamilton drives in Trout with a 2-out single, but Saberhagen closes it out for the 7-3 complete game win.

The 2000 Braves deserved their status as regional favorites, winning 95 games and the NL East but falling short in the NLDS; other teams would have to keep up with the Jones, namely Andruw and Chipper, and the top of the rotation was formidable, led by Greg Maddux (19-9, 3.00), but the bottom end got worse quickly as John Smoltz was lost to injury for the entire 2000 season.  They faced the 1962 Phillies, who went 81-80 with a decent lineup fronted by guys like Tony Gonzalez, Don Demeter, Johnny Callison, and Roy Sievers, with Art Mahaffey (19-14, 3.94) heading up a mediocre starting rotation.  In the bottom of the 1st Mahaffey gets Jonesed with back to back doubles from Chipper and Andruw, both off Mahaffey’s card, but the rally gets cut short when Andruw (1-18) is nailed going home on a 2-out single by Andres Galarraga, but the Braves still lead 1-0.   They add three more in the 2nd when an error by Phils 1B-3 Frank Torre opens the door for a 2-out rally, and four straight Atlanta hits to start the 3rd and Mahaffey is gone, but the Braves lead extends to 9-0 before Jack Baldschun can end the inning.  There’s a 2-run single from Chipper in the 5th and Maddux is cruising, so the Braves make wholesale replacements in the lineup for the 6th to avoid injury risk, meaning that Bobby Bonilla gets to come in and earn some of the salary the Mets are still paying him.  The Phils sense their chance, so in the 6th Tony Gonzalez hits a solo shot and Callison adds an RBI single, but in the 8th the Phils’ 4th error of the game sets up a sac fly by Andruw Jones and Maddux finishes things out as the Braves romp to a 12-2 win.

The 2013 Mets went 74-88 and the lineup for the team was probably even worse than that as the team had traded away some key regulars during the season; their saving grace was that a very good Matt Harvey (9-5, 2.27) was still available to pitch in the first round.  He would face the 1988 Angels, who had a similarly unimpressive 75-87 record and were not at all the team I remembered (I looked it up and it was the ‘86 squad of Dave Henderson fame that I was thinking about).  The Angels had a rather pedestrian lineup and Mike Witt (13-16, 4.15) didn’t have nearly the card that Harvey possessed.  That being said, the Angels put together a 3-run inning in the 2nd, catalyzed by a Devon White double, and although Harvey settles down, the Mets are struggling against Witt.  Finally, in the bottom of the 7th a walk and only the second hit of the game against Witt and the Angels take no chances, summoning closer Bryan Harvey (no relation to the Mets starter, apparently) to quell the threat, and he does so by whiffing Juan Lagares for the third out.  In the top of the 8th, Mets C-3 Anthony Recker further wrecks the Mets chances by committing his second error of the game that allows Wally Joyner to score, and with the padding the Angels opt to preserve Harvey and bring Greg Minton in to close things out.  Minton makes things interesting in the bottom of the 9th by walking the first two Mets, but then retires three straight, fanning Recker to end the game and send the Angels on with a 4-0 shutout.  The Mets rack up more errors (3) than they do hits (2) and slip quietly back into storage.   

Although the ‘47 version had unexpectedly won the previous regional, the 1954 Cubs were even greater longshots here, losing 90 games and aside from Hank Bauer, a too old Ralph Kiner, and a too young Ernie Banks, there was much to see here.  They faced a near-contemporary 86-68 1950 Giants team that was one year away from a famous playoff win, with Sal Maglie (18-4, 2.71) manning the barber shop against the Cubs’ Paul Minner (11-11, 3.96).  The Giants load the bases with nobody out in the 2nd, but can only convert on a Don Mueller sac fly, although they scrape out another run in the 3rd on a Monte Irvin fielders’ choice.  The Cubs get a run back in the 5th courtesy of an error by Giants 3B-3 Hank Thompson and a two-out gbA++ with a held runner, and when they threaten with a walk and a single in the 8th to put runners on 1st and 3rd the Giants eye their bullpen, but unfortunately Maglie is also their best reliever, so they leave him in and he puts Kiner and Banks down with no damage.  Maglie thus enters the 9th with the Giants clinging to the one-run lead, and Maglie sits the bottom of the Cubs order down 1-2-3 to preserve the 2-1 win and send the Giants on to the semifinals, meaning that for a change every first round game was won by the ELO favorites.

The survivors

The first semifinal featured the #1 seed 2000 Braves and Cy Young runner-up Tom Glavine (21-9, 3.40) against the #3 seeded 1987 Royals and Charlie Leibrandt (16-11, 3.41) in what promised to be a good matchup, although the Royals were still without Bo Jackson.  The Royals nonetheless erupt in the top of the 1st, with a Danny Tartabull RBI double and a 2-run single by George Brett, but the inning ends with Frank White getting knocked out of the game with an injury and now the sorely depleted Royals try to hang on.  They add two more runs in the 4th with a 2-out RBI single from Jackson’s replacement Gary Thurman and two Braves errors, the second by SS-3 Furcal that makes the score 5-0 Royals.  When the Royals start up another 2-out rally in the 8th, the Braves finally give up on Glavine and summon Mike Remlinger from the pen, who quells the rally, and the Braves finally get to Leibrandt in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run shot from Chipper Jones that is then back-to-backed with a blast from Andruw Jones, and at that point the Royals have seen enough Jones and bring in John Davis in relief, but he suffers from some shoddy KC fielding and the Braves get another run on a Brian Jordan sac fly.  The game thus enters the 9th with the Royals clinging to a one-run lead; Brett immediately changes that situation, leading off the top of the 9th with a homer and it’s then up to Davis to try to close things out in the bottom of the 9th against the top of the Braves order.  With one out, Rafael Furcal singles and steals his second base of the game, putting the tying run at the plate with the two Jones due to bat.  Chipper flies out, but Andruw draws a walk; Andres Galarraga then pops out with the winning run at bat and the Royals upset the regional favorite 6-4, and earn a berth in the finals.      

The 1950 Giants now find themselves to be the surviving favorite in the bracket, with Larry Jansen (19-13, 3.01) getting the start, but their lack of offense in the first round was worrisome.  They faced the 1988 Angels and Chuck Finley (9-15, 4.17), a guy with numerous previous hard-luck appearances in this tournament although his most recent appearance in Regional #148 as his 1993 self resulted in a 4-hit shutout.   The Giant start with a bang when Eddie “the Brat” Stanky leads off the bottom of the 1st with a triple, but he’s cut down at the plate trying to score on an Alvin Dark grounder; Dark eventually does score on a Monte Irvin fielder’s choice and it’s 1-0 New York.  In the 4th, the Giants load the bases with nobody out but Finley bears down and gets out of the jam with no damage, assisted by an outstanding catch from CF-1 Devon White.  The Angels take heart from that performance, and load the bases up in the top of the 5th for Chili Davis, who finds Jansen’s 4-10 solid HR for a grand slam that abruptly quiets the Polo Grounds.   A 2-out 2-run blast by Jack Howell in the top of the 7th chases Jansen for Jim Hearn, but he gets hit and the inning ends with a 7-1 lead for the Californians.  The Giants get one run back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a Chili Davis error and a Stanky RBI single, and in the bottom of the 9th they make a stand.  Stanky hits another RBI single, Dark drives in a run on a fielder’s choice, and the Giants get runners on first and second with two out and Monte Irvin at the plate as the tying run.  The Angels have to admit that Finley is toast and bring in closer Bryan Harvey to try to get the final out.  Irvin lofts a deep fly ball to center but the Polo Grounds swallow it up as White hauls it in and the Angels head to the finals with the 7-4 victory.  

It’s the #3 seed 1987 Royals against a team from their own era, the #5 seeded 1988 Angels, for the regional title, with these squads having disposed of the two bracket favorites on their way to this matchup.  The Royals were happy to be getting Frank White back from injury but Bo Jackson was still out of the lineup, and both teams had relied upon bullpen innings to get through the first two rounds, so starters Mark Gubicza (13-18, 3.98) for the Royals and Kirk McCaskill (8-6, 4.31) were hoping to go deep in the game.  In the 2nd, the Royals load the bases with two out, and then three consecutive singles by Angel Salazar, Willie Wilson, and Gary Thurman provide KC with a 4-0 lead.  The Angels get a run back in the bottom of the 3rd on a Johnny Ray RBI double, but in the 5th a Danny Tartabull RBI single and a George Brett fielder’s choice makes it 6-1 and McCaskill is gone for Greg Minton.  However, things go south for Minton in the 6th when Angels 3B-3 Jack Howell makes his second error of the game with two out to load the bases, which is followed by hits from Kevin Seitzer and Tartabull that push the lead to 9-1.   In the 8th Howell lets two singles go by him, one a run-scorer by Steve Balboni, although the Angels get that one back in the bottom of the inning when RF-4 Tartabull can’t get to a Tony Armas RBI single.  Gubicza then closes out the Angels in the 9th and the Royals take the regional crown with the 10-2 win, with Gubicza scattering 10 hits in the victory but exhibiting better control than expected, walking only one.  This is the 5th regional win for the Royals, and the 3rd from the 80s, as this ‘87 squad joins ‘81 and ‘84 in the winner’s circle.  This version did it with timely hitting, a deep if unspectacular starting rotation, and up the middle defense with Salazar and White as an all-”2” DP combo and CF-1 Willie Wilson getting to everything hit his way.   Also worthy of mention were the important contributions of Gary Thurman with both bat and glove in replacing injured Bo Jackson for virtually the entire regional.

Interesting card of Regional #151:  Well, the 1987 Royals won the regional, and that season lives in Strat infamy as the beginning of the perforated cards as well as the one-year span of the least readable cards ever produced by the game company.  This one features Danny Tartabull, who batted cleanup for the victors and drove in at least one run in all three games of the regional.  As cards go, it’s a classic 2-column pattern made famous by Babe Ruth in the Old-Timers set, although Tartabull’s version leaves a hole at that 2-8 split that showed up at least once during this bracket.  It’s also fitting to remember Danny as he was part of a father/son duo (with dad Jose), and it seems to me that there’s been a rash of such sons currently playing in the big leagues.  In this particular duo, Danny was clearly a better hitter than his dad, with a career .864 OPS to Jose’s .622.  Unfortunately, in the realm of fatherhood, Danny didn’t fare as well; once his career ended, he made the news having been named the top deadbeat dad in Los Angeles after allegedly failing to pay more than $275,000 in child support for his two sons.

 

The Endless Single Elimination Tournament after Regional #150:   Having completed 150 regionals means that 1,200 different teams have taken their shot in the tournament over a 40 year period.  In recognition of this dubious accomplishment, I have collated the "historical documents" of this project up to this point into a single PDF document, which enables any interested reader (a group almost certainly limited to a highly select few) to search the 480+ pages for information about the fate of their favorite teams or players.  It is available for inspection or download at the link below; hope someone enjoys it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZgNIqsEfmM6CRMo62jp4fC-yTwuLDwUB/view?usp=sharing