REGIONAL #44:   This group had only two teams ranked in the top 1000, with most of the rest being middling teams of little distinction.  One of the two promising squads was a pennant winner and the World Series champ, the ‘90 Reds, but they weren’t the top ranked team in the NL that year and they weren’t the top seed here.   That honor belonged to the ‘91 Dodgers, who had won a pennant a few years previously and finished just one game behind the Braves in the NL, although the Dodgers had the better ELO rating.  

In the first round, a battle of mediocrities from the same season saw the 1982 Cubs squeeze past the 1982 Astros 5-4; the 1934 Senators and Earl Whitehill made short work of another version of the Cubs, the 1991 Cubs, with Heinie Manush driving in three runs in an 8-1 win; the 1990 Reds’ Jeff Reed hits a grand slam in the first inning off Larry Dierker and the 1970 Astros never recover, going down by a 7-3 margin; and a pitching duel between Tim Belcher of the 1991 Dodgers and John Henry Johnson of the 1978 A’s only ends with a walkoff single by Darryl Strawberry against A’s closer Elias Sosa in the bottom of the 9th.

The semifinal between the top two seeds in the regional, the 1990 Reds and 1991 Dodgers, is also a pitcher’s duel with Jose Rijo and Mike Morgan knotted 2-2 going into the bottom of the 9th.  This time, the walkoff heroics are provided by 35-year old Eddie Murray, who doubles in the winning run in the 3-2 win.  The other semifinal game is decided in similar fashion, as the 1982 Cubs take a 3-2 lead over the 1934 Senators into the bottom of the 9th and ace closer Lee Smith is given the job of wrapping up the win.   But the Cubs defense falls apart and the Nats put up two unearned runs to send the Cubs packing, earning the Senators a spot in the finals.

The final between the #1 seed 1991 Dodgers and the #3 seed 1934 Senators gets off to a rough start for LA starter Ramon Martinez, with Washington holding a 4-0 lead after two innings.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers can’t get to Monte Weaver until Kal Daniels singles home a run in the 5th.  At that point, Weaver’s bubble is burst and the Dodgers begin an offensive onslaught which subsequent Senators relievers aren’t able to stop, either.  A Juan Samuel 2-run double and a 2-run homer from Strawberry pace the deluge and by the time the fat lady sings, the Dodgers have won 9-4 to take the regional, with Darryl Strawberry being the main straw to stir the drink.  This was Strawberry’s first season with the Dodgers after signing as a free agent, as he decided to leave the Mets after manager Davey Johnson was fired.  In real life, the signing didn’t work out as well as the Dodgers hoped, but it worked like a charm as far as this regional was concerned.

 REGIONAL #43:  This group included a substantial collection of genuinely bad teams and only one squad ranked in the top 1000 of the ELO:  the 1927 Cardinals.  And those 92-win, second place Cards had to face the #3 seed 1971 Indians and Sam McDowell in the first round, but a two run double by Les Bell in the 1st put the Cards up for good and Bill Sherdel manages to scatter 13 Cleveland hits in the 5-3 win.  The #2 seeded 1993 Red Sox rode Roger Clemens and a four-run 6th inning to down the 1961 A’s 5-2, while two bad Phillies teams both managed to capture wins in the bottom half of the bracket.  The 1960 Phillies’ Gene Conley outdueled the 1985 Pirates and Rich Reuschel for a 2-0 win, while the 1934 Phillies got a 6-hitter from swingman Syl Johnson and coasted to the semifinals with a 7-1 win over the 1941 A’s.

The first semifinal matched the top two seeds in the regional, and it proved to be a wild one.  The 1927 Cardinals jumped to a 1-0 lead on a Frankie Frisch RBI single in the 3rd, but the 1993 Red Sox responded in kind with a Mo Vaughn single in the top of the 4th to tie it.  St. Louis DH Johnny Schulte hits a solo HR off Frank Viola in the bottom of the inning and the Cards regain the lead, but the Red Sox score two in the top of the 5th to take the lead.  That doesn’t last through the inning, as the Cards score five in the bottom of the inning and add another five in the 7th courtesy of a Frisch 3-run double and a Jim Bottomley 2-run homer, and the score is now 12-3 and Pete Alexander thinks he can safely hit the bottle with that lead.  However, the Red Sox aren’t done yet, scoring two in the 8th and getting another three in the 9th on a bases-clearing double from John Valentin.  However, Alexander finally manages to get the last out and the Cards move onto the final with a 12-8 win.

  

In the other semifinal, the 1934 Phillies and the 1960 Phillies try to figure out how both can lose, and the 1960 variants do so best as Robin Roberts only lasts ⅓ of an inning and the 1934s ride homers from Dolph Camilli and Jimmie Wilson to move to the finals with the 9-4 win.  That sets up an old-school final between the 1927 Cardinals and the 93-loss 1934 Phillies, with the Cards Jesse Haines against Phils’ ace Curt Davis.  However, Davis gets injured in the 2nd inning, and solo homers by Heinie Schuble and Wattie Holm provide Haines with all he needs as the Cards capture the regional with the 3-1 win.

REGIONAL #42:   This was one of the weakest draws in the tournament up to this point, with only one team rated among the 1,000 best of all time–that being the 1988 A’s of “Bash Brothers”, who won 104 games and the AL pennant.  As a result, the A’s were substantial favorites to take the bracket, with their primary competition seeming to be Angels and Red Sox teams from the 80s.  

The 1988 A’s were thus huge favorites over the #8 seed 1927 Browns, but they weren’t taking the Browns lightly as they started talented swingman Todd Burns as their game one starter against the Browns’ Lefty Stewart.  But Burns was burnt in the 1st inning by wildness that loaded the bases for a bag-clearing double by Harry Rice, and that was all that Stewart needed as he tossed a 6-hit shutout; an early injury to McGwire and there would be no Bashing in the Browns’ 7-0 upset of the bracket favorite.  The 90-loss 1961 Twins similarly rode a 4-hitter from Camilo Pascual in defeating the 1975 Expos and Steve Rogers, 5-2, with a Lenny Green homer providing the difference.  The wildest first round game was between two mediocre Cleveland squads separated by more than 50 years, the 1927 Indians and the 1980 Indians.  A Lew Fonseca RBI single in the top of the 2nd puts the ‘27s up 1-0, but Mike Hargrove and Joe Charbonneau drive in runs that give the ‘80s a 2-1 lead in the 3rd.   A two run double from Joe Sewell gives the lead back to the ‘27s in the 4th, but Rick Manning ties it in the bottom of the inning.  A George Burns triple leads to four runs from the ‘27s in the 5th and they now lead 7-3, but Tom Veryzer gets one back in the ‘80s half of the inning; a two run double from Homer Summa in the 6th and it’s 9-4, but Ron Hassey matches that in bottom of the frame to narrow the gap to 9-6.  Sewell gives the ‘27s two more runs in the 8th, but that is again matched by the 80s thanks to Toby Harrah, and in the 9th the battered starter for the ‘27s, Willis Hudlin, desperately tries to hang on with nothing in the pen to help.  Jorge Orta and Hassey drive in runs to close to 11-10, but Hudlin somehow gets the third out and the 1927 team escapes to live another day.   The last game of the first round goes to the 1983 Red Sox, led by a Jim Rice grand slam in the 5th inning that carries them past the 1987 Angels, despite two homers from Wally Joyner.

In the semifinals, the Cinderella clock struck midnight on the 1927 Browns as Jim Kaat of the 1961 Twins allows no hits past the 4th inning and Harmon Killebrew hits a homer and drives in four to lead Minnesota to a 7-1 win.   They will face the 1983 Red Sox in the final, as Jim Rice hits a 3-run homer and Tony Armas adds a solo shot in support of Bob Ojeda, who scatters seven hits in the 5-2 win over the 1927 Indians.

The final between the #3 seeded 1983 Red Sox and the #7 seed, 90-loss 1961 Twins features Boston’s Bruce Hurst against the Twins’ Jack Kralick.  The Twins move on top in the 2nd on a Billy Martin RBI single, and a solo shot from Killebrew makes it 2-0 in the top of the 3rd.  However, a Wade Boggs single gets Boston on the board in the bottom of the inning, and things stay status quo as both pitchers are in fine form.  However, in the 6th, Hurst gets injured and the Sox are force to go to closer Bob Stanley out of the pen to try to keep things close.  That he does, and in the 7th it pays off when Dwight Evans homers to tie the game.  That tie lasts until the end of regulation, and so the game proceeds to extra innings, with the Twins unable to score in the top of the 10th, so Kralick begins his final inning of eligibility….by allowing a walkoff homer to Jerry Remy and the Red Sox win 3-2 and capture the third regional for the franchise. 

REGIONAL #41:  The most infamous team in this group were the brawling 1986 Mets, ranked as one of the 100 best teams in history according to ELO.  Although they were the only pennant winners in the bunch, there were top 1000 entries from the Phillies, Cardinals, Giants, and Dodgers, so it was an NL-dominated set with the rankings predicting a Mets win over the ‘78 Phillies in the final.

In the first round, the 1981 Cardinals dispatched the 1977 Cubs 4-2, knocking out Rick Reuschel in the 6th inning and riding a George Hendrick homer to the second round.  The 1978 Phillies did not fare as well against Jim McGlothlin and the 1968 Angels, losing 2-1 with Mike Schmidt going down to injury and solo homers by Don Mincher and Tom Satriano providing all the offense needed to support McGlothlin’s 5-hitter.   Thus, the Phils wouldn’t be making the finals as predicted, but neither would the 1986 Mets, who got shut down by Bill Singer and the 1970 Dodgers; Singer tosses a 5-hit shutout and Gooden isn’t good-enough as the Dodgers roll, 5-0.  In the last game of the round, John Cumberland does even better with a 2-hit shutout against the 1988 Mariners, as the 1971 Giants move on by winning 3-0 despite a solid outing from Mark Langston.

In the semifinals, the 1968 Angels once again are the ELO underdog against the 1981 Cardinals, but apparently the Angels didn’t read the rankings as they crush Lary Sorensen for nine runs in the first two innings and cruise to a 10-1 win, with a Don Mincher homer and four RBI for Tom Satriano once again leading the way.   The second semifinal between the 1971 Giants and their rivals, the 1970 Dodgers, is much more tightly contested.  The Giants put up four runs in the 4th, led by Willie McCovey and Dick Dietz, but the Dodgers immediately tie it up in the 5th with four runs of their own driven in by Willie Davis and Wes Parker.   However, in the 5th Dave Kingman gets hold of a Pete Mikkelsen fastball for a 2-run homer, and closer Jerry Johnson hangs on for a 6-5 Giants win.

So, in the finals it is the #3 seed, NL West-winning 1971 Giants and Gaylord Perry against the spunky #8 seeded 1968 Angels with George Brunet on the mound, and both pitchers are in fine form as the game is still in a scoreless tie entering the 9th inning.  Perry retires the Angels in order in the top of the 9th, so it’s up to Brunet in the bottom of the frame.  He allows a leadoff single but then gets two quick outs, and it’s Ken Henderson at the plate.  He delivers the walk off 2-run homer and the Giants take the 2-0 win and the regional, marking the fifth regional win for the franchise and the third Giants team of the 70’s to bring the banner home.

SUPER-REGIONAL C:   This matchup of regional winners was played many years ago, perhaps sometime in the 1990s, and featured the winners of regionals #17 through #24.  The 64 teams that began these brackets included 12 pennant winners and two of the top 100 of all time, the 1970 Orioles and the 1922 Giants–neither of whom made it out of the first round.  In fact, only one of those pennant winners survived their regional:  the formidable 1954 Giants.   They carry the best ELO rank into the super-regional, but three other teams are also ranked among the top 100, including the 1979 Yankees and Dodgers teams from 1972 and 1975.  We shall see how well all of these teams can perform while digging to the bottom of their rotation in round four.

Round Four

Both the 1956 Pirates and the 1974 Cubs had fairly dismal ELO rankings, but both had proved their mettle as regional winners, with the Pirates being underdogs in all three games and the Cubs only favored in one of theirs.   It was the Cubs Burt Hooton against the Bucs’ Vern Law, and it was Law’s day, as he shut out the Cubs until a Bill Madlock RBI single in the 8th while the Pirates chased Hooton in the 4th, with a Dick Groat homer leading a 5-run inning en route to an 8-1 win.  They will face the winner of the clash between the 1971 Reds and the 1975 Dodgers, which was the nascent Big Red Machine as Ross Grimsley holds LA to five hits while homers by Johnny Bench and Lee May power the Reds to a 6-1 win.  The second LA entrant in the super-regional, the 1972 Dodgers, doesn’t fare any better against the 100-loss, underdog 1971 Padres, despite jumping out to a lead in the 1st on a 2-run homer by Willie Davis; the Padres eventually squeak out runs against Tommy John and Jim Brewer to claim a 4-3 upset win.  However, Tommy John comes back in the next game to pull off an upset of his own (assisted by Goose Gossage) as the 1979 Yankees upset the top-seeded 1954 Giants, 5-3, with a two-run double by Chris Chambliss in the 7th being the critical blow.

Round Five

The underdog run of the 1956 Pirates finally comes to an end against the 1971 Reds, particularly the arm of Gary Nolan, who tosses a 4-hitter while Lee May hits a blast that puts the Reds up permanently in the first inning.  However, in the other round five game, the worst ranked team of the bracket, the 1971 Padres, stun the 1978 Yankees, scoring four runs in the top of the 1st, three on a Nate Colbert homer, and chase Catfish Hunter after only one-third of an inning pitched.  The Yanks charge back to tie it in the 4th and they take a 5-4 lead in the 5th on a Willie Randolph HR, but the Padres crush a tiring Ron Davis in the 7th and by the time Gossage can get the third out, the Padres lead 9-5.  However, the Yanks weren’t done, as they rally in the 9th on a Jim Spencer homer and a Bobby Murcer RBI double, but SD’s Clay Kirby manages to end the inning with the Padres on top, 9-8, sending them to the super-regional finals with an upset win.

Round Six:  Super-Regional C Final

Out of 64 teams that started this bracket, only two sub-.500 teams from the 1971 National League survive:  the 79-83 1971 Reds and the improbable, 100-loss 1971 Padres.  It’s Cincinnati’s Don Gullett against SD’s Dave Roberts for all the marbles, and both are effective early with the game a scoreless tie through four innings.  In the top of the 5th, the Reds get on the board with a 2-run double from Hal McRae, and a 2-run single from Tommy Helms makes it 4-0 and things in San Diego Stadium are deadly quiet.  It gets a lot noisier when Leron Lee raps a bases loaded single in the 7th to score two, and Jestadt adds another hit that narrows the gap to one run, chasing Gullett for closer Clay Carroll.  He takes the Reds into the bottom of the 9th, where C Bob Barton strokes a clutch 2-out single that ties the game to send it into extra innings.   The Reds can’t rattle Roberts in his last inning of eligibility in the 10th, and so it’s up to Carroll; he issues a walk but then gets two out to face .235 hitter Ivan Murrell.  But Murrell triples, game over, and the miraculous Padres, with an ELO rank putting them among the worst 150 teams of all time, manage to win their 6th in a row to stand atop 63 other teams–60 of whom were ranked better than them–as the super-regional champ with the 5-4 extra-inning walk off win.

REGIONAL #40:  The highlights of this group included a Red Sox team ranked among the top 100 teams but didn’t win a pennant, a Royals squad that did win the AL, and a Reds team that won 98 games but didn’t make the postseason, although their next two seasons involved some of the greatest pennant winners of all time.  The remaining five teams were pretty much also-rans, with only the 1930 Tigers making the top 1500 in the ELO ranks.

In round one, Vic Sorrell tossed a six-hitter for the 1930 Tigers against the pennant-winning 1980 Royals, but unfortunately for him one of those hits was a 3-run homer, and that was all Larry Gura needed to give KC the 3-2 victory.   For the 1980 Cubs, Rick Reuschel didn’t make it two innings as the Cubs quickly fell behind 8-0 to the 1950 Red Sox, with Al Zarilla, Walt Dropo, and Vern Stephens all contributing multiple RBI in the 8-2 win.   The 1930 Browns also made a quick start against the 1985 Braves, leading 6-1 after three innings and chasing Zane Smith, but the Browns have to hold on for dear life as they escape with a 7-6 after a 9th inning comeback by Atlanta falls short.  Finally, the wheels come off the Big Red Machine as the 1970 Senators ride homers from Frank Howard and Rich Reichardt, and Darold Knowles staves off a rally by the 1974 Reds to preserve a 5-4 upset win.  

In the semifinals, 1930 Browns starter and ace Lefty Stewart gets injured in the first AB of the 2nd inning, but their bullpen manages to hold on to a lead provided by an Earl McNeely homer and they defeat the 1970 Senators, 6-3.   Meanwhile, the higher profile clash between the #1 seed 1950 Red Sox and the #3 seed 1980 Royals is all Boston, as they never relinquish a lead acquired in the 2nd from RBI singles from Ted Williams and Walt Dropo, cruising to a 5-1 win behind starter Joe Dobson.   That sets up a lop-sided appearing final between the regional favorites 1950 Red Sox and the 64-90 1930 Browns.  The Red Sox flex their muscle in the top of the first, putting up 7 runs against George Blaeholder, but Goose Goslin rallies the Browns who put up three in their half of the inning and it looks like it’s going to be a high-scoring affair.  And it is, but most of the scoring is done by Boston, as they wrap up the regional with a 18-6 win, with Dropo adding five RBI to his previous totals, earning him regional MVP honors, and Johnny Pesky adding a homer and 4 runs driven in.   The Red Sox demonstrate that they deserve their lofty ELO ranking with a record-setting scoring spree in the final game, and they should be a formidable opponent for someone at the super-regional level.

REGIONAL #39:  This group had one pennant-winning squad, the 1964 Cardinals, with the next best rated teams involving a Cubs squad from the early 1970s and a Phillies group from the early 1980s.  There were also a couple of White Sox teams from their pajama-uniform era, and a couple of undistinguished entrants from the Brewers and the Expos.   Of course, the ELO favorites were those Cards, picked to best the Cubs in the finals, with both franchises having had some previous successes in the tournament.

However, the first round is often cruel to favorites, and this time it was the #1 seed 1964 Cardinals who learned that lesson, as they get 3-hit by Steve Carlton of the 1982 Phillies with a 2-run double from Gary Maddox providing all the needed runs in a 4-1 victory.  That victory provides some redemption for a Phillies franchise that crumbled in the final weeks of the 1964 season to hand the Cards the NL crown.  Another of their squads, the 1971 Phillies, engaged in a life or death struggle with the 1985 Expos between Joe Hesketh and Woodie Fryman, with the game knotted 1-1 after 9 innings.  The scoring drought continued into extra innings, when Montreal reliever Jeff Reardon issues a one-out walk in the bottom of the 13th and then Deron Johnson nails a walk-off double to give the Phils a 2-1 extra inning win and an all-Phillies semifinal.   In a matchup of bitter crosstown rivals, the 1978 White Sox build up a 6-0 lead on the #2 seeded 1972 Cubs, but the Cubs score four in the bottom of the 8th against Steve Stone to narrow the gap.  However, Stone hangs on in the 9th and the Sox move on with a 6-4 upset.  They will face a group of familiar faces in the semifinal, as the 1975 White Sox squeeze out a 3-2 victory over the 1985 Brewers, with Goose Gossage saving the game for Jim Kaat who combine for a 5-hitter.

Thus, both semifinal games are franchise matchups.  The 1982 Phillies are favored over the 1971 Phillies, but the ‘71s move to a 7-1 lead by the 4th inning with blows by Tim McCarver and 20-year old Greg Luzinski leading the way.  Meanwhile, Rick Wise is controlling the bats of the ‘82 team until they put up three in the 8th, but by then it is too late and the 1971 squad heads to the finals with an 8-4 win.  The South Side Semifinal pits the 1975 White Sox against the 1978 White Sox, where two homers by the ‘78’s Jorge Orta puts the ‘78s up 5-1 after three, and from there Francisco Barrios manages to hold on for a 6-4 win.

As a result, it’s an all-underdog finals with the #7 seed 1978 White Sox and the #8 seed 1971 Phillies meeting in a most unanticipated pairing.  Orta continues his hot hand with a solo homer in the bottom of the 1st to give the Sox an early lead, but RBI singles from Roger Freed and John Vuckovich immediately move the Phils on top 2-1 in the top of the 2nd.   The Sox respond in the bottom of the inning with three runs that chase Chris Short, the Phils cut the margin to one in the top of the 3rd with a Don Money sac fly, but from there Rich Hinton hangs on and Lamar Johnson provides some insurance RBI and the Sox take the regional with the 6-3 win.  Jorge Orta gets regional MVP recognition, becoming the first player in tournament memory to have multiple RBI games for two different teams in one regional.