REGIONAL #241:  With the end of the first round of this tournament maybe in sight (at which point every Strat stock MLB team ever printed would be included), several of the entries in this regional represented the final team of their season to be selected.  It included two double entries, one for the Red Sox and one for the Indians, but the closest squad to a pennant were the ‘91 Blue Jays who would control the AL for the next two seasons.  I had seen quite a few games for the ‘97 version of the Red Sox so they were a bit of a sentimental favorite for me, but I didn’t think they could handle the Jays in a potential semifinal matchup.  I figured that Boston would get another shot at the Jays with the 1992 squad in the finals, but my hunch was that Toronto would prevail for the regional crown.  The ELO ratings agreed, further indicating that the Jays were the only good team in the group and that those ‘97 Red Sox would be their primary obstacle.

First round action

The regional began with the Zoom game of the week, with Philly partisan TT bravely consenting to guiding the bottom-seeded 99-loss 2015 Phillies against the 73-89 1992 Red Sox, managed by EaglesFly in a break from his usual Toronto responsibilities.  Although both teams were pretty dismal, the pitching matchup was top tier; Roger Clemens (18-11, 2.41) was 3rd in the Cy Young votes for Boston, while Cole Hamels (6-7, 3.64) would represent the Phillies despite being traded in midseason.  However, somebody forgot to tell Clemens about the pitchers’ duel as he starts out rough, stranding runners in scoring position for a couple of innings before an RBI single by Makiel Franco and a fielder’s choice from Ryan Howard push the Phils to a 2-0 lead in the 3rd.  To the point, Hamels hadn’t allowed a hit but in the bottom of the inning a leadoff single opens the floodgates and four hits and a few walks later, including one with the bases loaded to Tom Brunansky, the Red Sox move to a 4-2 lead and calls are going out to both bullpens.  Clemens strands a couple of runners in the 5th and begins to pull it together, while in the bottom of the 5th Jody Reed finds and converts Hamel’s HR split for a three run blast and Aaron Nola is called in to close the barn door.  However, the horses have already escaped as Clemens tosses three hitless innings to close out the game, and the Red Sox cruise to the 7-2 win to advance to the semifinals and the Phils head back to the card catalogs.  

This one was another matchup between two lousy teams.  Despite losing 97 games, the 2009 Indians were the slight favorite although Shin-Soo Choo was pretty much the only respectable bat and the rotation was dismal, with Justin Masterson (4-10, 4.52) the least terrible option.  The 2002 Pirates had a terrible ELO rating but lost only 89 games and would have the best hitter on the field in Brian Giles, who received MVP votes, and also the better pitcher in Kip Wells (12-14, 3.58) so to me the underdog here looked like a good bet.  The Pirates come out swinging in the top of the 1st and a run scores when 2B-3 Luis Valbuena drops a Giles grounder; Masterson then walks the bases loaded but escapes after a whiff and a DP ball from Adam Hyzsu, who also survives an injury roll with a 4 split, thus preserving his utility as a killer word for Wordle.  In the 2nd, Masterson gets two outs then issues three straight walks to once again load the bases, but strikes out Hyzdu to continue his bad day.  In the bottom of the inning, Valbuena atones with an RBI double, and then with two out Asdrubal Cabrera finds and converts Wells’ HR result for a 3-run shot, and the Indians lead 4-1 making the six men left on bases in two innings look even worse for the Pirates.  In the 4th, an RBI double from Travis Hafner is followed by a 2-run homer by Ryan Garko, and that bet on the Pirates isn’t looking too good.  A two out single by Jhonny Peralta chases Wells for closer Mike Williams, and he ends the threat with Jhonny going nowhere except to the spell-checker.  The Pirates then mount a 2-out rally in the 6th, with an RBI single from Jason Kendall and a run-scoring double from Hyzdu narrowing the gap to 7-3, although the Pirates strand two runners in scoring position.  The Indians get one back in the bottom of the inning when Garko doubles past Pirates 3B-4 Aramis Ramirez, but the Pirates respond as Rob Mackowiak leads off the 7th wtih a triple off Masterson’s card, and then scores when Kevin Young misses a HR 1-8/flyB also off the pitcher, so the score is now 8-4 and there is some activity in the Cleveland pen.  In the bottom of the 8th Hafner adds an RBI single to provide additional insurance, and although Masterson walks three in the 9th, he’s bailed out by a DP and the Indians prevail 9-4 to head to the semifinals.

The best matchup of round one features the bracket favorite 1991 Blue Jays against the #3 seeded 2021 Indians.  The Blue Jays would win pennants in the following two seasons, and the 1989, 1990, and 1993 squads had all already seen regional wins in this tournament.  This version won 91 games and the AL East, but lost the ALCS that would have given them a third straight pennant; Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar and Devon White all received MVP support and Tom Candiotti (13-13, 2.65) fronted a strong rotation that was backed by an excellent bullpen.  The Indians finished 2nd in the AL Central, albeit with a mediocre 80-82 record; Jose Ramirez had an excellent season finishing 6th in the MVP votes but the rest of the lineup was a bit of a hodgepodge, although swingman Cal Quantrill (8-3, 2.89) was a strong first round starter.  In the bottom of the 3rd Alomar converts Quantrill’s 6-5 HR split for a two run lead, but from there Quantrill proves to be unhittable, and when Ramirez singles and Franmil Reyes walks to put the go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the 8th, the Jays summon Duane Ward to try to preserve Candiotti’s shutout.  But it’s not gonna happen, as Bobby Bradley greets Ward with a double off a missed HR split; Ranirez scores, but the aggressive Cleveland coaches send the 1-10 Reyes home and he’s out by a mile.  The horrific Indians defense catches up with them in the bottom of the inning, as LF-3 Harold Ramirez donates a two-base error to the leadoff hitter and SS-4 Amed Rosario follows with another error; those runners score on a Manny Lee single and a John Olderud fielder’s choice to provide some padding going into the top of the 9th.  Seeking to preserve Ward, the Jays turn it over to Mike Timlin, who promptly yields two singles and a walk to load the bases and that’s it for the Timlin experiment, so Tom Henke is brought in with two out and Ramirez the go-ahead run at the plate.  Ramirez rips a grounder to 3B-1 Kelly Gruber, who makes it look easy and the Jays escape with a 4-1 win in which they only managed four hits.    

The final two teams of the ‘97 season to enter the tournament, with a coordinated color scheme no less, face off in the first round; the 1997 Red Sox ranked as the 2nd best team in the regional while the 1997 Reds were the #6 seed.  The 78-84 Red Sox had a formidable offense as Nomar Garciaparra was 8th for the MVP and Mo Vaughn also got some votes, but the outfield defense was terrible and the rotation after Tom Gordon (6-10, 3.74) didn’t inspire confidence.  The Reds had a similar record at 76-86; their problem was that they had a surprising amount of DHs for an NL team and a lackluster pitching staff fronted by Brett Tomko (11-7, 3.43).  Boston moves on up with Reggie Jefferson, who rips a two out RBI single in the 3rd, and the rally continues with a Vaughn single and a hit by Nomah that scores the rather slow (1-10+2) Jefferson.  Tomko then issues a walk to load the bases for Tim Naehring, who singles to score two more before the Reds finally get out number three.  When Troy O’Leary leads off the 6th with a homer off Tomko’s card the Reds immediately move to closer Jeff Shaw to have some semblance of a chance of staying alive, and he retires three straight but it’s now Boston with a 5-0 lead.  Reds PH Chris Stynes gets their first lead leading off the bottom of the 7th, and then another PH, Mike Kelly, singles and the Reds have 1st and 3rd with nobody out.  The Red Sox nervously eye their bullpen and notice that they have no real closer (having traded an ineffective Heathcliff Slocum midseason), so they stick with Flash Gordon, and he comes through stranding both runners to preserve the shutout.  A single and a double from Vaughn and Nomah to lead off the 8th sets up a sac fly from defensive replacement Jesus Taverez to extend the lead, but a double/single combo, both off Gordon’s card, finally puts the Reds on the board in the bottom of the inning.  However, a shaky Gordon hangs on from the and with the 6-1 win, another Red Sox team advances to the bracket semifinals. 

The survivors

According to the ELO ratings this was an even matchup between the #4 ranked 1992 Red Sox and #5 seeded 2009 Indians, with Boston’s Frank Viola (13-12, 3.44) getting the assignment against the next man up in Cleveland’s dismal rotation, Aaron Laffey (7-9, 4.44).   The Indians take the lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a 2-out RBI double from Asdrubal Cabrera, while the Bosox immediately tie it in the 3rd with an RBI single from Tom Brunansky, although 1-14 Billy Hatcher is out at the plate trying to get them the lead.  Cleveland reclaims the lead with a 2-out double by Ben Francisco that scores 1-16 Grady Sizemore from 1st, but Boston responds in the 5th with a Mo Vaughn sac fly and after a few walks a bases loaded double from Jody Reed and a 2-run single by Tony Pena make it 6-2 Boston.  Cleveland is done Laffey-ing and summons Tony Sipp, who immediately gives up the only complete hit on his card, a HR 1-18/DO that Luis Rivera converts into another two runs.  Meanwhile, Viola saves his crescendo for the late game, allowing only one hit over the final five innings and the Red Sox head to the finals with a convincing 8-2 win, although much of their offense came off the cards of Cleveland pitchers. 

The top seeded 1991 Blue Jays had to use three relievers to get through the first round, and they were hoping that Jimmy Key (16-12, 3.05) could provide some rest for them with a quality start.  However, they faced the #2 seed in the 1997 Red Sox and Tim Wakefield (12-15, 4.25), making this semifinal the marquee game of the regional.  Mo Vaughn leads off the bottom of the 2nd with a long shot over the Green Monster to provide an early Boston lead, but the pitchers settle in and runs are looking tough to come by.  The Red Sox bring in the defensive squad to begin the 7th, and they support Wakefield, with the last two outs of the game coming on X-chances to 2B-2 Jeff Frye.  So Wakefield tosses a 5-hit shutout to make it an all-Red Sox finals, with Key holding Boston to four hits but one mistake results in the tough 1-0 loss.  

No curse of the Babe evident here in an all-Red Sox regional final pitting the #2 seed 1997 Red Sox against the #4 seeded 1992 Red Sox, with surprisingly little in common between the two teams other than Mo Vaughn.  It would be the ‘92’s Danny Darwin (9-9, 3.96) against John Wasdin (4-6 4.40) of the ‘97s and both teams were at full strength with no injuries and rested bullpens.  In the bottom of the 2nd, it’s shades of _Moneyball_ as Scott Hatteberg pokes a 2-run homer to give the ‘97 team the early lead, and in the 3rd the ‘97 version of Vaughn crushes his second homer of the regional, a three run blast and the favored ‘97s have a formidable 5-0 lead after three innings.  In the 4th, the ‘92s lose Billy Hatcher to injury, but that seems to wake up their offense as Vaughn and Tom Brunansky both convert doubles off Wasdin’s card for their first hits of the game, and it’s now 5-1.  In the bottom of the 5th John Valentin doubles but 1-14 Darren Bragg is nailed attempting to score, and it’s time for the bullpen as Darwin evolves into Greg Harris.  But Troy O’Leary greets Harris with an RBI single to make the score 6-1, and the ‘97s bring in the defensive specialists to begin the 7th.  But Brunansky leads off by hitting Wasdin’s solid HR result to narrow the gap and begin some activity in the ‘97 bullpen, and when Wasdin yields a hard single to PH Ellis Burks to lead off the 8th the ‘97s summon a nameless card that apparently belongs to one Ron Mahay.  He avoids any damage, and then tosses a perfect 9th inning to make a name for himself, earning the save in the 6-2 win for the 1997 team where they join the ‘96 and ‘99 Red Sox teams as regional victors.  

Interesting card of Regional #241:  I didn’t really notice any truly unusual cards among these eight teams, so I figured I would feature that of the regional MVP whose home runs in the second and third rounds essentially made the difference for his team.  I think Mo Vaughn, who batted cleanup for both of the Red Sox teams in the finals, is somewhat of an overlooked player from these squads.  During his first six seasons as a Boston regular, he ranked in the American League’s top-five qualifiers in slugging percentage, batting average, home runs, on-base percentage, hits, RBIs, and OPS, winning the AL MVP in 1995.  This 1997 card reflects a pretty nice season, but he was far overshadowed by his Rookie of the Year teammate Nomar Garciaparra; in ‘97 Vaughn finished 25th in the MVP voting with a 1% share of the votes, and he wasn’t selected to the AL All-Star team although four other first basemen were.  Perhaps one reason that he’s overlooked is that he was essentially replaced on the Red Sox by a more enduring and more approachable version of the same type of player (David Ortiz).   After Vaughn left Boston as a free agent after the next season, injuries put a damper on his career, and he was out of baseball by the time his former teammates dispelled the Red Sox curse with their 2004 championship.  One of many sluggers from that era who were tainted by PED accusations, he received only 1.1% of the vote in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame which was not enough to remain on future ballots.  Nonetheless, he has been the foundation of the strong performance of Red Sox teams from the 90’s in this project, and deserves recognition as the most valuable player of Regional #241.