Great Teams Tournament

[BirdWatcher]

Loving this new Historical Exhibition Tournament feature and couldn't stop myself from setting up a multi-group project involving 256 great MLB teams in 16 separate tournaments which will culminate in a final tournament matching up the 16 champions from the previous tourney's to crown the all-time best MLB team.
My starting point, in terms of picking the teams for the grand tournament, was an article at FiveThirtyEight entitled, The Best MLB Teams Of All-Time, According to Elo. It's not that I think this list is any more valid than the many others that exist out there, but it seemed like a decent place to start and it is an exhaustive list so it went well beyond the 256 that I required.
I am setting up each grouping with 8 American League teams and 8 National League teams. Given that the FiveThirtyEight list featured so very many New York Yankees teams I did need to go beyond number 256 to get an even number of A.L. and N.L. teams and I did need to skip over some Yankees clubs. Still, the Yankees are extremely well-represented in this grand tournament.
Also, the list was through 2015 and I added in a four teams since then: the 2016 Cubs and the 2017 Astros, Indians, and Dodgers.
In terms of how I structured the various groupings, there wasn't any super scientific grand plan. Mostly I tried to make sure that each grouping had representatives from various levels of the list and that teams with multiple appearances (other than the Yankees) mostly get spread out through different groupings. As for the Yankees, well, every group has at least a pair of Yankee teams in it. And several times, in order to try to avoid having the Yankees just completely dominate the final tourney, I have matched Yankees squads from different eras in the first rounds of their group.
I should probably say now that I don't like moving too quickly through such things. So this isn't a set it up and sim kind of project. I will be watching at least one game for every day of play in these tournaments. To the extent that it is possible (shorter series/series sweeps will make this not completely possible) I will try to watch at least one game involving every team in this grand tournament schedule. Also, this is not my primary OOTP project so progress here might be in fits and starts. But I am enjoying it a great deal so far and I'm sure I'll find room in my schedule to keep this going and hope to have final results within a year or so.

The first round of Group 1 is completed and already there are a few major upsets and some great 7-game series. (All series, throughout the tournaments, will be best of 7.)
Hope you enjoy following along!

[BirdWatcher]

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a screenshot of the brackets when this was still in Exhibition mode but here is a list of the teams in Group 1.
Based upon the FiveThirtyEight list the two top seeds in the entire tournament are in this Group: #1 1939 New York Yankees and #2 1906 Chicago Cubs.
The lowest seed in this first Group is the 1977 Philadelphia Phillies, who are ranked #120.
So, in some ways, you might call this the Group of Death. Except. Well, you'll see.
(I should note that the 2016 and 2017 teams are considered unseeded. As these were not on the source list I didn't feel like arbitrarily fitting them into the seeding.)

[BirdWatcher]

So, the very first round of the very first grouping provided an early upset. The 1904 New York Giants, admittedly themselves a high-ranked club at #17 overall, defeated the #2 1906 Chicago Cubs 4 games to 1.

[BirdWatcher]

The other first round series that only went 5 games saw the 1977 Phillies (#120) defeat the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates (#102.)
This was a series that featured some great hitting. Pie Traynor and Kiki Cuyler were both as impressive as expected for Pittsburgh. But up and down the lineup, the Phillies just had too much firepower for the Pirates.

[BirdWatcher]

The series between the 1932 Philadelphia Athletics (#66) and the 2010 New York Yankees (#104) saw the Athletics take an early 2 game lead, the Yankees bounce back at home to tie the series at 2 and then the Athletics win one at Yankee Stadium (8-0 whitewash behind series MVP Lefty Grove) and then get a dramatic walk-off, ten-inning win (7-6) to finish off the series in front of their hometown fans.
Nick Swisher had a great series for the Yankees but much of the lineup struggled against the Athletics fine pitching.

[BirdWatcher]

The series between the 1999 Atlanta Braves (#70) and the 1935 St. Louis Cardinals (#81) was all about pitching! The Dean brothers (Dizzy and Paul) were fantastic and Bill Walker pitched a 10-inning CG shutout for the Cardinals, but the trio of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz were not to be denied. Maddux, with his two CG wins and 1.00 ERA was named series MVP.

[BirdWatcher]

So that is half of the series in round 1 of Group 1. The other four series would all go the full seven games. I'll let you know about those soon. But first, time for dinner.

[BirdWatcher]

At this point we know that the next round in the N.L. will include the 1905 Giants, the 1977 Phillies, and the 1999 Braves. The fourth team to advance, after a tough 7-game series versus the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, is the 1919 Cincinnati Reds squad. In a back-and-forth series which included 3 extra innings games and plenty of scoring, the Reds prevailed in Game 7 by scoring 8 runs on 17 hits including a 5 for 5 day from series MVP Jake Daubert. Jackie Robinson had a great series for the Dodgers and their bullpen was mostly solid, but the starting pitching was not up to the challenge

[BirdWatcher]

Three out of the four series on the A.L. side of the tourney bracket in round one required the full seven games to decide.
In a mid-western match-up the 1948 Cleveland Indians were able to outlast the 1934 Detroit Tigers with a walk-off bottom of the 9th win in game 7 (3-2.) Cleveland shortstop Lou Boudreau was on fire pretty much the entire series and was named MVP. A big part of the Tigers loss is likely the ability of Indians pitchers to keep star first baseman Hank Greenberg quiet at the plate. Greenberg managed to hit just .226 with no HR's and only 1 RBI.

[BirdWatcher]

In a series in which neither team was able to put 2 consecutive wins together, the 1915 Boston Red Sox struck first and last and defeated the 2001 Seattle Mariners. While the Red Sox legendary center fielder Tris Speaker had a poor series, he did gather 3 hits in 5 at-bats in the final game along with 1 RBI, which would be all MVP "Smoky Joe" Wood would need, as he closed out the Mariners with a GC 3-0 shutout. In 18 innings pitched over two starts, Wood did not allow a single earned run.
(I should probably note here that I am not using the DH for any of these games, and this may have been an example of a team being hurt by that as the Mariners were only able to get Edgar Martinez into a few pinch-hitting at-bats in the series.)

[BirdWatcher]

I have saved the best, and most dramatic, for last.
The 1970 Baltimore Orioles found themselves down 3 games to 1 going into Game 5 against the overall #1 seed 1939 New York Yankees. Then, in Game 5 (played in Baltimore) the Orioles found themselves down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. With things looking bleak, they strung together two singles off the bats of light-hitting shortstop Mark Belanger and pinch-hitter Don Buford. Center fielder Paul Blair followed with a 394-foot HR to tie the game. The game would remain tied until the bottom of the 10th when Davey Johnson led off with a solo HR to keep the Orioles alive for at least one more game.
Returning to Yankee Stadium needing only 1 win out of two chances, the Bronx Bombers remained confident of eventual victory. But in Game 6 they ran into a buzzsaw named Dave McNally, who pitched a CG shutout as the O's won 5-0 and forced a game 7.

And what a game 7 it would be!
When the Orioles scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st off Yankees starter Marius Russo you could sense a feeling of something special happening in the Baltimore dugout. Then when Orioles starter Mike Cuellar proceeded to mow down New York batters for 8 innings the hometown fans were looking glum and the O's jubilant. The game went into the bottom of the ninth, still 3-0 O's. Cuellar still on the mound, lead-off hitter Charlie Keller stroked a line drive single to right. Red Rolfe followed with a line drive single to left, moving Keller to second with no outs. Up steps Joe DiMaggio. Out into the right field stands goes Cuellar's first pitch to Joe D. Tie game. 3-3. Relief pitcher Pete Richert comes in and gets three easy outs and to extra innings we go.
The teams trade zeroes for three more innings. Then, in the top of the 13th inning, Merv Rettenmund reaches base on an error by Yankees shorstop Frank Crosseti. Up steps Orioles super-star Frank Robinson, who had been held pretty quiet by the Yankees during the series. But this time Robinson does not disappoint Orioles fans as he doubles down the left field line, scoring Rettenmund from first. Although a double play will get Robinson to third he is stranded there and we head into the bottom of the 13th with the Orioles holding a slim 4-3 lead. Eddie Watt now on the mound for the O's. Jake Powell is the first man he will face (pinch-hitter) and he gets Powell to hit a routine ground-out to short on the first pitch. But now to the top of the order for the dreaded Yanks. Charlie Keller fouls a few pitches off and then lets a ball sail past him. On the fourth pitch of the AB though he takes a mighty swing. And misses. Out number two. Red Rolfe up, DiMaggio in the hole. Watt works Rolfe to a 1-2 count and then gets him to hit a routine ground ball to gold glover Mark Belanger at short. And Belanger boots it! Of course, this one could not end any other way then with DiMaggio once again at the plate. If DiMaggio parks another one in the seats Yankees fans go home happy and look forward to the next round of the tourney. DiMaggio takes the first pitch. Called strike. He takes another. This one is a ball. And then... DiMaggio gets ahold of the next one..it's heading to right field on the fly... curving towards the foul line, towards the corner...will it be enough?...Nope. Frank Robinson reaches it, cradles it in his glove, lifts a triumphant fist in the air and rushes in to celebrate with his teammates in the middle of the field.
The mighty Yankees go down in defeat. The overall top seed is gone like that. And the scrappy Orioles, with their timely hitting, great pitching, and sterling defensive play, advance to the next round.

[Beatles Eternally]

Hi BirdWatcher,

I read each and every post and your splendid writing hooked me! I look forward to more after battle reports from you!

Best,
Beatles

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by Beatles Eternally

Hi BirdWatcher,

I read each and every post and your splendid writing hooked me! I look forward to more after battle reports from you!

Best,
Beatles

Thanks so much for your kind words and for following along!
This one is great fun so far and watching that last game between the '70 Orioles and the '39 Yankees pretty much hooked me into this project.
I'll likely be bouncing back and forth between this and my main fictional love (the Denver Brewers of the WPK, which you can read about in the Fictional Simulations area of the forums). But I am confident that I will see this one through as it is already a blast.

[BirdWatcher]

Just getting the second round of Group 1 started tonight but thought I would share a quick preview of the match-ups with you.
In the American League we have the 1970 Baltimore Orioles, possibly a bit exhausted after their epic series win against the 1939 Yankees, taking on the 1915 Boston Red Sox. It should be interesting to see if Tris Speaker's bat comes alive for the Red Sox and if Smoky Joe Wood can continue to be dominant on the mound. If both of those are answered in the affirmative, the Orioles could be in for another tough challenge. I suspect I will be at Memorial Stadium tonight watching young righty Jim Palmer duel against even younger lefty Babe Ruth.
The other A.L. series sees the 1932 Athletics against the 1948 Indians. The Athletics middle-of-the-order combination of Double X (Jimmie Foxx) and Bucketfoot Al Simmons combined for 8 homeruns in their first round series and Lefty Grove was unhittable on the hill. It will be interesting to see what the Indians talented starting staff, led by Bob Lemon and Bob Feller, can do with the potent Athletics lineup and whether Lou Boudreau can stay hot and he and Larry Doby and the others can find a way to win at least one game with Grove on the mound.

The National League will see the 1904 Giants, fresh off a rather easy series victory over the #2 overall seed 1906 Cubs facing the potent offense of the 1919 Reds. In the other N.L. series we will see a fascinating match-up of pitching versus hitting as the vaunted 1999 Atlanta Braves pitching staff faces off against the high-flying offense of the 1977 Philadelphia Phillies.

It should be fun. I'll keep you posted.

[BirdWatcher]

As it turned out, young Babe Ruth was fantastic (although I have yet to see evidence of that great hitting ability he is rumored to possess) and the Jim on the mound for Baltimore was Hardin, not Palmer. (Either I misread the expected pitchers or Earl Weaver made a last-minute substitution.) It didn't go that well for Hardin and the O's as they suffered a 5-1 loss at home to start the series.
Meanwhile, Ken Keltner and his Cleveland teammates got the best of the Athletics, winning a slug-fest, 11-5. Keltner himself slugged two solo shots among the five homeruns off Cleveland bats.

In the N.L., Christy Mathewson led the Giants to a 3-1 victory over Cincinnati. Mathewson worked 8 2/3rds innings giving up just the 1 run on only 4 hits while striking out 6 and walking 3.
And in the Braves-Phillies series, round 1 went to pitching as Kevin Millwood went the distance for a 7-4 win against Philadelphia. Millwood allowed the 4 runs on 9 hits while striking out 6 and walking 3 and was helped by a big 3-run HR off the bat of Andruw Jones in the 2nd inning which gave the Braves a lead they would not relinquish. (Well, okay, there was quite a bit of hitting too, but better pitching on the Atlanta side carried the day.)

It looks like I'll be visiting Turner Field tomorrow night to catch a Greg Maddux- Lefty (Steve Carlton) duel!

[BirdWatcher]

In the game at Turner Field tonight, at which I was in attendance, Greg Maddux and Steve Carlton were solid even if not spectacular in what was a close game. Close, that is, until the bullpens took over. Carlton gave way first, exiting the game in the bottom of the 7th after allowing a lead-off bloop single by Randall Simon followed by a double over the head of centerfielder Garry Maddox off the bat of Bret Boone which scored pinch-runner Otis Nixon from first and tied the game at 3-3. Ron Reed came on then with a runner on second and no outs, got Gerald Williams to fly out but then facing Andruw Jones he threw a 1-1 wild pitch that sent Boone to third base and after Jones then flew out meekly to left, the next batter Brian Jordan singled Boone in for the go-ahead run.
With the Braves now ahead 4-3, skipper Bobby Cox decided to bring in young firebrand John Rocker to take over for Maddux, who had thrown 102 pitches and wasn't looking his sharpest. Big mistake. Long story short- by the end of the half inning, the Phillies had taken an 8-4 lead (hitting both Rocker and his successor, Kevin McGlinchy, hard.) The Phillies bullpen on the other hand was sharp (Ron Reed in the bottom of the 8th, Gene Garber in the 9th) while the Phillies scored one insurance run in the top of the 9th and evened the series with a 9-4 win. (See below a snapshot from the game when things were just about to go terribly wrong for the Braves.)

In other N.L. action. the red-hot New York Giants went up 2 games to none on the 1919 Reds with a narrow 4-3 victory. Third baseman Art Devlin went 2 for 4 and hit his first HR of the tournament for the victors and Red Ames pitched a solid 7 innings to go 2-1 (2.05 ERA).

On the A.L. side of the tourney, the 1948 Indians get a huge victory when Bob Lemon out-pitches Lefty Grove and the Indians defeat the 1932 Athletics 4-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the best of 7 series.
And at Memorial Stadium the 1970 Baltimore Orioles got back to even in their series against the 1915 Red Sox largely thanks to the fine pitching performance by Jim Palmer, who gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings pitched to lead his team to a 4-2 victory.

[BirdWatcher]

So now there is an off-day in the schedule as all the teams travel to the other park for the next 3 games of each series.
I am guessing that I myself will be heading to Cleveland Stadium where Bob Feller and the Indians will be taking on Rube Walberg and the Athletics two days from now. The Athletics are in the tough position of needing to win at least 2 of 3 on the road to stay alive in the series.

Match-ups for the other three games on the schedule for the day from tomorrow are:
Baltimore- Dave McNally @ Boston- Dutch Leonard
New York- Dummy Taylor @ Cincinnati- Jimmy Ring
Atlanta- John Smoltz @ Philadelphia- Jim Lonborg

Stay tuned.

[BirdWatcher]

At Cleveland Stadium today, veteran Bob Feller was masterful and his 1948 Cleveland Indians moved within one game of advancing to the next round of Group 1. I was also excited to see the great Satchel Paige enter the game in the 9th inning (see below.) Although Satchel did allow a solo HR off the bat of Al Simmons (his sixth of the tourney) and walked Mickey Cochrane, he then got the next three batters rather easily (fb,K,gb) to preserve the 5-2 victory.

In the other A.L. game, the 1970 Baltimore Orioles got another sterling performance by starter Dave McNally in a 3-0 win and now go up 2-1 in the series.

In N.L. action, the 1919 Cincinnati Reds bounce back to trim the 1904 Giants series lead to 2-1. Jimmy Ring pitched a great game, allowing just one run on five hits in the CG victory while third baseman Heinie Groh went 2 for 4 with 1 run scored and 1 driven in to lead the offensive attack.

Meanwhile, at Veterans Stadium, the 1999 Braves rode a great day at the plate by Andruw Jones (3 for 5, 1 run scored, 2 RBI, and a double to take an 8-5 decision against the Phillies. John Smoltz was just sharp enough (6 1/3rds IP, 4 runs, 9 hits) to pick up the win.

[BirdWatcher]

(Sorry- my mouse pad froze up on me while typing the post above. So here are the visuals I meant to include with that.)

[BirdWatcher]

Sitting in the stands today at Fenway Park, I got to see a marvelous display of pitching and power from the visiting 1970 Baltimore Orioles, as they defeated the Red Sox 5-1 and moved within a win of making the next round of the Group 1 tourney. Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits for the O's. And the power was largely provided by one Frank Robinson, who up until this point had been mostly quiet during the tournament. Today Robinson launched two balls over the Green Monster, his first two HR's of the tourney. Boston's Smoky Joe Wood, who came into the game with a 0.00 ERA for the tournament, allowed the first of those HR's, and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings pitched. Not a bad day, exactly. But enough to suffer his first loss.

In the other A.L. game, the 1948 Indians put the finishing touches on a 4-game sweep of the 1932 Athletics. Dale Mitchell (.412,1,7) was the series MVP and went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI from the lead-off slot in this game. Lou Boudreau (.522, 4, 10) remains probably the hottest hitter in Group 1 and was 1 for 3 with 2 RBI and his fourth HR in this deciding contest. This last game was a close one- 4-3- and was decided in the bottom of the 9th when catcher Jim Hegan walked, was bunted over to second by pinch-hitter Wally Judnich, and scored on a Dale Mitchell double. The great Satchel Paige got the win in relief of Gene Bearden.

In the N.L, the 1999 Braves moved a step closer to round 3 with a 5-3 victory over the 1977 Phillies. The numbers 2 through 4 batters for Atlanta (Brian Jordan, Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko, respectively) went 6 for 13 collectively for the game. Jordan led the way with a 2 for 5, 2 HR game. Tom Glavine (1-0, 1.80) worked 7 solid innings for the win and John Rocker redeemed himself somewhat with 2 fine innings of relief work for his second save of the tourney.

In a bit of a turnaround, the previously unbeatable looking 1904 Giants have now dropped two straight to the 1919 Reds and we have us a series, tied at 2-2. The Reds won a squeaker in this one, 2-1, with Dutch Ruether (2-0, 1.93) pitching a solid six innings and reliever Slim Sallee pitching a sparkling three innings (0 hits, 0 BB, 1 K) to pick up his second save. In a game with little offense, Heinie Groh (.405, 1, 9) once again sparkled, going 3 for 3 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI, hitting his third double of the tournament and his first homerun.

I believe I'll be heading next to Veterans Stadium to see if the Braves can finish off the Phillies or if the Phillies can rally with young Larry Christensen on the moung (Millwood pitching for Atlanta.)