REGIONAL #239:  This draw of eight yielded two pair, representing the Cubs and the Brewers, and the most notable member of that group looked to me like the version of the Cubs that immediately preceded their first Series win in a billion years.  Another squad that looked competitive to me was a late-90s version of the Astros that would feature the “killer B’s” lineup, and I was thinking that the entry from the White Sox would be decent and perhaps could play a fun role in derailing that Cubs team in the semifinals, conveniently ignoring the probability that the Sox jinx would never allow that to occur.  As such, I was guessing that it would be a finals matching the Astros with the 2015 version of the Cubs, with the north siders prevailing just to spite me.  The ELO rankings aligned perfectly with my guesstimates, although they suggested that my White Sox might represent a slightly bigger threat to the Cubs in the semifinals than the Astros would pose in the finals.

First round action

The first game of the regional involved mixing it up at the bottom of the barrel, as the #7 seeded 2021 Cubs and the #8 seeded 2016 Phillies each sported terrible ELO rankings.  I was initially somewhat baffled when I was setting the lineup for the Cubs, as I was thinking to myself this is a pretty good team–but it turns out I had grabbed the wrong year of the Cubs, and the 2021 version had lost 91 games and had traded away key components of the team, leaving me baffled as to how Kyle Hendricks (14-7, 4.77) managed to win so many games with a pretty bad card.  However, the Phillies also lost 91 games, with an aging Ryan Howard hitting below the Mendoza line and Jeremy Hellickson (12-10, 3.71) the relative bright spot in the starting rotation.  In the bottom of the 2nd, a two-base error by Cubs SS-3 Sergio Alcantara sets up an RBI single by Maikel Franco, but Alcantara makes up for it by finding Hellickson’s HR result for a solo shot in the 3rd to tie the game.  However, the Phils respond in the bottom of the inning as they get the first two runners aboard, and then one scores on a fielder’s choice from Tommy Joseph while the other crosses the plate on a 2-run blast from elder statesman Howard and it’s 4-1 for the Phils.  A leadoff double by Freddy Galvis in the bottom of the 6th and the Cubs see no reason not to head to a strong bullpen for Ryan Tepara, but Galvis scores when LF-3 Ian Happ can’t get to a Tyler Goeddel line drive that extends the Phillies’ lead.  In the 7th, Joseph misses a HR 1-14 split but still drives in a run on the resulting double, and from there the Phils ride Hellickson to a 6-hit complete game that puts the Phils in the semis with a 6-1 win.  

The 1997 Astros were the #3 seed in this bracket; they won the NL Central with a rather unimpressive 84-78 record and didn’t last long in the postseason.  Although the Killer B’s of Jef Bagwell and Craig Biggio finished 3 & 4 in the MVP voting, they were pretty much the only two guys on the team that could field, and the rotation after Darryl Kile (19-7, 2.57), who finished 5th for the Cy Young, got worse quickly.  The ELO rankings had them barely favored against the 2008 Brewers, who won 90 games and also made a quick postseason exit as a wild card team; they had Ryan Braun finishing 3rd for the MVP and CC Sabathia (17-10, 2.70) was a late season acquisition who was 5th for the Cy Young and 6th in the MVP voting.  The Astros defense shows its ugly side in the bottom of the 1st as JJ Hardy knocks an RBI single past RF-4 Derek Bell, but the Brewers return the favor as an error from 3B-3 Bill Hall opens the door for a 2-run single by Thomas Howard that gives the Astros the lead.  Houston puts up two more in the 3rd, being denied another run as 1-10+2 Sean Berry is out at the plate to end the inning.  In the bottom of the inning, Hardy responds with his second RBI single of the game to narrow the gap to 4-2, and the margin is cut to one in the 5th when Ray Durham leads off with a double and scores on a Rickie Weeks single.  The Astros get some insurance from a pinch hit RBI single by Richard Hidalgo, who scores on a Biggio double to make it 6-3 Houston.  However, it’s not enough as Prince Fielder uncorks a 3-run big fly in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game and chase Kile for reliever Mike Magnante who prevents further damage, so the game heads to the 8th knotted at six apiece.  In the top of the 9th, Bill Spiers leads off by missing Sabathia’s HR 1-6/DO split and CC strands him by downing the heart of the Houston order, opening the door for a walk-off win by the Brewers in the bottom of the inning.  To head off any such possibility, the Astros summon closer Billy Wagner to begin the 9th, who tosses a perfect frame so it’s time for extra innings.  The Brewers go with their ace Sabathia for his final inning in the 10th, as he’s been getting stronger as the game has progressed, but with two out it seems that he runs out of steam and allows a walk and two hits, one an RBI single from Hidalgo, and the Astros try to cling to the one run lead behind Wagner.  Wagner quickly retires two, but Gabe Kapler converts a SI 1-8 off the pitcher’s card to bring up the top of the order in Durham, but Wagner cranks up the velocity and strikes him out to earn the decision in the 7-6 Astros win. 

For the Zoom game of the week, the Friday Night Strat crowd decided they wanted to watch the White Sox jinx firsthand, so I assumed the helm of the 1992 White Sox against TT’s management for the 2005 Brewers, who were still stinging from the extra inning loss suffered by their 2008 version in the previous first round game. The Sox were favored with 86 wins, garnering MVP votes for Frank Thomas and import George Bell, and Jack McDowell (20-10, 3.18) was the Cy Young runner-up. The Brewers were truly a .500 team with an 81-81 record, with Geoff Jenkins as the top bat and Ben Sheets (10-9, 3.33) a strong option at the top of the rotation. But Bell tolls to lead off the bottom of the 2nd with a long homer, and Dan Pasqua adds an RBI single to push the Sox to an early 2-0 lead. Russell Branyan answers in the 3rd with a solo shot of his own, but Bell comes back around to ring out a sac fly in the bottom of the inning and restore the two run edge. The Brewers narrow things again in the 5th, with Jeff Cirillo’s RBI single making it a one-run game, but Milwaukee leaves the bases loaded without closing the gap. Ron Karkovice, subject of the game’s trivia question, restores the two-run lead with a fielder's choice in the bottom of the 5th, but McDowell gets hit again in the 6th and instead of doubling down, Black Jack is pulled for Terry Leach, but not before Branyan makes it a one-run game once again. From this point Brewer relievers Rick Helling and Derrick Turnbow hang the Sox out to dry, so I pull out the defensive replacements and closer Roberto Hernandez and his 1.65 ERA gets the call in the 8th. However, two walks to begin the 9th and the crowd is expectant, waiting for the three-run homer from Jenkins that would bury the Sox once and for all. But Hernandez induces the double play and Carlos Lee pops out with the tying run on 3rd, and the Brewers leave about half of the population of Wisconsin in scoring position as the Sox surmount the jinx and survive the 4-3 win to head to a semifinal that might involve the hated Cubs as the opponent

The 2015 Cubs would win the Series the following season and this version won 97 games to make it to the NLCS with Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant getting MVP support, as did Jake Arrieta (20-6, 1.77) who easily won the Cy Young award.  Using Arrieta against the 71-91 2011 Padres might have been overkill, as the Padres had nobody in the lineup with double digit homers, although the pitching staff was decent with swingman Cory Luebke (6-10, 3.29) sporting a card that was quite respectable.  Even so, the Cubs immediately get to Luebke in the top of the 1st with an RBI double from Kyle Schwarber being followed with a three-run homer by Dexter Fowler and the Padres start the game in an impressive hole.  SD starts the climb out with doubles by Nick Hundley and Will Venable in the 2nd, both off Arrieta’s card, and the score narrows to 4-1 Cubs.  But Schwarber crushes a two-run blast in the 3rd to extend the lead, although the Pads get one back in the 5th when speedster Cameron Maybin singles, steals second, and scores on a Jason Bartlett hit, although the inning ends with 1-13+2 Bartlett gunned down at the plate.  When Addison Russell leads off the 6th with a double off Luebke’s card, the Padres call on Mike Adams and his 1.13 ERA to try to keep the momentum, but a two out single by Rizzo scores the 1-13+2 Russell and it’s 7-2 Cubs.  However, Arietta simply isn’t sharp, as he loads the bases on a single and two walks in the bottom of the inning and then proceeds to issue two more consecutive walks, but manages to finally escape the inning with the persistent Padres narrowing the score to 7-4.  However, the Cubs are relentless, with a long two-run homer by Miguel Montero in the 7th adding some padding, although Nick Hundley leads off the 8th with a homer to get one of those runs back.  Even so, the Cubs see no reason to tax their bullpen and Arrieta makes it to complete the workmanlike 9-5 victory and send the bracket favorites on to the semifinals for a clash against their cross-town rivals.  

The survivors

The bottom-seeded 2016 Phillies had survived round one against a weak opponent, but they were facing a more competitive squad in the 1997 Astros and the Phils’ starter, Jerad Eickhoff (11-14, 3.65), was rather vulnerable to the long ball.  The Astros would counter with Mike Hampton (15-10, 3.83) and a bullpen that had been taxed in their first round extra-inning win.  Jeff Bagwell gets things going in the bottom of the 1st with an RBI double, but Eickhoff then strands runners on 2nd and 3rd for three consecutive outs to keep matters from getting worse.  In the 5th, Freddy Galvis hits a liner that CF-4 Thomas Howard turns into a double, and Galvis ties the game on a single by Cesar Hernandez.   However, in the bottom of the inning the Astros finally figure out Eickhoff’s weaknesses and RBI doubles from Bill Spiers and Jeff Bagwell are followed by a two-run shot from Derek Bell off the pitcher’s card, and Houston marches out to a 6-1 lead and upon hitting the 6th inning now begin to shore up their defense.  However, Hampton is just not sharp and in the 7th the Phils get runs from a Brad Ausmus passed ball, a Galvis RBI double that involved missing a HR 1-16 split, and a Peter Bourjos RBI single, and the Astro just can’t trust Hampton any longer and opt to burn Mike Magnante for the regional.  He gets the final out of the inning, but the Astros lead is down to two entering the 9th.  Magnante faces the top of the Phils order, and although they scrape out two hits, Mags whiffs Cameron Rupp for the final out and the Astros head to the finals by surviving the 6-4 win.   

I figured the 2015 Cubs would win the regional just to spite me, and I assumed that the dice ignored my jinx in allowing the 1992 White Sox to make the semifinals just to double the pain when they would get knocked out by the Cubs.  The Cubs would start Jon Lester (11-12, 3.34) against Charlie Hough (7-12, 3.93) of the Sox, with both teams having spent their 20-game winners in round one.  It doesn’t take long for the pain to set in, as Kris Bryant finds a knuckler that doesn’t on Hough’s card for a two-run homer in the bottom of the 1st.  However, Ron Karkovice returns the favor in the 5th converting a split on Lester’s card for a three-run blast as the Sox claim a 3-2 lead.  Hough then knuckles down and doesn’t allow a hit for six innings, but the Sox elect to take no chances and bring in Roberto Hernandez to begin the 8th, which will burn him for the regional.  The first thing Hernandez does is issue a walk off his card, but Starlin Castro hits into a DP to wipe out any threat.  The Sox do nothing against Lester in the top of the 9th, which means Hernandez must face the top of the Cubs order holding a one-run lead.  The leadoff hitter, Chris Coughlan, converts a DO 1-2/flyB split on Hernandez’s card to immediately put the tying run in scoring position; Hernandez then bears down and Rizzo, Bryant and Schwarber all go down, with only one of the three even able to put the bat on the ball, and the Sox squeak past the jinx monster and head to the finals with a 3-2 win.   

A quality matchup for the final involves the #3 seeded 1997 Astros against the #2 seed 1992 White Sox, who had survived the jinx this long to allow a faceoff between the only two 20th century teams in the bracket.  The Astros would send out Chris Holt (8-12, 3.52), while Kirk McCaskill (12-13, 4.18) would start for the Sox, consistent with their largely over-the-hill roster. In the top of the 1st, one of the lesser known Killer B’s, Sean Berry misses a HR 1-13 split with two out but the resulting double scores two and the Sox are in a hole before they can bat.  However, they strike back as Tim Raines leads off with a walk, steals second and scores on a Robin Ventura single to make it a one-run game, but Jeff Bagwell counters with a deep 2-run shot in the 3rd to extend the Houston lead.  Lance Johnson’s sac fly in the bottom of the 4th makes it 4-2 Astros, but Bagwell triples in the 5th and scores on a Derek Bell single to get the run back.  A one-out single off McCaskill’s card in the 6th and he’s gone in favor of Terry Leach, who ends the inning without incident.  Meanwhile, the Sox cannot get anything going, hitting into four double plays as Holt rests the Astros pen by finishing out the 5-2 win, and the Astros win their 7th regional title while only garnering six hits, thus joining the ‘98 team as a mini-dynasty in the tournament.  

Interesting card of (not) Regional #239:  I typically try to feature a unique card from among the eight teams selected for the particular mini-bracket regional that was just completed, but as I was sitting down to play the finals between the Astros and White Sox, I received the news that we’d lost Willie Mays to the ages.   Because I’m getting close to having played every Strat team ever printed in this tournament, the remaining teams are mostly post-2000, and I have to admit that I don’t find that very many of the more recent cards (or players, for that matter) capture my imagination to any extent, so I decided to make an exception for this entry.  Now, the Say Hey Kid’s entire career has been included in this tournament, with the exception of 1952, a season that the game company stubbornly refuses to print, but his ‘52 campaign was cut short by a stint in Korea so it’s safe to say that he’s gotten in a few swings in this project.  As far as his cards go, it doesn’t get much more unique than this one, Willie’s card from the second set that the game company produced in Hal Richman’s basement, being based upon the 1961 season.  Aside from some exceptionally unusual hit placements, this one is interesting in a lot of other ways:  how about no fielding rating?  No running rating?  No position designation for various kinds of outs?  And, how about the FLYBALL E and GROUNDBALL E results?  As many know, all of those features began with the 1962 season set, the first to produce sets for all MLB teams and whose popularity basically saved the game company, allowing us to still be rolling the dice 60 years later.  Now I admit that I didn’t use this card in the tournament, instead using the die cut 1961 past season set that was released in 1983, and these cards from the initial two Strat sets aren’t really fully compatible with the current versions.  However, I assure you that the compatibility of this original 1961 season with the current 2023 cards is far better than between 1961 and 2024 computer technology, speaking as somebody who has an extensive collection of Strat season diskettes to use as coasters.  But, I digress; in any format, Willie Mays was one of the greatest, and I’m thankful for the memories.