[Highlander]

1997 Florida Marlins vs. 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

The 97 Marlins came in 2nd place in the NL East at 92-70, but then went on to win the World Series over the Indians in 5 games. They finished 95-67 in the first round to advance.

The 1960 Pirates were 95-59 in real life and famously beat the Yankees in the World Series despite being out scored 55-27. In the 1st round, they scraped their way by with an 83-79 record.

With the way the Pirates fought against long odds in their real season and the speed with which the Marlins won a World Series so soon after being an expansion team......it seemed like we were in for a close battle with these two teams. They did not disappoint. The Pirates jumped out to a 92-70 lead in the 1960 season. Then, in the 97 season, the Marlins squeaked out an over all lead by going 94-68. Just 4 games separated the two teams, but the Marlins move on 164-160.


2009 Boston Red Sox vs. 2017 Washington Nationals

The real life Red Sox finished 8 games behind the Yankees at 95-67 and then lost to the Angels in the Division Series. However, they finished at 93-69 in the 1st round to advance against a number of other teams that seemed to be better.

The 2017 Nationals were 97-65 and won their division by 20 games, but then lost in the division series to the Cubs. It definitely seemed like they should have done better and in the 1st round here, they did. They finished at a convincing 103-59 to move to this 2nd round.

This is the first matchup of two teams from the 2000s, so there wasn't a big difference for either team in years. The Nationals jumped right out to a 92-70 lead in the 2009 season.....then followed it up by going 90-72 in their own season to take a pretty easy 182-142 win and advance to the next round. Just looking at this team, they are going to be a tough out next round. Bryce Harper is a beast and they have some great pitching with Scherzer and Strasburg.


1929 Chicago Cubs vs. 1972 Cincinnati Reds

The real life Cubs were 98-54, but lost the World Series to a 104 win A's team. They have always been an intriguing team for me with some incredible offensive performances from Rogers Hornsby, Hack Wilson, Kiki Cuyler and others. They didn't have a real convincing 1st round, at 85-77, but just beating that A's team was a big accomplishment.

The 72 Reds were an early version of the Big Red Machine (hint- we will see more of "The Machine" in future matchups!). They finished at 95-59 to win their division, but weren't ready to take over the great A's teams of the early 70's quite yet and lost to them in the World Series. In the 1st round, however, they did beat out the A's and finished with an 86-76 record.

This was an interesting pair of teams and I wasn't sure what to expect. When the Reds went 83-79 in the 1929 season, I still thought the offense of the Cubs might still give them a chance in 72. However, that wasn't the case....the Reds took their own year 88-74 to advance to the 3rd round by a 171-153 margin. Seeing this "lesser" version of the Big Red Machine advance against a pretty tough opponent makes me really wonder what the prime teams might do.


2007 New York Yankees vs. 1950 Boston Red Sox

The real life Yankees were 94-68 and finished 2 games behind the eventual World Champion Red Sox. They were even better in round one against the best of that season, finishing at 96-66.

The real 1950 Red Sox are the 1st 3rd place team we've seen make it this far, as that's where they finished in the AL that year. However, their 94-60 record got them into the 1st round. They didn't disappoint and came through with a "just good enough" 87-75 record to get to this round.

So, not only do we have our first Yankees/Red Sox matchup, but it is between two teams that spoiled their Yankees/Red Sox counterpart's appearance here. It seems like it should be the 2007 Sox and 1950 Yankees facing off. We'll see what their opposites do! In the 1950 season, it was a typical NY/Boston matchup as they finished in a dead tie....81-81. 2007, however, was not as kind to the Red Sox and the Yankees came through at 88-74 to advance to round 3 by a 169-155 margin.

14 teams down.....46 to go! Next up is a battle of the 60's, with 1963 taking on 1966.