REGIONAL #248:  This bracket featured a very contemporary batch of teams as we get down to the final 50 or so entrants into the tournament.  The team that most captured my attention was 2023’s Astros team that had won two pennants in the preceding seasons and fell just short in the playoffs of winning another; however, their draw in the first round was the pandemic Yankees who I guessed could be a formidable obstacle.  Of the others, I took note of a Rockies team that had won its only pennant two seasons prior, and I seemed to remember last year’s Brewers making the postseason, but once again it would be those two squads facing off in round one, so I had the feeling that those two first round games would determine the matchup in the finals.   My guess was that the Astros would get past the Yanks and that the Rockies pitching would let them down against Milwaukee, and presuming that those two would survive the semifinals I picked Houston to go all the way, something that neither their 2021 nor 2022 pennant-winners could do.  The ELO rankings suggested that I overlooked a good 2009 Dodger team that was predicted to make the final, but like me those ratings had the Astros and the Yankees as the two best and predicted an Astros regional win.

First round action

The two worst teams in the regional, according to the ELO rankings, are matched in the first round as the 2023 Cubs meet the 2004 Reds.   The Cubs were a decent team, going 83-79, with Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson getting some MVP votes, the latter as part of an excellent all-”1” DP combo, and Justin Steele (16-5, 3.06) was 5th in the Cy Young ballots.  Meanwhile, the Reds were the bottom seed in the bracket with a 76-86 record, and although they had some offense with Adam Dunn’s 46 homers earning him a few MVP votes, their rotation was dismal with Paul Wilson (11-6, 4.36) the best of the bunch.  Ian Happ quickly located Wilson’s solid HR result for a solo shot in the top of the 1st, and a 2-base error by Reds 2B-3 D’Angelo Jimenez scores another to push the Cubs lead to 2-0.  Wilson settles in and pitched well, but when he yields a double to Cody Bellinger in the 8th he’s pulled in favor of Luke Hudson, who strands Bellinger at second to keep the game within reach.  But reach is all the Reds can do against Steele, who ends up with a 4-hit shutout while striking out 10 and the Cubs move on with a 2-0 win, collecting only five hits themselves.

While the previous first round game matched the two worst teams in the regional, this one featured the two top seeds in the 2023 Astros and the 2020 Yankees.   The Astros won 90 games to tie for 1st in the AL West, although they were eliminated in the ALCS by the team they tied with to be denied a pennant.  Kyle Tucker finished 5th for the MVP and Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman also received votes, while mid-season pickup Justin Verlander (13-8, 3.22) would have merited Cy Young attention but split his record between the two leagues.  But equally imposing were the 33-27 pandemic Yankees, eliminated in the ALDS but having the league's highest batting average in DJ Lemahieu and the top HR hitter in Luke Voit, finishing 3rd and 9th respectively in the MVP voting.  Furthermore, their top IP mandated starter was Gerrit Cole (7-3, 2.94) was 4th for the Cy Young, so this was a matchup of two potent offenses and two excellent pitchers.  The Yankees start the top of the 1st with a walk and a 2-run homer from Clint Frazier, , and they follow with three straight hits including an RBI double from Aaron Judge and before Verlander can settle down, his team trails 4-0.  Alex Bregman gets the Astros first hit of the game in the bottom of the 2nd, a solo homer that narrows the gap a bit, but Judge responds with a solo shot of his own in the 3rd and Verlander is warned that he’s on a short leash and it’s not Kate Upton at the other end.  However, an error by 2B-3 Jose Altuve is followed by a Gleyber Torres homer off Verlander’s split, and Hector Neris replaces Verlander end the inning but the score is now New York 7, Houston 1.  Altuve gets his run back in the bottom of the inning with a solo homer, but Alvarez misses Cole’s HR 1-9/flyB split that could have made things more interesting.  When the Yanks get a single and a walk in the 7th, the Astros try Bryan Abreu from the pen but Brett Gardner greets him with an RBI single and the Yanks extend their lead.  Cole proceeds smoothly until with two out in the bottom of the 9th, Yanier Diaz pokes a bases empty homer but that’s it for the Astros as the Yankees knock out the top seed and advance with a dominating 8-3 win.

The 2023 Brewers won 92 games and the NL Central, seemingly on the basis of a strong pitching staff fronted by Corbin Burnes (10-8, 3.39), who finished 8th for the Cy Young, and aided by a deep bullpen; however, their lineup didn’t boast many guys who were any good at getting on base.  The 2009 Rockies also won 92 games and also were quickly eliminated in the postseason, but they were built very differently, with lots of altitude fueled offense but a rotation that got bad quickly after Ubaldo Jimenez (15-12, 3.47) and a bullpen that looked like it had had too much Coors.  In the bottom of the 1st, Carlos Santana is back to his evil ways with a 2-out, 2-run double, but the Rockies utilize a Carlos of their own, Gonzalez, whose 2-out 2-run triple in the top of the 3rd ties the game.  Todd Helton then leads off the 4th with a home run to put Colorado ahead, but an error from SS-1 Tulowitzki and two walks load the bases with nobody out, and although 2B-2 Clint Barmes turns a DP a run scores and it’s knotted at three apiece after four.  The Brewers move ahead in the 5th courtesy of a 2-out 2-run moon shot by Tyrone Taylor, but when Gonzalez leads off the 8th by converting Burnes’ HR split, the Brewers summon closer Devin Williams and his 1.53 ERA to try to hang onto the one run lead.  A Willy Adames base hit in the bottom of the inning and the Rockies summon Rafael Betancourt to try to keep things close, and he prevents any damage so the game moves to the 9th with Williams needing three outs to close out the game for the Brewers.  He strikes out two in a row, but Dexter Fowler converts a SI* 1-11 to bring up Tulo as the go-ahead run; however, he lofts a lazy fly and the Brewers hang on and advance with the 5-4 win.  

The last game of the first round featured another two competitive squads to round out a strong regional.  The 2009 Dodgers won 95 games and the NL West, but were denied a pennant in the NLCS; Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp were both in top 10 MVP votegetters, and 21 year old Clayton Kershaw (8-8, 2.79) was seeking to follow-up on his interesting card of the regional feature from the prior bracket.  The 2021 Cardinals won 90 games but exited the playoffs quickly as a wild card team, but they also had two top ten MVP candidates in Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill, and Adam Wainwright (17-7, 3.05) received some Cy Young votes although the rotation was not very deep behind him.  Yadier Molina records the first hit of the game for the Cards in the top of the 3rd, converting his HR 1-6/flyB for a St. Louis lead, while in the bottom of the inning Juan Pierre misses Wainright’s HR split and gets stranded at second so the Cards lead 1-0 after three. However, Manny Ramirez is being Manny to lead off the bottom of the 4th with a tape measure homer to tie things up, and in the 5th LA loads the bases for a 2-out 2-run single by Matt Kemp and a 3-1 Dodger lead.  The Cards manufacture a run in the 8th when Tommy Edman singles with two out, swipes second on C-1 Russell Martin, and scores on a Goldschmidt single, but when Casey Blake singles to lead off the bottom of the inning, the Cards bring in reliever Luis Garcia to try to keep it a one-run game.  Garcia loads the bases but it proves to be a good move when Pierre rolls the 5-5 that had been a homer on Wainright but is a whiff on Garcia, so the game moves to the top of the 9th with Kershaw trying to hold the one run lead.   And he does, finishing a 6-hitter as the Dodgers survive and advance with the 3-2 win.  

The survivors

The Zoom game of the week involved this semifinal game, with TT being intrigued by a 2020 Yankees pandemic team that had all sorts of offensive goodies, but given the innings limitations they had no choice in starting pitchers with JA Happ (2-2, 3.47) as their second man up in IP.  The 2023 Cubs weren’t Happless themselves, with Ian Happ in the lineup, and ColavitoFan liked the all “1” DP combo and pitching options that included Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 3.74).  Out of the gate, the game had the feel of a pitching duel, and aside from a couple of hits in the 2nd inning, there were no other hits in a scoreless tie after five innings.  Scrapping for runs, ColavitoFan even tries a steal of home with AA stealer Nico Hoerner but he trips long before he reaches the plate and is out by a mile.  However, a bit of offensive begins to emerge for the Yankees in the bottom of the 6th, as Hendricks encounters a rough patch and allows two runners on with nobody out.  CF comes out to the mound to confer with his starter and opts to leave him in against the imposing Luke Voit, given that the pitcher’s been masterful to this point.  Sure enough, Hendricks retires Voit harmlessly and CF breathes a sigh of relief that lasts until the next batter, as Aaron Judge crushes one for a three run homer and the piped-in crowd noise goes wild.  That puts the game in Happ’s hands, and he doesn’t allow another hit the rest of the way as he closes out a 3-hit shutout to propel the Yanks to the regional final.  

The #3 seeded 2009 Dodgers and the #4 seeded 2023 Brewers face off to determine who earned a trip to the regional final, and both squad could fielder solid starters, with Randy Wolf (11-7, 3.23) going for the Dodgers and Wade Miley (9-4, 3.14) on the mound for the Brewers.  Both pitchers sported the infamous 6-5 home run split, and Wolf’s is discovered first in the top of the 1st by William Contreras for a solo shot and a quick Milwaukee lead.  Matt Kemp rips an RBI single in the 2nd that ties the game, and from there both pitchers settle in so the scores remains 1-1 after five.  With two out in the 6th a Contreras single convince the Dodgers to utilize their strong pen, and so George Sherrill and his 1.70 ERA come in and quelch any possible rally.  In the bottom of the inning the Dodgers get a leadoff single, but the Brewers pen had seen some work in round one and they decided to stick with Miley, a decision that Manny Ramirez makes them regret with a long 2-run homer which convinces Milwaukee to use Devin Williams from the pen for the second straight game.  However, he’s not as sharp as he was in the first round, and two walks and an error by 3B-2 Brian Anderson set up a 2-run double by James Loney and the Dodgers lead 5-1.  The Dodgers preserve Sherrill and summon Hong-Chih Kuo to begin the 8th, and he does the job, although LA is hit with a blow in the bottom of the inning when SS Rafael Furcal goes out for the regional with an injury.   Still, Kuo holds in the 9th and the Dodgers head to the finals with the 5-1 win, but looking at a downgrade in their strong infield defense.  

The regional final is a renewal of an old rivalry, with the #2 seed 2020 Yankees against the #3 seed 2009 Dodgers for the bracket crown.  The Yanks were fortunate in that Masahiro Tanaka (3-3, 3.56) was decent as the third highest IP starter on the staff, while Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.76) had similar qualifications as the best option for LA.  Luke Voit misses his HR 1-15/flyB split in the 3rd and the game stays in a scoreless tie until Gleyber Torres knocks an RBI single in the 4th to put NY up 1-0.  It becomes 3-0 in the 5th when Aaron Judge rips a 2-out triple to drive in one, and Judge scores on a Gio Urshela single to extend the lead.  The Dodgers get one back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by injury replacement Juan Castro, and then they load the bases for 2B Orlando Hudson, who pops out and is injured for the tournament to complete the DL list for the LA DP combo.  With things not going their way, the Dodgers summon their winning pitcher from the semifinal, George Sherril, to begin the 6th, and he holds off the Yanks while the Dodgers rap two consecutive singles to lead off the bottom of the inining, and Tanaka gives way to Luis Cessa from the pen.  Cessa is brilliant, inducing a DP and whiffing Casey Blake to eradicate the threat.  However, Cessa is a disaster in the 7th, yielding an RBI triple to Russell Martin and a run-scoring single to Juan Pierre all off the pitcher’s card and the Yanks signal for closer Zack Britton to try to stop the bleeding.  However, an error by 1B-4 Luke Voit and a walk loads the bases for Blake, who draw a second consecutive walk and the Dodgers move into the lead.  With Sherrill now burnt, the Dodgers bring in closer Jonathan Broxton, who holds in the top of the 8th, although LA misses a chance to extend their lead when 1-13 Martin is nailed at the plate trying to score on a Pierre double.  That leaves it to Broxton to finish out the 9th with a one run edge, and although he walks PH Giancarlo Stanton to begin the inning, he recovers, whiffing Clint Frazier for the final out and the Dodgers clinch the regional crown with the 4-3 win, George Sherrill earning bracket MVP honors by recording the wins in both the semifinal and the final in relief, allowing one hit and no runs in three and a third innings in the two games.  

Interesting card(s) of Regional #248:  Over the course of the tournament, it hasn’t been uncommon to have the same player playing for both teams in a game, and this could have happened in this bracket if last year’s Brewers hadn’t faltered in the semifinals.  It’s also not uncommon in these pairings where one of the cards is better than the other, but not many are quite as different as this particular duo, particularly when they’re only a few seasons apart.  One of the cards represents the league leader in homers; the other has a “W” power rating against both LHP and RHP as expected given the zero homer total.  He was 29 years old in the pandemic 2020 season, but he underwent surgery just before the 2021 season began and he was never quite the same.  His 2023 card is not a “partial” card, either, as it represents his entire output for the season; he went to spring training with the Mets in 2024 but hit .118 in 41 spring appearances and was released.  It seems that he is currently on the roster of the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League, although I can’t seem to find any statistics to see if he’s been hot for the Tabascos.