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

First round action

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

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

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

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

The survivors

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

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

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

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

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

First round action

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

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

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

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

The survivors

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

REGIONAL #150:   There were a few teams in this draw that stood out to me, particularly the ‘86 Cards who were still complaining about Don Denkinger’s Series call at the end of the prior season, and the 2013 Royals, who in the following season would rise to heights not achieved by them since they were the beneficiaries of that call.  Other notables were a Cubs team that had won a pennant two years prior but were beginning a dry spell that would last for 60 years, a Twins team a few seasons after their ‘91 pennant, and some more contemporary entries from the Braves and the Brewers.  I was pulling for a Cards/Royals grudge match in the finals, with a Royals win perhaps precipitating more meltdowns from the usual suspects on the Cardinals.   The ELO rankings were interesting, suggesting that there wasn’t a good team in the bunch with none of them ranked among the top 1000 teams (which I believe is a first in this tournament).   Although a collection of mediocrities according to the ratings, the rankings predicted the same participants as I did in the finals, but instead had the Cards earning some measure of revenge against the Royals.

First round action

 In a year of significant transitions for baseball, the 1947 Cubs were undergoing a transformation from a team that had been very good for two decades to one that would stink for the next two decades.  Going 69-85 two years after a pennant, their Pythagorean projection was nearly 10 games worse than their record, suggesting that Charlie Grimm got the most out of aging stars like Stan Hack and Phil Cavaretta.  They had Johnny Schmitz (13-18, 3.22) tapped to face the regional favorite 1986 Cardinals, who had also declined to a sub-.500 79-82 record after winning the NL the previous season.  The Cards still had strong pitching, defense and speed (Vince Coleman was a AAA stealer), but Andy Van Slyke was the team leader in homers with 13 and only two players in the lineup hit above .257.    Their team speed is evident in the bottom of the 2nd, when Willie McGee doubles and races home on a 2-out Tommy Herr single, but it gets them in trouble in the 3rd when Coleman singles but is thrown out trying to steal, courtesy of a split roll of 18.   That opens the door for the Cubs, who begin the 5th with three straight hits, including an RBI single from pastel-wearing Don Johnson, and then Cox drops a Stan Hack grounder and the Cubs lead 2-1.  In the 6th, Cubs 1B Eddie Waitkus is injured, apparently shot by a mysterious woman; it must have just grazed him as he’ll only be out for 2 games, but the only available replacement is .146-hitting Marv Rickert.  Even so, the Cubs manage three more hits in the 7th, with an RBI single from Cubs #9 hitter Lennie Merullo and it’s time for Todd Worrell from the pen, who escapes the inning without further damage but the Cubs now lead by two.  Meanwhile, Schmitz is cruising until he walks the first two batters in the bottom of the 9th; SS-3 Merullo then turns a key DP, and PH Jose Oquendo misses a SI* 1-11 split and it’s game over, Cubs win, final score 3-1.

Although the most recent version of the team just won the World Series, the 2015 Braves were miles away from those heights, losing 95 games and just being thankful that they had Freddie Freeman (at least for the time being).  They gave the start to Shelby Miller (6-17, 3.02) to face the 1994 Twins, who went 53-60 in that strike year and had a strong lineup but one of the worst rotations I’d seen lately, with Kevin Tapani (11-7, 4.62) seeming to be the least terrible alternative at the top of the rotation.  In the bottom of the 1st, the Twins take advantage of AA Alex Cole at the top of their order as he singles off Miller’s card, steals second on C-4 AJ Pierzynski, and then races home on a single by Chuck Knoblauch.  In the 3rd, the Braves put together a 2-out rally of sorts when Cameron Maybin doubles off a missed HR split, Freeman singles him home, and then Adonis Garcia misses another HR split, and Freeman is nailed at the plate trying to score on the resulting double–but the game is tied.  Turns out the tie is short-lived as Shane Mack delivers a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the inning, but then the Braves immediately take the lead with another two-out rally in the top of the 4th with Jace Peterson, Nick Markakis and Maybin contributing consecutive RBI hits, and the Braves now lead 4-3.  A sac fly by Gomes in the top of the 5th makes it 5-3, but in the bottom of the inning Cole walks, steals his third base of the game, and then Knoblauch triples him in and Kirby Puckett sends Knoblauch home with a single, and we’re tied 5-5 after 5 and it’s seeming like there is a lot more baseball to be played.  The Twins desperately want Tapani to make it seven innings, but when two singles off his card puts runners on first and third with two out in the 6th, they have to go to their one good reliever, Kevin Campbell, and he earns his salary by striking out Freeman to retire the side.  In the bottom of the 7th, Cole doubles and Puckett singles him home, chasing Miller for Arodys Vizcaino but the Twins now hold the one-run lead.  They take that into the 9th, where Campbell retires the Braves but must be pulled lest he be burnt for the entire regional, so the Twins try Eric Schullstrom to close out the game and he whiffs Pierzynski for the quick save and the 6-5 win that sends the Twins to the semis.  

In my blind assessment of the regional, I had assumed that the 1938 Senators would be the worst team in the batch, but in fact they were the #3 seed–although not necessarily because they were very good, but because so many others were bad.   Still, they pretty much broke even, going 75-76 with seven .300 hitters in the lineup, including Bucketfoot Al Simmons, but their pitching staff was pretty gruesome after ace Dutch Leonard (12-15, 3.43).  They faced a mediocre team from a different era, the 72-89 2004 Pirates, who had similar problems with starting pitching, with Oliver Perez (12-10, 2.98) the sole good option, although the Bucs had a much stronger bullpen.  A solo HR from Ty Wigginton in the bottom of the 2nd gives Pittsburgh the early lead, and Perez is in control in the early going.  However, his concentration is disrupted in the 7th when Taffy Wright hits a triple for only the second Nats hit of the game, and the infield comes in as Perez faces Al Simmons–who quiets PNC Park with a 2-run homer to give Washington the lead.  The Pirates get two aboard in the bottom of the inning but PH Raul Mondesi grounds out to end the inning and the Nats cling to the one run lead.  Leonard preserves that lead going into the bottom of the 9th, when he allows a leadoff single to Daryle Ward, but he bears down and sends the Senators on with three straight outs and a tight 2-1 win.

The 2013 Royals were just a year away from a mini-dynasty, with this team going 86-76; they had a decent rotation fronted by Ervin Santana (9-10, 3.24) and a remarkably deep bullpen ready to go if he faltered.  That pen may be needed to keep it close, as the lineup suffered from limited ability to get on base.  Their opponents, the 2016 Brewers, lost 89 games, relying on a couple of bashers in Ryan Braun and Chris Carter and bolstered for the first round by having a strong Junior Guerra (9-3, 2.81) on the mound.  In the second inning, Brewer DH Domingo Santana gets injured for a full 15 games, giving him a share of the record for the shortest appearance in the tournament, but not to be outdone the Royals lose their SS-1 Alcides Escobar for two games, a more costly if briefer loss.  Sure enough, the first Brewer up in the 4th, Jonathan Villar, hits a grounder to replacement SS-3 Pedro Ciriaco that goes through for a single, and then a Carter missed HR split results in a double and Villar races home to give the Brew Crew the lead.  To atone somewhat, after a Broxton walk, Ciriaco does end the inning with a GB-X double play that would have been an error on Escobar.  However, in the 5th Jonathan Lucroy belts a 2-out 2-run homer off the pitcher’s card; in the bottom of the inning Alex Gordon misses a HR split on Guerra’s card for a double that represents the first baserunner for the Royals, but he gets stranded and it’s 3-0 Milwaukee after 5.  The Royals move to their pen in the 7th in the hopes of a comeback, and they show signs of one when in the bottom of the inning, with two out and runners on 1st and 3rd, Mike Moustakas rolls the HR split on Guerra’s card.  He misses the split, but two runs score on the resulting double and it’s a one-run game and the Brewers bring in Tyler Thornburg to try to salvage the game.  But, it’s another double, this one to Emilio Bonifacio, and the game is tied heading into the 8th.   The Brewers strike back quickly, with a double from Villar followed by a run-scoring single from Braun and the Royals go to closer Greg Holland and he retires the side.  However, he doesn’t fare well in the 9th, as Hernan Perez singles to lead off for the Brewers and Kirk Nieuwenhuis follows with a homer to give Milwaukee some breathing room and perhaps a chance to save Thornburg’s innings for later rounds.  Jeremy Jeffress comes in for the 9th, but Bonifacio singles past Milwaukee defensive replacement SS-2 Orlando Arcia to score David Lough and PH George Kottaras comes up as the tying run.   However, he grounds out harmlessly and the Brewers escape with the 6-4 win as the two top regional seeds are eliminated in the first round.

The survivors

The semifinal between the 1947 Cubs and 1994 Twins matched two teams with very even,  mediocre ELO ratings, and neither were at full strength, with the Cubs’ Waitkus still recovering from his gunshot wound and the Twins pen stretched in their first round win.  It was Cubs swingman Bob Chipman (7-6, 3.68) against the Twins’ Pat Mahomes (9-5, 4.72), whose most famous accomplishment would be having a very athletic son the following year.   The Twins take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd when with two out Scott Leius doubles off Chipman’s card and then races home on a Pat Meares single; #9 hitter Matt Walbeck and his .204 average then nails another double off Chipman and Meares takes the extra base for a 2-0 lead.  They extend it to 3-0 in the third when Chuck Knoblauch and Pedro Munoz both hit doubles off Chipman’s card, but in the 5th the Twins take a blow when Shane Mack, with his important bat and glove, has to leave the game with an injury.  The Cubs sense their opportunity and in the 6th Bill Nicholson crushes one over the baggie in the Metrodome for a 2-run shot that makes it a one-run game, and then Waitkus replacement Cliff Aberson goes back-to-back with a shot off Mahomes that ties it up.  The Twins look long and hard at their terrible bullpen, but decide to let Mahomes try to recover, which is a bad choice as a few batters later Don Johnson hits Mahomes’ solid 4-9 homer for another 2-run shot.  The Twins finally bring in Rick Aguilera, who wasn’t his normal self that year, but he does get the final out although the Cubs now lead 5-3.  However, in the bottom of the 5th Pedro Munoz doubles off Chipman’s card and the Cubs take a lesson from the Twin and decide to pull Chipman, who allows 6 hits in 5.1 innings–five of the six hits being doubles off his card at 5-8 or 5-9.  Emil Kush comes in and gets a scare when a Stan Hack error puts runners at first and third, but Kush ends the threat by striking out Meares–on a 5-9 roll.   Kush allows two singles in the 7th, but Cubs C Bob Scheffing throws out two AA stealers in a row, Alex Cole and Knoblauch, as the Twins don’t seem to learn quickly.   A leadoff single by Aberson and the Twins this time act fast, going to Schullstrom out of the pen and he shuts down the Cubs with no damage in his appearance.  That brings it up to Cubs reliever Ralph Hamner coming in to face the Twins in the bottom of the 9th, and although Munoz rifles a single past Hamner to lead things off, he bears down and retires the Twins to preserve the 5-3 win that sends the Cubs to the finals.

Trying to pick a second starting pitcher for the 1938 Senators was a little like choosing between going by hanging or a firing squad, but ultimately they would take their chances with Harry Kelley (9-10, 5.12) as unlike most of the rest of their staff, he didn’t tend to walk a batter per inning.  The 2016 Brewers had their own issues, with their starting RF out permanently and their bullpen taxed after a close round one game; like Kelley, Zach Davies (11-7, 3.97) had good control but tended to allow hits.  Some of those hits went a long way, as Taffy Wright emphasized in the top of the 1st with a 2-run homer off Davies’ card, and in the 3rd Cecil Travis hits a double and Al Simmons adds a triple, again both off Davies’ card, and the Senators lead 4-0.  In the bottom of the 3rd Kirk Nieuwenhuis leads off by getting injured for the remainder of the game, just to make me spell his name, but the next batter, Jonathan Lucroy, avenges him with a solo shot off Kelley’s card to narrow the gap.  A couple of 2-out Nats singles in the 6th chases Davies for game one winner Tyler Thornburg, and he gets the last out without any damage.  The tandem of Thornburg and Jeffress holds the Senators at bay, but it’s for naught as the Brewers just can’t figure out Kelley, who ends with an unlikely 5-hit gem and the Senators head to the finals with the 4-1 win.

It was an old-school final between the 1947 Cubs and the 1938 Senators, and the two teams shared similarities other than age.  Both squads were built upon the aging remnants of once-great teams but were currently slipping into decades of obscurity.  Neither had a great #3 starter, with the Cubs’ Doyle Lade (11-10, 3.94) having better stats than the Nats’ Pete Appleton (7-9, 4.60) but not really a better card.  Finally, both offenses were at full strength, with a bandaged Eddie Waitkus back on the lineup card for the Cubs.   The Cubs defense comes unraveled in the bottom of the 2nd, with two singles getting past SS-3 Lennie Merullo and 2B-4 Don Johnson, and then CF-3 Andy Pafko commits a 2-base error and the Senators lead 2-0.  However, in the 6th back to back doubles from Bill Nicholson and Waitkus tie the game, although the Cubs fail to grab the lead when 1-15 Pafko is nailed trying to score on one of them.  Nonetheless, Nicholson knocks another double, this one with two out in the 8th, and Stan Hack scores to give the Cubs the lead.  The Senators lead off the bottom of the inning with two straight singles and the Cubs look at their pen, but their best reliever is burnt and the other options don’t inspire confidence, so it’s Lade’s game to preserve.  He gets one out, but then allows a double to Sammy West that ties the game, and with runners on 2nd and 3rd the Cubs pull Lade for the wild Ralph Hamner, figuring first base is open anyway.  Hamner does the job and the game heads to the 9th tied at three apiece.   Appleton sets the Cubs down in order and now Hamner faces the top of the lineup for the bottom of the 9th.  Buddy Myer, hitless for the game and having had some defensive lapses, atones for all that by smacking a leadoff triple, and everyone on defense comes in to try to prevent the run.  It works like a charm, with a gbB on Cecil Travis and Myer is nailed at the plate.  Taffy Wright then hits into a DP and we head to extra innings.  Appleton has been pitching over his head but in the 10th Hack singles and when Phil Cavarretta doubles, the Cubs send 1-11 Hack home with one out and he makes it to put the Cubs up.  Hamner is burnt and the Cubs turn to their 37-year old franchise hero, Bill Lee, who has announced his retirement after the tournament.  Zeke Bonura singles, and Ossie Bluege pokes another hit past defensive replacement 2B-3 Bobby Sturgeon to put the winning run on with two out.  But George Case grounds out harmlessly, and Lee gets the save as the Cubs take the game and the regional with the 4-3 win.  

Interesting card of Regional #150:  With no really unique cards playing a significant role in this regional, I thought I would feature an underappreciated second baseman from the golden era of baseball.   Myer led his team to the finals from the leadoff position, with a remarkable knack for reaching first; when he slumped in the final game, his team followed.  Although many have never heard of him, Bill James makes the case that Myer’s stats are virtually indistinguishable from those of Billy Herman, the Cubs Hall of Fame second baseman from the same era, but that Myer never received any real consideration for the HOF, even at the time.  His SABR bio suggests that it’s because Herman was the best 2B in the NL and thus was a perennial All-Star, while Myer was overshadowed by contemporaries Gehringer and Lazzeri in the AL.  Also, Myer often labored in obscurity on mediocre Senators teams, although he was a major factor in their out-of-nowhere 1933 AL pennant.  However, I think another important factor is that he played in an era where the importance of OBP wouldn't really be understood for another 75 years.  As Peter Brand infamously says in the movie:  “He gets on base”, and Myer did it long before it was fashionable.

REGIONAL #149:  This was an eclectic group that didn’t have any pennant winners, but there looked to be a bunch of teams that I suspected would be pretty good.  The Braves were a couple of years after a pennant, the Phillies were a couple before one, and there were three squads from the mid-1950s that I thought could be competitive, particularly the Indians.  I figured that the one clinker in the bunch would be the 1938 A’s, who I thought had largely been disassembled from their great teams at the beginning of that decade and would be entering years wandering in the wilderness.  Given the strong performance of the 2004 Braves in the previous regional, and knowing that this team would be even more related to their great teams of the 90s, I guessed it would be the 2001 Braves over the Phillies in the final.   The ELO ratings agreed with the Braves as favorites, but suggested that many of these teams were a lot worse than I thought they might be.

First round action

The 2019 Reds only went 75-87 but they had some big boppers like Eugenio Suarez and his 49 round trippers, and Sonny Gray (11-8, 2.87) was a solid staff ace.  They were favored over a 1938 A’s team that had fallen far from their all-time great squads at the beginning of the decade, losing 99 games with a terrible pitching staff from which 20-game loser George Caster (16-20, 4.35) seemed to be the best option.  In the top of the 2nd, A’s 2B-4 Dario Lodigiani can’t get to a 2-out Tucker Barnhart single through the infield, which drives in a run, but the A’s respond in the 3rd when C Earle Brucker converts Gray’s HR 1-7/flyB result with a split of 5 and Mr. Mack’s squad leads 2-1.  That lead lasts until the next pitch from Caster, as Yasiel Puig leads off the 4th with a long blast, but in the bottom of the inning Gray walks three straight batters to load things up and then Billy Werber rolls that same HR 1-7/flyB on Gray–but this time the split is a 9 and the A’s have to be content with the sac fly that gives them back the lead.  The Reds respond once again in the 6th, with Aristides Aquino smacking a 2-run shot, and after two more hits Nick Senzel misses a HR 1-11 split with a 12, but he scores nonetheless as Barnhart knocks another single past Lodigiani, and by the time Caster secures the third out the Reds now lead 7-3.   Brucker narrows the gap slightly in the 7th with an RBI single, and in the 8th a Sam Chapman 2-run shot makes it a one-run game, and when the next batter Lou Finney doubles, the Reds have to accept that their ace no longer has his stuff, and Michael Lorenzen is summoned from the pen.  Lorenzen gets two quick outs, but then A’s SS Wayne Ambler nails a hard single off Lorenzen’s card and the game all tied up heading into the 9th.  In the 9th, both teams get a leadoff single but nothing develops and the game heads to extra innings.  Caster gets through his final inning in the 10th with no problems, but in the bottom of the inning Reds SS-2 Galvis drops the leadoff grounder, and then Lorenzen walks two straight to load the bases with nobody out and Ambler at the plate.  For added defense, the Reds decide to bring in SS-1 Jose Iglesias and move Galvis to second as a 2B-2.  Lorenzen delivers, and sure enough it’s a groundball 2B(X), the split roll is a 1, and Galvis can’t get to it and the runner he allowed with the error scores the walkoff run on a single that he allowed–at two different positions.   The A’s win 8-7 and advance to the semis as a #7 seed, with frightening prospects for the next starter in their rotation. 

This bracket was one of those where the marquee matchup occurs in the first round, with the top seeded 2001 Braves facing off against the #2 seed 1957 Indians.   For the second straight regional, a Braves team from the early 2000s was favored in the group, and these Braves were seeking to atone for the loss by their 2004 cousins in the finals of the previous regional; although this team was not as good according to the ELO ranks they still won the NL East with an 88-74 record (getting eliminated in the NLCS) and they had a better rotation headed by Greg Maddux (17-11, 3.05).  Like the Braves, the 76-77 1957 Indians were a team that once had one of the all-time great starting rotations but were in decline, with Mike Garcia (12-8, 3.75) getting the start and Woodling, Wertz and Colavito counted on to provide the offense.  With one out in the bottom of the 2nd, Vic Wertz singles and 22-year old rookie outfielder Roger Maris follows by missing a HR 1-8/DO split, and I’m faced with the decision to hold or send lead-footed Wertz (1-8) to home with the bottom of the order coming up.  I put up the stop sign, and at least future manager Dick Williams hits a sac fly and the Indians lead 1-0.  In the 3rd, a 2-out error by 1B-3 Wes Helms seems to rattle Maddux, and he allows two straight singles off his card, including an RBI hit from Wertz, and the margin widens.  In the 4th, Marcus Giles, who had been a major weapon for the Braves in the prior regional, nails a solo HR to get Atlanta on the board, and another solo shot from Chipper Jones in the 6th knots the score at two apiece.  In the 7th, Braves PH Ken Caminiti hits a 2-out double to put men on 2nd and 3rd, and the Indians decide to bring in reliever Cal McLish to face another PH in Julio Franco.  Franco rolls a 6-6 popout, which would have been a solid single on Garcia, for the third out and the score remains tied.  Meanwhile, the Indians are stymied by rally-killers, with Woodling hitting into the fourth Cleveland DP in the bottom of the 8th.  Neither team can score in the 9th and we head to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th, McLish walks Franco and with two out, Brian Jordan nails a double and the aging legs of the 1-11 Franco propel him home with the go-ahead run.   It’s thus Maddux’s game to lose in his final inning of eligibility, and he blows through the bottom of the Indians’ order, fanning Bobby Avila to seal the 3-2 extra-inning win.

This game was unusual in matching two bottom-dwelling teams from the same league in the same season, with the next-to-last 1955 Cardinals against the last place 1955 Pirates.  The 68-86 Cardinals had Stan the Man but sparse support otherwise, with Tom Poholsky (9-11, 3.81) getting the starting nod.  The 60-94 Pirates didn’t really have anything to brag about other than a 20-year old kid name Roberto Clemente who hadn’t really come into his own, but Bob Friend (14-9, 2.83) was a strong staff ace who probably deserved better.   The Pirates loses 2B Johnny O’Brien to injury in the 3rd, but avenge him in the 4th when Gene Freese chills a double that scores the other Frank Thomas (1-12) from 1st to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead.  Meanwhile, the Cards’ Ken Boyer goes down to injury in the 6th, but they retaliate in the 7th when 3B-4 Freese makes a 2-base error on an Alex Grammas grounder and Solly Hemus singles him home to tie things up.  However, Pittsburgh squeezes out another run in the 8th when Dick Groat perfectly executes a squeeze play to score Dale Long, and they head into the 9th leading by a run and with Friend still looking strong on the mound.  Sure enough, Friend sets the Cards down in order to wrap up the 6-hitter and the 2-1 victory to earn the #8 seeded Pirates a trip to the semis.

The 2005 Nationals had the best ELO rank in the bottom half of this bracket and looked like an okay team, reflected in their symmetrical 81-81 record, but perhaps a bit better with their ace John Patterson (9-7, 3.13) on the mound.  I had thought that their opponents, the 78-84 1991 Phillies, might be better, but that was not the case, with aging stars, poor fielding, and troubles getting on base, it was going to be a challenge to generate support for a decent Tommy Greene (13-7, 3.38).  The Nationals waste no time as the second batter of the game, Nick Johnson, smacks a solo shot to give Washington the quick lead, although their efforts to put up another one in the 2nd fails when Ryan Church (1-12) had no prayer in trying to score on a Brian Schneider single and is out by a mile on a 20 roll.  Their luck continues to go south when C-2 Schneider drops a popup for an error on the leadoff hitter in the 3rd; Von Hayes doubles and then Lenny Dykstra walks to load the bases.  Patterson retires Morandini on a shallow fly and then faces big John Kruk, who crushes it into the far reaches of Veterans Stadium for a grand slam, and the Philadelphia fans briefly cease booing.   Darren Daulton gives them something else to cheer about with a solo shot in the 4th, and Patterson is quickly yanked for closer Chad Cordero.  The Nats cut the lead to 5-2 in the 6th when Phils LF-4 Wes Chamberlain hands an RBI double to Jose Vidro, but Daulton adds an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th, and Greene shuts down the Nats in the 9th to seal the 6-2 win for the Phillies.

The survivors

A seemingly lopsided semifinal between the regional favorite 2001 Braves and the #7 seed 1938 A’s looked even more one-sided when considering that Atlanta would be grilling with John Burkett (12-12, 3.04) against the eminently hittable Bud Thomas (9-14, 4.92) of the A’s.  However, the game begins as a pitching duel, with nobody threatening until Brian Jordan doubles in the bottom of the 4th but Marcus Giles (1-12) is nailed at the plate trying to score on a 13 split, and the game remains scoreless.  That seems to spur the A’s offense, as in the 5th Sam Chapman doubles and then scores on a Lou Finney single to give the underdogs the 1-0 lead.  However, Thomas drops a Jordan grounder in the 7th, and after another grounder advances him to second Mark Derosa pinch hits and comes through with a single to tie the game.  When the A’s lead off the 8th with a walk and a squib single, the Braves decide to go to Rudy Seanez out of the pen, and that doesn’t go well, as Seanez walks Billy Werber and then Wally Moses rips a 2-run single and the A’s lead, still with nobody out.  However, to disrupt their celebration, the next batter, A’s DH wunderkind Earle Brucker, rolls an inconvenient 3-8 meaning he strikes out and gets injured for 5 games in the process, severely impacting their limited offense for any future games.  When Seanez walks the next batter, he’s gone and John Smoltz comes in with the bases loaded and the game getting out of hand, and he does the job, getting two quick outs to leave all the runners stranded.  In the bottom of the inning, LF-3 Chapman commits a two base error on a Rafael Furcal flyball and PH Julio Franco knocks the speedy Furcal in with a single, and the A’s cling to a one run lead heading into the 9th.  Smoltz sets the A’s down in order in the top of the inning, and so it comes down to Bud Thomas to preserve the game; the Braves go down 1-2-3 and Thomas wraps up an unlikely 6-hitter as the upstart A’s squeak into the finals with a 3-2 win, but with their best hitter down for the count and their remaining pitching options ugly.

With the #7 seed already having earned a spot in the finals, it was now up to the #8 seeded 1955 Pirates to see if they could make it an all-terrible team culmination to the regional.  Standing in their way was the #4 seed 1991 Phillies, who would be starting Terry Mulholland (16-13, 3.61) against the long arm of Vern Law (10-10, 3.81).  In the top of the 1st, the Pirates are driving on Mullholland with three straight hits, including a 2-run single by Dale Long, and in the 2nd they continue their trip with a 2-out rally consisting of an RBI double from Dick Groat and another run when Jerry Lynch singles him in, good for a daunting 4-0 lead.  In the bottom of the 4th, Phils DH Dale Murphy drives in a run to put them on the scoreboard, but Dick Groat turns a key DP to end the inning with no further damage.  Eddie O’Brien recoups the run with a 2-out RBI single in the 6th, but although everything seems to be going the Pirates’ way, DH Lynch leads off the top of the 7th by getting injured for 5 games, a real blow to the meager Pittsburgh offense.  Phils PH Dave Hollins leads off the bottom of the 8th by converting a split HR off Law’s card, but Dale Long smacks a 2-out RBI double in the top of the 9th to drive Mulholland away and welcome Wild Thing Mitch Williams, who promptly allows a single to the other Frank Thomas and Long ambles home with more insurance.  Law wraps up the 9th with a 7-hitter and the bottom seeded Pirates head to the finals with an easy 7-2 win, but with starting 2B Johnny O’Brien and DH Lynch both injured, it’s hard to imagine that their streak will continue much longer.

For the regional final, it’s the battle of the bads as the #7 seeded 1938 A’s take on the #8 seed 1955 Pirates, with both teams missing big parts of their offense due to injuries and both down to the depths of their rotation, although Pirate swingman Roy Face (5-7, 3.58) looked like a far better option than the A’s Buck Ross (9-16, 5.32).  In the bottom of the 1st Dale Long finds Ross’s HR result for a 2-run shot that puts the Pirates ahead, but the A’s finally figure out Face on the second pass through the order and rap three straight hits to lead off the 5th that ties up the game.  That tie doesn’t last long, as in the bottom of the inning Clemente doubles and Dick Groat singles him home and the Pirates are again up by a run.  In the 7th the already depleted A’s lose C Frankie Hayes to injury for 10 games, and the Bucs add an insurance run in the bottom of the frame with Groat’s RBI double.  So it comes down to the 9th, and Lou Finney gets on base on an error by defensive replacement 1B-3 Preston Ward; a walk to Ambler is followed by an RBI single from Lodigiani and it’s a one run game with the tying run on third and one out.  The infield comes in for injury replacement C Hal Wagner, and with no other catching options there won’t be a pinch hitter.   One isn’t needed, as Wagner raps a hard single off Face’s card and the game is tied, and now the go-ahead run is 90 feet away.  The Bucs eye their bullpen but don’t like their options, and they will try to let Face go as long as he can.  The infield in works against Billy Werber as Lodigiani is nailed at the plate and then with two out, Face retires Wally Moses and when Ross shuts down the Pirates in the bottom of the inning we head to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th Face is bailed out by two good defensive plays, one a key DP turned by Groat; in the bottom of the inning the goat Preston Ward atones by hitting a one-out triple to put the winning run on third.  The infield comes in for another defensive replacement, .211 hitting Felipe Montemayor, who hits a grounder to 2B-4 Lodigiani, who amazingly looks Ward back to the bag and gets Montemayor at first for the second out.  Ross then walks Gene Freese to bring up 20 year old Roberto Clemente with the game on the line.  Clemente rips a liner to left, LF-3 Sam Chapman can’t get to it, and Forbes Field erupts as the bottom seeded Pirates secure the 5-4 win and the regional crown.  The Pirates elect Dick Groat as MVP, as he contributed key RBI in all three games and several clutch defensive gems as one of the few decent fielders on the team.    

Interesting card of Regional #149:  The current Strat season (2021) includes the final card in the career of one of the most popular players for the Nationals since their move from Montreal; in fact, he was the first Nationals player to have his uniform number retired.  This regional provided a picture of Mr. Zimmerman at the other end of his career, as it included Mr. Zimmerman’s very first Strat card from 2005.  For some reason the old jingle to “double your pleasure, double your fun” comes to mind when I look at it, and not because of his performance at Wrigley Field.  It turned out that selecting Zimmerman’s card was a close call because Earle Brucker of the 1938 A’s had a similarly remarkable season, but I went with Mr. National in recognition of his recent retirement (Brucker’s card is included on my blog if you want to check it out).  Given that many recent tournament games have been decided as walk-offs, including the finals of this regional, it is worth noting that Zimmerman ended his career in 8th place on the list of walk-off homers, with 11–and all seven players in front of him are in the Hall of Fame.      

REGIONAL #148:  This group was another draw where I didn’t recognize any of the contestants as being a particularly great team.    There were entries from the Braves, Brewers, Padres, Tigers and Angels that I thought were all a number of years past having been very good teams.  I had a feeling that the Pirates probably weren’t competitive, as I don’t remember any such Pirate teams from recent years, and as for the 2013 Cubs, I had picked the 2012 version to win the previous regional, and as Pete Townsend put it, we won’t get fooled again.  Having no clue who might emerge here, I went with the 2000 Padres, who had won a pennant only two years earlier and would get that peak steroid-era boost, over the Braves in the final.  The ELO ranks suggest that I undersold a number of teams, including the Pirates and the Brewers, with the latter actually pegged as the best team in the AL that season.   Those ranks predicted the Braves over the ‘73 Tigers in the final.   On an irrelevant note, I will say that I was pleased to see the Brewers housed in the AL, the Astros in the NL, and the Angels in “California” in this bracket, which in my opinion is the way it should be.

First round action

The 92-win 1992 Brewers were the second best team in the regional and the best AL team that season according to the ELO ranks, but I wasn’t very impressed; although they had some memorable names like Yount, Molitor, and Greg Vaughn in the lineup, their stars didn’t have particularly great years and Molitor (12) and Vaughn (23) were the only ones in the lineup with double digit homers.  However, they had a solid starting rotation and a couple of stellar relievers, so they were looking to win low-scoring games, giving the first round start to the very tough Cal Eldred (11-2, 1.79).   They faced the another team I seemed to have underestimated, the 2013 Pirates, who were seeded #3 and won 94 games with a postseason appearance.  As I figured they had Andrew McCutcheon as a weapon, but they also had Starling Marte, Marlon Byrd, and Pedro Alvarez with strong seasons and a good rotation with Francisco Liriano (16-8, 3.02).  The Brewers open the tap in the top of the 1st when Yount doubles and scores on a hard single by Vaughn, but Byrd nails a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to quickly tie it back up.  When Scott Fletcher doubles home speedy Darryl Hamilton in the 2nd, it’s beginning to look like this game may live up to its billing as the one to watch in the first round.  From there, both aces turn off the tap, and nobody can mount a threat until the top of the 8th, when a single and a walk push the Pirates to move to Mark Melancon out of the pen to keep it close.  He ends the threat, and the Bucs have six more outs to get to Eldred and try to make up the one-run deficit.  In the bottom of the 8th, Pittsburgh gets a single and two walks to load the bases with two away, and after a conference at the mound the Brewers decide to let Eldred pitch to Neal Walker.  It’s a sharp grounder to 2B-2 Fletcher, who fields it cleanly and Milwaukee takes their one run lead into the 9th.  Melancon shuts down the Brewers in order, so it's now the bottom of the Pirates order standing between Eldred and the win.  With one out, DH Gary Sanchez converts a split single and Alex Presley comes in to pinch run, representing the tying run.  But Russell Martin rolls a gbA to seal the deal for Eldred and the Brewers squeak by with the 2-1 win.

I had been surprised to find that the 2004 Braves were the top ranked team in the regional, as my recollection of great Braves teams was in the 90s and I figured there had to have been decline from those.  But these Braves won 96 games and the NL East with a different type of team, one where every starter in the lineup had a SLG% over .400 but with a starting rotation that was past the glory days of Maddux and Glavine; Smoltz was still around but in the pen and Jaret Wright (15-8, 3.28) would get the first round start.  They were solid favorites over the 76-86 1987 Astros, a team built for the Astrodome around pitching and speed, with Nolan Ryan (8-16, 2.76) insisting on starting even though teammate Mike Scott had won the Cy Young in the prior season.  Nobody can muster a hit until Adam LaRoche leads off the top of the 5th with a fly that Houston LF-2 Billy Hatcher turns into a single and then misplays, and that seems to unsettle Ryan as Johnny Estrada then rips a double to score LaRoche.  A couple of walks then loads the bases, Rafael Furcal singles, JD Drew walks and the Braves move out to a 3-0 lead.  In the bottom of the inning Denny Walling breaks up Wrights no-hitter with a 2-out double, but he gets stranded, and in the 7th Furcal converts a HR 1-7/flyB for a 2-run shot that chases an angry Ryan for Dave Smith.  Meanwhile Wright is on cruise control until the 9th, when a single and a couple of walks loads the bases for the Astros.  A sac fly by Walling gives Houston their first run, and then another walk loads the bases again for Craig Reynolds as the tying run with two out,  It’s a fly to left, defensive replacement Charles Thomas is under it, and game over as Wright finishes out a 3-hitter and the Braves move on, winning 5-1 while only managing 5 hits themselves.

I had blindly selected the 2000 Padres to win the regional, but after actually looking at the team and setting the lineup, I thought that they looked even worse than the 76-86 squad that they were–largely terrible fielding, not much punch for the height of the steroid era, and a lousy rotation fronted by an okay Woody Williams (10-8, 3.75).  Still, they were ELO favorites against the 1993 Angels, who had slightly worse offensive numbers but better pitching and defense, with Mark Langston (16-11, 3.20) having a minutely better card than Williams.  In the top of the 4th, Phil Nevin rolls a HR 1-5 but the split die is a 6 and Nevin gets stranded at second; in the bottom of the inning Tim Salmon leaves no doubt about it, leading off with a solid HR and the Angels take a 1-0 lead.  The Padres threaten in the 7th when an error by Angels SS-2 Gary Disarcina and a walk put the tying run in scoring position, but 3B-2 Rene Gonzales turns a DP to end the inning, and then Torey Lovullo leads off the bottom of the inning by converting a HR 1-2 and Williams hits the showers in favor of closer Trevor Hoffman.  He does his job, but it doesn’t matter as Langston is in control; in the 9th 40-year old DH Tony Gwynn gets only the third hit of the game for the Padres, but Langston quickly retires Nevin and Ryan Klesko and the Angels move on with a 2-0 win in which they only “outhit” the Padres 4 hits to 3-both runs coming on leadoff homers.  

The 1973 Tigers went 85-77, largely on the remnants of their championship 1968 team, but much of their lineup was getting old; still, they had a great year from Joe Coleman (23-15, 3.53) and were big favorites over the 2013 Cubs.  The Cubs were actually chronologically closer to their championship than the Tigers were to theirs, but this team lost 96 games although they were beginning to get key piece in place and Travis Wood (9-12, 3.11) was a solid starter for round one.  However, Wood has a rough start when Dick McAuliffe wraps a leadoff HR just around the foul post in the top of the 1st, but in the bottom of the inning Nate Schierholtz converts a HR 1-12 off Coleman’s card for a two run shot that puts the Cubs on top.   That doesn’t last long, as in the top of the 2nd Aurelio Rodriguez goes ARod and nails the HR split on Wood’s card for a three-run blast, and in the 4th big Frank Howard leads off with a homer that extends the Detroit lead to 5-2.   In the 7th, Cubs PH Donnie Murphy crushes a 2-out solo shot to narrow the lead to two, which is only the second hit allowed by Coleman–both of them longballs.  However, when Coleman drops the ball for a leadoff error in the 8th, the Tigers move to closer John Hiller, and he finishes out the inning with no issues.   However, he makes it exciting in the 9th, as Anthony Rizzo singles and then Starlin Castro rolls his HR 1-2/DO, and the split roll of 13 puts the tying run at second with two outs.  The Cubs bring in Darnell McDonald to pinch hit, and Hiller strikes him out to earn the save in the Tigers 5-3 win.  

The survivors

According to the ELO ranks, this semifinal between the #1 seeded 2004 Braves and the #2 seed 1992 Brewers constituted the premier matchup of the regional.  Given the great Braves rotation of the 90s, it was surprising to note that the Brewers Jaime Navarro (17-11, 3.33) looked to have the advantage over Braves starter John Thomson (14-8, 3.72), although Atlanta did have one of those 90s starters, John Smoltz, in the pen ready to go if Thomson should falter.  And some faltering is evident immediately, as Brewer Pat Listach leads off the top of the 1st with a single, steals second, and then he scores on a Robin Yount single, but Thomson escapes the inning without further damage.  However, in the 2nd Dante Bichette singles, Darryl Hamilton singles him to third, Hamilton steals second and Kevin Seitzer brings them both home with a single; the Brewers continue to threaten but Listach gets caught stealing to end the inning with the Brewers lead at 3-0.  That lead dissipates immediately, as in the bottom of the inning Andruw Jones hits a 2-run homer and then with two out, CF-2 Yount can’t get to a Marcus Giles single and the Braves take a 4-3 lead.  Giles continues his heroics in the 5th, leading off with a double and eventually scoring on a pitch that gets past Brewer C BJ Surhoff.  A one out double in the 6th by Chipper Jones and the Brewers pull Navarro for Mike Fetters to try to keep things close, and he gets the job done, striking out Giles for the third out.  Meanwhile, Thomson is holding his own, but when Yount singles to lead off the 8th the Braves decide to take no chances and summon Smoltz from the pen to close things out.  But Smoltz allows a double off his card to Greg Vaughn, Yount scores on a Bichette fielder’s choice and the tying run is on 3rd with two out, but Smoltz retires Hamilton on a deep fly and the Braves cling to a one run lead.  But in the bottom of the inning Fetters walks two, Surhoff drops a popup for an error to load the bases with two out, and Braves defensive replacement Charles Thomas rolls a DO 1-12/flyB on Fetters–the split roll is 11, two runs score, but 1-16 JD Drew is gunned down at the plate for the final out.  Still, the Braves head into the 9th with a padded lead, and Smoltz sets down the bottom of the Brewers lineup in order to send Atlanta into the final with the 7-4 win.  

The 1973 Tigers and the 1993 Angels were starting a couple of workhorses in their semifinal matchup, with Mickey Lolich (16-15, 3.82) and Chuck Finley (16-14, 3.15) accounting for 61 decisions between them.  The game is knotted in a scoreless tie until the top of the 5th, when Angels’ #9 hitter Gary Disarcina knocks a 2-out RBI double, and they extend the lead to 3-0 in the 6th on a JT Snow RBI single.  Two Angels singles to start the 7th and Lolich is pulled for John Hiller, who comes in to both end the threat and, in a bad omen, California DH Damion Easley is injured for the rest of the tournament.  But the Angels retaliate by torching Hiller in the 8th, with defensive replacement Stan Javier nailing a 2-out, 2-run triple and Rene Gonzales knocking in Javier with a single to blow the game open.  Tim Salmon drives in another run against Tigers mop up man Lerrin Lagrow, and Finley closes things out with a 1-2-3 ninth to finish out the nifty 4-hit shutout and send the Angels to the finals with a 7-0 win.  Finley’s gem is a nice reward for a guy who has had multiple tough-luck losses in this tournament; and even here three of the four hits he allowed were fielding lapses by his defense.

The regional final looked like a mismatch, featuring the #1 seeded 2004 Braves against the #7 seed upstart 1993 Angels, who had the added disadvantage of an injured DH.  Neither team could send out a very good #3 starter, with the Braves’ Russ Ortiz (15-9, 4.13) and the Angels’ Scott Sanderson (7-11, 4.46) both having quite hittable cards.  In the bottom of the first, Tim Salmon goes upstream on Ortiz for a solo shot and a 1-0 California lead, but it’s a different picture when JD Drew nails a 2-out 2-run homer in the 3rd to put the Braves ahead.  But in the bottom of the inning, two straight walks are followed by a double from injury replacement Stan Javier, Salmon fishes out an RBI single, and the Angels regain a 4-2 lead after three.  When JT Snow leads off the 6th with a single off Ortiz’s card, the Braves move to their pen and bring in Juan Cruz, who spins a quick end to the inning.  When Drew draws a leadoff walk in the 8th, the Angels look at their bullpen and there is no relief there, so Sanderson is on his own–and with two out Andruw Jones finds and converts Sanderson’s HR result for a two-run shot that ties the game.  Atlanta then summons Smoltz from the pen to hold the line for his two remaining innings, and he does exactly that, and the game heads to extra innings.  In his last inning of eligibility, Sanderson allows two straight long singles off his card to begin the 10th, but the infield comes in to nail the potential go-ahead run at the plate, and Sanderson escapes with the game still tied.  With Smoltz burnt, the Braves have to go deeper into their pen and Horatio Ramirez gets the call; he retires the side and we head to the 11th with the Angels forced to go to the pen for the ominously named Mike Butcher.  But he shuts down the top of the Braves order, and in the bottom of the 11th Salmon grills the first pitch from Ramirez into the cheap seats for a walkoff 5-4 win and the unlikely regional win, the 5th for the Halos joining 1977, 1983, 1989, and 2004.  Salmon gets the regional MVP ribbon with his big performance in the final and driving in key runs in all three games.

Interesting card of Regional #148:  This edition’s official Strat card may not look particularly interesting, other than being one of the nice classic die-cut cards from the 70’s.   However, on closer inspection it might seem a bit weird that the backup catcher for the 1973 Tigers, Bob Didier, actually has 1971 printed on his card–and no, it’s not a misprint, those are his 1971 stats.   See, the real backup catcher for those Tigers, Duke Sims, was traded to the Yankees for a whole four games at the end of the season, but game company policy dictated that when a player was traded to a team within the league, the player was carded with the team he played for at the end of the season.   Thus, the Tigers would have had no backup at catcher without Didier, so he was included on the core 20-player Tigers team set.  Thing is, Didier only had 22 at-bats, and 22 very good at bats they were.  The game company, being no fun and apparently having no inkling of the situation they would face in 2020, decided that no, Bob wouldn’t be permitted to get his rightfully-earned killer card and go down in Strat history as one of the great low-AB wonders.  So, as the note on the original roster sheet (seen below the cards) indicates, they used his far worse 1971 stats to produce a 1971 card and included THAT with the Tigers.  Furthermore, when they reproduced 1973 in SADV format in 2014, the game company doubled down and DID THE SAME THING!   According to Baseball Reference, Bob is still with us at age 73, and I believe that this injustice should receive a long overdue correction during his lifetime.  As such, as one of my homemade efforts, I present to you:  the REAL 1973 Bob Didier.

REGIONAL #147:  This group featured an eclectic mix of teams spanning nearly 100 years.  Although I didn’t recognize any pennant winners, the squad that caught my eye was the 1969 Cardinals, who had won the NL the past two seasons before having their streak miraculously broken by the Mets.  There were also two different versions of the Giants that were both a few years past a pennant, and Twins and Cubs teams from the 00’s that I thought might be pretty good.  I figured Bob Gibson would plunk me in the ribs if I didn’t pick the Cards to win, so I guess them over the 2017 Giants in the finals.   The ELO ranks pegged those Giants as the worst team in the regional, instead picking the other SF team, the ‘93 Giants, in the finals over the ‘67 Phillies, another squad I had apparently underestimated.

First round action

When initially looking at the draw for this regional, the ELO ranks suggested that I had dramatically overestimated the 2006 Cubs and undersold the 1967 Phillies.  The 96-loss Cubs had some power from Aramis Ramirez and I thought that they had some decent pitchers in that era, but I was badly wrong–they only had two eligible starters, and one of the “good” pitchers I thought I remembered, Mark Prior, had a 7.21 ERA in 44 innings, so they went with their only decent eligible starter, Carlos Zambrano (16-7, 3.41).   For the 82-80 Phillies, their offense was pretty much what I expected–Richie Allen and little else.  However, I underestimated their starting rotation, figuring that Steve Carlton was still with the Cards, but turns out they had plenty of good arms including Jim Bunning (17-15, 2.29) who would get the first round start.  The Cubs get a lead in the top of the 1st when Michael Barrett nails an RBI double off Bunning’s card, but the Phils get it back in the 2nd when Gene Oliver converts a TR 1-3/flyB off Zambrano’s card and Cookie Rojas singles him home.  The Cubs respond by loading the bases with nobody out in the 3rd, but they only get one run on a Ramirez groundout, so it’s 2-1 Cubs.  However, in the bottom of the 6th Cookie Rojas converts a HR 1-8 off Zambrano’s card, and Tony Taylor follows with a triple that forces the Cubs to look long and hard at their terrible bullpen.   Not seeing much there better than Zambrano, they stick with their ace a while longer, and he strands Taylor at third but the Phils now hold the one run lead.  In the 8th, Gene Oliver converts that same HR 1-8 off Zambrano, putting Oliver one single short of a cycle and giving the Phils’ lead a bit of padding.  They quickly need it, as Ramirez leads off the 9th with a homer to put the Cubs within one; with two out, Matt Murton singles to get the tying run aboard but Bunning bears down and whiffs PH Tony Womack, and the Phils survive with a 4-3 win.  However, nearly all their offense in the game came off the pitcher’s card, a trend they will need to remedy if they hope to get much further.

I was quite surprised when I discovered that the 2017 Giants had a terrible ELO rating, worse than their opponents, the 1941 Senators.  After researching the team and setting the lineups, I found that they lost 98 games, taking a nosedive after making the postseason the prior year.  At least in this tournament they could start Madison Bumgarner (4-9, 3.32), who missed a good chunk of the season with a “dirt-biking” injury.  I still thought they looked better than the 70-84 Senators, whose top HR hitter only hit 10 and whose defense had serious holes, although Dutch Leonard (18-13, 3.45) was a capable starter.   That defense comes into play quickly, as a 2-base error by Senators SS Cecil Travis in the top of the 1st sets up two unearned runs for the Giants courtesy of a Jarrett Parker double.   However, the Nats get one back in the bottom of the inning when Jake Early drives in 1-16 George Archie with a two-out double, missing a HR split on Bumgarner.   Another Washington two-base error, this one by 3B-4 Archie, scores another in the 2nd, and in the 3rd a 2-out Brandon Crawford RBI double makes it 4-1 Giants.  Again the Nats strike back in the bottom of the inning, with a 2-run single from Travis making it close, and then C Al Evans nails Bumgarner’s solid 5-5 HR result for a 3-run shot and Washington takes the lead.  Two more hits and the Giants have to yank Bumgarner, moving to Steven Okert who gets the 3rd out, on a 5-5 roll no less.  A two-out RBI single from Brandon Belt in the 6th makes it a one-run game, and when Denard Span doubles to lead off the 7th the Senators bring in 21-year-old rookie phenom Early Wynn to try to keep the lead.  He can’t do it, as Parker singles home 1-14 Span and the game is tied.  The Giants turn to Cory Gearrin out of the pen to counter Wynn, and both of them get it done to keep it tied through nine and sending the game to extra innings.  The top of the 10th is Wynn’s last inning, but he’s tiring, and a Posey single sends 1-15 Gorkys Hernandez home, and later Parker adds to his RBI total with a 2-run single and when the dust clears the Giants take a four-run lead into the bottom of the 10th.  With Gearrin burnt for the regional, it’s Hunter Strickland’s game to preserve, and he sets down the Senators in order to send the Giants to the semis with the see-saw 10-6 win, but with a depleted bullpen and a suspect rotation as big challenges to continued success.

Quite a few things in baseball changed in 1969, but one that didn't change much was the 1969 Cardinals, who still had pretty much the same lineup as their pennant winning squads from the prior season, and still had Bob Gibson (20-13, 2.18) as a formidable staff ace.  However, unfortunately for them they still sported a 1968-style offense which led to an 87-75 record only good for 4th place in the NL East, and they had perhaps the worst DH options I’ve seen in this tournament, ultimately going with .194-hitting Steve Huntz.  Despite the ELO ratings, after setting the lineups I didn’t think the Cards would have a chance against the 2004 Twins, winners of 92 games and the AL Central.  The Twins had four guys with more homers than the leading “slugger” for the Cards, and although Gibson was a force to reckon with, so was Johan Santana (20-6, 2.61), the AL Cy Young Award winner who had no complete hits on his card.  Vada Pinson hands Gibby a lead in the top of the 2nd with a 2-out solo HR, but Torii Hunter evens the score in the bottom of the 5th with a leadoff shot.  In the 8th, Lou Brock strokes a 2-out single and 1-14 Tim McCarver races in from second as the Cards regain the lead, and Gibson takes a 2-hitter into the bottom of the 9th.  But PH Augie Ojeda singles to lead off the inning, and then Lew Ford rolls a 2-4 HR 1-11/DO, split roll is a 1 and the Twins walk off with a 3-2 win, Santana ending up with a 5-hitter in the duel.  

The 1993 Giants were the ELO favorites for the regional, and after setting their lineup it made good sense; the team won 103 games and lost the NL West to the Braves by one game.  With newly acquired Barry Bonds winning the NL MVP, Matt Williams and Will Clark contributing to a deadly heart of the order, and two 20 game winners that included Cy Young runner-up Bill Swift (21-8, 2.82), I had trouble envisioning anyone in this bracket defeating them.   I certainly didn’t think that they would have much trouble with the 62-90 1920 Braves, a team that as a group hit half as many homers as Bonds did that season, and who sported two 20-game losers, although their “ace” Joe Oeschger (15-13, 3.46) was not one of them.  Sure enough, the Giants take a 3-0 lead in the 2nd on RBI singles from Royce Clayton and Darren Lewis, coupled with a 2-base error by Braves CF-3 Ray Powell.  In the 6th, Robby Thompson doubles and a 2-out single by Kirt Manwaring gives the Giants an insurance run, but Braves reliever Leo Townsend comes in to prevent further damage.  In the 7th, Mark Carreon hits a flyball that wayward son Powell drops for his second two-base error, allowing two more Giant runs to plate, and Thompson doubles Carreon home to pile on some more.  That is far more than Swift needs, who swiftly dispatches the Braves with a 3-hit shutout to send the Giants on with an easy 7-0 win.

The survivors

The 1967 Phillies were favored in this semifinal game, and it didn’t hurt that Chris Short (9-11, 2.40) was a strong second starter for the Phils.  The underdog 2017 Giants had burnt a chunk of their bullpen after their top starter didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning in the first round, and their next starter, Jeff Samardzija (9-15, 4.42), had some frightening aspects to his card in addition to being quite difficult to spell.  Neither team can muster much offense at first, and in the 6th the Phils decide to PH Don Lock with two on and two out, and that proves to be a clever move as Lock slams a 3-run shot to give them the lead.  A Tony Taylor leadoff single in the 7th and the Giants bring in Kyle Crick from their depleted bullpen, but in the 8th Lock races home on a Gene Oliver double to extend the Philly lead.  Meanwhile, every time Short gets into a jam, a ball is hit to short, and Bobby Wine is flawless in converting those grounders into DPs.  Short ends with a 6-hit shutout and the Phillies are heading to the finals with the 4-0 victory.   

The 1993 Giants had their second 20-game winner, John Burkett (22-7, 3.65), ready to go in this semifinal against the 2004 Twins and Brad Radke (11-8, 3.48), with this being the marquee matchup of the regional featuring the #1 and #3 seeds.  The Giants get things going in the bottom of the 3rd with Will Clark rapping a 2-run single, but both squads struggle to generate much offense.  When Radke allows a 2-out single to Kirt Manwaring in the 7th, the Twins take no chances and summon star closer Joe Nathan to keep it close, and he promptly ends the threat.   In the 8th, Twins LF Lew Ford comes through with a clutch 2-out single to score 1-19 Cristian Guzman, and then Corey Koskie doubles off Burkett’s card and 1-16 Ford races home and it’s a tie game and the Giants move to closer Rod Beck out of the pen.  Beck whiffs Joe Mauer and after Nathan sets down the Giants in order, the game heads to the 9th deadlocked at two apiece.  Beck retires the Twins in order in the top of the 9th, and in the bottom of the frame Nathan issues a leadoff walk to Matt Williams, and Mark Carreon follows with a single, and 1-12 Williams chances it successfully and takes third.  The infield comes in, and 2B-2 Luis Rivas handles a grounder for the first out, Williams holding while Carreon takes second.  Nathan then retires Clayton and Manwaring on grounders, and the game heads to extra innings.  The 10th passes uneventfully, but in the 11th Beck walks Mauer and then Justin Morneau rolls a HR 1-6/flyB split on Beck, the split die comes up with a 6, and the Cardiac Twins take a 2-run lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning, Nathan, who has ⅓ of an inning of eligibility left in the regional, doesn’t complete it as Bonds and Matt Williams both single to put the winning run at the plate in the form of Mark Carreon.  The Twins decide to carry on without Nathan, and bring in Juan Rincon to try to earn the save.  Rincon walks Carreon to load the bases with nobody out, bringing up Robby Thompson, who misses a SI* 1-8 split and there’s one out.  The Twins are playing for the DP, Royce Clayton rolls the gbA, and it’s game over as the Twins pull off the 4-2 win with more late inning heroics and earn a trip to the finals.  

The #4 seeded 1967 Phillies had reached the final on the arms of their strong starting rotation, and they had another good one, Larry Jackson (13-15, 3.09) ready to go in this one.  They were hoping that their main offensive weapon, Richie Allen, would shake off the slump that saw him rendered useless in the first two rounds, and the 2004 Twins’ Carlos Silva (14-8, 3.21) looked like just the guy to do it against.  The Twins were into a truly scary part of their rotation and with closer Joe Nathan burnt, they were also hoping that their offense would generate more runs than they had done up to this point.  They do get things rolling quickly in the bottom of the first when Lew Ford nails a leadoff double then scores on a Joe Mauer single for a 1-0 lead.  The Phils tie it immediately in the top of the 2nd in true Philly Phashion, with two singles off Silva’s card and then a perfectly executed squeeze by Cookie Rojas brings in the run.  A Bobby Wine leadoff double in the 3rd leads to a Phils lead when Wine (1-12) races home on a Tony Gonzalez base hit, but then in the bottom of the inning Larry Jackson gets injured facing the first batter and for the first time in the tournament the Phils will need to draw upon their bullpen, with Dick Hall getting the call.  Hall gets one out, then yields two consecutive singles off his own card to bring up Twins 1B Justin Morneau.  Morneau gets a roll on his own card, a 1-8 solid HR, and the Twins lead and Hall is trying to get traded before the return flight to Philadelphia.  However, the Phils aren’t giving up, as Silva allows a few more hits including an Oliver RBI double, and then Silva commits an error, loading the bases for Gonzalez who again delivers, this time a two-out two-run single and Philadelphia has regained the lead.  A leadoff single by Tony Taylor in the 6th and the Twins yank Silva for JC Romero, who ends the threat but in the meantime Hall has settled down and completes his remaining eligibility without incident, yielding to Dick Farrell in the 7th (worthy of note:  nearly everyone in the Philadelphia bullpen is a Dick, perhaps leaving Richie Allen feeling left out?).  Farrell provides some excitement on his first pitch, a 5-5 roll that’s a HR 1-6/flyB for PH Augie Ojeda, but the split roll is a 13 and the Phils maintain their lead after seven.   In the top of the 8th, Romero walks Bill White and then Gonzalez hits yet another hard single that sends White to 3rd; the Twins then bring in Juan Rincon to face hitless Allen and keep the infield looking for the DP.  Allen makes contact for a shallow flyball but Twins RF Jacque Jones fields it and keeps White frozen on 3rd.  With two out, Rincon now delivers to John Callison, and it’s a Philly Special:  a roll on Rincon’s 5-5 TR 1-4/SI with a split roll of 3 and two runs score to pad the lead.  However, these Twins have proven their mettle in the late innings, and in the bottom of the 8th Corey Koskie leads off with a double, Mauer singles him home, and then Morneau nails a double off Farrell’s card, putting the tying run in scoring position with nobody out.  Torii Hunter walks to load the bases, and Luis Rivas delivers a sac fly and it’s a one-run game.  But Farrell bears down to record two more outs and the game heads to the 9th with the Phils still clinging to a slim lead.  Rincon sets the Phils down quietly, so it’s up to Farrell against the Cardiac Twins in the bottom of the 9th.  Farrell fans Ojeda for one out, but speedy Lew Ford singles and he’s held.  Koskie misses a SI* 1-4 split with a 6, and so there are two outs and 21-year old rookie Joe Mauer is at the plate in the high-pressure situation.  The pitch:  a 5-6 on Farrell, TR 1-10/DO, split is a 7 and the game is tied and the winning run is 90 feet away and red-hot Justin Morneau is up.  But Farrell fans him, and we head to extra innings.  

Heading into the 10th, Rincon is now burnt for the Twins, so the best they can must is Grant Balfour, which from his card looks like a contraction of BallFour.  But he does his job, bringing up the Twins in the bottom of the 10th.  Torii Hunter leads off with a walk, steals second, and Luis Rivas comes to the plate.  Farrell delivers, another 5-6 roll, and game over; the Twins win the game 8-7 and the regional with their second walkoff win, their second extra-inning win, and their third game in a row won in the bottom of the 9th or later.  All of that may sound like luck, but make no mistake, this was a good team, winning the AL Central by 9 games, with a solid offense (191 team HR), excellent fielding (7 of the 8 starting position players were 1 or 2 fielders), a top-flight closer in Joe Nathan, and a staff ace in Johan Santana who was as good as it gets.  Although the staff did lead the AL in ERA, the back end of the rotation was pretty sorry; if the Twins had a couple more decent starting pitchers, they might have ranked among the all-time greats.  Regardless, they proved repeatedly in this regional that they could never be counted out.

Interesting card(s) of Regional #147:  The 1967 Phillies reached the regional final but there they fell short, and throughout they had absolutely no help from this guy, who should have been by far their largest offensive weapon but went 0-for-the regional.  Upon brief reflection, I decided that the problem must lie with those ugly newer card patterns.   See, tournament policy dictates that I use the re-done versions of my original 1960s Basic-only cards because the more modern versions provide greater team depth beyond those 20-card squads of yesteryear.  Regardless, those original 1967 cards, with their look, feel, and typical patterns, occupy a special place for me because they were my first Strat teams, acquired as a kid, and I continue to wish that the Basic sides of the cards would look like them.  Allen’s original ‘67 card had that classic “2-10” pattern that I will forever associate with oldtimers’ 1927 Babe Ruth; as I send the Phils back into storage after their loss in the finals, I’m left with the lingering feeling that if I’d just used the originals instead, Allen would have come through and it would be them moving on.