[rockford]

The 2001 Mariners enter Pool 6 as the favorite after posting a .625 win percentage in the First Chance. The Mariners have the bats, with Edgar Martinez (.306, 23 HR), John Olerud (.302, 21 HR), Bret Boone (.331, 37 HR) and Ichiro Suzuki (.350, 56 SB). The question will be if the pitching staff is deep enough behind Freddy Garcia (18-6, 3.05 ERA) and Jamie Moyer (20-6, 3.43 ERA).


The same can be said about the 1955 Dodgers, who are looking to join the ’52 and ’53 Dodgers in the Semifinals. The Dodgers rose from the 82nd seed to put up the 12th-best win percentage in the First Chance. They have Roy Campanella (.318, 32 HR), Gil Hodges (.289, 27 HR), Duke Snider (.309, 42 HR) and Carl Furillo (.314, 26 HR), backed by the arms of Sandy Koufax (2-2, 3.02 ERA) and Don Newcombe (20-5, 3.20 ERA).


As dominant as the Yankees have been in the GTOAT tourney, with 22 teams in the 100-team Quarterfinals, the most modern Yanks squad to qualify for the Semis so far is from 1954. And of the eight Yankees teams already qualified for the Semis, the ’54 squad is the only post-war Yanks team to do so.


Four teams get the last chance to extend the dynasty in Pool 6 – the 1958 Yankees, 1960 Yankees, 1977 Yankees and the 1998 Yankees. Despite some gaudy offensive names, these teams look a bit pitching poor, by GTOAT standards, with the exception of the ’58 squad, which might have the pitching but lacks bats.


An earlier Yanks team, the 1952 Yankees, is also in Pool 6, and they appear to have a rotation that makes ‘em a GTOAT contender -- Allie Reynolds (20-8, 2.06 ERA), Eddie Lopat (10-5, 2.53 ERA), Vic Raschi (16-6, 2.78 ERA), Tom Morgan (5-4, 3.07 ERA). But other than Mickey Mantle (.311, 23 HR) and Yogi Berra (.273, 30 HR), the offense is suspect.


The 1988 Mets are in the same boat. The pitching looks impeccable, with David Cone (20-3, 2.22 ERA), Dwight Gooden (18-9, 3.19 ERA), Bob Ojeda (10-13, 2.88 ERA), Sid Fernandez (12-10, 3.03 ERA), Ron Darling (17-9, 3.25 ERA) and Randy Myers (1.72 ERA, 26 SV). But can Darryl Strawberry (.269, 39 HR) drive in enough runs to keep ‘em in contention?


The 1998 Braves are a team that may have the full package: Lights-out pitching from HOFers Tom Glavine (10-6, 2.47 ERA), Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22 ERA) and John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90 ERA), plus plenty of offense from the likes of Chipper Jones (.313, 34 HR), Javy Lopez (.284, 34 HR), Andres Galarraga (.305, 44 HR) and Andruw Jones (.271, 31 HR, 27 SB).


Although lacking the Braves’ outstanding rotation, the 1999 Astros are a similarly balanced squad. Mike Hampton (22-4, 2.90 ERA), Jose Lima (21-10, 3.58 ERA) and Billy Wagner (1.57 ERA, 39 SV) provide the arms, with the offense coming from HOFers Jeff Bagwell (.304, 42 HR, 30 SB) and Craig Biggio (.294, 16 HR, 28 SB), with help from Carl Everett (.325, 25 HR).


Believe it or not, not a single Phillies team has qualified for the Semifinals yet. And the 1993 Phillies come in as a bit of a question mark. Originally seeded 284th, they went .579 in the First Chance, 24th in the tournament. And yet they can’t boast of attention-grabbing individual performances, other than Lenny Dykstra (.305, 19 HR, 37 SB) and Terry Mulholland (12-9, 3.25 ERA).


It seems few teams have had success in the GTOAT tourney without dominant pitching, but the 2011 Rangers may have enough power to pull it off. It will be up to Adrian Beltre (.296, 32 HR), Ian Kinsler (.255, 32 HR), Josh Hamilton (.298, 25 HR), Nelson Cruz (.263, 29 HR) and Michael Young (.338, 11 HR). This is one of only two Rangers teams to qualify for the GTOAT tourney (2010 was the other), and the last one standing.