REGIONAL #249:  After a careful cross-checking of tournament entries, I had discovered that I’d overlooked a few earlier teams that were pretty good, and one of them, the 1955 Giants, looked like a contender to capture this regional, as they had put together a season for the ages in the preceding season.  Still, I thought that they would face a serious obstacle in the first round in the 2022 Yankees, and other teams that I thought might be in the hunt were the 1986 Pirates and teams from the past two seasons representing the Indians, Red Sox, and a modern Giants squad.  I was pretty confident that the winner of the first “play-in” game of the tournament wouldn’t get very far; ultimately, I went with those ‘55 Giants to win, besting the ‘86 Pirates in the finals.  The ELO ratings indicated that the 2022 Yankees were by far the best team in the bracket, although they would face the #2 seeded ‘55 Giants in round one, and those ratings predicted that the Yanks would defeat the other Giants team in the finals, with most other teams in the group looking to be pretty bad.

First round action

Play-in game:  In the single elimination format, I often run across matchups where I hate that one team has to lose and be eliminated; however, in these play-in games needed to round out the tournament evenly, it’s hard to believe that one of these teams actually has to win.  This one matches two terrible teams from last season, the 2023 A’s and the 2023 Rockies, and the best that can be said is that at least the game won’t be played in Oakland, meaning that there might be more than 10 spectators in attendance.  The A’s lost 112 games and their best starter, JP Sears (5-14, 4.54), must have come from the clearance section of the catalog;  the Rockies lost 103 games and although their lineup looked quite a bit better than the A’s, led by Rookie of the Year vote-getter Nolan Jones, their pitching staff was even worse and Kyle Freeland (6-14, 5.03) topped one of the worst rotations I’ve run across in recent memory.  The fireworks begin in the top of the 1st when Zack Gelof converts Freeman’s HR split, and that is followed by a Brent Rooker triple and a Shea Langeliers single, all off Freeland’s card and the A’s quickly lead 2-0.  That doesn’t last long as Ryan McMahon hits Sears’ solid HR result for a 2-run shot and a tie game, and both squads are counting the outs until they can try out their bullpens.  A 2-run single by Ryan Noda, at least off his own card, puts the A’s back on top in the 2nd, but Brenton Doyle finds the solid HR department at Sears for a 2-run blast and again it’s tied.  Somehow both pitchers each manage two scoreless innings, but in the bottom of the 5th Jones converts Sears’ HR split to lead off the inning and having allowed the requisite five runs, the A’s move immediately to reliever Mason Miller, who ends the inning without further damage but the Rockies lead 5-4 after five.  Armed with a lead, the Rockies pull the terrible Freeland to begin the 6th and hope Brent Suter can hang on; he does, so in the 8th Colorado moves to the closest thing they can find to a closer, Justin Lawrence,   Lawrence does a solid job with a perfect 9th inning to lock down the save in the Rockies’ 5-4 that earns them a seat at the table in the regional proper–but they probably shouldn’t get too comfortable.

This first-round matchup featured two contemporary mediocrities that weren’t bad enough to require a play-in game, but probably not good enough to go very far in this project.  The 2022 Red Sox went 78-84 but did have MVP support for SS Xander Bogaerts and 3B Rafael Devers, and Michael Wacha (11-2, 3.32) had a good card if you could ignore some gopher ball issues.  The 2023 Indians were called the Guardians by this time, although doing so here would mess up my search functions and besides, it only says “Cleveland” on the cards so I can call them the Spiders or the Naps if I want to.  However, I can’t call them very good, as they went 76-86 without much offense besides Jose Ramirez, 10th in the MVP voting, and Josh Naylor, who received one such vote.  Even so, Tanner Bibee (10-4, 2.96) was a strong option at the top of the rotation so there was some chance of a tight pitcher’s duel here.  Disaster strikes Cleveland as Naylor is lost for the regional to injury in the bottom of the 3rd inning, weakening an already limited offense, The Red Sox load the bases in the top of the 5th but injury replacement 1B-3 David Fry turns a DP that the 2 that he replaced would have dropped and the game remains a scoreless tie after five.  Boston again loads the bases in the 7th, but Bibee records a clutch strikeout and then Wacha holds and the game enters the 8th with no score.  The injury bug hits the Red Sox in the 8th as RF Rob Refsnyder is knocked out of the game at an already thin position thanks to a midseason trade, but that seems to wake up their offense as Devers and JD Martinez then hit back to back 2-out doubles for a 1-0 lead.  Despite Wacha’s longball issues, he’s tossing a shutout and the Red Sox opt to stick with their ace, but he runs into some trouble in the 9th as PH Josh Bell singles and then defensive replacement 1B-3 Triston Casas drops a grounder for the 4th Boston error of the game.  But Cleveland is out of credible pinch hitters by now, and Wacha retires weak hitting Miles Straw for the final out and the Red Sox move on with the 1-0 win with the 4-hit shutout.  

My vague memory of the Pirates of the 1980s was that they were pretty good, but the 1986 Pirates proved that my memory is going as they lost 98 games with a talented pair of youngsters named Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla having unimpressive years, although Rick Rhoden (15-12, 2.84) was a good first round starter that finished 5th in the Cy Young votes.  The 2022 Giants went an even 81-81 but were the #3 seed by ELO ratings in this bracket, but they seemed to have a lot in common with the Pirates with limited offense but a strong top starter in Carlos Rodon (14-8, 2.88), the 6th place Cy Young finisher.  Things start slow, but a dropped popup by SF C- 3 Joey Bart opens the door for a 2-run single by Pirates DH Mike Diaz, but a chance for a rally in the bottom of the inning is cut short as 1-12+2 Joc Pederson is cut down at the plate for the third out.  Bart does lead off the bottom of the 5th with a solo homer that might keep SF from taking his name off the transit system, but from there on out Rhoden is untouchable, finishing out a 5-hitter as the Pirates take the 2-1 pitcher’s duel to advance to the semifinals.

It seems to happen with annoying regularity that the two best teams in the regional have to play each other in the first round, and so it goes in this bracket with the 2022 Yankees facing cross-town and cross-era rivals 1955 Giants for what should be a clear path to the regional crown.  The Yanks were the top seed with a very strong ELO ranking, winning 99 games and the AL East only to get swept in the ALCS; they famously had MVP Aaron Judge break the AL home run record, and Nestor Cortes (12-4, 2.44) finished 8th for the Cy Young.  The Giants dropped off quite a bit a year after their legendary 1954 team, going 80-74, with Willie Mays leading the NL in homers while finishing 4th for MVP, while Johnny Antonelli (14-16, 3.33) would have benefited from having more weapons like Mays in the lineup.  In the top of the 3rd, Yankees DH deluxe Matt Carpenter crushes one deep into the Polo Grounds for a 3-run homer, although Willie Mays lofts a sac fly in the bottom of the inning to narrow the gap to 3-1 Yanks after three.  The worst nightmares of the Yanks come to life when Judge is injured in the top of the 7th, although he could return for the regional final should the team last that long.  The Giants immediately set out to keep that from happening, as a single and an Al Dark double begin the bottom of the inning to put the tying run in scoring position with nobody out; after a visit to the mound, the Yanks decide to stick with Cortes, but Don Mueller lofts a fly to make it a one-run game.  However, with two out in the top of the 8th Josh Donaldson smacks a 2-run homer off Antonelli’s split, and the Giants summon Windy McCall sensing that the horse has left the barn.  MCall does his best to burn the barn down, allowing three straight hits, the last an RBI single from Andrew Benintendi but 1-15+2 Isiah Kiner-Falefa is cut down for the third out.  The assault on McCall continues in the 9th as defensive replacement DJ LeMahieu singles in a run, and Cortes sets down the Giants in order to close out the 7-2 win, earning a trip to the semifinals but without their MVP.

The 2023 Rockies survived their play-in game, but their remaining starters were terrible, with Austin Gomber (9-9, 5.50) the best option, and they had already put some wear on the few decent arms in their bullpen.  The good news was that the opposition, the 2023 Cardinals, were also pretty bad, losing 91 games with Paul Goldschmidt and Nolen Arenado coming back to earth after a big season the previous year; still, Jordan Montgomery (6-9, 3.42) was more than two runs better than Gomber in the ERA department.  Tommy Edman breaks the ice in the top of the 3rd by finding Gomber’s solid 5-9 homer for a two-run blast, and later in the inning a two-out error by 3b-1 Ryan McMahon opens the door for a 2-run shot by Nolan Gorman for a 4-0 Cardinal lead.  In the 6th, it’s Goldschmidt’s turn to roll the 5-9 for a 2-run homer and Gomber is a goner, with Brent Suter coming in to yield three straight singles and another run before he can get the third out.  The Rockies blow a chance to get on the board in the 8th when  1-12+2 Brendan Rodgers is nailed for the third out at the plate, but backup 1B Mike Moustakas connects for a 2-run homer in the 9th to provide a flicker of hope, but Montgomery quickly extinguishes it and the Cardinals move on with an easy 7-2 win.

The survivors

The top seeded 2022 Yankees will have Luis Severino (7-3, 3.18) uninjured and ready to go for their semifinal game, but not their MVP Aaron Judge who was still recovering from a first round injury.  They faced their contemporary rivals, the 2022 Red Sox, who finished 21 games behind the Yankees and also had a key offensive weapon, DH Rob Refsnyder, out with an injury, while Rich Hill (8-7, 4.27) was on the hill.  Severino is bailed out in the top of the 2nd when his RF-4 Giancarlo Stanton makes a spectacular catch with the bases loaded to crush a rally, but Severino’s luck runs out in the 4th when Alex Verdugo knocks a 2-run double off the pitcher’s card for a Red Sox lead.  In the 5th, it’s Trevor Story’s turn for a 2-run double for Boston, and that’s followed by Verdugo converting Severino’s HR 1-2/flyB split for a two run shot, so the Yankees summon Ron Marinaccio from the pen to get the final out but it’s now 6-0 Boston.  In the bottom of the inning, a two out two run homer by Andrew Benintendi narrows the gap somewhat, but in the 7th two RBIB singles by Eric Hosmer and Reese McGuire and a sac fly by Enrique Hernandez and the rout is on.  From there, it’s all down Hill and the Red Sox lay a whipping on their favored rivals with a 9-2 win to earn a trip to the regional finals.

The ELO ratings had this semifinal as a very even matchup between two pretty bad teams:  the 1986 Pirates and Bob Walk (7-8, 3.75) against the 2023 Cardinals with Steven Matz (4-7, 3.86).  Nolan Arenado finds and converts Walk’s HR split for a solo shot in the bottom of the 1st and then Tyler O’Neill goes back to back courtesy of his own homer result and it’s 2-0 Cards.  They get another run in the 3rd on a Willson Contreras fielder’s choice,  The Pirates get  on the board in the 6th with an RBI single from Barry Bonds, but the Cards start the bottom of the inning with a walk and a sharp single and Walk walks to the dugout and Don Robinson comes in to walk the bases loaded.  However, he then gets a clutch strikeout and a DP to escape the inning and the Pirates hang on, but the Cards pound Robinson in the 7th with an RBI single from Tommy Edman and a 2-run double from Arenado makes the lead look insurmountable, with Matz in control, and the Cards starter makes a nice defensive play on a grounder from PH Junior Ortiz to close out the 6-1 Cardinal win that sends them to the finals. 

A very modern final matches the #4 seeded 2022 Red Sox against the #7 seed, the 2023 Cardinals, with neither team really expected to get this far.  It was good news for the Red Sox as they would be getting their RF, Rob Refsnyder and his .881 OPS, back from injury and they had a fully rested pen ready to go in support of gopherball-prone Nathan Eovaldi (6-3, 3.87).  Even so, the Cards were also at full strength, although Miles Mikolas (9-13, 4.78) looked rather hittable himself.  The Red Sox move ahead in the top of the 4th when Trevor Story finds and converts Mikolas’s HR split, and when Story doubles in the 6th the Cards decide to go to the pen for Ryan Helsley, but Alex Verdugo singles and Boston move ahead 2-0.  In the bottom of the 7th St. Louis starts a two-out rally with two consecutive singles, and even though Eovaldi is tossing a shutout the Red Sox don’t trust the multiple homer results on his card, so John Schreiber comes in and records the third out.  However, in the bottom of the 8th Jordan Walker leads off by wrapping one around the foul pole to make it a one-run game; that’s followed by a single and a double that sets up a 2-run single by Nolan Arenado and suddenly the Cards are in front.  The Cards stick with Helsley to finish things out even though it will burn him for much of any super-regional that might be played, but they need to get there first and he does the job, sending the lightly-regarded Cards to the regional crown and earning the 3-2 comeback win.  It’s the 15th regional win for the franchise, who earned this one largely due to a pitching staff that held opponents to a total of five runs across the three games of the bracket. 

Interesting card of Regional #249:  When your teammate sets a single season league record for homers, you might think it would be difficult to lead the team in slugging percentage, but Matt Carpenter wasn’t holding anybody’s beer.   He spent only one season with the Yankees at age 36, but he made the most of it, posting a HR% of 9.7% that was substantially better than Aaron Judge’s record setting production at 8.9%.  That prorates out to a 68-homer season when based upon the number of plate appearances that Judge had.  Carpenter was a late bloomer with the Cardinals, not really seeing significant playing time until he was a 26-year old rookie, but he quickly demonstrated that he was a valuable and versatile infielder, leading the NL in doubles twice and also good at getting on base, leading the league in walks as well.  When he turned 30, he began to demonstrate formidable power, with 36 homers in 2018 getting him significant MVP support.  However, with two consecutive seasons below the Mendoza line in 2020 and 2021, the Cards let him go, but early in the 2022 season an injury-racked Yankee team signed him out of the minors.  That proved to be a wise move, as he immediately went 8 for 24, with six of his first seven hits being home runs.  The power surge continued, but as evident from his 2-9 roll, he couldn’t escape the injury plague in the Bronx; on August 8th, he fouled a ball off his foot and it was broken, and he did not return during the regular season.  Now age 38, he has returned to the Cards and although not the player he once was, it looks like he may bow out from the franchise more gracefully than he was able to following the pandemic. 

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.  

 

The light at the end of the tunnel?  After a careful inventory of progress on the tournament, I've discovered that I own 76 teams that still have yet to make an appearance.  The good news is that I had apparently missed some interesting teams from the 20th century, and I'll be spared from slogging entirely through the remaining brackets with teams from 2023 that I don't find very compelling.  On the other hand, that number doesn't quite come out even; 76 teams constitutes 8 regionals, plus a remainder of four teams.  It turns out that these 8 regionals will be #248 through #256...and those mathematically inclined among you might notice that 256 is an exponent of 2, which would result in a perfectly balanced bracket, where these 256 regional winners simply need to win 8 more games (for a total of 11 consecutive wins) to be crowned as the ultimate champion of Strat single elimination.  

Obviously the karmic masters of probability are sending a signal that entry to the tournament should be cut off when every team I currently own (i.e., current at the time that a game in the project is being played) has made an appearance, which was always my original intent probably dating back 40 years.  At my typical rate of progress, this should happen sometime in November and will thus be before any additional teams from 2024 or other seasons can be added to my collection.  Waiting until new cards are released in February 2025 and adding 30 new 2024 teams would basically mean four new regionals--but I would need another 252 regionals to once again achieve a balanced bracket (adding a 12th straight win).  Neither I nor the game company are likely to last that long, so I guess the 2024 White Sox won't get their chance for glory.  However, even drawing the line at cards printed before this November, there is one remaining fly in the ointment:  there are still four teams left over after the 256 regionals have been filled.

How to handle this?  Well, this whole shebang was largely inspired by NCAA March Madness, and since this project began in 1980 the NCAA developed a cheat on their iconic 64-team bracket through the "play-in games", and if it's good enough for the March Madness, it should be good enough for the Endless Single Elimination Tournament.  So, here is my plan.  First, I will determine the ELO ratings for all 76 remaining teams, who range from 1955 to 2023, and then select the teams with the 8 worst ELO ratings in that group as "play-in" squads.  Those eight teams will be randomly paired, with the winner of each pairing advancing to a regional in the main tournament, where they will be randomly seeded in the bracket as has been tournament tradition.  Only one of the "play-in" winners will be assigned to any given bracket, and since these are the odd teams out I'll assign them to the odd remaining brackets:  #249, #251, #253, and #255.  Note that this will be the first time that any formal "seeding" will have been done in this tournament, and the play-in teams certainly will face a substantial challenge with the additional burden on their starting rotation, but hey--if they don't like it, they should have done better in their regular season.

So, meet the play-in patsies and their ELO rankings, the worst eight of the 76 remaining teams from which four teams will somehow have to win and earn a regional spot.  If playing these play-in games with these dismal squads doesn't drive me away from Strat forever, nothing will.

2023 A's (2362)

2018 Padres (2195)

1999 Rays (2138)

2021 Diamondbacks (2296)

2008 Pirates (2133)

2022 Rockies (2177)

2023 Rockies (2331)

2023 Royals (2283)   

REGIONAL #247:  This bracket would see the final team from the 90s enter the tournament, although probably not a very good one; the main attraction I noted was the pennant-winning 2023 Diamondbacks, although they won as a wild card team and as such might be vulnerable.  However, many of the other teams looked pretty bad, with as an example last year’s White Sox working their way towards this season’s historical level of terribleness, and last year’s Angels giving Ohtani a reason to seek greener pastures.  As such, I figured the Dbacks to be able to handle the competition, guessing that perhaps those 90s Padres might be good enough to make the finals against a weak bottom of the bracket.  The ELO ratings confirmed that the Dbacks weren’t among the best teams in baseball despite making the Series, and that the Dodgers entry was really the only quality team in a bad group, predicted to best the Padres in the final.

First round action

The 2014 Dodgers were the top ranked squad in this bracket, winning 94 games and the NL West and, while the offense wasn’t bad with Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig and Dee Gordon all receiving MVP votes, their biggest asset won both the MVP and the Cy Young in one Clayton Kershaw (21-3, 1.77).   It wasn’t clear that they would need him against the 2018 Phillies, whose 80-82 record was better than was suggested by a terrible ELO rating, but Aaron Nola (17-6, 2.37) came in 3rd for the Cy Young and was a potential equalizer.  The Phils start out rough as C-3 Wilson Ramon drops a popup to lead off the game to put speedy Dee Gordon on, and Gordon swipes second and scores on a Hanley Ramirez double for a quick lead in the top of the 1st.  However, SS-4 Ramirez quickly returns the favor in the bottom of the inning as a Cesar Hernandez single goes under his glove and Hernandez scores when Ramirez then makes a 2-base error on a Rhys Hoskins grounder.  In the 5th, back to back RBI doubles from Juan Uribe and Andre Ethier give LA a 3-1 lead,  In the top of the 9th, the Dodgers lose LF Matt Kemp for the rest of the regional, but Kershaw hangs on to the lead in the bottom of the inning to close out a 5-hitter and the Dodgers move to the semis with the 3-1 victory.  

The 2023 Diamondbacks went 84-78, which was good enough to make the postseason as a wild card, where they got hot and blew through the playoffs to capture the NL pennant.  Corbin Carroll was Rookie of the Year and came in 5th for the NL MVP, while Zac Gallen (17-9, 3.47) finished 3rd for the Cy Young award atop a very shallow rotation, bolstered by a strong pen and solid team defense.  They faced the 2023 Angels, who went 73-89 with their best hitter and their best pitcher both being Shohei Ohtani (10-5, 3.14) who earned the AL MVP for his efforts, although their only other real weapon in Mike Trout would be relegated to later inning duties due to injury-related AB limitations.  The game is still scoreless entering the 6th so Trout gets to come in with the game still on the line, but Gallen strikes him out, while Ohtani strikes out the side in the bottom of the inning and the scoreless tie continues into the 7th.  It quickly ends as Brandon Drury leads off the 7th by converting his HR split, and a few batters later CJ Cron swats an RBI double to chase Gallen and Kevin Ginkel comes in to retire the side, but the Angels lead 2-0 and Ohtani is cruising.  Carroll gets on in the bottom of the inning, but the AA stealer is caught stealing for the second time of the game, and from there Ohtani has it under control to finish out a 4-hit shutout, and the Angels defeat the pennant winners 2-0 to advance. 

The 2023 White Sox were warming up for an historically terrible 2024 season with a merely dreadful 101-loss season that was still bad enough to earn them the bottom seed in this largely dismal group of teams.   Luis Robert headed the offense, receiving some sympathy support for the MVP award, and Mike Clevinger (9-9, 3.77) was the best option in the rotation.   Nonetheless, they had a chance to advance because they drew the #7 seeded 2018 Marlins, who lost 98 games and didn’t help themselves by trading away their primary 1B at the end of the season; Jose Urena (9-12, 3.96) would get the starting assignment for Miami while also being on the Sox roster.  Efforts to give away tickets to this one proved unsuccessful as the locals would rather be eaten by sharks than watch these two teams play.  That meant that they missed the soon-to-be-traded Eloy Jimenez hit a three-run homer of Urena’s card in the top of the 1st for a quick lead for the Sox, and in the 2nd an RBI double from terrible free agent pickup Andrew Benintendi followed by a 2-run homer from Robert and Urena hits the beach as Drew Steckenrider gets his turn on the mound.  At that point, Tim Anderson rolls his injury but to the chagrin of Sox fans everywhere, he shakes it off and stays in the game. Yoan Moncada adds another RBI single in the 3rd, while in the 4th Anderson once again hits his injury and this time he’s out for the regional, giving the Sox a chance to play another terrible SS in Zach Remillard.  In the 7th, new Marlins pitcher Adam Conley is greeted with back to back homers by DH Jake Burger and Jimenez, his second blast of the game, and Clevenger coasts in finishing a 6-hit shutout as the Sox look like world beaters in dispatching the Marlins by a 9-0 margin.  

The last team of the 90s to enter the tournament, the 1991 Padres were the #2 seed in this rather weak regional with an 84-78 record with Tony Gwynn getting some MVP support and Greg Harris (9-5, 2.23) sporting a formidable card.  They drew the 2021 Tigers for the first round, with a 77-85 record and few bright spots, although Jeimer Candelario did lead the AL in doubles and Casey Mize (7-9, 3.71) was a respectable option on the mound.  Robbie Grossman leads off the top of the 1st by converting Harris’s HR split for a quick Detroit lead, but both pitchers then take control and it remains 1-0 Tigers after five.  At this point the Tigers attempt to shore up their weak defense with some replacements, while the Padres look at their bench in a vain attempt to find somebody who can hit.  Detroit only gets one more hit through the 8th inning, but when Harris walks two with two out, the Padres turn to Larry Andersen to try to keep them in striking distance and he ends the threat.  In the bottom of the inning, an error by 3B-2 Candelario and a squib single by Bip Roberts brings up Gwynn with the tying run in scoring position, and the Tigers make a trip to the mound but Mize insists on preserving his shutout.  Sure enough, Gwynn raps a comebacker to P-2 Mize, who converts the DP.  In the 9th, Andersen gets knocked for three singles, the last driving in a run for Harold Castro, and Mize takes a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th.  However, Fred McGriff sends his first pitch 400+ feet into the stands and it’s a one run game, and Spencer Turnbull comes in to try to hold that lead.  He retires three straight and the Tigers hang on for the 2-1 upset and a trip to the semifinals.

The survivors

The 2014 Dodgers and the 2023 Angels have a freeway faceoff, having reached these semifinals on the basis of two pitchers who both won MVP awards.  However, those guys were now spent and the Dodgers clearly had the better second starter in Zack Greinke (17-6, 2.71), who was 7th in the Cy Young votes, against the Angels’ Reid Detmers (4-10, 4.48), although the Dodgers were still without the services of injured LF Matt Kemp.  The Dodgers get a 2 out RBI double from Adrian Gonzalez in the top of the 1st that could have scored two if AA stealer Dee Gordon hadn’t been caught stealing for the third time in the regional.  An RBI single in the bottom of the 2nd by Hunter Renfroe ties the game, but they lose SS Zach Neto to injury for the tournament to lead off the 3rd.  In the 6th, Yasiel Puig finds and converts Detmer’s HR split for a solo shot and a Dodger lead,   Greinke whiffs Mike Trout to start the bottom of the 8th, but a hard single by CJ Cron and the Dodgers summon closer Kenley Jansen and he induces a DP ball from Mike Moustakas to quickly end the inning.  However, 3B-2 Juan Uribe begins the bottom of the 9th with an error and the top of the order is up; Jansen gets two quick outs, the second a whiff of Ohtani, but then he delivers one down the pike to Brandon Drury, and he crushes it into the stands for a walk off two run homer and the Angels pull off the miracle 3-2 comeback to advance to the regional final.  

This semifinal goes from bad (the 2021 Tigers) to worse (the 2023 White Sox) to determine which of these poor excuses for baseball teams will advance to the regional final to face yet another bad team.  For the Tigers, Tyler Alexander (2-4, 3.81) looked to provide an advantage over Dylan Cease (7-9, 4.58) of the Sox, who would be without injured SS Tim Anderson which would actually help their terrible defense.  The Sox rode the longball to the semifinals and they display it again in the top of the 1st with a long solo shot from Luis Robert giving them the early lead.  In the 2nd, Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal both double on missed HR splits, and then injury replacement Zach Remillard hits Alexander’s solid 6-5 HR for a 2-run blast and the Sox push their lead to 4-0.  Victor Reyes wraps one around the foul pole in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 4-1, and then in the 3rd Jeimer Candelario smacks a 3-run blast and it’s all tied up.  Then, Derek Hill leads off the bottom of the 4th by converting Cease’s homer result and the Tigers move ahead, but a leadoff single off Alexander’s card in the 6th and the Tigers immediately head to the pen for Kyle Funkhouser, who quickly snuffs out the threat.  However, in the 7th two walks and a single under the glove of 2B-4 Willi Castro loads the bases for the Sox with nobody out, and with the infield in Remillard rolls the gbA++ for a 2-run single, and Andrew Benintendi adds a sac fly to put the Sox ahead again, 7-5.  But Niko Goodrum leads off the bottom of the inning by converting Cease’s HR 1-10 split and the Sox now look in their own bullpen, but see nothing but disaster.  Cease then walks the bases loaded and then as a P-2, drops a sure DP ball that would have ended the inning, and the game is tied with the bases still loaded.  The Sox can take no more and try Gregory Santos out of the pen, and he almost gets out of the jam but C-4 Yasmani Grandal lets a passed ball get by him and the Tigers now lead by a run.  They bring out Spencer Turnbull to pitch the 9th, trying to record his second straight save, and although he issues a walk, he strikes out Robert as the go-ahead run to end the game and the persistent Tigers earn a trip to the finals with the 8-7 win.

Two mediocrities face off in the regional finals, with the 2023 Angels having eliminated the top seed in the semifinals and the 2021 Tigers knocking off the #2 seed in the first round, and both produced comeback wins to get this far.  For the Angels, Griffin Canning (7-8, 4.32) had a pretty bad gopher ball problem, but not as bad as that of the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal (8-12, 4.34) so the wind could be blowing out in Comerica Park today.  The first blast comes in the bottom of the 1st as the Tigers Eric Haase converts his own HR 1-6 split and Detroit leads 2-0,  However, in the top of the 3rd Randall Grichuk counters with a three run homer of his own to put the Angels ahead, and a 2-out double in the 6th off Skubal’s card and the Tigers move to the wild Gregory Soto out of the pen who whiffs PH Mike Trout to do his job.  Although Canning is pitching well, the Angels bring in Jose Soriano to begin the 8th, and he makes it exciting in the 9th as Jonathan Schoop rolls his HR 1-7/flyB for the tying run, but the split is a 10 and Soriano earns the save and the Angels earn the regional crown with the 3-2 win, only the 6th for the franchise.  Surprisingly, it was neither MVP Ohtani or late inning sub Mike Trout who made the difference for the Angels; it was mainly their pitching, who allowed only four runs in the three games that allowed the rest of their lineup to poke out enough runs to squeak by.  

Interesting card of Regional #247:   There have been 11 pitchers who won both the Cy Young and the MVP award in the same season, with this card representing the most recent recipient of these twin accomplishments.  A few months before the 2014 season began, the 26-year old Kershaw signed what was the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history at the time, a seven year extension for $215 million that seemed pretty risky given the inconsistency and injury-prone nature of most MLB starting pitching these days.  It worked out pretty well, as he immediately won his third Cy Young award (and his first MVP) and although he never won another, he finished in the top 10 in the Cy Young voting in five of those next seven seasons.  I guess I should say he hasn’t won another “so far”, because he’s still active, although he just went on the DL a few days ago with bone spurs after making only 7 starts for the Dodgers after missing most of the season before the All-Star break recovering from shoulder surgery.  It would be nice if he could recover and pitch in the postseason, as his performance in October has been pretty mixed, with a 14-14 record and a 4.49 ERA.  It would be good if he could make that a winning record if indeed this ends up being his final season.

REGIONAL #246:   This bracket involved a collection of quite modern teams with one die-cut outlier from LA, including a couple of pandemic-year squads and a couple that I thought might be pretty good.  The teams that stood out most to me were a Rays team from shortly after their Series appearance, and a pandemic Braves teams shortly before their, and my guess was that those two squads would meet in the finals, although sentimentality would make me pull for the Dodgers from the final year of the classic cards.  As far as guessing the winner was concerned, I figured that the pandemic restrictions might do weird things to the Braves rotation and that the Rays would duplicate the feat of their team from the prior season and take the bracket.  The ELO rankings had those Rays losing to the pandemic-year A’s in the final, which was not something I would have considered possible given how bad Oakland has been in the recent past.

First round action

The 2015 Padres were the #8 seed in this group, although they weren’t a terrible team with a 74-88 record and Tyson Ross (10-12, 3.26) on top of a rotation that was decent enough.  However, they drew the #2 seed in the 2020 Braves, who went 35-25 to win the pandemic NL East but lost the NLCS in seven games; these Braves had NL MVP Freddie Freeman with Marcel Ozuna also finishing among the top ten, and Max Fried (7-0, 2.25) was 5th for the Cy Young, although the mandated rotation would be a whole lot worse after Fried’s turn.  Things start auspiciously for the Padres when the second batter in the top of the 1st, Yonder Alonso, is knocked out of the game with an injury.  The Braves threaten in the early innings but can’t score, while in the top of the 5th Jedd Gyorko gyorks a double off Fried’s card but Yangervis Solarte (1-12+2) is cut down at the plate for out number three. That seems to wake up the Atlanta offense for the bottom of the inning, as back to back RBI doubles by Dansby Swanson and Freeman precede a two-run homer from Ozuna and the Braves lead 4-0 after five.  And that’s how it ends up, with Fried whiffing Derek Norris for his 12th strikeout to complete the 4-0 shutout on a 5-hitter and the Braves ride their one productive inning to the semifinals.

The 2020 A’s were the top seed in this group with a 36-24 record that won the pandemiced AL West, although they didn’t get past the ALDS in the post-season.  Number one starter Chris Bassitt (5-2, 2.29) and reliever Liam Hendriks both received Cy Young votes, while Matts Chapman and Olson provided home run threats.  The 2021 Reds were over .500 at 83-79 and they garnered a few MVP votes for Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto, while Tyler Mahle (13-6, 3.75) fronted a pretty good rotation.  A’s catcher Sean Murphy is knocked out of the game with an injury in the top of the 2nd; in the bottom of the inning the Reds get a walk and two squib singles to load the bases for Eugenio Suarez, and Bassitt walks him to put Cincinnati up although SS-3 Marcus Semien turns a key DP to prevent further damage.  A 2-out RBI single by Tommy La Stella in the top of the 3rd quickly ties it up, while Bassitt loads the bases again with three straight walks in the bottom of the inning but escapes unscathed, assisted by a nice catch from CF-1 Ramon Laureano.  In the top of the 7th, it’s the A’s turn to load the bases, but this time Matt Chapman takes full advantage with a colossal grand slam, and Art Warren and his 1.29 ERA come out of the pen to end the inning, but Oakland leads 5-1.   In the bottom of the inning Castellanos pokes a 2-run shot and Votto follows with a solo homer and the A’s lead is down to one.  The A’s desperately want to save their pen and so Bassitt takes the game into the 9th; he gets two quick outs but then walks Jonathan India to bring up Castellanos, who rips a solid double and 1-15+2 India scores easily and the game is tied.  Bassitt then retires Votto and the game heads to extra innings, where both Warren and Bassitt survive their final inning in the 10th.  The Reds bring in Tejay Antone for the 11th, but he walks Robbie Grossman and then allows a 2-run homer as Chapman adds to his totals.  The A’s then hand the game to Joakim Soria and he does the job to wrap up the 11-inning 7-5 win, with the A’s moving on and will get Murphy back in the lineup for the semifinal.  

The 2018 Pirates had an 82-79 record that was better than many of their efforts over the past decades, and it was good enough to make them the favorite in this first round matchup, particularly with Trevor Williams (14-10, 3.11) being a solid starter at the top of the rotation.  The 2023 Red Sox went a disappointing 78-84, three games under their Pythagorean projection, and they had Rafael Devers receiving some MVP support, while Nick Pivetta (10-9, 4.04) had two primary challenges, his gopher ball tendencies and his teams’ terrible infield defense.  Gregory Polanco caps off a two-out rally in the top of the 3rd with a three-run homer, and the Bucs get another run in the 5th on a two-out RBI double from Corey Dickerson.  When Pivetta gets into a jam in the 6th, the Red Sox summon reliever Chris Martin and he puts out the fire with no damage, and Devers pokes a solo shot in the 7th to bring Boston a little closer.  But that was only the second hit off Williams, and it turns out that’s all the Red Sox will get as the Pirates move on with a 4-1 win.

The 1986 Dodgers would be one of the last teams of the 80s to enter the tournament, although not a particularly good one with a 73-89 record despite a typically strong rotation led by Cy Young runner-up Fernando Valenzuela.   The 2022 Rays had a much better record at 86-76 and made a brief postseason appearance as a wild card, but aside from Yandy Diaz, who got a couple of MVP votes, the offense wasn’t great at getting on base, although Shane McClanahan (12-8, 2.54) was 6th in the Cy Young ballots.  Valenzuela has a rough spot in the bottom of the 3rd, walking three including one with the bases loaded, and then a fielder’s choice and a 2-out 2-run single by Manny Margot and the Dodgers are suddenly looking at a 4-0 deficit.  However, in the top of the 4th they respond with a Greg Brock solo shot and a Mike Marshall two-run homer that makes it a one-run game, although a 2-out RBI single from Wander Franco in the 6th gives the Rays a little padding.  A Bill Madlock single in the 8th and the Rays decide to go to their fairly deep bullpen for Jason Adam’s 1.56 ERA, and he records two quick strikeouts to end that threat.  He also tosses a perfect 9th and the Rays move on with a 5-3 win; even though they could only muster six hits against Valenzuela, they were timely ones.    

The survivors

The top two teams in the bracket, both from the pandemic season, match up in this semifinal between the top seeded 2020 A’s and the #2 seed 2020 Braves.  With the constraint of limited innings, neither team had a choice of their starter and both the A’s Jesus Luzardo (3-2, 4.12) and the Braves’ Josh Tomlin (2-2, 4.76) had some trouble with the long ball.  The Braves see a long ball from Freddie Freeman in the top of the 1st that gives them a quick 1-0 lead, and then Adam Duvall leads off the 2nd with another solo shot to extend that margin.   A two out RBI double from Matt Chapman makes it 2-1 Atlanta after three, but in the top of the 4th A’s SS-3 Marcus Semien makes a two-base error that sets up a 2-run double by Austin Riley.  Luzardo comes unglued, and after a few walks he gets a DP ball that scores another, but it only clears the bases for a solo shot from Dansby Swanson.   That’s it for Luzardo as the desperate A’s summon closer Liam Hendriks to record the final out, but they are now down 6-1.  The Braves put in defensive replacements in the 6th, but that looks like it may be premature as Ramon Laureano finds Tomlin’s solid HR results for a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning to make things more interesting;  A leadoff single in the bottom of the 8th chases Tomlin for Jacob Webb, who yields a squib single but then strikes out three straight to prevent any damage.  Defensive replacement Ozzie Albies then leads off the 9th by converting his HR split and the cardboard cutout fans in the stands begin packing for Las Vegas.  Webb yields another hit in the bottom of the 9th but otherwise strikes out the side once again to earn the save in the 7-3 win that propels the Braves to the finals.  

The #3 seeded 2022 Rays and a very solid Jeffrey Springs (9-5, 2.46) would take their shot at the bracket finals against the 2018 Pirates and Jameson Taillon (14-10, 3.20).  Pirates 2B Josh Harrison leaves the game with a minor injury in the 3rd, but they get a run in the 4th on a Corey Dickerson sac fly to strike first.  Jose Siri leads off the bottom of the 5th by converting Taillon’s HR split to tie the game, although the Rays strand two in scoring position to squander a chance for more.  A leadoff single by Yandy Diaz in the bottom of the 8th chases Taillon for Kyle Crick, who ends the threat uneventfully.  Both pitchers toss perfect 9th innings and we head to extra frames, where Springs winds up his eligibility to give the Rays a chance to finish it.  But they can’t paddle against Crick and so Pete Fairbanks and his 1.13 ERA takes the mound for the Rays in the 11th.  That immediately goes badly as Josh Bell misses a triple split for a single to lead off the inning, and then Gregory Polanco sends one into the dim recesses of the Trop for a 2-run shot.  The Bucs then bring in Keone Kela to close things out in the bottom of the 11th, but he promptly throws a Brandon Lowe grounder into the dugout for a 2-base error, and then yields a double to Manuel Margot to make it a one run game with the tying run in scoring position and one out.  He strikes out Siri, but PH Ji-Man Choi converts a DO 1-8/flyB off Kela’s card and the game is tied.  In the 12th, Randy Arozarena also converts that same split off Kela but 1-11 Diaz is out at the plate and we head to the 13th.  In the top of that frame, Corey Dickerson hits a 2-out double and 1-11+2 Josh Bell heads for home–he’s safe, and again the Pirates move ahead.  However, a leadoff double by Brandon Lowe and an error by SS-2 Wander Franco and Kela is in another jam with nobody out.  He bears down and gets two out, but Franco atones with a 2-out RBI single and once again the game is tied and heads to the 14th.  Fairbanks is perfect in his last inning of eligibility, as is Kela and things move to the 15th with two new pitchers.  For the Rays, it’s the unhittable JP Feyereisen and his 0.00 ERA, and he gets in and out of a jam to send things to the bottom of the inning with Felipe Vezquez the new Pittsburgh pitcher.  Siri gets injured hitting into a DP and we’re off to the 16th and beyond.  When the game hits the 19th it’s time for new relievers for both squads, and Brooks Raley for Tampa and Richard Rodriguez for the Pirates continue the offensive futility.  In th top of the 20th Adam Frazier misses a HR 1-12 split with a 13 roll, and in the bottom of the inning Brandon Lowe misses a HR 1-4 split with a 5 roll, and the game marches on.  In the bottom of the 21st Harold Ramirez doubles and 1-15 Margot sets sail for home, and he’s out on a 17.  Finally, in the top of the 22nd Starling Marte lofts a sac fly that scores Polanco, and Rodriquez strikes out the side in the bottom of the inning and the Pirates manage to survive the 22-inning marathon for the 5-4 win, but they will have no bullpen to speak of for the bracket final.  

I almost predicted the regional final matchup accurately, but a 22-inning win by the 2018 Pirates got them the task of facing the 2020 Braves for the bracket crown.  Both teams would be facing pitching challenges; with the pandemic inning limitations, the Braves’ Tommy Milone (1-4, 6.69) would have one of the worst cards ever to start a regional final, while Joe Musgrove (6-9, 4.06) of the Pirates had better do well because the Pittsburgh bullpen was toast after the marathon semifinal. A 2-base error by Bucs SS-3 Jordy Mercer gives the Braves a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st, but the Pirates immediately go to work on Milone’s terrible card in the bottom of the inning, recording a double followed by a solid HR from Gregory Polanco and Pittsburgh moves ahead 2-1.  In the 4th, Starling Marte also rolls Milone’s solid HR result for a solo shot, but Milone makes it through his mandatory 5 innings without further damage, so Ian Anderson picks up the flute to begin th e 6th, but Marte drives an RBI single and the Bucs’ lead is now thick as a brick.  Or so it appears, as the Braves load the bases against Musgrove in the top of the 8th, and a glance at the bullpen reveals no help so Musgrove stays in and delivers to Ronald Acuna, who slaps a 2-run single and it’s a one-run game with the tying run on 3rd and one away.  The infield comes in, Acuna sets off for second, and he’s out on a 19 split and Polanco hauls in a long fly and the Pirates still lead by a run.  That puts the game in Musgrove’s hands for the 9th, and although he yields a single to the quick Ozzie Albies, he fans PH Tyler Flowers for the game’s final out.  This is the 9th bracket win for the Pirates franchise, but their first from the 21st century, and it was mainly due to regional MVP Gregory Polanco, who homered in all three rounds while driving in seven to lead the Pirates to the win as a #5 seed.

Interesting card of Regional #246:  Tommy Milone, the starter for the 2020 Braves in the regional final, received two cards for that pandemic-shortened season–one for his combined stats and one for his performance only with the Braves.  According to tournament guidelines, the card with the higher IP/AB must be used in such cases; the bad news was that Milone’s combined card IP was third highest among Braves starters and thus he had to start the final, but the good news is that at least the Braves didn’t have to use this card.  It looks like Milone made three starts for the Braves, and they must have been ugly, although somehow he managed to avoid earning the loss in any of the three.   Milone was not without some career highlights–for example, he homered in his first major league at-bat for the Nationals in 2011.  Bouncing around nine different teams in a 13-year career, he ended up with a .500 record and last played in the majors in 2023.  However, he didn’t have many opportunities to play in the postseason, and it’s pretty easy to see why the Braves opted not to use him in their 2020 playoff run.

REGIONAL #245:  Another parade of 21st century teams, with the main entry that caught my attention being a Nationals team that would win the pennant the following season.  There were two Cubs teams, one probably similar to their entry from the previous bracket that did pretty well, and the other a pandemic-year box of chocolates.   I guessed that the Braves were starting to get good in 2018, and that the A’s were pretty terrible in 2022, and the other representatives from the Mariners, Rays, and Angels I figured were mediocre.  Given their proximity to the pennant I selected the Nats to defeat the earlier version of the Cubs in the finals; the ELO rankings had it being an all-Cubs final, with the earlier version prevailing.

First round action

In a matchup of #1 and #7 seeds, the 2004 Cubs were the bracket favorite with a stronger version of the team that made the semifinals of the last regional; they won 89 games and projections indicated that they should have won five more, with MVP votes for Aramis Ramirez and Moises Alou and Carlos Zambrano (16-8, 2.75) finishing 5th for the Cy Young.   The 2008 Mariners lost 101 games to contest for the bottom seed in this group, and featured a lackluster offense headed by Adrian Beltre in an off year, although Felix Hernandez (9-11, 3.45) wasn’t a bad round one starter.  It’s Zambrano who gets roughed up in the top of the 1st, as a sac fly by Yuniesky Betancourt and an RBI single by Jeremy Reed puts Seattle up 2-0, but Ramirez narrows the gap with a long solo homer in the bottom of the inning.  However, a two out error by Cubs SS-3 Neifi Perez opens the door for a Beltre RBI single and a two-run double from Betancourt, and Seattle moves out to a formidable lead.  In the 5th, back to back errors by Cubs 3B-3 Ramirez and 2B-4 Todd Walker sets up an RBI single from Jose Vidro and that’s it for Zambrano, who gives way for Kent Mercker but another unearned run scores on a fielder’s choice from Kenji Johjima and it’s now 7-1 Mariners.  The Cubs then get a leadoff homer from Corey Patterson in the bottom of the inning and they eventually score another on an error by C-3 Johjima, but Beltre responds in the top of the 6th by leading off with a homer of his own to provide more padding.  However, Ramirez crushes a three-run homer in the bottom of the 7th and suddenly it’s a ballgame and the Mariners reluctantly pull their ace for Roy Corcoran from a not-very-good bullpen, and he sets the Cubs down in order.  Mercker is perfect in his final inning of eligibility in the 8th, with the M’s missing two HR 1-4/flyB splits on his card, but his replacement Mike Remlinger is greeted with disaster in the 9th, as a 2-base error from RF-3 Todd Hollandsworth scores one, followed by a 2-run triple from Miguel Cairo.  Ichiro then walks and steals second, so the Cubs try the infield in only to be greeted by the gbA++ from Raul Ibanez for two more.  Now with a 13-6 lead, the Mariners bring in Brandon Morrow to preserve Corcoran and he sets down the Cubs in order so the 100-game losers eliminate the top ranked squad as Seattle heads to the semifinals.  

The 2015 Rays had a middling 80-82 record, but they looked pretty good with Kevin Kiermaier getting some MVP votes, a couple of lower AB wonders (but still over 100 AB)  available to DH, and a solid rotation topped by Chris Archer (12-13, 3.23) who finished 5th in the Cy Young voting.  The 2022 Angels went 73-89 and apparently required 45 Strat cards to do so, more than double the allotment from my trusty Old Timer teams, but unlike those teams only two of these players were any good:  MVP runner-up DH/P Shohei Ohtani (15-9, 2.33) and Mike Trout, who finished 8th in the MVP voting.   Trout leads off the 4th by putting a ball into the dim reaches of Tropicana Field, and Matt Duffy later contributes a 2-out single with 1-10+2 Jared Walsh successfully lumbering home to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.   Trout leads off the 6th with another long blast, but Logan Forsythe gets Tampa on the board with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning.  In the 7th,, Archer allows two singles and a walk to load up the bases for Trout, which of course proves to be a mistake as Trout converts his own HR 1-9 split for his third homer of the game, a grand slam that emphatically demonstrates that Trout’s recent terrible injury in real life can’t put a damper on his Strat performance.  The Rays send in Xavier Cedeno in what seems to be a lost cause, although the Rays do get a run back in the bottom of the inning with one scoring on a Kiermaier DP ball.  Ohtani yields a 2-run homer to PH Joey Butler with two away in the bottom of the 9th, but it’s too little too late as the Angels close out the 7-4 win to advance.

The 2018 Nationals were a season away from a pennant, while the 2022 A's were a season away from one of the worst in history.  This Nats team only went 82-80, but Cy Young runner-up Max Scherzer (18-7, 2.53) led the league in wins, innings, and WHIP, and he was backed by strong up the middle defense and a deep bullpen and Anthony Rendon received some MVP support.  As for the A’s, they lost 102 games, which was still 10 games better than they would do the next season, but it was hard to imagine how they could be much worse, with their leading hitter posting a .250 average and nobody on the team fitting the “hitter” part of the DH role; Cole Irvin (9-13, 3.98) probably deserved better than this team.  The game quickly develops into a pitchers duel; the A’s don’t get a hit until the bottom of the 5th, when Ramon Laureano converts a double split off Scherzer’s card and races home on a 2 out single by Sheldon Neuse.  Then, in the 6th RF-3 Bryce Harper misplays a Shea Langeliers single that allows another run to score, and Laureano pokes a single under the glove of SS-2 Trea Turner to put the A’s up 3-0 as both of the fans at the Oakland Coliseum look on in disbelief.  However, in the top of the 7th Matt Wieters cracks a 2-run single that makes it a one-run game, and the A’s summon “closer Dany Jimenez to try to hang onto that lead, and he retires the side without further damage.  In the 8th, Juan Soto rips a 2-out double and 1-13+2 Harper slides under the tag at home to tie the game, and the Nats threaten again in the 9th but 3B-4 Neuse makes a stellar play to get Jimenez out of the jam.  Both Scherzer and Jimenez hold serve through the 10th and at that point both are burnt for the regional, so it’s Zach Jackson for the A’s and Sean Doolittle for the Nats in the 11th, and they both do the job through the 11th and 12th.   However, in the 13th Juan Soto leads off with a walk and Ryan Zimmerman follows with a double that puts two Nats runners in scoring position with nobody out; in comes the infield but Wieters comes through again by ripping a single under the glove of 1b-3 Seth Brown and two runs score.  Brown tries to atone in the bottom of the 13th but misses a HR 1-9 split and Doolittle then whiffs Laureano for the final out as the Nats survive a 5-3 scare to move on.    

In probably the best matchup of the first round of the regional, it was the pandemic-year 2020 Cubs against the 2018 Braves.  The Cubs went 34-26 to win the NL Central but they were rapidly eliminated from the postseason; Ian Happ got a few MVP votes and Kyle Hendricks (6-5, 2.88) also got some for Cy Young although he finished well behind teammate Yu Darvish, with Hendricks mandated to start with more IP.   The Braves won 90 games and the NL East, but like the Cubs they made a rapid exit from the playoffs, but Freddie Freeman was 4th in the MVP votes with Ronald Acuna and Nick Markakis also receiving some support, and Mike Foltynewicz (13-10, 2.85) finished 8th for the Cy Young in fronting a very strong rotation.  The Braves normally excellent defense goes haywire as they commit three errors in the first four innings, the last one setting up a 2-run homer by Javier Baez, although the Braves get one back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a sac fly from Johan Camargo.  The Cubs lose C Willson Contreras to injury in the 5th for the rest of the regional, and they lose the lead to an RBI single from Ender Inciarte in the bottom of the 7th.  The Cubs move to Jeremy Jeffress and his 1.54 ERA out of the pen to try to get out of the jam, but Markakis lofts a sac fly and the Braves move ahead 3-2.  However, in the 8th PH Cameron Maybin finds and converts Foltynewicz’s HR split to tie the game once again, and both pitchers hold to send the game into extra innings.  Both pitchers successfully conclude their eligibility in the 10th, so in the 11th it's Shane Carle from the pen for the Braves, who yields a double off his card to Baez but strands him at second.   For the Cubs, it’s on to the rather wild Adbert Alzolay, but both relievers hang on until the top of the 13th, when injury replacement Victor Caratini doubles and 1-13 Jason Kipnis beats the throw home to put the Cubs up by a run.  It’s now up to Alzolay, but he walks Inciarte and then a single by Dansby Swanson puts the tying run at 3rd with nobody out.  The infield comes in for Markakis, but he rips a single to tie the game and Swanson dashes to 3rd as the winning run, still with nobody out.  Freeman hits a grounder and Swanson is out trying to score on the fielder’s choice, so one is away with runners on 1st and 2nd.  Up to the plate steps Acuna; he knocks a single, 1-10 Markasis sets sail for home, and he’s safe as the Braves pull off the 5-4 comeback win in the bottom of the 13th.  

The survivors

Two upset winners from the first round, this semifinal matched the 2022 Angels and Reid Detmers (7-6, 3.77) against the 2008 Mariners and swingman Ryan Rowland-Smith (5-3, 3.42) selected over various other terrible options.  Seattle’s offense picks up where it left off with Raul Ibanez crushing a solo shot in the top of the 1st, and they pile on four more in the 3rd, including a two-run single from Jose Lopez and an RBI double by Adrian Beltre.  The Angels don’t even get a baserunner until Max Stassi walks in the bottom of the inning, but he goes nowhere and Ichiro converts Detmers’ HR split for a 2-run shot in the 4th that chases the LA starter for Ryan Tepera.   A double by Brandon Marsh in the bottom of the 5th is the first hit for the Angels, and he scores when 3B-1 Beltre drops a Stassi grounder with two out; Taylor Ward then follows with an RBI single but P-4 Rowland-Smith surprises with a stellar fielding play on an Ohtani grounder to prevent further damage.  But Beltre adds a sac fly and Lopez adds a 2-run homer as the M’s offense hits double digits for the second game in a row.  Ward hits a two-run shot in the bottom of the 8th to try to get back into it, but the Mariners are determined to stick with Rowland-Smith to grant their pen some needed rest.  He lasts until the 9th, when he gets two quick outs but then 1B-2 Miguel Cairo drops a grounder and Rowland-Smith walks two to load the bases for Mike Trout.  Trout swings so hard he injures himself while striking out to end the game, and the Miracle Mariners move to the finals with a 10-4 win.  

This semifinal features two decent and evenly matched teams from the same season and league, with the 2018 Braves and Anibal Sanchez (7-6, 2.83) against the 2018 Nationals with Stephen Strasburg (10-7, 3.74), with both teams having bullpens depleted from matching 13-inning wins in the first round.   The Nats jump out to a lead on a Juan Soto 2-run homer in the top of the 1st, but the inning ends with an injury to DH Mark Reynolds.  However, a 3-run homer in the 2nd by Trea Turner is good medicine as Washington climbs to a 5-0 lead.  Michael Taylor extends that in the 3rd with a run-scoring fielder’s choice,   Sanchez then settles down for a while, but when Anthony Rendon misses Sanchez’s HR split for a double that puts two runners in scoring position in the 7th, the Braves move to Johnny Venters from the pen but Soto rips a single through the drawn-in infield for two more runs and the hole just gets deeper.  Meanwhile, Strasburg is continuously getting out of jams, but with two out in the 9th he allows two consecutive doubles on two missed HR splits, but he hangs on to strike out Ender Inciarte for the final out and the Nats cruise to the finals with an easy 8-1 win.  

By the ELO rankings, the regional final was a lopsided matchup between a good 2018 Nationals team and a not-so-good 2008 Mariners team, although Seattle was averaging over 11 runs a game in the bracket.  It seemed like both offenses could flourish as both rotations were pretty much out of good options, with the Nats Tanner Rourk (9-15, 4.34) being their final 100 inning starter and Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn (5-14, 4.65) being their final option with an ERA south of five.  Once again, the M’s offense picks up where it left off, as Ichiro leads off the top of the 1st by finding Rourk’s solid 5-9 HR result, and Raul Ibanez and Yuniesky Betancourt both double before the inning is over to push Seattle to a 2-0 lead.  In the 2nd, a two out rally loads the bases for a 2-run single by Adrian Beltre, and meanwhile Washburn doesn’t allow a hit until the 4th, but it goes a long way as injury replacement Victor Robles converts Washburn’s HR split for a solo shot that makes it 4-1 Seattle.  However, Beltre immediately responds in the 5th with a 2-run homer and the Nats move to the nearly unhittable Sean Doolittle in desperation, and he quickly ends the inning.  He tosses four perfect frames to end his eligibility, and Wander Suero replaces him in the 9th and promptly yields a double and a Kenji Johjima triple that adds to the Mariner’s lead.  Washburn then strikes out the side in the bottom of the 9th to finish out a 7-1 win on a 1-hitter, that being a solo homer, and the 7th seeded, 101-loss Mariners come from nowhere to blow out favored opponents in three straight games and clinch the 6th regional in franchise history, joining the 2007 team to form an unlikely mini-dynasty for Seattle.  Adrian Beltre proves his mettle as the Mariner’s MVP with two homers and eight runs driven in across the three games.  

Interesting card of Regional #245:   His Nationals team fell short in the finals, but it wasn’t for lack of effort from Sean Doolittle, who tossed seven shutout innings in the regional while earning the win in their round one game in extra innings.  I described him as “nearly unhittable” because there isn’t much of a shot of getting a hit off of him, although I did roll that 4-5 result a couple of times which is just enough of a shot to provide a few moments of excitement.  However, consistent with the odds, that homer split was never converted and Doolittle did a lot to give his team a chance.  This was his career year, making the All-Star team to earn his spot as the Nats closer, and in the following year he led the NL champion Nats in saves despite an ERA over four.  From there the bottom dropped out of his career, and he bounced around a few teams with no success until 2022, when he made the Nats during spring training.  He was off to an excellent start but was injured before the end of April, and not able to come back from that setback he retired at the end of that season.

REGIONAL #244:  An all-21st century draw here as the number of pre-2000 teams that haven’t yet appeared in the tournament continues to dwindle.  Since I remember less about the modern teams than the older ones, this group of teams was pretty anonymous to me.  There was a Cardinals team that had won a pennant a few seasons before, as had the Red Sox entry; the rest of the group I collectively lumped into a “might be decent” mass, meaning that for me picking a winner here was basically flipping a coin.  Given that four of the last six finalists in these regionals were Red Sox teams, I figured that I’d go with the 2009 version included here, picking them to best the Cards in the finals.  The ELO ratings indicated that my picks weren’t bad, but it seemed that I had overlooked what appeared to be a very good Blue Jays team; those ratings favored the Jays but they would have to get past a first round faceoff against the Red Sox matching the top two squads in the bracket. 

First round action

The Zoom game of the week featured two squads who were decent according to the ELO rankings, with ColavitoFan assuming the helm of his hometown 2006 Indians, who went 78-84 but underplayed by a remarkable 11 games according to their Pythagorean projection.  Both Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner received MVP support, with the latter leading the league in slugging percentage and sporting a card of Ruthian proportions; CC Sabathia (12-11, 3.22) was their obvious round one starter.  I managed the 2005 Cubs, even though I warned CF that the Cubs would do well just to spite this Sox fan.  The Cubs had a similar 79-83 record and they also had a big bat in Derrek Lee, who finished 3rd for NL MVP while also leading the league in SLG%, and Carlos Zambrano (14-6, 3.26) would get the first round assignment.  Things get off to a quick start when Matt Murton swats a solo shot in the top of the 1st for the Cubs, but then Zambrano struggles in the bottom of the inning and a sac fly by Hafner and an RBI double from Casey Blake make it 2-1 Indians.  In the 4th, Aramis Ramirez cracks another solo shot to tie the game, but again the Indians respond in the bottom of the inning with a matching shot from Blake, and in the 6th a run-scoring single from an aging Aaron Boone pushes the Indians to a 4-2 lead.  Sabathia holds up until the 8th, when he develops a sudden inability to get anybody out; after a 2-run double by Todd Walker CF tries Rafael Betancourt from the pen, but that doesn’t go well as Michael Barrett smacks a three-run homer and when the dust settles the Cubs lead 8-4.  Blake adds another RBI single in the bottom of the inning, and while Bob Wickman holds the Cubs at bay in the top of the 9th, the Indians threaten against Chicago closer Ryan Dempster, who yield a run scoring single to Ronnie Belliard that brings the winning run to the plate.  However, there is no Dempster fire as he strikes out the final batter and the Cubs survive the 8-6 win, despite three errors from their atrocious defense. 

The 2015 Cardinals won 100 games and the NL Central and were the #3 seed in the bracket, with a very strong rotation led by John Lackey (13-10, 2.77), who earned a vote for Cy Young.  The matchup looked a bit lopsided against the worst team in the regional, the 2009 Orioles, who lost 98 games and the pitching staff after Brad Bergesen (7-5, 3.43) was alarmingly bad.  However, Baltimore gets off to a quick start with a solo homer by Nolan Reimold off Lackey’s card in the top of the 1st, and meanwhile in the bottom of the inning the Cards lose one of their best hitters, Randal Grichuk, to injury.  In the 3rd, the O’s CF Adam Jones is hurt for the tournament and extra ambulances are called to Busch Stadium as it looks like it will be one of those games.   But it turns into a pitcher’s duel as both aces are in top form, and the Cards simply can’t stay off Bergesen’s card, where they don’t find anything in the 5 and 6 columns.  And so it goes for nine innings, as Bergesen finishes out a three-hitter and the lowly Orioles sneak into the semifinals with a 1-0 win to spoil a fine outing by Lackey.  

The 2008 Twins were the #3 seed in this group, winning 88 games with Joe Mauer coming in 4th for MVP; Scott Baker (11-4, 3.45) led a rotation that would need the help of a dominating Joe Nathan if the team were to get very far.  The 2015 Dodgers squeaked past .500 with 82 wins, thanks mainly to Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw (21-5, 2.28) and MVP runner-up Matt Kemp making the Dodgers basically a two-man show.  The Twins get to Kershaw in the top of the 1st in the form of an RBI single by Jason Kubel that scores the fleet Denard Span, but a sac fly by Rod Barajas in the bottom of the inning quickly resets the game.  But Kershaw continues to struggle in the 2nd, as the Twins load the bases for a 2-run single from Span, then followed by a 3-run blast by Justin Morneau and Minnesota moves out to a sturdy 6-1 lead.  Things don’t look any better for the Dodgers when Barajas has to exit the game with an injury to end the 3rd,  Kershaw then seems to regain his stuff, and Kemp’s sac fly in the 5th narrows the gap a bit, but Baker is good enough even though he yields a run on a fielder’s choice by PH Casey Blake in the 9th.  Nonetheless, he whiffs Jamey Carroll for the final out to preserve the pen and send the Twins to the semis with a 6-3 win over a Cy Young winner.  

The top matchup of the regional was taking place in the first round, with the #1 seeded 2015 Blue Jays facing the 2009 Red Sox.   The Jays won 93 games and the AL East before succumbing in the ALCS, and they boasted a formidable lineup led by AL MVP Josh Donaldson and an excellent rotation with midseason pickup David Price (18-5, 2.45) being the runner-up for the Cy Young award.  But the Red Sox were no slouch, winning 95 games to make the postseason as a wild card; Kevin Youklis and Jason Bay both finished in the top 10 for MVP, and although their rotation led by Jon Lester (15-8, 3.41) was not as deep as the Jays, their team defense was considerably better.  Price runs into trouble quickly, allowing a single and three walks in the top of the 1st, but Boston can only convert one run that scores on a Bay double play ball.  The Jays get a rally from the bottom of the order in the 2nd and Jose Reyes ties it with a two-out single, and I cost them another run in the 3rd as 1-13 Jose Bautista is out trying to score on a Donaldson double.  However, Edwin Encarnacion then comes through with a two out single to score Donaldson and the Jays do take the lead nonetheless.  They get another run in the 5th on a Donaldson homer, which could have been more if Bautista hadn’t hit into a DP immediately prior.  Still, that allows the Jays to enter the 6th with a 3-1 lead where they can begin to make some defensive adjustments.  Bautista continues his all-around bad day in the 7th by getting injured, which doesn’t help the Jays defensive situation, and when JD Drew leads off the 8th with a homer it’s now a one-run game.  Toronto tries to stick with Price, but he’s undone by a two-out, three-base error by injury replacement RF-4 Ezequiel Carrera that drives in another to tie the game and Mark Lowe is summoned from the pen to get the third out.  With the game now tied, a leadoff walk to Encarnacion and the Red Sox waste no time going to closer Jonathan Papelbon; he gets two outs but then issues a walk and defensive replacement Ben Revere then gives the ball a midnight ride for a double that scores Encarnacion and the Jays hold a slim lead heading into the 9th.  Lowe whiffs two straight to bring up the top of the Boston order; speedy Jacob Ellsbury singles but the AA stealer doesn’t risk the SB against C-1 Russell Martin, and that proves wise as Drew laces a double into the corner and Ellsbury races home with the tying run.  That means it’s now up to Papelbon, and he gets two quick outs but then Donaldson draws a walk and the red-hot Encarnacion singles, with Donaldson stopping at second as the winning run.  That brings up DH Chris Colabello; it’s on his card for a single, and the 1-13+2 Donaldson is waved home; the split roll is a 15, Donaldson evades the tag with Boston catcher Victor Martinez yelling for a review, but it’s to no avail as the Blue Jays advance with a walk-off 5-4 win in which they make three errors.

The survivors

The 2009 Orioles managed to sneak into the semifinals as the worst-seeded team in the group, but the pitching gem that got them this far was not likely to be duplicated by a bad rotation with Mark Hendrickson (6-5, 4.37) far better than the remaining options.  The 2005 Cubs were in much better shape with Mark Prior (11-7, 3.67) on the hill, and they provide him with a lead in the top of the 3rd with three straight singles to lead off the inning, with Matt Murton driving in a run on the third one, and a wild pitch brings in another for a 2-0 Cubs lead.  However, in the bottom of the inning Melvin Mora exploits Prior’s gopher ball tendencies with a solo shot to cut the lead to one, and Nolan Reimold leads off the bottom of the 4th with another blast and the plucky O’;s have tied it.  They aren’t done, either, and they take the lead in the 5th with a run that scores on a Mora DP ball, but Michael Barrett leads off the 6th with a homer for the Cubs to draw back even, and Baltimore wastes no time in summoning closer George Sherrill to try to keep them in the tournament.  With two out in the bottom of the 7th, Mora rolls Prior’s HR split but misses for a double; Cesar Izturis follows with a single and Mora beats the throw as the O’s regain the lead.  That sends the Cubs to the pen for Mike Wuertz, who had a strong appearance in round one, and he records the last out and strikes out the side in the 8th to do his job.  However, the Cubs are stymied by Sherrill, who burns his eligibility but earns the win as the #8 seeded Orioles head to the finals with the 4-3 victory.  

The top-seeded 2015 Blue Jays had squeaked by in round one against their toughest competitor, and they were hoping that their semifinal matchup against the #4 seed 2008 Twins would prove to be less challenging.  Jays fan Eaglesfly had had remotely signaled for Mark Buehrle (15-8, 3.61) to make the start, a controversial selection, and they would still be without injured RF Jose Bautista which further complicated an already ugly defense.  For the Twins rotation it would be Kevin Slowey (12-11, 3.99) and then pray for rain, but unlike the Jays they had a fully rested pen to work with.  Justin Morneau gets things started in the top of the 1st with a two run blast on his own card, and Denard Span leads off the 5th by converting Buehrle’s HR split to make it 3-0 Minnesota.  When Span singles in the 7th, the Jays summon Mark Lowe from the pen and he prevents any damage, but the Jays are struggling offensively.  Injury replacement Ben Revere converts a TR 1 to lead off the bottom of the 7th, but Slowey strands him at 3rd, and in the top of the 9th Span doubles against reliever Roberto Osuna to drive in a run and a Delmon Young single scores Span for two insurance runs.  They are not needed as the Jays go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th as Slowey finishes out the 5-0 shutout while the Jays end up with more errors (3) than hits (2).

The bottom-seeded 2009 Orioles had used smoke, mirrors, and unexpectedly good pitching to get to this regional final, but they were still without their injured starting CF and their best reliever was burned so would not be available in the rather likely event that Jeremy Guthrie (10-17, 5.04) were to get into trouble.  They were underdogs against the #4 seeded 2008 Twins, who were at full strength with a rested bullpen to support Nick Blackburn (11-11, 4.05).   But Nolan Reimold quickly cuts off any premature celebrations by the Minnesota crowd with a solo homer off Blackburn’s card in the top of the 1st,.  However, things get more complicated for the O’s in the 2nd when injury replacement CF Felix Pie is himself injiured, creating even more holes in an already porous Baltimore defense, although Ty Wigginton commemorates the fallen CFs with a solo homer later in the inning and the O’s lead 2-0.  In the bottom of the inning, Jason Kubel leads off with a triple and he scores on a Brendan Harris single to cut the lead to one, and in the bottom of the 4th the Orioles defense rears its ugly head.  A two-base error by 1B-4 Wigginton leads off the inning, setting up an RBI double from Kubel, and then a Delmon Young liner gets past CF-4 injury replacement Jeff Fiorentino for a two-run triple; Young scores on a Harris sac fly that makes it 5-2 and Guthrie is gone for Koji Uehara.  But Alexi Casilla adds an RBI single in the 6th to extend the Twins lead, although Reimold hits his second solo shot of the game, and 4th solo shot of the regional, in the 8th to get the run back.  The Twins lose DH Kubel to injury in the 8th, which may prove problematic should they hold the lead and continue on in the tournament, but Nick Markakis leads off the top of the 9th with a homer and when Fiorentino singles the Twins move to Craig Breslow out of the pen to try to insure that they do move on.  He makes short work of the O’s to seal the 6-4 Twins victory, securing the 9th regional win for Minnesota even though Nolan Reimold’s solo act for the O’s earns him regional MVP honors.  

Interesting card of Regional #244:   I haven’t played in a Strat league using the “current” cards of the time at all in this millennium, and as a result a lot of the teams and players from 2000 on are only vaguely familiar to me relative to my older days in highly-researched draft leagues.  In my vague recollections of one Travis Hafner, I remembered him as a DH type who was maybe good for 20 homers a season.  If required for a trivia question, I never would have guessed him as somebody who led the AL in SLG% and OPS, as it just seemed that there were so many higher-profile sluggers during that era to choose from.  Yet, sure enough, Hafner led the league in both categories despite missing the last month of the season with a hand injury.  Those percentages were good enough to produce a Ruthian card, even though ColavitoFan largely managed to avoid rolling on it during the Indians’ quick exit from the tournament.  Brought to the Indians in 2003 to replace departed free agent Jim Thome, this season was a nice facsimile of a top Thome year.  Unfortunately, Hafner never really had another season like it, with most of his career actually quite consistent with my vague recollections of his record.  Still, when shuffling through the 2006 Indians for this regional, I had to do a double-take when I ran across this one.