REGIONAL #161:  This bracket draw included two pair, including two Phillies teams from adjacent years–the two immediately following their pennant in 1983.  The other duo involved the Brewers, one shortly after their one year as the Pilots and the other shortly before they jumped from the AL to the NL.   There was also the final tournament entry from the deadball 1911 season, an A’s team that was similar to one that exited quickly in the last regional, and Pirates and Padres representatives that I suspected were fairly undistinguished.  I predicted an all-Philly Phinal, with the ‘84 version of the Phils, being fresh off their pennant, would emerge on top.  The ELO rankings agreed with my estimation, and ranked those ‘84 Phillies as really the only good team in the group.

First round action

The 75-87 1985 Phillies had seriously declined from their ‘83 pennant, with an aging Mike Schmidt moving to first base but still their main offensive weapon, and Steve Carlton moving to irrelevance with Kevin Gross (15-13, 3.41) fronting a so-so rotation backed by a decent bullpen.  They were nonetheless ELO favorites over the 93-loss 1998 Pirates, who were entering years of ineptitude, here represented by their all-”4” DP combo that probably wouldn’t be much help to starter Francisco Cordova (13-14, 3.31).  The Phillies burst out quickly in the top of the 1st with Luis Aguayo leading off the game with a homer, and then a Schmidt double is followed by RBI singles from Ozzie Virgil and Rick Schu and it’s 3-0 Phils before the western Pennsylvanians can swing a bat.  Things don’t get better for the Pirates, as in the 3rd a couple of fielding mishaps by their SS-4 Lou Collier sets up an RBI single for Juan Samuel and a 2-run base hit for Schmidt, and Cordova is yanked for Jason Christiansen who retires the side but the Phils now lead 7-0.  After Christiansen holds the Phils in the top of the 4th, the Pirates take heart and get rolling in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer from DH Freddy Garcia, and Jason Kendall adds another 2-run shot in the 5th and it’s starting to look like a ballgame.  But Glenn Wilson finds a solid double on Christiansen’s card to begin the 6th and Virgil singles him home and the Phils extend their lead to 8-4.  Wilson then leads off the 8th with a homer against new Pirates reliever Ricardo Rincon, and then Rincon walks the bases loaded in the 9th to set up a 2-run single for Wilson while another run scores after C-2 Kendall drops a popup with two out.  Kendall atones somewhat with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th but Gross is good enough to complete the game and preserve the pen as the Phils waltz to the easy 12-5 win.

Most of the Seattle Pilots were gone from the 91-loss 1972 Brewers, but they still reeked of expansion with a collection of has-beens, albeit having a not-terrible starting rotation with Jim Lonborg (14-12, 2.83) hoping to recapture past glories.  Fortunately for them, they faced the 74-88 1983 A’s, whose ELO ranking wasn’t much better, and much like the ‘82 that made a rapid exit in the previous regional they had a AAA Rickey Henderson at the top of order and not much after him.  Steve McCatty (6-9, 3.99) would get the starting nod but like most of the rest of the rotation, his control left something to be desired.  The pitchers are in control early, but in the 5th A’s RF-3 Mike Davis turns a Ron Theobald fly into a double, setting up an RBI single for Ellie Rodriguez and the Brewers move in front briefly until Dwayne Murphy leads off the bottom of the inning with a long homer that ties it back up.  In the 6th, the A’s take the lead when Henderson singles, steals his second base of the game, and Carney Lansford drives him in with a single and it’s 2-1 Oakland.  When Downtown Ollie Brown leads off the top of the 8th with a double, the A’s pull McCatty for Tom Burgmeier, who promptly allows two straight singles off his card, the second one an RBI for George Scott, and the game is tied once again.  But who should be leading off the bottom of the inning but Henderson, who singles, steals second, and scores on another Lansford hit, chasing Lonborg for Frank Linzy.   Linzy faces Davey Lopes, who manages to convert Linzy’s HR 1-5/flyB split and the A’s take charge.  It’s then just up to Burgmeier to escape the 9th, and he comes through unscathed and unlike two Henderson-led teams in the last regional, the A’s this time move on to the second round with a 5-2 victory.

The 1984 Phillies were a better team than the ‘85 version that was still alive in the top half of this bracket, with their 81-81 record a six game improvement and sporting a viable Steve Carlton, although they opted to go with John Denny (7-7, 2.45) for their first round matchup against the 1911 Indians.  The Indians would be the final 1911 season team to enter the tournament, and only one–the Senators–had captured a regional, with most of the deadball era teams simply being outgunned by more modern squads.  Despite being ELO underdogs to the Phils, the Indians had a better record at 80-73 and had a top part of the order that boasted Shoeless Joe (4th in the MVP balloting) as well as Nap Lajoie, who was so important to the team that their nickname was actually the Naps rather than the Indians at the time.  Furthermore, the Naps had Vean Gregg (23-7, 1.80) on the mound, a rookie who led the AL in ERA and could have won the Cy Young Award, except for the fact that the 44-year old Young was still pitching for the team and would be available out of the bullpen.  Both pitchers begin the game in fine form, and there is no score until the bottom of the 5th when Ivy Olson singles and Cleveland plays 1911 smallball, sacrificing him to 2nd from where he scores on a 2-out Lajoie base hit.  However, in the 6th the Phils decide they can play that game, and when PH Jeff Stone walks, he steals second and scores on a 2-out Mike Schmidt single and the game is tied.  Then, in the 7th Sixto Lezcano gets a hold of a Gregg fastball that goes into hitherto unknown parts of League Park, and that solo shot puts the Phils up 2-1.  Smallball fails the Naps in the bottom of the inning when Olson is caught stealing on a botched hit and run, and the Phils threaten to blow it open in the top of the 8th loading up the bases, but Lezcano flies out to end the inning with no additional insurance, so they bring in the defensive replacements to support Denny.  In the bottom of the 9th, Terry Turner leads off with a single and advances to second on the hit and run, and gets to third on a groundout by PH Syd Smith.   That brings up Jack Graney with the tying run on 3rd, and the Phils eye their bullpen but stick with Denny, and Graney rolls a SI 1-2/lo on Denny’s card; the split die teeters on a “1” but comes to rest on the 7 and the Phils survive the 2-1 duel to advance to the semifinals.  

The second Milwaukee team in the regional was a little bit better than the other entrant from 25 years earlier, as the 1997 Brewers went 78-83 aided by some steroid-era power, although their pitching staff after Ben McDonald (8-7, 4.06) was frightening.  They were also slight ELO favorites over a 76-86 2013 Padres team that had a rather nondescript lineup, although Andrew Cashner (10-9, 3.09) had a strong card as their round one starter.  The game remains scoreless until the bottom of the 4th, when Will Venable leads off by finding and converting McDonald’s HR split, although John Jaha returns the favor with a HR off Cashner in the 6th and the game is tied.  Jeromy Burnitz then crushes a two-run shot in the 8th to put the Brewers up for the first time in the game, and armed with the lead they bring in closer Doug Jones to pitch the last two innings.  In the 8th, the Padres lose their top hitter Carlos Quentin to a 15 game injury, and Jones holds San Diego scoreless for his two innings to send the Brewers to the semis with a 3-1 win, despite a 6-hitter from Cashner.  

The survivors

This semifinal matched near-contemporaries in the #2 seed 1985 Phillies against the #7 seeded 1984 A’s, although their ELO ranks were not as different as the seeding might suggest.  The Phils tapped Shane Rawley (13-8, 3.31) for the start, although like pretty much all of the Philadelphia rotation, his card was not as good as his stats might suggest.  The A’s went with Chris Codoroli (12-12, 4.46), mainly because the rest of the rotation couldn’t seem to throw strikes as the team was the second worst in the AL in walks allowed.   Things are quiet until the top of the 5th, when Garry Maddox finds and converts the HR split on Codoroli for a 2-run shot, and when in the 6th Von Hayes singles and then PH Alan Knicely delivers a double to put two runners in scoring position, the A’s opt for Tom Burgmeier again out of the pen.  Tom Foley greets Burgmeier with a single that scores Hayes, but 1-17 PR Jeff Stone is out at the plate trying to score a second run.  However, Foley eventually scores on a Luis Aguayo RBI single, and then an error by A’s 3B-3 Carney Lansford loads up the bases for Mike Schmidt; Burgmeier is overcautious and walks in a run, and then is undercautious to Glenn Wilson who puts it in the corner for a bases-clearing triple that chases Burgmeier for Gorman Heimueller.  He records the final out but the Phils now lead 8-0 and wholesale defensive substitution ensues.  Davey Lopes gets the A’s on the board in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer, but that is the last hit Rawley allows as he closes out a 6-hitter and the Phils move to the finals with the easy 8-1 win and must wait to see if they will face their ‘84 selves for the regional title.

The top seeded 1984 Phillies decided to place their chances to make the final on the strong left arm of Hall of Famer Steve Carlton (13-7, 3.58), as they were a little nervous after scoring only two runs in the opener.  For the 1997 Brewers, it was Jose Mercedes (7-10, 3.79) on the mound for a team that had only put up three runs themselves, so both offenses were looking to break out this game.  It was the Brewers who fired the first shot, as Carlton walks Jeff Cirillo in the bottom of the 1st and he races home on a Jeromy Burnitz double to make it 1-0.  That doesn’t last long, as Phils DH Tim Corcoran blasts a leadoff HR off Mercedes’ card in the top of the 2nd, and in the 4th Mike Schmidt hits a tape measure shot with the bases empty to give the Phils the lead.  In the bottom of the 5th the Philly defense comes up short, with LF-3 Glenn Wilson allowing a double and then an error by 2b-4 Juan Samuel sets up an RBI on a fielder’s choice for Marc Newfield.  However, Brewers SS Jose Valentin gets injured for 7 games, and the game remains tied when the inning ends with Mike Matheny (1-13) getting nailed at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run on a single.  Both starters remain in control until the 9th, when a Corcoran single is followed by Ozzie Virgil missing a HR 1-14/DO split, but the 1-11 Corcoran is barely safe at home for a Phils lead.  The Brewers have then seen too many Mercedes bends, and Doug Jones comes in to retire the side.  It’s then up to Carlton in the bottom of the 9th, but Dave Nilsson singles, and pinch runner Chuck Carr races to third on another single by injury replacement Mark Loretta, so the winning run is aboard.  The Phils bring the infield in and decide to let Lefty try to work out of his jam, but Gerald Williams singles off Carlton’s card and the game is tied with one out and the winning run 90 feet away.  The Brewers send up PH Jesse Levis to face Carlton, who refuses to come out of the game, and Levis calmly lines a single into the gap and it’s game over, with the Brewers winning a wild come from behind walk-off 4-3 victory–dashing the hopes of the City of Brotherly Love for a monopoly on the finals. 

The regional final matched the #2 seed 1985 Phillies, who had outscored the opposition 20-6 in the first two rounds, against the #4 seeded 1997 Brewers, who squeaked into the final with a 7-4 run differential.  Not only were the Brewers ELO underdogs, but they would not have their starting shortstop to support the shaky arm of Scott Karl (10-13, 4.47), their best of bad options, while the Phils went with Charles Hudson (8-13, 3.78) who had better stats but that wasn’t entirely evident in his card.  The fireworks start in the bottom of the 1st when John Jaha jacks a 2-out 2-run homer to put the Brewers up, but Von Hayes narrows the gap in the top of the 2nd with an RBI single.  Milwaukee gets the run back in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Cirillo finds Hudson’s solid 6-4 HR result for a 2-out solo shot, and when Phils SS-2 Tom Foley makes an error in the 3rd and Mike Matheny gets a gbA+ with a held runner for an RBI single, Hudson loses it, grooving one to #9 hitter Marc Newfield who deposits it in the stands for a 3-run shot that blows the game open.  A double by Julio Franco and Hudson is gone, with Don Carman coming in to get the final out, but the Brewers lead is now 7-1.  The Phils get a run in the 4th but it comes when Rick Schu hits into a DP, and although Carman gives them four no-hit innings, their offense is having no success closing the gap against Karl.  With Carman spent in the 7th, the Phils bring in aging Steve Carlton to see if he can atone for the 9th inning loss his younger self earned against these same Brewers in the second round, and he holds the Brewers, with the last Milwaukee hitter of the game, C Mike Matheny, getting injured for 4 games.  But it is to no avail as Karl finishes out a 7-hitter and the Brewers roll to the 7-2 win and the regional crown, the 4th such accomplishment for the franchise joining 1987, 1990, and 2003.  However, they will face some future challenges, as they will be missing their starting catcher and shortstop when they enter super-regional play as a sub-.500 team.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #161:  I’ve never selected three cards for this feature before, but this situation struck me as an oddity.  According to tournament rules, the starters for the game (who must play for at least 5 innings) will be the players with the most ABs at their primary position; for left field on the 1984 Phillies, that was Glenn Wilson, who hit .240 with 6 HR in 341 AB.  What was odd about this situation was that the Phils had THREE players, all with LF as their primary position, who were FAR better than Wilson, and this was back when the company printed only 24 players (including extras) per team.   Has there ever been another team with as much bench strength in left field?? Even after all these years, I remembered Stone’s card as a one-year wonder once I saw it, but I’d forgotten about the other two; Corcoran’s card in particular is killer, and he was selected for team DH honors in this tournament.  This was Stone’s rookie season, and he actually came in 7th in the Rookie of the Year balloting despite his limited ABs; however, it was Gross, with the least impressive card of the three, that had the most successful career.  Unfortunately, these Phillies didn’t last very long in the tournament, mainly because they couldn’t seem to put up many runs; perhaps they would have gone further if there had been some plausible way to get all three of these guys in the lineup for the entire game.

 

REGIONAL #160:  The hand that was dealt in this regional was a bit unusual, as it included three pairs and every team selected was from the American League.  The tandem entries were from the Mariners, A’s, and Blue Jays, with the nearest teams timewise to a pennant being the 2007 White Sox and the 1992 A’s, both two years after winning the AL.   Because the ‘93 version of the A’s had made it to the semis of the previous regional by defeating a pennant winner, I guessed that the ‘92 version would finish the job and beat the Angels in the finals, although I thought that the 2020 Mariners could be a dark horse given the unpredictability of the pandemic teams.  I was surprised to discover that the ELO ranks had the same two teams in the finals, with the two dead even in terms of their ELO composite score, but since the Angels were listed first that had to be the ELO pick.

First round action

The 2020 Mariners had a lot of cards for a team that only played 60 games in the pandemic season; unfortunately most of those cards weren’t any good, consistent with their 27-33 record, but fortunately their top IP starter, Marco Gonzales (7-2, 3.10), had one of the better ones.  However, they drew the regional’s top seed in the 89-win 2006 Angels, who had a strong lineup, decent defense, and a solid rotation with Jered Weaver (11-2, 2.56) getting the first round start.  The Angels strike first when Orlando Cabrera leads off the bottom of the 3rd by finding and converting Gonzales’ HR split, and that one mistake proves to be the ballgame as both starters are in great form.  Gonzales ends with a 5-hitter, but that’s not enough as Weaver tosses a 3-hit shutout and the favored Angels survive with a 1-0 victory.  The Angels win despite making more errors than runs, something that needs to be fixed if they hope to win the bracket.

The 94-loss 1982 A’s had AAA stealer Rickey Henderson at the top of the order with 130 SB, but they had little else to brag about and swingman Tom Underwood (10-6, 3.29) was much better than their more commonly used starting pitchers.  They were ELO underdogs against the 83-79 2000 Blue Jays, a steroid era squad with six guys in the lineup with 20 or more homers but also a steroid era pitching staff fronted by David Wells (20-8, 4.11) who led the AL in wins and came in 3rd in the Cy Young voting.  The Jays firepower is evident early, as in the bottom of the 1st a Brad Fullmer RBI single and a 2-run shot from Tony Batista give them a 3-0 lead that could have been worse but for Shannon Stewart (1-16) getting nailed trying for an extra base.  The A’s cut into that lead in the 3rd with a two run double from Wayne Gross hit off Wells’ card, but in the bottom of the 6th Fullmer smacks a 2-run blast that puts the Jays back up by three.  In the 8th, Henderson singles, steals second, and scores (barely) on a Jeff Burroughs base hit to narrow the gap, and Wells is showing signs of tiring but the Jays aren’t happy with their bullpen options so they stick with their ace.  In the top of the 9th, Mike Heath singles and PH Joe Rudi draws a walk, so with two out the exhausted Wells is facing Henderson as the go-ahead run.  But he reaches into the reserves and whiffs Rickey to propel the Jays into the semifinals with the 5-3 win.

The 96-66 1992 A’s won the AL West and came within two games in the ALCS of a pennant; here, they were looking to finish where the ‘93 version fell short in the semifinals of the prior regional, but this team was considerably better, with a healthy McGwire, a killer bullpen, and a solid rotation with Ron Darling (15-10, 3.66) at the front of it.  They were also hoping to avenge the loss by the ‘82 squad in the prior game, although other than Rickey Henderson batting leadoff the two teams had little in common.  They faced a 78-84 2017 Mariners team that could hit the ball, with eight guys in the lineup with a SLG% over .400, but their defense had some holes and the starting pitching after ace James Paxton (12-5, 2.98) got bad quickly.   The M’s proved their offensive mettle in the bottom of the 1st with Nelson Cruz and Mike Zunino going back-to-back to provide a quick 3-0 lead, and a 2-out RBI single from Jean Segura extends their lead in the 2nd.  A two-base error by A’s 3B-2 Carney Lansford sets up a two-run single by Mitch Haniger, and when Robinson Cano follows that with a single the A’s have had enough of Darling and turn to Jeff Russell, but Ben Gamel hits a single that CF-2 Willie Wilson misplays and by the time Russell gets out three, the M’s lead 7-0 after three and the A’s still don’t have a hit.   In the 4th, another error by Wilson opens the door to a three-run homer from Kyle Seager.  Paxson finally loses his no-hit bid in the 6th when he lets a Walt Weiss grounder get by him for a single, and then Wilson doubles and Rickey Henderson drives them both in with a single; he steals second and scores on a Ruben Sierra single and the gap narrows slightly to 10-3 Seattle.  Paxton continues to struggle in the 7th, loading the bases up with two out to face McGwire, who crushes it into the far reaches of Safeco for a grand slam and it’s a whole new ballgame.  Seeking to capitalize on the momentum shift, the A’s bring in closer Dennis Eckersley to begin the bottom of the 7th, but a Gamel triple drives one in to provide a little more padding for Seattle.  Hoping to preserve their pen, the Mariners give Paxton a chance to recover his form and he does so, striking out the side (albeit with a Lance Blankenship double mixed in) in the 9th and the Mariners end on top of the 11-7 slugfest, meaning that the A’s teams go 0 for 2 in the first round while the Mariners split their appearances.    

The 2007 White Sox had swept the World Series just two seasons previously, but this team was a shadow of their former selves, losing 90 games, but they still hoped to avenge the first round exit of the ‘05 team in Regional #141 brought about by the jinx that befalls all my favorite teams.  The Sox had Mark Buerhle (10-9, 3.63) as their top option to face the 2011 Blue Jays, who went an even 81-81 but had a solid lineup with RF Jose Bautista finishing 3rd in the MVP voting and Rickey Romero (15-11, 2.92) placing 10th in the Cy Young balloting.  The Sox take the lead in the 2nd when Paulie Konerko jacks a leadoff homer, but Buerhle has a meltdown in the bottom of the 3rd where he can’t get the final out, and by the time he does Brett Lawrie contributes a two-run double and Edwin Encarnacion and Eric Thames also drive in runs and the Jays take a 4-1 lead.  When Kelly Johnson blasts a solo shot off Buehrle’s card in the 4th, Ozzie Guillen in desperation signals for the fat guy and in comes closer Bobby Jenks, who ends the inning without further damage.  However, in the 5th Lawrie crushes one with Bautista aboard and the rout is on.  Sox DH Jim Thome tries to make it more respectable with a solo HR in the 6th, but Romero is in charge until the 9th.  Then, he starts to lose effectiveness but the Jays want to preserve their pen so they stick with their ace.  However, he allows an RBI single to Rob Mackowiak, another to AJ Pierzinski, and then loads the bases and PH Luis Terrero comes to the plate as the go-ahead run with one out.  The Jays finally have to admit Romero is toast and summon Marc Rzepczynksi from the pen, primarily to make me type yet another unspellable name in this 9th inning rally.  Marc fans Terrero to bring up Tadahito Iguchi, who flies out harmlessly to leave the bases loaded, and the Jays hold on for the 7-4 win.

The survivors

The top-seeded 2006 Angels barely survived round one scoring only one run, and while John Lackey (13-11, 3.58) was a decent #2 starter, they probably couldn’t count on another shutout in their semifinal against the steroid-era 2000 Blue Jays.  The #4 seeded Jays opted to go with Frank Castillo (10-5, 3.59), but he is victimized in the top of the 1st by a 2-out error from his SS-2 Alex Gonzalez, which sets up a 2-run homer from Juan Rivera and the Angels move on top quickly.  Garrett Anderson adds to the margin in the 2nd by leading off the inning with a HR, but the Jays bats come alive in the bottom of the inning, as although Darrin Fletcher misses a HR 1-18 split, he still drives one in and a sac fly from Gonzalez and a Morandini single that is misplayed by Angels CF-3 Chone Figgins and the game is tied 3-3.  In the bottom of the 4th, Tony Batista and Fletcher get back to back doubles from Lackey’s HR 1/DO result, and RF-4 Vlad Guerrero can’t get to a Morandini flyball that scores Fletcher; Lackey then loads the bases and the Angels sense the game getting away so they summon closer Francisco Rodriguez to try to get the last out.  However, Carlos Delgado puts FRod’s first offering into the RF corner for a bases-clearing double and when the inning finally ends the Jays hold an 8-3 lead.  The Angels cut into the lead with a leadoff homer from Mike Napoli in the 6th, and when Rivera leads off the 8th with his second homer of the game off Castillo’s card, the nervous Jays move to the pen and Joey Hamilton sets down three in a row.  In the 9th, Hamilton tosses his second perfect inning in relief and the Jays head to the finals with the upset 8-5 win.

The 2011 Blue Jays were aiming to achieve something that was unprecedented in this tournament–an all-Jays regional final.  Favored to do so as the top remaining seed at #3, the Jays gave the start to swingman Carlos Villanueva (6-4, 4.04) to face the 2017 Mariners, who put up double digit runs in their first round win.  For the Mariners, Mike Leake (10-13, 3.92) was the best of the remaining options, and he’s in good form until the bottom of the 3rd, when Colby Rasmus finds and converts Leake’s HR split for a solo shot and a Jays lead.  That lead is short-lived when Mike Zunino connects for a leadoff homer in the 4th, and that rattles Villanueva who then allows a 2-run triple to Robinson Cano and Ben Gamel rips a grounder through the drawn-in infield and the Mariners take a 4-1 lead.  However, M’s CF Jarrod Dyson ends the inning with a gruesome 15-game injury, and the Jays try to seize back the momentum by capitalizing on a Yonder Alonso error followed by a Rasmus triple and an RBI single from Yunel Escobar, and it’s a one-run game after five.  When Leake gives up a single in the bottom of the 7th, the M’s head to the pen for Tony Zych, who retires the side without incident.  Then, Nelson Cruz leads off the 8th with a tape measure shot and Villanueva is gone for Casey Janssen, but mighty Casey allows a double to Zunino and a 2-run homer to Alonso and the Jays fans begin to head for the exits.  A solo shot by Jose Bautista in the bottom of the inning makes a few of them sit back down, so for the 9th the Mariners bring in Nick Vincent to try to record the save, fearing to go to their closer Edwin Diaz because of his gopher ball tendencies.  Vincent does the job and the Mariners head to the finals with the 7-4 win, but they will be without their starting CF for the remainder of the tournament.

For the second game in a row, the #5 seeded 2017 Mariners were facing a Toronto squad, this one the #4 seed 2000 Blue Jays.  The Mariners would be playing short their regular CF and with a somewhat taxed bullpen available to support Erasmo Martinez (5-6, 4.39), while the Jays tapped Esteban Loaiza (10-13, 4.56) and with two strong offenses and two mediocre starters, the fans at Safeco Field were expecting some fireworks.  The first taste was a 2-out Carlos Delgado solo shot in the top of the 1st to put the Jays ahead, and in the 3rd they add to their lead with a Dave Martinez RBI single and a Carlos Delgado sac fly.  However, the Mariners get those latter runs back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a Nelson Cruz double, and it’s 3-2 Jays after three.   Loaiza survives a threat in the 5th by whiffing Mike Zunino with the bases loaded and two out, but when he walks the first two batters of the 6th he’s gone for Joey Hamilton, who earned the save in their semifinal game.  Hamilton starts out by dropping a Kyle Seager grounder to load the bases with nobody out, but he then strikes out the next two batters and gets Jean Segura to fly out to end the inning with the Jays lead still intact.  In the top of the 7th, an Alex Gonzalez double drives in Jose Cruz Jr., and Martinez is pulled for Tony Zych who ends the inning but the Jays now lead by two.  Mitch Haniger then leads off the bottom of the inning by getting injured for 6 games, and the Mariners’ outfield resembles an infirmary.  With Hamilton’s eligibility now used up, the Jays bring in closer Billy Koch to begin the 8th, and he gets through it and through two outs of the 9th with no problem, but then Nelson Cruz doubles and defensive replacement LF-2 Dave Martinez drops a Zunino flyball for a two-base error and it’s a one-run game with the tying run in scoring position in the form of pinch runner Taylor Motter.  Koch delivers to Yonder Alonso, and it’s a groundout (plus meaningless injury, no less) and the Blue Jays hold on for a 4-3 win to take the regional crown, the fourth for the franchise joining 1985, 1989 and 2005.  The Jays award regional MVP honors to Joey Hamilton, a little used starter forced into relief who pitched four hitless innings with a save in round two and an all-important hold in the finals.

Interesting card of Regional #160:  Bill James described him as the best leadoff man in baseball history, and although I find that I disagree with James a fair amount, this may not be one of those times.  In 1982, the 23 year old Henderson stole 130 bases, breaking Lou Brock’s modern-era record for steals and that record still stands today.  We don’t see a lot of AAA stealers in Strat, but this card is one of the best of them, representing a season where Rickey was 10th in the MVP voting after having been the runner-up the prior season (at age 22).   The all-time career SB leader by nearly 500 steals, James points out that Rickey had the most steals of anyone before the age of 29 as well as the most steals after age 29–and that other than him, there was nobody else who appears on both lists of leaders.  Anyhow, despite sporting this card in the leadoff spot, the 1982 A’s made a first round exit in this tournament, managing to lose 94 games for Billy Martin in real life.  One has to wonder how many games they would have lost if Henderson wasn’t on the team. 

REGIONAL #159:   My team selector program went on a Royals binge for this bracket, inviting three different KC squads to participate including the 2014 pennant-winners.  There weren’t any other immediate contenders that jumped out; there was an A’s team in decline from the Bash Brothers days, and a Rangers team that was a few years away from a pennant-winner (one that by the way went down in the previous regional).   I thought the top half of the group looked stronger than the bottom half,and I ultimately went with the AL winning 2014 Royals over the Rockies of the past season to emerge from the finals.  The ELO ranks indicated that neither half of the bracket was very strong, and although the pennant winning Royals were the favorites, they were ranked as only the 6th best team of 2014.  Still, they were predicted to handle largely mediocre opposition, with the ELO picking an all-Royals final with the other two KC squads having rankings that were virtually tied with each other.  

First round action

The 2014 Royals won 89 games and captured the AL pennant from a wild card slot, but their ELO score was not very impressive, portraying them as the 6th best team in baseball and only the 4th best team in their league.  Their strengths were in strong defense (five “1”s in the lineup) and excellent relief pitching available to support swingman starter Danny Duffy (9-12, 2.53), although their offense was rather anemic and their rotation was pretty pedestrian for a pennant winner.  However, they were still prohibitive favorites against the 94-loss 1993 A’s, who didn’t do much bashing with Canseco gone and McGwire relegated to part time duty with 84 ABs, and Bobby Witt (14-13, 4.21) at the top of the rotation.   The A’s do a little bashing in the 2nd when Ruben Sierra finds and converts Duffy’s HR split with two out for a solo shot, but 3B Craig Paquette promptly gets injured making the third out–which under tournament rules allows McGwire to get into the lineup.  In the 3rd, Duffy issues two walks and then Terry Steinbach takes him deep for a three run shot, putting the Royals in a sizable hole.  A Troy Neel sac fly makes it 5-0 Oakland in the top of the 5th, and when Mike Bordick leads off the 7th with a single, Duffy is pulled for Wade Davis and his 1.00 ERA, but with two out Steinback rolls a 5-2, which is the only hit on Davis’s card, and it happens to be a solid triple and the A’s extend their lead, while putting Steinbach just a double short of a cycle.  Meanwhile, Bobby Witt is throwing bullets and he finishes out a 3-hit shutout to send the regional favorites back into storage in the first round, as the A’s win 6-0 despite only recording five hits themselves.

The ELO ranks had this first round game as a matchup of two middling squads.  The 75-87 2007 Rangers would in a few years become the pennant winner that didn’t survive the previous regional; although the team had some offensive weapons there were a number of instances where the backup was better than the regular, and the rotation was pretty dreadful with Brandon McCarthy (8-10, 4.87) being the best it could offer.  They faced the 1995 Mets, who went 69-75 in that strike-shortened season and were still hoping to get their money’s worth out of Bobby Bonilla, as well as hoping for a decent outing from spot starter Bill Pulsipher (5-7, 3.98).  In the bottom of the third, both Jose Vizcaino and Rico Brogna find and convert McCarthy’s HR 1-8 split, and the Mets jump to a 3-0 lead, which Brogna extends with an RBI single in the 4th.  When Carl Everett leads off the 5th with a towering blast to make it 5-0, McCarthy gets the hook and Joaquin Benoit is summoned in desperation.  The Rangers also bring in numerous backups in the 6th, and one of them, Mark Teixeira, gets them on the board with an RBI single and then they load up the bases with two out, so the Mets pull Pulsipher and have Doug Henry face Rangers PH Victor Diaz; Henry issues two straight walks before recording the third out and the Mets lead is suddenly cut to two.  The omens keep looking bad for the Mets when C Todd Hundley is knocked out of the game with an injury in the bottom of the inning, and then David Murphy raps a solo shot off Henry’s card in the top of the 7th, although Jeff Kent answers with one of his own in the bottom of the inning and the Queens faithful breathe a little easier.  Not taking any chances, the Mets summon closer John Franco to begin the 8th, but a 2-base error by SS-3 Vizcaino followed by a Diaz double off Franco’s card and it’s a one-run game.  However, in the bottom of the 8th the Mets pound Benoit in his final inning of eligibility, and a Bonilla double, a Brogna RBI single and a sac fly from injury replacement Kelly Stinnett and it’s a big pad for Franco entering the 9th.  But the Rangers aren’t going down easy, and Michael Young converts Franco’s HR HR 1-7 split for a 2-run blast, and then Teixeira and Sammy Sosa get singles off bad OF fielding by the Mets and the go-ahead run is at the plate for the Rangers.   But Franco bears down and whiffs Marlon Byrd and Diaz and the Mets hang on for the 9-7 win, moving on but with a taxed bullpen and without Hundley until the regional final.  

In a meeting of mediocrities,the 70-74 1995 Royals faced off against the 74-87 2021 Rockies.  The second Royals effort in this regional featured a lineup that was pretty good at getting on base with Gary Gaetti providing most of the power, as well as a decent pitching staff headed by Kevin Appier (15-10, 3.89) that had only three starters over 100 IP due to the strike-shortened season.  The Rockies from this past season had some Coors-fueled power up and down the lineup but as has been typical for that franchise, the pitching left something to be desired with German Marquez (12-11, 4.40) seeming to be their best option.  However, it’s Appier who starts out rough, issuing two straight 2-out walks in the bottom of the 1st and then Rockies DH Connor Joe launches one into the thin Colorado air for a 3-run blast.  A two-out Ryan McMahon RBI single makes it 4-0 in the 4th, and in the 6th a 2-out Garrett Hampson single scores another and Appier is done, with closer Jeff Montgomery able to get the last out. However, in the 8th the Rockies rock Montgomery for four hits and two runs courtesy of a Hampson triple, and Marquez finishes out a 5-hit shutout as the Rockies cruise to the 7-0 win and the second Royals team of the regional makes a rapid exit.

The third Kansas City squad of this regional, the 1971 Royals managed to go 85-76 with a largely punchless lineup (Amos Otis and his 15 HR led the team) on the basis of a solid pitching staff and noteworthy team speed.  With young Paul Splittorf (8-9, 2.69) on the mound, they were sizeable ELO favorites over the 96-loss 2012 Twins, who had four guys with more homers than Otis in the lineup but only two starting pitchers with more than 100 innings, Scott Diamond (12-9, 3.54) being the best of those.  Diamond gets in the rough for three hits in the bottom of the 2nd, with the last one being a 2-run single by Bob Oliver, and the Royals take the early lead.  They add another run in the 4th on double from Joe Keough and Ed Kirkpatrick, but their lead falls apart in the top of the 5th on RBI singles from Denard Span and Ben Revere, followed by costly errors from KC’s 2B-2 Cookie Rojas and 3B-2 Paul Schaal that both score runs, and the Twins take a 4-3 lead.  Joe Mauer adds some insurance in the top of the 8th with a leadoff homer, and the Twins bring in the defensive replacements.  Revere then leads off the 9th with a single, steals second, and scores on a Jamey Carroll base hit and Splittorf is finally pulled for Tom Burgmeier, but the Royals have nothing against Diamond and the Twin roll to the 6-3 victory, and all three Royals teams in the regional go down in the first-round without much of a fight.

The survivors

Although they finished under .500, the 1995 Mets were the highest seed remaining in the regional after round one, but they had no decent replacement for injured C Todd Hundley and their bullpen was taxed and could use a complete game from Pete Harnisch (2-8, 3.68).  Meanwhile, their opponent, the 1993 A’s, benefited from an injury that allows Mark McGwire to start the game, and they had a fully rested pen which was good because Ron Darling (5-9, 5.16) was the best of their terrible remaining starting options.  In the 3rd, Harnisch issues two walks and then grooves one to McGwire, who bounces it off the big apple in the Shea outfield for a 3-run lead.  It doesn’t last long, as Darling disintegrates in the bottom of the 4th after Oakland C Terry Steinbach drops a popup which is followed by a Jeff Kent HR off Darling’s split; from there it just gets worse as RBI doubles from injury replacement Kelly Stinnett and Bobby Bonilla and and RBI single from Jose Vizcaino and Darling is gone, replaced by Rick Honeycutt who finally gets the third out but it’s 6-3 Mets after four. The injury bug hits the Mets again in the 5th as Kent goes down for 8 games, and the carnage continues with A’s SS Mike Bordick getting a 7-game injury in the 7th.  The Mets add another run in the bottom of the 7th when Bobby Bonilla doubles and eventually scores on a sac fly from injury replacement Tim Bogar, and Harnisch gives the Mets the sorely needed complete game as they head to the finals with the 7-3 win, without Kent but with Hundley coming back.

The second semifinal matched two victors of first round upsets, the #6 seed 2021 Rockies and Austin Gomber (9-9, 4.53) against the #8 seeded 2012 Twins and their only starting option, Brian Duensing (4-12, 5.12), with both teams having fully rested pens to try to help out two fairly terrible starters.  Pitching in Coors, Gomber had some issues with the longball and Ben Revere demonstrates that by leading off the bottom of the 1st with a roll of Gomber’s 5-9 solid HR to give the Twins the quick advantage.  However, in the top of the 2nd the Rockies load the bases and then #9 hitter Raimel Tapia clears them with a double off Duensing’s card; Trevor Story follows that up with a long home run and the Rockies blow past the Twins to a 5-1 lead.  The Twins begin to claw back in the 3rd with an RBI double from Denard Span, who scores on a Ryan Doumit single and the lead is cut to 5-3, and it’s looking like this game could be a long one.  A two-out double in the 4th by Revere scores one, and then Span singles home Revere and the game is tied and Gomber is a goner with Jordan Sheffield brought in only to issue a walk and an RBI single to Doumit before getting the third out, and the Twins now lead 6-5.  That evaporates immediately as CJ Cron leads off the 5th by converting Duensing’s HR split, and it’s the Twins turn to go to the pen, with Casey Fien retiring the side to keep the game tied.  Cron leads off the 7th with his second leadoff HR of the game and the Rockies regain the lead, and in the 8th they add to it with a 2-out 2-run double from Story.  The Rockies have to go to the pen in the bottom of the 8th and they bring in Robert Stephenson, who was featured in Regional #157 as having the worst pitcher’s card I had ever seen.  Although his 2021 card was much better, the bad karma persisted as the Twins rake Stephenson, with an RBI single from Span followed by a 3-run homer by Josh Willingham and Stephenson leaves after a third of an inning with four runs allowed.  Lucas Gilbreath comes in to get the last two outs but the Twins now take a one-run lead into the 9th.  Fien is now cashed out for the regional and Jared Burton is handed the save opportunity, and he dispatches the Rockies in order to earn the save in the 10-9 see-saw victory that propels the bottom-seeded Twins into the finals. 

The regional final matchup between the #2 seeded 1995 Mets and the #8 seed 2012 Twins sounded more lopsided than it was, as the Mets were an under .500 team who would be without all star 2B Jeff Kent for the foreseeable future.  The main advantage for the Mets was that, although they were a strike year team, they still had more starting pitching with 100 innings than did the Twins, and so the Mets could opt for the mediocre Bobby Jones (10-10, 4.19) while the Twins had no choice but to start the terrible Nick Blackburn (4-9, 7.39), almost certainly the worst pitcher ever to start a regional final.  The game begins a bit problematically for the Twins, as although Blackburn manages to throw a perfect inning in the top of the 1st, Ben Revere leads off the bottom of the 1st by getting thrown out at second trying to steal on Todd Hundley; Josh Willingham then misses a HR split that almost certainly would have scored Revere, and DH Ryan Doumit makes the third out of a scoreless inning by getting injured for 8 games.  Hundley then finds one of Blackburn’s HR results to give the Mets the lead in the 2nd, and injury replacement Tim Bogar rolls the same Blackburn result to lead off the 3rd while later in the inning Rico Brogna nails a 2-run HR off his own card and the Mets lead 4-0.  The Twins get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd courtesy of a Willingham RBI single, but in the 5th the Mets get it back when Brogna misses a HR 1-16/DO split but still drives in a run and drives Blackburn out of the game, having reached his runs allowed minimum to pull.  Closer Glen Perkins comes in to get the third out, but in the 7th Twins 3B-4 Trevor Plouffe plouffes a grounder that sets up a three run homer by Hundley, his second blast of the game, and the Mets lead extends to 8-1.  A two-run homer by Brogna in the 9th gives him a 2-HR game, while Jones waltzes to the complete game 10-1 victory as the Mets take the regional with a blowout.  The Mets honor Brogna with regional MVP honors based upon his three homers and nine RBI in the three games, and notch their 6th regional win, as the 1995 team joins the 1993 and 1996 Mets in forming an unlikely mini-dynasty of bracket winners, as none of those three teams finished over .500 in real life. 

Interesting card of Regional #159:  From the hitting school of “keep swinging hard and something good is eventually bound to happen”, we have one Clete Thomas.  Clete did not make an appearance in the Twins’ three regional games, but their bench was so shallow I admit that I did contemplate using him a few times.  I mean, he doesn’t hit into double plays, and his card is quite easy to read, with none of those splits or multi-line results to clutter it up.  My first Strat set was the 1967 AL, and Dave Duncan’s card with the A’s in that old original set has stuck with me over all these years as the prototype of the bad hitters card, but I think Thomas’s card is even more striking with that “one of these results is not like the others” look.  Apparently he was named after Clete Boyer, his father’s favorite ballplayer, and although Thomas’s career was much shorter than Boyer's, they actually ended up with nearly identical career OPS numbers.  One other relevant factoid about Thomas was that his first career homer came off Nick Blackburn of the Twins–the losing pitching of the regional final, who was similarly creamed by the Mets.

REGIONAL #158:  My random team selector this time pulled two teams from the most recently carded season, and one of them was the Series champion 2021 Braves.  However, it just so happened that in the first round those Braves would face a second pennant winner included in this bracket, the 2010 Rangers, the first time since Regional #91 that two pennant winners would meet in round one (spoiler alert:  neither of those teams won the regional!).  There were some other possibilities in here as well, such as a ‘59 Pirates team that would famously win the Series the following year, and the other 2021 team represented, the Twins, who I thought I remembered being competitive.  With only one Rangers team having a regional win in the tournament, I thought that perhaps they were due and that they would handle the Braves in round one and move on to defeat the Pirates in the finals.   However, the season-ending ELO rank for the Braves put them around the 50th best of all time and so picked them as favorites over a 2007 A’s team ranked as the best in the bottom of the bracket. 

First round action

The 2021 Braves were Series champions and had a season-ending ELO rating that placed them among the best teams of all time, but they had a rather modest 88-73 record and, really looking closely at their team for the first time since getting the cards, I wasn’t overwhelmed.  They did have power up and down the lineup, good team defense, and Charlie Morton (14-6, 3.34) was a solid staff ace, but they weren’t that great at getting on base and the back end of their rotation was rather pedestrian for a pennant-winner.   Speaking of pennant-winners, they faced the 2010 Rangers, who won 90 games and the AL, and the Rangers had plenty of power of their own, led by AL MVP Josh Hamilton, and had the capable Cliff Lee (12-9, 3.18) on the mound, so this looked like a close matchup between two very good teams.  In the 2nd, the Braves take the lead when Freddie Freeman races home on a Jorge Soler double, but the Rangers tie it in the 4th when Braves C-4 Stephen Vogt drops a Vlad Guerrero popup which allows a run to score.  When Guerrero singles Hamilton to third with two out in the bottom of the 6th, the Braves bring in Luke Jackson to try to prevent the run from scoring, but Jackson promptly uncorks a wild pitch that Vogt has no chance of stopping and Hamilton scores to give the Rangers the lead.  When Dansby Swanson doubles to lead off the 8th, the Rangers pull Lee for closer Neftali Feliz, who tosses two perfect innings to shut down the Braves and preserve the 2-1 win for the Rangers.  As such, the champions of the most recent card set in the tournament make a rapid exit and the Rangers continue their quest to reverse the poor showing of the franchise thus far.

The 83-79 1991 Mariners could take heart from the fact that the 1990 version of the team was the only Mariner squad to win a regional; both teams had a couple of Griffey’s at their disposal, and the exceptionally wild Randy Johnson, (13-10, 3.98, 228 K, 152 BB) on the mound.  They were ELO favorites against the 73-89 2021 Twins, a curious team with some mighty but injury prone sluggers (e.g. Byron Buxton with a 1.005 OPS but an injury at 3-8) and a non-existent rotation with the staff leader in IP traded away mid-season.  So the Twins decided to send out trade acquisition John Gant (5-11, 4.09) who almost rivaled Johnson’s BB/9 rate.  The Mariners waste no time and jump out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st with an RBI single from Edgar Martinez, a 2-run triple from Jay Buhner, and a run-scoring double by Pete O’Brien.  Although Gant settles down afterward, a walk and a single in the top of the 6th and the Twins see no reason not to go to their pen, and Joe Ryan comes in to strike out the side.  Sensing the momentum shifting, the Twins get a single and then three Johnson walks force in a run and the M’s bring in Bill Swift with the bases loaded and two out to face PH Luis Arraez.  The roll: 1-4, gbA on Arraez, solid HR on Ryan Jeffers, the guy he pinch hit for.  Minnesota puts up another run in the 8th on a Jorge Polanco fielder’s choice, and the Mariners bring in Mike Schooler to try to close things out.  Meanwhile, Ryan completes four innings of no-hit relief and the Twins enter the bottom of the 9th down by two.  Miguel Sano leads off with a double and then PH Alex Kirilloff follows with a single, putting the winning run at the plate with nobody out.  Another base hit by Trevor Larnach and it’s a one run game with the tying run in scoring position; #9 hitter Andrelton Simmons is at the plate and the Twins call for the sacrifice; Simmons beats it out and the bases are loaded with nobody out and the winning run now on second base and the top of the Twins order up.   Seattle has to pull the totally ineffective Schooler, and they give Mike Jackson the impossible task of pulling this one out.  The infield comes in for Max Kepler, but he lofts a flyball deep enough to score the run and the game is tied and the imposing Buxton is at the plate.  Buxton hits a grounder to SS-3 Omar Vizquel, who flips it to Harold Reynolds and on to O’Brien and we head to extra innings.  Alvin Davis leads off the 10th missing a HR 1-13/flyB split with a 14 roll, and new Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey is in control until the top of the 13th, when a spate of wildness loads the bases with one out and Minnesota moves to Jorge Alcala, with better control but also gopher ball issues, and he gets out of the jam.  The Mariners then have to move to Calvin Jones, their 5th pitcher of the game, in the bottom of the 13th, and he does his job but the Mariners bats do not, and finally in the bottom of the 15th Byron Buxton can be denied no longer, leading off with a tape measure shot that drives a stake into the Mariners and gives the Twins the exhausting 5-4 win.

The 1981 Blue Jays were ranked as one of the worst 100 teams of all time, with a 37-69 record in that strike year and a host of players that would be better later on but dismal now.  However, they did have Dave Stieb (11-10, 3.18) on the mound, who actually received MVP votes as the bright spot in a dim group.  They faced the 90-loss 1964 Red Sox, another team that would be better in a few years, but the Boston lineup had far more weapons than did the Jays and although Bob Heffner (7-9, 4.08) was not of Stieb’s caliber, the Red Sox did have some talent in the bullpen, including Dick Radatz’s 157 relief innings.  The Jays cause is not helped in the top of the 1st when DH Otto Velez is injured for seven games, but in the 2nd Alfredo Griffin knocks in a run with a triple and the Jays take a lead.   Stieb doesn’t allow a hit until the 4th, but it’s a long one as Felix Mantilla sends it over the Green Monster to tie the game, but that tie doesn’t last long as the Jays strike in the 5th with an Al Woods solo shot and an RBI double from Barry Bonnell, who scores on a Heffner error and the Jays lead by three.  Radatz is summoned to begin the 6th for the Sox, and he does his job but it’s to no avail as Stieb is dominating, finishing up a 2-hitter and the Jays somehow move on with the 4-1 win.

The 1959 Pirates were just a year away from a championship, but they were barely a .500 team at 78-76 with a rather anemic lineup, although Vern Law (18-9, 2.98) got MVP votes, as did Roy Face, who went 18-1, all in relief.  It was interesting that they were ELO underdogs to a sub-.500 2007 A’s team that went 76-86 and was a rather faceless “Moneyball” era squad with Dan Haren (15-9, 3.07) getting the first round start.   In the bottom of the 1st, it’s Dr. Strangeglove who gets things going for the Pirates as Dick Stuart crushes a 2-run moonshot with Virdon aboard, and then Bob Skinner goes back-to-back and the A’s are quickly in a three-run hole.  They dig out of it immediately, as in the top of the 2nd Law can’t get anyone out, and the double play combo of Groat and Mazeroski both allow infield singles that score runs, and it’s tied 3-3 until the bottom of the inning, when Pirates C Danny Kravitz knocks a 2-run homer to put the Pirates back in front, and it’s looking like a long game.  However, in the 5th Pirates LF-4 Skinner bobbles a Travis Buck single that allows a run to score, and then Mark Ellis blasts a homer and the A’s take the lead, 6-5.  A leadoff single by A’s #9 hitter Jason Kendall in the 6th and Pittsburgh realizes that the Law has been broken, and no point in saving Face so in he comes.  Face quickly induces a DP ball and ends the threat, and the Pirates get to work in the bottom of the inning with a Smokey Burgess single and a walk to Don Hoak, and it’s the A’s turn to move to the pen and Huston Street, who has had several excellent relief appearances in this tournament for a variety of teams, and Street sets the Pirates down in order with no damage.  Oakland DH Jack Cust crushes a solo shot in the top of the 7th to provide some insurance, but in the bottom of the inning it’s time for a new policy as Roberto Clemente finds and converts Street’s HR split for a 2-run shot and the game is tied once again.  In the bottom of the 8th Hoak doubles past CF-3 Nick Swisher, and Groat follows with a sharp single but the 1-14 Hoak is nailed trying to score.  Thus, the game is still deadlocked at six apiece heading into the 9th; both relievers are in their last inning of eligibility for the regional but neither team wants to pull their best, so it’s game on.  Face does his job, 1-2-3 with two whiffs, and so it’s Street’s turn in the bottom of the 9th.  He gets two quick outs but Stuart singles and then Skinner walks, so the Pirates have to pinch run for Stuart as the winning run in scoring position and Burgess at the plate.  Burgess lines out, and we head to extra innings and the Pirates biggest bat is now out of the game.  The Pirates turn to their painfully shallow pen and bring in Ron Blackburn, and he gets through the 10th with no issues; the A’s turn to Alan Embree in the bottom of the inning and he does likewise.  In the bottom of the 12th, Pirates PH Harry Bright misses a HR 1-6/flyB split with a 9 to make the third out with Burgess on 3rd and we move on to the 13th–the last inning of regional eligibility for this set of relievers.  Blackburn walks Dan Johnson to lead off the inning, and then A’s SS Bobby Crosby rolls Blackburn’s solid 4-10 HR and the wheels come off; Cust adds a 2-run homer, Swisher gets an RBI grounder, and Travis Buck rolls the 4-10 and it’s a 6-run 13th inning for the A’s, who bring in Andrew Brown to preserve Embree and he mops up the 13-7 extra inning win for the A’s in a game that saw nine homers leave Forbes Field.  

The survivors

As the victor of the first-round clash between pennant winners, the 2010 Rangers were going with CJ Wilson (15-8, 3.35) and they had several advantages over the 2021 Twins.  In addition to a much worse record and ranking, the Twins had basically blown their bullpen in a 15-inning marathon in round one and so starter Michael Pineda (9-8, 3.62) would basically be on his own in this outing.  It was the Twins who strike first in the bottom of the first, with Byron Buxton scoring on a Jorge Polanco fielder’s choice when the Rangers opted to play the infield back.  Julio Borbon finds Pineda’s solid 5-9 HR result to lead off the 3rd to tie it briefly, but in the bottom of the 4th Josh Donaldson and Miguel Sano go back-to-back and the Twins assert a 4-1 lead.  An error by Rangers 3B-4 Michael Young sets up a Polanco sac fly in the 5th, but the Rangers get the run back in the 6th on an RBI single from Mitch Moreland and it’s 5-2 in favor of the underdog Twins.  When Trevor Larnach leads off the bottom of the 6th with a double on a missed HR split, the Rangers have seen enough of Wilson and Darren O’Day comes in but Larnach scores on a Buxton sac fly to extend the Minnesota lead.  Meanwhile, Pineda gets stronger as he goes along, finishing the game with three perfect innings and the Twins pull off the 6-2 upset over a pennant-winner to reach the regional finals.

The 2007 A’s were the only ELO-favored team to have won a game in this regional thus far, and they were the highest seeded team still alive although their 13-inning game in the first round left them with little bullpen to support Joe Blanton (14-10, 3.95).  The 1981 Blue Jays had their own problems, as aside from being the #8 seed they had lost their DH to injury, although Luis Leal (7-13, 3.67) pitched better than his record.  The A’s get a 2-run double from Eric Chavez in the bottom of the 1st to take the early lead, but the bad news is that they lose RF Travis Buck to injury for 6 games.  The Jays immediately tie it back up in the top of the 2nd on clutch 2-out, 2-run single from Alfredo Griffin, but the A’s strike back as injury replacement Milton Bradley delivers a 2-out triple to put Oakland up by one.  Leal then issues four walks in the 4th, walking in one run and another scoring on a Shannon Stewart sac fly, but then in the top of the 5th Blanton comes up with a sore arm and has to leave the game, and the depleted A’s pen sends out Santiago Casilla and his 4.44 ERA as their best long relief option.  That doesn’t go well, as in the 6th the Jays rack Casilla for three runs to tie the game, and it could have been worse as John Mayberry makes the third out missing a HR 1-8 split with two men on base.  The A’s get runners on first and third with one out in the 7th, and Leal is pulled for Jerry Garvin, who allows an RBI single to Dan Johnson but retires PH Daric Barton with the bases loaded to keep the Jays within one.  Garvin holds the A’s, and so the Jays enter the 9th down by one and Andrew Brown is summoned by Oakland to close things out; he does, and the A’s survive to reach the finals coming out on top of the 6-5 battle.  

The regional finals match the #3 seed 2007 A’s against the #6 seeded 2021 Twins, but to me the matchup looked much closer than the ELO rankings would suggest.  Neither team had a great option on the mound, with the A’s going with Lenny Dinardo (8-10, 4.11) while the Twins’ lone remaining 100 IP option was Kenta Maeda (6-5, 4.66).  The A’s take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Eric Chavez misses the split on Maeda’s HR 1/DO but Milton Bradley races home on the double; Maeda then recovers and strikes out the side to strand Chavez, and the Twins tie it in the third on a Byron Buxton sac fly.  In the 6th, the injury bug finally strikes the Twins as Miguel Sano gets knocked out for the tournament, and the A’s capitalize in the bottom of the inning when Bradley misses a HR 1-14/DO split but scores on a 2-out triple by Mark Ellis.  When Andrelton Simmons doubles to lead off the 7th, the A’s pull Dinardo for Alan Embree and he gets out of the jam safely.  Maeda then falls apart in the bottom of the inning, allowing a 2-run double to Nick Swisher, and when Alex Colome comes in he isn’t much better, yielding a 2-out 2-run single to Chavez and it’s now 6-1 A’s.  The Twins get one back in the 8th out a 2-out RBI single from injury replacement Alex Kirilloff, but that’s all they can muster and the A’s take the 6-2 win and the regional, their 6th for the franchise but only the first from this century.

Interesting card of Regional #158:  With the old-timer teams I played so much as a kid, the position of centerfield in our drafts was all about Willie, Mickey, and the Duke, and it was hard to imagine there being such a great collection ranging out there again.  However, I have to say that this card from the most recent Strat season gives them a run for their money.   Byron Buxton hasn’t been a high-profile player in his career, maybe because he plays for the Twins or perhaps because he has lost so much time to injury, but in 2021 he seemed to be on his way to an epic year when he was derailed by a series of injuries.  His batting average in 2022 hasn’t really recovered, although he has cleared 20 homers in a season for the first time in his career–but what’s interesting is that when he did so, he had then hit 52 homers in his last 162 games played, the third most in such a span in Twins franchise history behind Harmon Killebrew and Nelson Cruz.  Note that he’s also up there with the Big Three in his defensive ability, as this season he pulled off an unprecedented 8-5 triple play with a spectacular catch and throw against the White Sox.  Buxton did avoid injury during this regional, although he made the last out in the finals by striking out–on a roll of 3-9.

REGIONAL #157:  The attention-grabber in this bracket was the World Champion 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, the team that finally defeated the Yanks in the Series to give the Bums the title.  There were some teams that looked like they would have the potential for serve as a roadblock for the Dodgers, however.  The ‘83 Tigers were on the verge of a great pennant winner themselves; the 2018 Royals had won two straight pennants three years prior, while the 2002 White Sox were three seasons from their first Series win in nearly a century.  There was also a Cardinals team that should be competitive, a pandemic year Reds team that could be a dark horse, and a second Royals team from the same era as the one that had just won the previous regional.  I had to pick the Bums to win in the finals over the Tigers out of sentiment, although the way pennant winners go down in this tournament (including those ‘84 Tigers) I wasn’t optimistic that I would be correct.   The ELO ranks made the same prediction, although they indicated that the biggest threat to the Dodgers might come in the semifinals from a Rays team that I had apparently overlooked–maybe because the Rays have won only one regional in the tournament.    

First round action

The team that I most undersold in this bracket was the 2010 Rays, who I discovered won 96 games and the AL East with good defense, speed, a lineup anchored by Evan Longoria (6th place finisher in the MVP voting) and a good pitching staff with Cy Young runner-up David Price (19-6, 2.72) at the top of it.   They faced the 93-loss 2007 Royals, a team that shared many parts with the 2009 team that just won the previous regional in surprising fashion, but one thing they did not share with that team was a Cy Young winner, although Brian Bannister (12-9, 3.87) was a decent option and he had defeated the regional favorites in the previous bracket.   The Royals take the lead when John Buck leads off the 2nd with a shot into the dingy recesses of the Trop, and a Billy Butler sac fly in the 3rd makes it 2-0 KC.  The Rays finally get on the board in the 5th when an error by KC 2b-2 Mark Grudzielanek sets up a 2-out RBI single from Rays #9 hitter Jason Bartlett, and it’s a one run game.  When KC DH Billy Butler leads off the 6th with triple boxcars, Price is knocked out of the game with an injury and the Rays go for broke with closer Rafael Soriano to try to stay in the game.  However, Soriano is greeted by back to back doubles from Ross Gload and John Buck and the Royals extend their edge to 3-1.  The injury bug hits the Royals in the 7th as they lose slick-fielding SS Tony Pena Jr for the next game, and then the Rays get things going in the bottom of the inning as BJ Upton records his second stolen base of the game and then scores on a Sean Rodriquez double.  That chases Bannister for Joachim Soria, who was clutch for the Royals in the previous regional, but LF-4 Reggie Sanders turns a John Jaso liner into a double and the game is tied entering the 8th.  The Rays move to Joaquin Benoit in an effort to preserve Soriano; he does his job while Soria gets pounded by the Rays in the bottom of the 8th, with Longoira, Upton and Matt Joyce all knocking in runs, and Tampa takes their first lead of the game into the top of the 9th with Benoit aiming to close it out.  He does so in style, earning the decision in the 6-3 win for the Rays that sends them to the semifinals and brings a close to the Royals magic that had emerged in the last bracket.

The ELO ranks only listed the World Champion, 98-55 1955 Dodgers as the 111th best team of all time, but most other rankings I’ve seen include these Bums among the top 20, and for good reason–this is a team without many weaknesses.  With five Hall of Famers in the lineup having good years, and Don Newcombe (20-5, 3.27) placing 7th in the MVP voting as their starting pitcher, they seemed like big favorites over the 2020 Reds, who did go 31-29 in the pandemic year which was sufficient to make the postseason as a wild card.  And like most 2020 teams I’ve played in this tournament, their small-sample anomalies made them a wild card here, particularly because Trevor Bauer (5-4, 1.73) was the Cy Young winner with a formidable card to face the Dodgers, his future (briefly, so far) team.  The Reds hand Bauer the lead in the top of the 1st when Jesse Winker finds Newcombe’s solid HR result for a solo shot, and there are no more hits in the game until the 5th, when Tucker Barnhart finds and convert Newcombe’s split HR result for a two run shot, and Newk loses his composure and lets up a few more hits to include an RBI single from Winker, and the Ebbets Field crowd is silent as the scores is now 4-0 Reds. In the bottom of the 5th, Roy Campanella leads off with a walk to become the first Brooklyn baserunner, and then the Ebbets faithful erupt as Carl Furillo blasts a moon shot that narrows the gap to 4-2.  However, in the 5th Joey Votto rolls Newk’s solid HR for a solo shot and the Dodgers have seen enough of his gopher balls, summoning wild youngster Sandy Koufax from the pen.  The punishment doesn’t stop, as Winker smacks a 2-run blast for his second homer of the game and disgusted Brooklynites call for the wrecking ball as the Dodgers can’t do anything against Bauer, who completes a 3-hitter and the easy 7-2 win for the Reds in which they themselves only had six hits–four of them homers.  And the cruel hand of single elimination strikes again as yet another all-time great team bites the dust in round one.

The 81-81 2002 White Sox were quite different from the team that would sweep the Series in three years, although some of the pieces were there and Mark Buerhle (19-12, 3.58) was the staff ace for both teams.  They faced the 1960 Cardinals, whose 86-68 record was good for 3rd place in the NL but, like the Sox, they weren’t yet the team that would win the Series in four seasons.  The Cards were going with Ernie Broglio (21-9, 2.74), who placed 3rd in the Cy Young voting and won 20 games with an interesting use pattern split nearly evenly between starts and relief appearances.  Regardless, Carlos Lee finds and converts Brogio’s HR 1-9/flyB split in the top of the first for a 3-run homer, although the Cards try to return the favor as Daryl Spencer and Stan Musial both roll Buehrle’s solid 4-8 double in the bottom of the inning and it’s 3-1 after one.  Jose Valentin crushes a solo shot with two out in the 3rd, but a 2-out two-base error by Sox SS-2 Royce Clayton opens the door for a Cardinal rally that includes a 2-run homer from Musial and the game is tied 4-4 after three.  When Curt flood finds and converts Buehrle’s HR split for a solo shot in the 4th, the Cards grab their first lead of the game but it doesn’t last long when Ordonez misses a HR split in the 5th but the Sox manage to still put a run across on a Paul Konerko RBI single and the game is tied once again after five.  When Bob Nieman opens the bottom of the 6th with a triple, the Sox deduce that Buehrle doesn’t have his stuff and Damaso Marte and the infield come in.  Bill White greets Marte with a sharp grounder to defensive replacement 3B-3 Joe Crede, who had just come into the game, and Crede throws it into the dugout for a two-base error and the Cards regain the lead.  Broglio enters the top of the 9th trying to hang onto that lead, but Konerko squibs a one-out single and then Cards RF-4 Joe Cunningham can’t get to a Lee liner so it’s runners on 1st and 3rd, and the infield come in for Joe Crede, the guy who had handed the Cards the lead.  He lofts a flyball out to LF-4 Musial, who makes a highlight reel catch and whips the ball in and the runners have to hold.  The game is now up to Royce Clayton, who hits a lazy fly ball to Musial and the game is over, with the Cardinals emerging on top with the hard-fought 6-5 win, despite having nobody other than Curt Flood on the team who can play the outfield worth a damn.

The 1983 Tigers were a year away from greatness, but at 92-70 they were pretty dang good, with the pieces in place for their big run including Jack Morris (20-13, 3.34), third in the Cy Young voting, on the mound.  In contrast, looking at the 104-loss 2018 Royals it was hard to believe that the team had won the Series only three years before; it was remarkable that with 43 carded players compared to the Tigers’ 24, the Royals couldn’t find nine that would make them better, although Brad Keller (9-6, 3.08) was a pretty good starting option for KC.  The Tigers squander opportunities to score by hitting into double plays, and so it’s the Royals who “strike” first when Tigers LF-3 Larry Herndon makes a 2-base error, followed later by an unbelievable error from 2B-1 Lou Whitaker to allow the run to score and it’s looking like the Tigers are doing their best to give this game away.  The Tigers finally threaten in the 8th when Alan Trammell doubles, but he’s cut down (1-14) trying to score on a Herndon single with a split roll of 15.  However, Lance Parrish, who twice previously has grounded into DPs, raps a 2-out RBI single off Keller’s card to tie the game, and the Royals summon Kelvin Herrera to try to end the threat.  However, it’s the Royals’ turn for unlikely miscues, as C-1 Salvadore Perez drops a popup that loads the bases, and Chet Lemon converts a SI 1-9 and the Tigers take the lead.  Enos Cabell and John Grubb also follow with singles and by the time Herrera records the third out, the Tigers lead 5-1.  Herndon adds a two out solo shot in the top of the 9th, but that is way more than Morris needs as he closes out a 4-hitter and the Tigers move on with a 6-1 win that was more difficult than it appeared.

The survivors

With the top seed eliminated in round one, the 2010 Rays found themselves as the favorite among the remaining teams, but they had also been tested in the first round and their bullpen was taxed, so they were hoping for many good innings out of Matt Garza (15-10, 3.91).  They faced the 2020 Reds, the team that had knocked out the top seed courtesy of a Cy Young winner, and their #2 starter in innings was also strong, Luis Castillo (4-6, 3.21).  It’s a pitchers duel until the bottom of the 5th when Joey Votto finds Garza’s solid HR result for a solo shot, and then Brian Goodwin goes back-to-back and the Reds take a 2-0 lead into the 6th.  The Rays strike back as Reds RF-4 Jesse Winker allows a Matt Joyce RBI double, but Castillo guts out the inning with no further runs and the Reds get the run back in the bottom of the inning on a Eugenio Suarez sac fly.  But these Rays aren’t done, and in the 7th Carl Crawford blasts a 2-run homer and then with two outs Evan Longoria adds a solo shot and Tampa grabs their first lead.  That lead is extremely short-lived, as Votto leads off the bottom of the inning with his second homer of the game, and Garza is yanked for Rafael Soriano, who had a rather rough relief outing in the first round but sits the Reds down in order here and the game is tied entering the 8th.  The Rays load the bases against Castillo with two out in the top of the 8th and the Reds summon closer Raisel Iglesias to get the third out against Crawford, but Crawford has a gutsy at-bat and eventually draws the walk and the Rays re-take the lead.  A rattled Iglesias then allows a 2-run single to Ben Zobrist, Reds RF-4 Winker can’t get to a Longoria RBI single, and the Rays take a commanding 8-4 lead into the bottom of the 8th.  Nick Castellanos and Suarez knock consecutive doubles off Soriano’s card to narrow the gap by one, and the Rays can add no insurance in the 9th and bring in Grant Balfour to try to close out the win.  Brian Goodwin smacks a double off Balfour’s card, but Balfour retires a string of low-AB wonder pinch-hitters and the Rays head to the finals with the hard-fought 8-5 victory.

The semifinal between the 1983 Tigers and the 1960 Cardinals boasted two pretty good starters, with Detroit’s Dan Petry (19-11, 3.92) and the Cards Larry Jackson (18-13, 3.48) both being valuable workhorses for their team.   St. Louis scores in the top of the 2nd when Julian Javier rips a two out double and #9 hitter Hal Smith follows with a single that scores the fleet Javier, although they miss a chance for more in the 3rd when Bill White hits into an inning-ending DP with the bases loaded.  Smith, a C-1, gets knocked out of the game with an injury in the 4th, and that proves significant when Alan Trammell singles in the 6th and steals second on Smith’s weak-armed replacement, C-4 Carl Sawatski, as Lance Parrish then singles Trammell home to tie the game.  Glenn Wilson then misses a HR 1-14 split; the resulting double scores one but Parrish is nailed at the plate for the last out, although the Tigers now lead 2-1 heading into the 7th.  Tiger 1B Enos Cabell goes down for the count with a 15-game injury in the bottom of the 7th, and the Tigers avenge him in the 8th when Parrish hits a 2-out RBI triple and then he scores on a Chet Lemon single that chases Jackson for Lindy McDaniel.  But Petry needs no more runs as he closes out a 4-hitter and the Tigers move to the finals with the 4-1 win.

For the first time in the past 15 or so brackets, the regional final is actually between two good (i.e., top 1000) teams, the 92-win 1983 Tigers and Dave Rozema (8-3, 3.43) and the 96-win 2010 Rays and Jeff Niemann (12-8, 4.39).  The Rays start off fast in the top of the 1st with a leadoff single from Carl Crawford, who steals second against C-1 Lance Parrish and then scores on an Evan Longoria double.  However, Larry Herndon hits a solo shot in the bottom of the 4th to tie it, followed by a Parrish double and it’s looking like the Tigers are repeating their pattern of scoring runs in bunches during this regional, but Niemann settles down and prevents any further damage.  In the 6th, Longoria is cut down at the plate (1-13) trying to score on a Matt Joyce double, but Joyce then scores on an infield-in single from BJ Upton and the Rays retake the lead.  Two walks from Rozema in the 8th and the Tigers go to the pen for Aurelio Lopez, and he quells the threat so the Tigers are down to their last six outs in the bottom of the 8th.  Leading off the inning with their #9 hitter, Detroit summons Kirk Gibson to pinch hit down by a run; he limps out to the plate, Niemann delivers with the Tiger Stadium crowd roaring–and Gibson grounds out quietly to 2b-2 Sean Rodriguez, who also handles the next two grounders and we head to the 9th with the Rays clinging to the one run lead.  Rodriguez leads off by converting a SI 1-5, Jason Bartlett adds another single, and then Crawford puts one into the upper deck at old Tiger Stadium for a 3-run shot, meaning that Niemann can take a padding into the bottom of the 9th and perhaps rest the overtaxed Rays bullpen.  He doesn’t need the padding, closing out a 6-hitter and leading the Rays to only their second regional win (with 2017) courtesy of the 5-1 win.  Carl Crawford gets bracket MVP honors with two homers, six RBI and 3 SB from the leadoff position in the three games, with the slow-to-warm-up Rays recording 15 of the 19 runs they scored in the regional in the 7th inning or later.  

Interesting card of Regional #157:  As some of you may have figured out, I am very old-school in my Strat preferences and there really haven’t been many season sets in the past 15 or so years that have been very interesting to me.  However, may the dice gods forgive me, I love the 2020 pandemic set–not the imagined version, mind you, which I got as a cheap add-on and haven’t separated and probably never will.   No, I mean the REAL 2020 set, in all of its small sample size glory.  I present to you the strange case of one Robert Stephenson, with a card that is a Treasure Island for opposing batters.   A 26 year old Stephenson had a decent 2019 with a 1.036 WHIP in 57 relief appearances, but cue the pandemic and he went from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde with frightening speed.  Managing to allow 8 home runs in only 10 IP is a feat most batting practice pitchers can’t match, but trying to be charitable, you have to admit that other than the home runs allowed, his card is pretty good.  Stephenson continues to be active, waived by the Rockies this season but picked up by the Pirates; I wonder if anyone has ever shown this card to him.

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.