SUPER-REGIONAL V:   This group of eight regional winners featured a bunch of teams that were great and near-great, with the 1993 Blue Jays a pennant winner that would have to face an earlier version of themselves in their first game in the bracket and the 2019 Nationals being another pennant winner in that half of the group.  The ‘47 Cardinals had won a pennant with an all-time great team in the prior year, the 2021 Giants were one of the winningest teams in recent years, and the 1984 Cubs had provided a respite from decades in the wilderness with a division title.  All in all, this was one of the strongest groups of eight I’d encountered in quite a while, and other than a surprising 2019 Tigers team none of the entries seemed like longshots.  I figured that the depth and power of the more modern teams would prevail and guessed that the Giants would top the Nationals in the final; the ELO ranks picked the same two in the final but had the Nationals as the favored squad in the bracket.

Round four action

The 1984 Cubs had won their division to spite White Sox fans who had celebrated their first division win in the prior season, and these Cubs also sought to spite me in particular by winning their regional over some pretty strong competition.  They got the easiest draw in this super-regional in the shape of the surprising 2019 Tigers, a 114-loss team that won their regional as a #8 seed but looked hopelessly overmatched at the super-regional level.  The pitching matchup of #4 starters was predictably lopsided, with the Cubs’ Steve Trout (13-7, 3.41) a seemingly huge advantage over Detroit’s Jordan Zimmerman (1-13, 6.91).  Zimmerman starts off well but an error by 1B-5 Miguel Cabrera sets up a 2-out Henry Cotto RBI single, and then a distracted Zimmerman grooves one to powerless Larry Bowa, who hits the pitcher’s solid homer result for a 3-run shot and a big Cubs lead.  The Tigers move to reliever Buck Farmer to begin the 6th in an effort to stay in the game, but in the 7th Keith Moreland drives a bases-loaded triple past RF-4 Nick Castellanos, Ron Cey follows with a 2-run homer, and the fat lady is singing loud.  The Tigers find Trout’s weaknesses in the 8th and rack up five hits and two runs, but George Frazier comes in to end the inning with the Cubs still up 9-2.   Chicago gets another run when Rob Cey hits into a DP in the top of the 9th, and Frazier tames the Tigers to seal the 10-2 win and the Cinderella run for the Tigers comes to an end.  

The Zoom game of the week was a David vs. Goliath matchup with the role of the big guy played by the 2021 Giants, a 107-win team ranked among the top 75 ELO ratings.  The underdog wass the 1986 Orioles, an 89-loss team that was stacked with many big names, most of them well past their sell-by dates.  On the mound for the Giants was Alex Wood (10-4, 3.83), while the O’s Scott McGregor (11-15, 4.52) had seen better days; both bullpens were depleted from tight regional finals, but SF’s pen was far deeper than Baltimore’s.  Giants’ fan StratFan Rick would be steering them, while ColavitoFan, freshly back from a Far East sojourn, agreed to helm the Orioles, and that guidance gets off to a good start with a Fred Lynn solo homer in the bottom of the 1st for a quick Baltimore lead.  RBI singles from Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford push SF ahead 2-1 in the top of the 3rd, but the O’s are assisted by an error from SF CF-2 Austin Slater in the 4th and they move out to a 3-2 lead.  When Brandon Belt belts a homer to lead off the 6th, McGregor is pulled for Nate Snell, who prevents further damage and the game remains tied heading into the 8th.  Slater bounces a solo homer off the foul pole in the top of the inning to atone for his error, but in the bottom of the inning it’s C-1 Buster Posey who earns the goat hordes with a passed ball and it’s tied 4-4 heading into the 9th.  ColavitoFan summons Odell Jones from the pen to begin the 9th, and things quickly go south; with 3B-4 Juan Bonilla at the hot corner after a series of pinch hitters, he watches as a single goes through his legs, and then after a few walks Bonilla adds a bases-loaded 2-base error to deliver the lead to the Giants.  Belt then singles home the two runners perched in scoring position, and the Giants break open the hard-fought game in the 9th and set the Orioles down for the 8-4 win to advance.  

For the Zoom game of the week Toronto area resident Eaglesfly had the dilemma of picking between the 1993 Blue Jays and the 1984 Blue Jays to see who would advance further to represent the franchise.  It didn’t seem to take him long to select the Series champion 1993 version, which was one of his favorite teams, so brother Chuck would roll the bones for 1984.  Both teams were down to their #4 starters, with 93’s Todd Stottlemyre going against swingman Jim Gott  going for ‘84, and although both pens were rested, the depth of the ‘93 version was far greater than anything the ‘84s could muster.  Things start off nicely for the ‘84s in the top of the 1st with an RBI triple by slow-footed DH Cliff Johnson, and George Bell scores Johnson on a sac fly for an early 2-0 lead.  However, the 1984’s experience an Orwellian nightmare in the bottom of the inning.  After Rickey Henderson leads off with a walk and is promptly caught stealing, the ‘93s rack up hit after hit, and they don’t get retired until Henderson comes around again to provide the third out with the 93s leading 6-2.  Alfredo Griffin and Rance Mullineks each contribute RBI singles in the 2nd to narrow the gap to 6-4, but Chuck then calls a 2-run shot by Paul Molitor in the bottom of the inning and it’s 8-4 after only two innings of play.  With nothing in the pen, Chuck prays that Gott can keep the 93s in single digits for a few more innings, although John Olerud adds to the lead in the 4th and Ed Sprague and Roberto Alomar drive in two more in the 5th to dash those hopes.  Meanwhile, Stottlemyre is getting out of jams, but Roy isn’t taking any chances, bringing in Frank Castillo to quash any possible comeback.  The 84’s make the effort, with a Griffin RBI in the 8th and a Bell homer to lead off the 9th, so just to be safe closer Duane Ward is summoned for the last out and the 1993 Jays hang on and advance with the noisy 11-6 win.  

The 93-69 2019 Nationals were World Series champions and had a season-ending ELO rating placing them among the top 40 squads of all time.  The good news for the Nats was that their #4 starter, Anibal Sanchez (11-8, 3.85) was a solid option, but the bad news is that Juan Soto would be unable to play due to an injury suffered in their tight regional final. The opposing 1947 Cardinals were also no slouches, going 89-65 as the NL runner-up one season after fielding an epic championship team., and they were perhaps even better stocked with Red Munger (16-5, 3.37) an All-Star on the hill.  The Nats get a solo homer from Anthony Rendon in the top of the 1st for a quick lead, and in the 2nd Soto’s replacement Michael Taylor doubles in a run to put Washington up 2-0.   Doubles from a pair of Hall of Famers, Stan Musial and Joe Medwick, in the bottom of the inning narrow the lead to 2-1, but once again Munger can’t keep the Nationals off the board as Asdrubal Cabrera’s sac fly adds another run to the lead.  The Cards respond again, as Musial's two-out single scores one but 1-17+2 Enos Slaughter is out going to 3rd with a 20 split roll to cut off the rally.  In the 6th, back to back doubles off Munger’s card provide another Washington run, but a 2-out double by Ron Northey in the bottom of the inning lead them to yank Sanchez for Daniel Hudson, who whiffs Medwick to end the threat.  But Hudson issues 2 straight walks in the 8th, setting up a Marty Marion single that scores one, but 1-16 Red Schoendienst is nailed going to third with yet another 20 split.  The Nats sense the gap closing and pile on Munger in the 8th, with RBI singles from Victor Robles and Adam Eaton chasing Munger for Gerry Staley.  But Staley can’t stop the bleeding and when the dust clears the Nats have batted around to score five more, and they trust that lead enough for homer-prone closer Sean Doolittle to finish out the 9-3 win to survive and advance, with Soto scheduled to rejoin the lineup for round five.  

The survivors:  round five

This round five matchup pitted two division winners that both arguably were the best teams in their respective leagues, the 1984 Cubs and the 2021 Giants.  With both teams returning to the top of the rotation, this merited a Zoom game of the week, and Giants fan StratFan Rick would have Kevin Gausman (14-6, 2.81) on the hill while brother Chuck, born in the Chicago area, would spare me from having to manage my nemesis, with Cy Young winner Rick Sutcliffe (16-1, 2.69) sporting a ridiculous winning percentage.  Although both lineups have some weapons, this has the markings of a pitchers’ duel and that’s what we get, with both pitchers racking up strikeouts until Cubs OF Henry Cotto manages to convert a TR 1-3 on Gausman’s card to record a run in the top of the 3rd.  Gausman settles down from there, but Sutcliffe is dominating, ending the lone whiff of a Giants rally in the bottom of the 5th with two consecutive strikeouts.  Gausman ends the game with 10 Ks and only one run allowed on a lucky split roll, but Sutcliffe is better, with 13 strikeouts in a 5-hit shutout as the Cubs squeak into the super-regional finals with the 1-0 pitching gem.  

Two Series champs squaring off with their top starters in this round five game, the type of squads one expects to see (but rarely does) at this point in the tournament.  This merited Zoom game of the week status, with Torontoan Eaglesfly once again directing the 1993 Blue Jays with Pat Hentgen (19-9, 3.87) and the Tall Tactician stepping in for the second time to manage the 2019 Nationals and Stephen Strasburg (18-6, 3.32).   Eaglesfly nominated me to actually roll the dice on his behalf given that I had staked them to a 6-run first inning last time they played, so out came the trusty dice but this time I could only manage one run on a John Olerud single in the top of the 1st.  However, a bases loaded single by Joe Carter courtesy of Strasburg’s 4-8 TR 1-3/SI split and RBI hits from Paul Molitor and Tony Fernandez gives the Jays a 4-run 3rd inning and a 5-0 lead.  Trea Turner gets the Nats on the board with a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd, but my dice continue to pound that 4-8 outcome, hitting it five times in total while converting two of them for triples, and by the time Strasburg is mercifully lifted after the 6th following a 2-run Rickey Henderson homer, he’s allowed 13 hits and the Jays lead 10-2.  PH Kurt Suzuki raps an RBI single for Washington in the 7th, but Molitor matches that with a 4-8 split RBI single off reliever Wander Suero, and Hentgen hangs on as the Jays march to the super-regional final with a dominating 11-3 win. 

Super-regional finals

The matchup for the super-regional final was appropriate for determining a team that would be one of the final 32 survivors out of the over 2,000 teams that began this tournament, because it paired the Series champion 1993 Blue Jays against the 1984 Cubs, with the NL’s best record that season.  Two veteran managers for each team faced off on Zoom, with brother Chuck attempting to repeat his success with the Cubs and Dennis Eckersley (10-8, 3.03) against Toronto’s own Eaglesfly with Juan Guzman (14-3, 3.99) on the hill.   The Cubs get off to an auspicious start, as Bob Dernier leads off the game by getting injured, but by Grabthar’s Hammer, he would be avenged:  his teammates extract their revenge on the Jays as Chuck manages to roll and convert every possible hit outcome on Guzman’s card in the first inning and a third.  After Ron Cey squibs a single that puts the Cubs on the board and loads the bases, it’s Jody Davis checking off Guzman’s HR split for a grand slam and the Cubs lead 5-0 after one.  Inning two goes no better, with a three-run homer by Leon Durham and an RBI double by MVP Ryne Sandberg and it’s 9-0 Cubs, and the Jays have yet to record a hit.  Durham and Davis knock in two more runs in the 4th and the Cubs have a double digit lead, while the Jays can’t mount a threat until the 7th when injury replacement C Randy Knorr belts a three-run homer to make it 11-3.  The teams exchange runs in the 8th, which finally chases the beleaguered Guzman, but that proves far too late as the Cubs continue to taunt Sox fans everywhere with an easy 12-4 win, earning a trip to the sectionals where Dernier will be ready to resume his centerfield duties.

Interesting card of Super-Regional V:   At 6 foot 7 inches and sporting a distinctive red beard, Rick Sutcliffe was an imposing presence on the mound, but his 1984 season began rather painfully: early in his season with Cleveland, he was suffering from severe dental issues that required four straight days of root canal surgery.  Sutcliffe had led the AL in ERA in 1982 but the dental work seemed to have impacted him, so to speak; he was 4-5 with a 5.15 ERA in June and was due to become a free agent at the end of the season.  With the Indians hopelessly out of the running, they found a willing buyer in the Cubs, who were in a fight to make their first post-season appearance since 1945 and who had just been upstaged by their cross-town rival White Sox who had won the AL West the preceding season.  Having suffered some key injuries to their rotation, the Cubs shipped Mel Hall and Joe Carter to Cleveland for the big right-hander, and you could say that it paid off.  Sutcliffe assembled a remarkable 16-1 record in 20 starts for the Cubs, and he was the unanimous choice for the Cy Young while being the first player to have pitched in both leagues while winning the award.  Sutcliffe was on the mound when the Cubs clinched the NL West; he was the Game 1 starter in the NLCS, where he pitched a shutout and hit a home run to boot.  However, in the deciding Game 5 against the Padres, Sutcliffe blew a 3-0 lead and absorbed the loss as the Cubs dream of their first pennant in decades evaporated.  Regardless, he came through big in this super-regional, shutting out an imposing 2021 Giants offense to pull out a 1-0 round five win and helping send his team to the round of 32 after six straight victories.