REGIONAL #238:  This was yet another unusually strong draw, with two pennant winners and a number of other near-winners.  The two high profile entries were last season’s Series champions, the 2023 Rangers who represented the first such title in the history of that franchise, and the 1991 Braves, who were beginning a run of NL crowns in that decade.  But there were other contenders as well; the 2005 Cards won the league the year before and the year after; the 1997 Braves won the NL the two seasons before and would do so again two years after; and the 2018 Indians team won the AL two years prior, and had seen a very good team from the year before ousted in the previous regional, so they were looking to redeem themselves.  Toss in two pandemic teams, who are always unpredictable, and this was an interesting group.  The top of the bracket featured both pennant winners, and I suspected that last year’s Rangers would emerge from that confrontation and go on to beat one Braves team in the semis and another Braves team in the finals.  According to the ELO rating, it would be the 1997 version of the Braves who would prevail over the Cardinals entry, with the latter picked to defeat two consecutive pennant winners to reach the finals.    

First round action

I’m not sure it’s happened before in this tournament that the reigning Series champion makes an appearance, but that was the case here with the 2023 Rangers having won 90 games and their first championship as represented in the current card set.  Their DP combo Cory Seager and Marcus Semien went 2 & 3 in the MVP voting, while the rotation was good but not great, with Nathan Eovaldi (12-5, 3.63) in charge of getting this pennant winner past round one.  Doing so would involve getting past a 2020 Tigers team that managed to earn a terrible ELO rating in only 60 games; they boast two guys hitting below the Mendoza line and a terrible rotation with Matt Boyd (3-7, 6.71) the mandatory first round starter, although like most of the pandemic year teams they did have a few helpful low-usage freak cards that might help out in later innings.  The Rangers move head in the bottom of the 1st on a sac fly from Seager, but the Tigers respond in the 2nd with an onslaught of hits off Eovaldi and vault to a 3-1 lead before the Texas starter can regain control. The Rangers retaliate in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally as a Travis Jankowski double scores one but 1-12+2 Robbie Grossman is nailed at the plate trying to tie the game.  Even so, Texas does tie it up in the 3rd when Josh Jung bounces a two out RBI triple past RF-4 Jorge Bonifacio, and they take the lead in the 4th when Leody Taveras leads off by finding one of Boyd’s inviting HR results, and then Grossman gets on again and ths time Jankowski leaves nothing to chance by tripling him home with another run.  A walk to Semien and Boyd is gone for reliever Jose Cisnero, but Seager brings in Jankowski with another sac fly and the Rangers now lead 6-3.  For the Tiger, Jeimer Candelario triples and scores on an Austin Romine single in the 8th to make it a 2-run game, and when PH Jacoby Jones follows that with a double that puts the tying run in scoring position with two out, the Rangers reach into their pen for one Jacob deGrom.  The Tigers counter with PH CJ Cron, and Cron crushes one so deep that it probably would have injured deGrom back in New York, and suddenly the Tigers hold the lead.  Now it’s the Tigers’ turn to try to hold a lead, and they summon Bryan Garcia and his 1.66 ERA to try to do the job.  He does fine in the 8th, courtesy of four straight Texas rolls on the pitcher’s card, but the first hitter card roll comes with the first batter of the 9th, and that roll is a solid homer on Adolis Garcia and the game is tied.  Garcia handles the remainder of the order and we head to extra innings.  Both pitchers hold serve in the 10th and 11th, but are toast for the regional in the 12th; Jose Leclerc holds off the Tigers in the top of the inning, but new Tigers reliever Daniel Norris allows a double off his card to Leody Taveras in the bottom of the inning.   That brings up Nathaniel Lowe, who grounds one to SS-2 Niko Goodrum; the split die is a 10, two base error, and the Tigers fittingly lose on a walk-off error as the champion Rangers are fortunate to escape with the 12-inning 8-7 win.  

For the Zoom game of the week, TT decided to try his hand at the helm of the 2005 Cardinals, a 100-win team that made the Series in both the prior and the following seasons and would have made it this season if the Astros hadn’t upended them in the NLCS.  The team had the NL MVP in Albert Pujols and the NL Cy Young in Chris Carpenter  (21-5, 2.83), making them a formidable opponent for a different NL pennant-winner, the 1991 Braves.  These Braves went 94-68 to begin their impressive run of pennants during the 90s, although like many other of those teams this group lost in the World Series.  Although they won fewer games, they did make it to the Series and otherwise their qualifications were parallel to those of the Cards; these Braves had the NL MVP in Terry Pendleton and the Cy Young winner in Tom Glavine (20-11, 2.55), so the game promised to be an epic battle although I was managing the Braves, which usually spells first round departure for any pennant winner.  The Braves did jump out to an early lead in the bottom of the 3rd when Otis Nixon draws a walk, steals second, and scores on a single from Jeff Treadway, but in the top of the 5th an RBI single from Mark Grudzielanek ties the game and forces me to try to type his name without spelling errors.  Not content with that effort, Grudzie raps another RBI single in the top of the 7th and the Cards take the lead, but in the bottom of the inning an error and a hit put runners on the corners with one out; TT keeps the infield back looking for the DP ball out of #9 hitter Rafael Belliard, so to thwart that strategy I order the squeeze play and promptly roll the boxcars that signal the DP popout and the threat is eliminated.  Nonetheless, the Braves threaten again in the bottom of the 8th and TT leaves in Carpenter one batter too long as backup OF Keith Mitchell raps an RBI single to tie the game.  At that point TT closes the barn door with Al Reyes, and the game heads to the 9th knotted at two apiece.  Glavine is sharp in the top of the 9th, so it’s up to Reyes to prevent the walk-off; he issues a walk and then defensive substitute and HOFer 3B-1 Scott Rolen muffs a Jeff Blauser grounder to bring up MVP Pendleton; he cracks a liner into the gap and the run scores to give the Braves the see-saw 3-2 victory and a walk-off trip to the semifinals.  

This was a strong first round matchup between the top-seeded 1997 Braves, fresh off a regional win by another 90s Atlanta team, and the 2018 Indians, fresh off a first-round upset as the top seed in that same bracket.  The Braves won 101 games and the NL East by a wide margin over the Marlins, who somehow defeated them in the NLCS; nonetheless this was one of the best Braves teams of the decade with MVP votes for Chipper Jones, Jeff Blauser, Kenny Lofton, and Greg Maddux (19-4, 2.20) who was also runner up for the Cy Young.  However, the team they were facing was no slouch either, as the Indians won 91 games and the AL Central with Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor in the top 10 in MVP votes and Corey Kluber (20-7, 2.89) finished 3rd for the Cy Young, so there was plenty of talent on both sides here.  With two great pitchers, neither team can muster a hit the first time through the lineup, with the first one coming on a Ryan Klesko double in the top of the 5th.  That seems to open the floodgates, as Fred McGriff and Mark Lemke both record RBI singles and the Braves hand Maddux a two run margin.  When Chipper knocks in Blauser in the 6th with a single through a drawn-in infield, Kluber is pulled for Oliver Perez and his 1.39 ERA, and he prevents further damage.  But Lemke knocks an RBI double in the 7th, and meanwhile the Indians can’t touch Maddux until Yonder Alonso breaks up the no-hitter with one out in the 8th.  But that’s all they can muster, as Maddux finished out a one-hitter in which he uncharacteristically walks 3, and the Braves move to the semis with the 4-0 shutout of the #3 seed. 

 This first round game appeared to be a mismatch between a pretty good pandemic-year 2020 Padres team and a 2002 Rays squad with a terrible ELO rating.  The 2020 teams are like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates in that you never know what you’re going to get, and what the Padres got was a 37-23 record with a post-season appearance as a wild card; the lineup was nine guys with SLG% over .425  with Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. going 3 and 4 in the MVP votes, and Dinelson Lamet (3-1, 2.09) whose name I had previously made fun of, got the last laugh with a 4th place Cy Young finish.  On the other hand, the then Devil Rays lost 106 games and seemed to miss the steroid era with Aubrey Huff leading the team with only 23 homers; the rotation was particularly bad, and their top option, Joe Kennedy (8-11, 4.53), probably should have been concentrating on building his political dynasty.  As usual, belittling a team seems to goad them into action, as the Rays get a 2-run homer from Huff in the top of the 1st for a quick lead, although Jurickson Profar ties it with a two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the 3rd.  Wil Myers leads off the 4th by converting Kennedy’s HR split, and later Jake Cronenworth doubles in a run and he scores on a single from Austin Nola as the Padres hand Lamet a 5-2 lead.  When Mitch Moreland homers to lead off the 6th the Rays send Kennedy back to Hyannis Port although Esteban Yan is the best of terrible options in the Tampa pen; he promptly yields a two-run blast to Profar who makes Jurick proud by extending the lead to 8-2.  The Padres break double figures with a Nola 2-run shot in the 8th, and Lamet also breaks double figures with 12 strikeout as he finishes out the 6-hit 10-2 pasting that sends San Diego to the semifinals, where the opposition promises to be far more challenging.  

The survivors

Opening up a quality pair of regional semifinals was a matchup between two pennant winners, the reigning Series champion 2023 Rangers and the 1991 Braves team that began their dynasty of the 90s.  The Braves would have Steve Avery (18-8, 3.38), who was 6th in the Cy Young won by his teammate Glavine who won game one; for the Rangers, it would be Jordan Montgomery (10-11, 3.20), who had an already taxed bullpen from their round one extra inning marathon.  The Ranger fail to convert in the top of the 1st when Corey Seager (1-12+2) is gunned down at home for the 3rd out when Adolis Garcia misses a HR split, but in the bottom of the inning the Braves don’t miss as two walks and a HR 1-3 split conversion from Ron Gant results in a 3-0 Atlanta lead.  The Rangers lose LF Travis Jankowski to injury in the 3rd, although they replace him with Evan Carter’s .645 SLG% which certainly eases the pain; however, the Braves continue to hammer Montgomery, with back to back doubles by Jeff Treadway and Terry Pendleton opening the 3rd which also sees runs score on a Brian Hunter fielder's choice and a two-out Lonnie Smith RBI single.  Avery meanwhile recovers from his first inning jitters and dominates until the 7th, when he allows a few baserunners but is rescued by a DP turned by defensive replacement 2B-2 Mark Lemke.  Avery hangs onto the shutout until two out in the 9th, when Cory Seager swats a 2-run homer, but he records the third out to seal the 4-hitter and send the Braves to the finals with the 6-2 win.  

It was now up to the top seeded 1997 Braves to make it an all-90s Atlanta final, and their rotation was an embarrassment of riches as Denny Neagle (20-5, 2.97) finished 3rd for the Cy Young award, right behind their round one starter.  However, the 2020 Padres were a pandemic team unlike anything these Braves had ever encountered, and SD’s Zach Davies (7-4, 2.73) had a strong card of his own, so this one promised to be a battle.  Wil Myers fires the first shot with a solo homer in the bottom of the 1st, but Jeff Blauser’s RBI single in the 3rd ties things up.  In the bottom of the 5th, 3B-2 Chipper Jones drops a 2-out grounder that hands the Padres a 2-1 lead, but when Jones singles in the top of the 6th and Ryan Klesko draws a walk the Padres take no chances and summon closer Trevor Rosenthal to try to hang onto the lead.  He induces a grounder from Michael Tucker that looks like a DP ball, but 3B-1 Manny Machado boots it to load the bases with one away and Fred McGriff at the plate.  The Crime Dog is on the case and he rips a single for two runs and a Braves lead; Andruw Jones then doubles past RF-3 Myers and the Braves are up by two.  Myers wastes no time in atoning for his fielding shortcomings, leading off the bottom of the 6th with his second homer of the game and the margin is down to one.  When Myers comes up again in the bottom of the 7th with two on and two out, the Braves decide that Neagle does not need to pitch to him again and summon reliever Mike Cather, who issues a walk to Myers but manages to get a foulout at 1-12 in Manny Machado’s stacked 1 column for out number three, leaving the bases loaded.  The Braves bring in the defensive replacements to start the bottom of the 8th, but CF-2 Kenny Lofton misplays a Jake Cronenworth single to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, so in comes the infield to try to preserve the one run margin.  Austin Nola lofts another fly to Lofton, who hauls it in but it’s deep enough to score the run and the game is tied.  That brings up round one hero Jurickson Profar, who finds the only (partial) hit on Cather’s card for a double and the Padres go up by a run to enter the 9th.  Klesko draws a leadoff walk but goes no further than 1st as Rosenthal uses his last gasp of the regional to close out the bracket favorites and send the Padres to the final by preserving the 5-4 win.  

The 1991 Braves had impressive credentials as a regional finalist, being a pennant winner who defeated the #2 seed in round one and the only Series winner in the bracket in round two; for the final they would send Charlie Leibrandt (15-13, 3.49) supported by a fully rested bullpen against the 2020 Padres.  These Padres were only the #6 seed in this strong regional but they nonetheless made the post-season, although the constraints of the pandemic season meant that Chris Paddack (4-5, 4.73) was mandated to get the start, and they had burned their closer in their come from behind upset of another strong Braves team in the semifinal.  David Justice leads off the top of the 2nd by finding Paddack’s solid 5-5 homer, but a solo shot by Eric Hosmer in the bottom of the inning quickly ties the game.   SD keeps up the pressure in the 3rd with a 2-run single from Manny Machado, and then Mitch Moreland bounces a double past LF-4 Lonnie Smith to score Machado and add to the lead; a double from Austin Nola and the Padres lead 5-1 by inning’s end.  Machado finds and converts Leibrant’s HR result for a solo shot in the 5th, but Jeff Treadway gets it back in the 6th with an RBI double and the Braves send out reliever Juan Berenguer to try to sustain that momentum.  However, he’s not helped by a two-out error from SS-2 Rafael Belliard that sets up a Fernando Tatis Jr. RBI single followed by a 2-run double by Wil Myers, and with that big lead the Padres are just hoping that Paddack can hang on and preserve the pen.  That doesn’t prove to be the case as Otis Nixon knocks a 2-run double and Terry Pendleton adds an RBI single, all off Paddack’s card in the 7th, and the Padres decide to quick messing around and summon Drew Pomeranz and his 1.45 ERA who whiffs Ron Gant with the bases loaded for the 3rd out.  The Padres respond with a long 2-run homer from Trent Grisham in the 8th that puts them in double digits, and they bring in Luis Patino to mop up the 11-5 win for the regional title, the 7th such win for the Padres franchise and the third victory by a pandemic-year team.  Make no mistake, despite the #6 seeding here this is a good Padres team, with impressive hitting, good fielding, and a couple of good starting pitchers with some decent options available in the pen, and they might provide more surprises as they move on in the tournament.  

Interesting card of Regional #238:  The pandemic Padres pounded the opposition on the way to the regional title, and may the dice gods forgive me but I love the low usage oddities provided in that set.  The card I selected for this feature was actually not eligible to play in the tournament, as the guidelines for this project require that when a player has two cards issued on the same team, the card with the higher IP/AB must be used.  Trevor Rosenthal was traded at the deadline from the Royals to the Padres, who were chasing a postseason berth in that unusual 60-game season, and this Padre-only card represents the production that San Diego got out of their newly-acquired closer down the stretch.  If I were them, I’d be pretty satisfied, because having now played 1,912 unique teams in this tournament, which have included roughly 57,000 different Strat cards, I feel qualified to opine that this is the best pitcher’s card I’ve ever seen.  If it ain’t an X-chart–it’s a strikeout; doesn’t matter if it’s basic or advanced, doesn’t matter if it’s against a righty or lefty, and it almost doesn’t matter if he’s tired or not.  This tournament doesn’t use advanced rules, but I had to violate my general policy and include the back side for this feature, because unlike most SADV-cluttered monstrosities, the B-side is also a work of art.  Oh, and while you’re at it, he isn’t going to balk, issue a wild pitch, or make an error.  Okay, so maybe he isn’t the greatest hitter, but that’s why God invented the DH.   His combined KC/SD card was quite good also and that version of Rosenthal earned the win as the linchpin in the Padres’ comeback semifinal victory–but sitting on the bench was the greatest Strat pitching card in history.  Remarkably, it looks like this will also go down as Rosenthal’s final Strat card, as he had two operations after the 2020 season and has not pitched in the majors since; at present he is 34 years old and listed as an unsigned free agent.  If, as it appears, his MLB career is over–this card is one heck of a swan song.