Last ** team ** standing

[webrian]

FINAL FOUR SEMIFINALS PREVIEW

No. 3 2016 CHICAGO CUBS vs. No. 2 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

The CUBS

If we’re saying the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers bashed their way to the Final Four, then we can say that the 2016 Chicago Cubs *pitched* their way here. But there is a nuance to these points. Despite averaging 6.6 runs per game, the 1953 Dodgers would not have made it so far if their pitchers hadn’t outdone themselves. The Cubs haven’t done a *lot* of hitting — they’ve been shut out twice, and even no-hit — but they haven’t had to do a lot. Their pitchers are allowing opponents only 3.0 runs per game, while holding opposing hitters to an even .200 average.

And yet, despite the 2016 Cubs’ .242 team batting average in this tournament, they’ve had bursts of exceptional hitting. They had a 13-2 win against the 2011 Rangers in the quarterfinals. They beat the 1970 Orioles 12-0 right after getting no-hit by them in the semifinals. They’ve scored seven or more runs three other times. In fact, the 2016 Cubs come into this Final Four with a better tournament run differential (5.0 — 3.0) than the 1929 Athletics (5.0 — 3.6), which is impressive considering who they’ve played.

Two constant forces have propelled the Cubs to this Final Four. One, as I’ve mentioned, is their pitching. With the exception of a couple of bad starts by Jake Arrieta, the Chicago staff has been a model of consistency. The three starters have a combined ERA of 3.02 over 110.1 innings so far, while the bullpen is posting 2.21 over 40.2 innings. Cubs pitchers have struck out the *fewest* batters of all the Final Four teams but still get the key outs when they need them.

The other constant is Willson Contreras. The catcher who has handled all these pitchers has also handled the bat. In a lineup where six of the regulars are batting worse than .230, Contreras is averaging .328 with 5 homers and 20 RBI in 17 tournament games. He hit a key three-run homer in Game Seven of the quarterfinal series against the 2011 Rangers. He hasn’t cooled off since.

Though the 2016 Cubs were a No. 3 seed in their bracket, I am not surprised to see them in this Final Four. I thought the 1970 Baltimore Orioles would be their toughest opponent, but I also thought these Cubs would be those Orioles’ biggest obstacle. The teams are quite similar with strong pitching and versatile, powerful lineups. I was astounded that the Cubs beat them in only five games.

The CARDINALS

Nobody talks about the 1944 St. Louis Cardinals — not even St. Louis baseball fans. Having lived in Central Illinois for 19 years and then in St. Louis for another two years, I’ve met my share of hardcore Redbird fans. They revere the 1926 team that defeated the Babe Ruth Yankees and brought home the city’s first World Championship. They still celebrate the 1967 and 1968 clubs with Bob Gibson, Tim McCarver, and Lou Brock. They love Whitey Herzog and those 1980s teams. And of course, they still talk about the recent powerhouse teams that included Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright.

But not the 1944 squad, or any Cardinals team from that era.

Before Pujols, Cardinal fans would have agreed unanimously that the greatest player in their team’s history was Stan Musial. Now, it’s an open debate. Both were exemplary icons of the sport and for the city. But today, there are too few fans alive who ever saw Musial play and probably nobody who saw “The Man” in his prime. The legacy of the Cardinal dynasty of the early-to-mid 1940s is smeared by the hardships of that era: economic depression, war, rationing, declining attendance, and godawful big band music. If the 1944 Cardinals are remembered for anything, even in St. Louis, it’s for playing the St. Louis Browns in the “Streetcar” World Series that year. And that’s because it’s the only time since 1922 when teams occupying the same ball yard (Sportsman’s Park) met in the World Series.

The 1944 Cardinals deserve better. No matter how you look at them, they’re awesome. The most dominant ball club of the World War II years gets overlooked because so many major league stars, including St. Louis’ own Enos Slaughter, were serving their nation instead of their teams in those years. The 1944 Cards won their third consecutive pennant, had their third consecutive season with at least 105 wins, and won their second World Series in three years. The 1946 team with many of the same players won 98 games and another World Series after all the military players returned. From 1947 to 1949, this club still averaged 90 wins per season.

If you stepped out of a time machine into any American city in the late summer of 1944, you’d soon notice there were only two major stories: The War and the Cardinals. The Redbirds spent exactly *one* day (April 26) out of first place that year. They won 13 out of 14 games at one point in July, then 18 out of 20 over a three-week period in August. They led the National League by 10.5 games *before* either one of those streaks.

The 1944 Cards led all of baseball in both runs scored (4.9 per game) and runs allowed (3.1) and were generally viewed as “unbeatable” that summer. They had one of baseball’s smartest managers in Billy Southworth, a deep pitching staff, two former MVPs in RHP Mort Cooper and Musial, and a rising MVP in shortstop Marty Marion. You might remember the Ozzie Smith teams of the 1980s being known for their defense. The 1944 Cards were even more well-known for their glovework, and Marion was the prize jewel.

Like the “Gas House Gang” of the previous decade, the 1944 Cardinals featured a tandem of famous brothers. The Gas House Gang had Dizzy and Paul Dean anchoring their pitching staff. The 1944 club had pitching ace Mort Cooper and cleanup-batting catcher Walker Cooper.

The Cardinals haven’t really been pushed yet in this tournament. They had some weird trouble with 1980 Phillies pitcher Dick Ruthven (he shut them out once, beat them twice), but have lived a charmed life otherwise. They swept the entirely overmatched 2023 Texas Rangers in the semifinals. They defeated the top-seeded 1998 Yankees in six games in the Bracket D Finals. The thing is, the Redbirds came *this* close to beating those Yankees in just five games.

Do the 2016 Cubs have what it takes to push these Cardinals to the limit?

The BOTTOM LINE

This is ... well, a RIVALRY. If not between these two sets of players separated by decades, then certainly between these cities and organizations. If I learned anything while living in Central Illinois all those years, it’s this: Cardinals fans and Cubs fans co-exist, but they don’t like each other. Even in September of 1998, when the Cardinals’ Mark McGwire and the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa were bro-hugging after every home run, their fans weren’t embracing. McGwire won that momentous home run race, but ...

“We actually made the playoffs that year,” Cubs fans pointed out.

“And choked in those playoffs, as usual,” Cardinal fans would hit back.

“You guys choked it up in 2004 big time, didn’t even win a game in that series,” Cubs fans say.

“But we were there,” Cardinal fans say. “We weren’t putting World Series tickets on our grandparents’ graves just because they lived long lives and died before the Cubs won again.”

“Right, like Boston fans were doing after they kicked your asses in 2004,” Cubs fans say.

Cubs fans dislike Cardinal fans for being irritating podunk-city “know-it-alls" when talking baseball. Oh yes, St. Louis fans take their mythical “most knowledgeable fan base in MLB” title seriously. Even the kinder Cards fans can’t help patronizing Cubs fans with a sympathetic [I]“Darn, I was almost rooting for you guys before you choked again.” [/I]

Cardinal fans don’t so much dislike Cubs fans as look down on them. A bunch of beer-gutted, bleecher-dwelling drama queens tied to a “lovable loser” franchise that never seems to get its sh*t together. A baseball orphanage for screw-ups. Cardinal fans do a soft “tut-tut-tut" whenever anyone refers to the Cubs as their “rival.” They’ll remind you, in the gentlest Midwestern tones, that “it’s too one-sided to be classified as a true rivalry.”

The whole “we don’t hate the Cubs, we just feel sorry for their fans,” is just about one of the most hateful things one fan base can say to another, isn’t it?

A Cardinals fan shouting to a Cubs fan at the other end of the bar: “What do Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, and Sammy Sosa have in common?”

“Eff Off!”

“How many combined Fall Classics have those three “legends” participated in?”

“Eff Off!”

They even had spats over broadcaster Harry Caray.

Cardinals fans: “We had Harry Caray when he was actually good at broadcasting. The Cubs didn’t get him until he was a slurring, drunken clown in broad daylight.”

Cubs fans: “He was far more successful and beloved as a Cubs announcer, what are you even talking about?”

Do you want to know how many St. Louis Cardinal fans I knew who were happy that the Cubs won the 2016 World Series? Zero. I would say it still poisons their guts like a bad piece of fish. It’s one less major thing that Cards fans can hold over Cubs fans, and they hate it. Not that they’ll admit it.

“I don’t mind if a team wins *a* World Series every 108 years,” the aloof Cardinals fan will say.

Whenever a former Cub joins the Cardinals: “I hope he takes enough long showers in spring training to get that Cubs stink off of him.” Cubs fans said the same thing when Justin Heyward left the Cardinals to join the Cubs in early 2016. “We don’t need that Cardinals stink messing up the good thing we’ve got going.”

It’s likely the 1944 Cardinals will be too focused and the 2016 Cubs players will be too exuberant to let the simmering animosity in the stands infect them on the field. But who knows? That kind of shared animosity has a viral sting. What happens after a few hard slides? After a home-run trot that’s a bit too leisurely? After a few close games or one too many hit batsmen?

As far as Cubs fans see it, the 2016 Cubs have a chance here, a real chance, to haunt the nightmares of Cardinals fans, to wake up the echoes of a golden era and TRASH them. “Eat it, Stan Musial! Eat it!” ... But Cardinal fans aren’t stressed. Why should they be? The 1944 Cardinals are coming out of the past to put the damn Cubs and their stupid fans back in their place for good. “Oh you wanna talk? You wanna talk, Cubs fans? Say it to THIS TEAM. We double-dog DARE you.”

It is ON.

FINAL FOUR

TEAM STATISTICS


No. 3 2016 CHICAGO CUBS
(12-5 in the tournament over three series)

Teams Eliminated: 2011 Rangers (4-3), 1970 Orioles (4-1), 2019 Astros (4-1)

Team Batting Average: .242 ... Runs Per Game: 5.0 ... Runs Allowed: 3.0 ... Diff: +2.0

Extra-Base Hits: 38 (1 triple, 19 doubles, 18 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 11-9; Double Plays-Errors: 20-15; Walks/game — Strikeouts/game: 3.4 — 6.2

2016 CUBS OPPONENTS’ STATS:

Batting Average: .200 ... Runs Per Game: 3.0 ... Runs Allowed: 5.0 ... Diff: -2.0

Extra-Base Hits: 32 (7 triples, 11 doubles, 14 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 11-10; Double Plays-Errors: 13-16; Walks/game — Strikeouts/game: 4.7 — 5.1

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS:

2016 CUBS — Opponents: Quality Pitching Starts: 10 — 7; Extra-Inning Wins: 2 — 1; Walk-Off Wins: 2 — 1; Comeback Wins: 0 — 0; Shutout Wins: 3 — 2; Grand Slams: 1 — 0

***

No. 2 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
(12-4 in the tournament over three series)

Teams Eliminated: 1980 Phillies (4-2), 2023 Rangers (4-0), 1998 Yankees (4-2)

Team Batting Average: .231 ... Runs Per Game: 4.3 ... Runs Allowed: 3.2 ... Diff: +1.1

Extra-Base Hits: 37 (3 triples, 21 doubles, 13 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 7-3; Double Plays-Errors: 16-8; Walks/game — Strikeouts/game: 3.8 — 6.3

1944 CARDINALS OPPONENTS’ STATS:

Batting Average: .232 ... Runs Per Game: 3.2 ... Runs Allowed: 4.3 ... Diff: -1.1

Extra-Base Hits: 31 (2 triples, 19 doubles, 10 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 13-7; Double Plays-Errors: 10-11; Walks/game — Strikeouts/game: 2.9 — 6.2

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS:

1944 CARDINALS — Opponents: Quality Pitching Starts: 6 — 3; Extra-Inning Wins: 3 — 1; Walk-off Wins: 3 — 0; Comeback Wins: 0 — 1; Shutout Wins: 0 — 1; Grand Slams: 0 — 0


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

2016 CHICAGO CUBS

LINEUP AND STATS SO FAR

Dexter Fowler (CF) — .271 ... 19-for-70 ... 1 HR ... 3 RBI

Kris Bryant (3B) — .212 ... 14-for-66 ... 1 HR ... 9 RBI

Anthony Rizzo (1B) — .228 ... 16-for-70 ... 2 HR ... 8 RBI

Ben Zobrist (LF) — .209 ... 14-for-67 ... 2 HR ... 9 RBI

Willson Contreras (C) — .328 ... 23-for-70 ... 5 HR ... 20 RBI

Javier Baez (2B) — .266 ... 17-for-64 ... 2 HR ... 10 RBI

Chris Coghlan (DH) — .212 ... 7-for-33 ... 1 HR ... 5 RBI

Jorge Soler (DH) — .276 ... 8-for-29 ... 3 HR ... 8 RBI

Addison Russell (SS) — .180 ... 11-for-61 ... 2 HR ... 8 RBI

Jason Heyward (RF) — .226 ... 14-for-62 ... 0 HR ... 4 RBI

STARTING PITCHERS ... TEAM ERA: 2.80

RHP Kyle Hendricks (5-1, 1 ND, 2.35 ERA) — 49.2 IP ... 13 ER ... 36 H ... 5 HR ... 19 W ... 29 K

RHP Jake Arrieta (4-2, 3.97 ERA) — 34 IP ... 15 ER ... 31 H ... 3 HR ... 23 W ... 26 K

LHP Jon Lester (1-1, 2 ND, 3.04 ERA) — 26.2 IP ... 9 ER ... 19 H ... 5 HR ... 13 W ... 6 K

BULLPEN: (2-1, 2 saves, 2.21 ERA) — 40.2 IP ... 10 ER ... 28 H ... 1 HR ... 25 W ... 26 K

***

1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

LINEUP AND STATS SO FAR

Johnny Hopp (CF) — .258 ... 16-for-62 ... 2 HR ... 5 RBI

Ray Sanders (1B) — .290 ... 20-for-69 ... 2 HR ... 7 RBI

Stan Musial (RF) — .387 ... 24-for-62 ... 1 HR ... 10 RBI

Walker Cooper (C) — .162 ... 11-for-68 ... 1 HR ... 8 RBI

Whitey Kurowski (3B) — .265 ... 17-for-64 ... 3 HR ... 11 RBI

Danny Litwhiler (LF) — .190 ... 12-for-63 ... 4 HR ... 10 RBI

Ken O’Dea (C/DH) — .250 ... 6-for-24 ... 0 HR ... 2 RBI

Marty Marion (SS) — .137 ... 7-for-51 ... 0 HR ... 5 RBI

Emil Verban (2B) — .203 ... 12-for-59 ... 0 HR ... 5 RBI

George Fallon (IF/PH) — .222 ... 1-for-6 ... 0 HR ... 0 RBI

Pepper Martin (OF/PH) — .147 ... 5-for-34 ... 0 HR ... 2 RBI

Augie Bergamo (PH) — .000 ... 0-for-9 ... 0 HR ... 0 RBI

STARTING PITCHERS ... TEAM ERA: 2.88

LHP Max Lanier (2-0, 4 ND, 2.54 ERA) — 39 IP ... 11 ER ... 37 H ... 2 HR ... 16 W ... 30 K

RHP Mort Cooper (3-0, 2 ND, 2.83 ERA) — 35 IP ... 11 ER ... 28 H ... 0 HR ... 15 W ... 21 K

LHP Harry Brecheen (3-2, 4.80 ERA) — 30 IP ... 16 ER ... 33 H ... 7 HR ... 5 W ... 25 K

BULLPEN: (4-2, 7 saves, 2.02 ERA) — 49 IP ... 11 ER ... 32 H ... 1 HR ... 11 W ... 24 K

PHOTO 1: Members of the 1944 St. Louis Cardinals. Don't let those smiles fool you. They'll RIP YOUR HEART OUT.

PHOTO 2: Cubs C Willson Contreras circles the bases as Wrigley Field celebrates.

[jparker2112]

The preview is hysterical!!! Well done sir!!!

[webrian]

***** THE FINAL FOUR *****

No. 3 2016 CHICAGO CUBS vs. No. 2 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

At Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

GAME ONE

St. Louis starter Max Lanier walked three Cubs hitters in the first two innings and was clearly nervous. The left-hander's early struggles had the 2016 Cubs, and their fans, feeling rather sunny and hopeful. And then BOOM, everything changed. ... In the bottom of the second inning, Kyle Hendricks walked leadoff batter Danny Litwhiler on four pitches and gave up a soft single to DH Ken O’Dea. Not to worry. The 1944 Cardinals’ No. 8 and No. 9 hitters were due — KA-BOOM! Shortstop Marty Marion attacked a first-pitch fastball and hit it 402 feet for a three-run bomb. ... Hendricks never recovered. Walker Cooper blasted a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth, and O’Dea followed that same inning with a two-run double, extending the Cardinals’ bulge to 7-0. ... Lanier’s nerves settled considerably after the first two innings, but fatigue started to set in after the fifth. The Cubs loaded the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings, scoring three runs, including one on an RBI single by Kris Bryant in the seventh. A bright glimmer in the Cubs’ darkness, Bryant went 3-for-5 in this first game. But alas, rookie reliever Ted Wilks held the Cubbies down the final three innings on three hits and two strikeouts. FINAL: Cardinals 7 ... Cubs 3.

GAME TWO

There are keys to winning high-level playoff games on the road. Score early. Match or exceed the home team’s energy. Take the crowd out of the game. The 2016 Cubs have been good at this, both in real life and in this tournament. They endeavored to give the 1944 Cardinals a taste of their road-game energy in Game Two, and by golly, they tried. ... Leadoff batter Dexter Fowler hit a squibber up the first-base line and used his speed to force a throwing error by the Cardinals’ first baseman as the pitcher ran over to cover the bag. Fowler wound up at second base with no outs, took third on a groundout, and scored on an Anthony Rizzo sacrifice fly. 1-0 Cubs. Then Johnny Hopp led off the bottom of the first with a solo jack to instantly tie the game, 1-1. ... Okay, okay. Energy! The Cubs got right back to work in the top of the third with two outs. Kris Bryant singled. Rizzo singled. Ben Zobrist also singled, baby, and Chicago re-asserted itself back on top, 2-1. Hey, hey, that’s just good baseball. Bottom of the third: Marty Marion singled. Two batters later, Hopp golfed *another* longball into the seats, a two-run shot to put St. Louis ahead, 3-2. Fine, fine, that’s okay. Roll with the punches. Bottom of the fifth, still a one-run game. RHP Jake Arrieta plunked No. 9 batter Emil Verban with a pitch and Stan Musial reached two batters later from an error by Bryant at third base. Walker Cooper singled, Verban scored. 4-2, Cardinals. Maybe go yank Arrieta before disaster strikes? No, baby, he’s fine. One more out, just get one more out. Whitey Kurowski pounded a two-run double into the left-field corner. 6-2, Cardinals. >>>>> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <<<<<

The game felt decided in that exact moment. Cubs skipper Joe Maddon took the ball from Arrieta and gave it to Pedro Strop, who put a stop to the Cardinals’ scoring, at least. Strop allowed just 1 hit while striking out 3 over the final 3.1 innings of the game. In the top of the sixth, Cubs DH Chris Coghlan yanked a two-run double up the right field line to make things interesting again. That was as interesting as the Cardinals would allow. The Cubs managed three more hits in the game, but couldn’t string them together. Mort Cooper earned the win. Red Munger got the save. The 2016 Cubs are heading to Wrigley Field and praying for some of that magic, down two games to none. FINAL: Cardinals 6 ... Cubs 4.

[webrian]

At Wrigley Field, Chicago

GAME THREE

The first order of business at Wrigley Field was to crank up the music. Cubs players who’d been subjected to Jimmy Dorsey and his Big Band’s “Besame Mucho” and Bing Crosby’s “Swinging from a Star” during batting practice at Busch Stadium took advantage of the home field entertainment system to assault the 1944 Cardinals with Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, and the old standby, “Go, Cubs, Go” from 1984.

If the barrage of loud modern music bothered the 1944 Cardinals’ players, they didn’t show it during warmups. They didn’t show it during the game either. After two scoreless innings, the Redbirds got it going in the top of the third against LHP Jon Lester. Three of the first four St. Louis batters hit safely, including Ray Sanders, whose RBI double to the right field corner made it 2-0. Stan Musial flew out, but then Walker Cooper lined a laser-beam two-run homer over the leftfield wall to extend the lead to 4-0. Cubs fans started getting that hot oily stone in the pit of their stomachs again.

The 2016 Cubs responded in the bottom of the third. With one out, Dexter Fowler and Kris Bryant drew back-to-back walks from LHP Harry Brecheen. Anthony Rizzo singled to load the bases, and now Wrigley Field stirred back to life. Ben Zobrist came to bat but looked awful. He took a called strike, fouled off two pitches, then swung at a ball out of the strike zone for the second out. Next came catcher Willson Contreras, Chicago’s biggest bat in this tournament. He battled Brecheen to a full count, then destroyed a hanging curve. The no-doubt-about-it GRAND SLAM left the park at 113 mph and traveled 424 feet. And Contreras milked it for the crowd. He flipped his bat and scooted proudly around the bases as fireworks lit the sky over the outfield. Stepped on home plate, clapped his hands, pointed skyward to Jesus, and got a hero’s welcome in the dugout, all while Brecheen waited for the next batter, Javier Baez, to take his stance. ... Baez got down 0 and 2 but then singled, sparking another ripple of excitement from the stands. Everyone in the stadium could sense it; Brecheen was reeling. Another power hitter, Jorge Soler, stepped in, glowering and waving his bat. He took a mighty rip at Brecheen’s third pitch and popped it up. St. Louis third baseman Whitey Kurowski barely had to move as the ball fell into his glove.

The tense stalemate resumed and lasted the next four innings. Around the fifth inning, the chanting started — the four-syllable, two-note kind any sports fan recognizes instantly: “WE’VE GOT WI-FI!” Cubs fans began chanting as Musial batted in the fifth. “WE’VE GOT WI-FI.” In the top of the sixth and for most of the seventh, Cubs fans changed the chant after one genius realized that nobody in 1944 even knew what “wi-fi” was supposed to be. There were war rations going on in 1944, right?

“WE’VE GOT BUT-TER! WE’VE GOT BUT-TER!” The generational taunting continued in the seventh: “WE’VE GOT SU-GAR! WE’VE GOT SU-GAR!”

Even Bill Murray and Eddie Vedder, in their respective seats of prominence at Wrigley, had to smirk in spite of themselves. Hey, the chants seemed to be working. The score remained 4-4 after seven innings, and the Cubs’ bullpen was finding its groove. Carl Edwards Jr had pitched 2.2 scoreless innings after Lester departed. Hector Rondon was on the mound when the eighth inning began.

The fun was nearly over for Cubs fans.

Rondon was beginning his third inning of work when the Cardinals came to bat in the eighth. He faced four batters; two of them drew walks, two hit into outs. Chicago skipper Joe Madden had pushed his luck in Game Two and seen it backfire. This time, he called for right hander Justin Grimm as Johnny Hopp came to bat. Hopp singled, Danny Litwhiler trotted home from third, and now the Cardinals led 5-4. ... Ray Sanders walked, loading the bases. Damn! All the Cubs needed was one more out. One run wasn’t an insurmountable deficit. ... Musial walked on four straight pitches, another run scored. 6-4, Cardinals. >>> !!!!!!!!!!!! <<< ... Madden made his second trip to the mound this inning, yanked Grimm and, for the first time this series, called for hard-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman to face Cooper. How about some FIRE, scarecrow?

Problem was, the 1944 Cardinals had seen a version of Chapman already, when they swept the 2023 Texas Rangers. Cooper was only trying for a base hit, but his high liner to the leftfield corner cleared the wall for a GRAND SLAM! 10-4 Cardinals! There were no fireworks this time.

All Madden could do now was stoically watch and wait for the nightmare to end. Kurowski singled but it didn’t matter anymore. Litwhiler drew an eight-pitch walk but it didn’t matter. Finally, DH Ken O’Dea hit into a forceout, ending the long inning. It didn’t effing matter anymore.

And it didn’t. The rest of the outs clicked toward the inevitable end of the game. In a twist of cruel fate, the Cubs did load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Baez struck out on four pitches, and Soler hit a first pitch can of corn to short left field to end Game Three. It didn’t matter. ... FINAL: Cardinals 10 ... Cubs 4.

GAME FOUR

From the sky, Wrigley Field looked as full-to-bursting with big-game-event excitement as ever. The lights burned and glittered. Traffic jammed and crawled from a dozen different byways moving toward, around, and away from the stadium. The seats and stands teemed with spectators while frenzied professionals moved busily behind the tall glass windows of the press box. The bases gleamed white and new against the deep brown of the infield dirt and the grass stretched all the way to the ivy, as lush and green as a Walt Whitman fever dream. Amid all the buzz, Cubs manager Joe Madden made all the pre-postgame rounds. Interviews. Photographs. Handshakes. He smiled and chuckled and gestured like a man having the time of his life.

But he couldn’t ignore the burning coal of dread in his guts. For all his aw-shucks smiles and mannerisms, Madden was a man out of ideas. He knew it. The 1944 Cardinals knew it. No matter who he put on the mound, no matter how he filled out the lineup card, no matter what he said to relax or motivate his guys, nothing changed the awful truth.

The 1944 St. Louis Cardinals were just BETTER.

It wasn’t just the way they’d won the previous three games, though that revealed plenty. It was the way they carried themselves. Loose. Unaffected. Focused, but not worried. Madden could shake their hands, pat their backs, make small talk during BP, and feel the cold confidence coming off them like air from an open meat locker. They were polite, but uncaring. Like the guy at work who’s good at everything, never raises his voice, and you both know he’s just tolerating a screw-up like you. Madden would have admired these Cardinals for that, if he didn’t despise them so much.

The game? It went as both teams expected. The 1944 Cardinals had a 5-0 lead after four innings. The 2016 Cubs didn’t get their first hit off LHP Max Lanier until the seventh. Only the most obsessive Cub fans seemed to have not gotten the memo. They spent the middle innings of the game shouting and exhorting; their faces contorted in animated anguish. One poor guy held a “WE STILL BELIEVE!” sign over his scruffy head in the bottom of the eighth, his hoarse voice ragged from unanswered prayers disguised as cheers. If Madden had a loaded gun, he’d have put the dumb SOB out of his misery.

The 1944 Cardinals jacked four home runs in the game, three of them with men on base. Ken O’Dea cracked the first one in the second inning after a Danny Litwhiler single had already given St. Louis a 1-0 lead. As O’Dea’s homer left the park, the mood in the stadium was less “Gosh darn it!” and more palpably “So it begins ...”.

Litwhiler himself blasted a two-run shot in the top of the fourth to make it 5-0. Madden didn’t even bother taking Kyle Hendricks out. What the hell for? His relievers were spent, and the Cardinals had shelled them just as enthusiastically. Madden did finally pull Henricks after the fifth so that reliever Justin Grimm would have one last chance to make his momma proud. Grimm gave up 3 more runs on 5 hits and 2 homers in 3.2 completely meaningless innings. Whitey Kurowski took Grimm out of the park in the eighth inning, another two-run shot. Then in the ninth, even No. 9 hitter Emil Verban, who hit exactly 0 homers in 1944, bashed one over the ivy to make it 8-1.

The Cardinals didn’t even rush the field in celebration after Javier Baez flew out to shallow center to end the series. They gathered in their dugout, hugging, smiling, and shaking hands, but certainly not going wild over something that probably seemed a foregone conclusion all along. Oh how Madden hated them for it. ... FINAL: Cardinals 8 ... Cubs 1.

The 1944 Cardinals SWEEP the FINAL FOUR Semifinal Series, 4 games to 0, outscoring the 2016 Cubs 31 to 12.

MVP-1: Cardinals C Walker Cooper: 6-for-17, 3 HR, GS, 9 RBI, 5 runs scored

MVP-2: Cardinals 3B Whitey Kurowski: 7-for-16, HR, 2 doubles, 4 RBI, 4 runs scored

MV-Pitcher: Cardinals LHP Max Lanier: 2-0, 15 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 13 H, 6 W, 13 K

2016 CUBS SERIES STATS: Batting: (.268, 37-of-138); Extra-Base Hits: 10 (1 triple, 8 doubles, 1 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 3-2; Double Plays-Errors: 2-4; Walks-Strikeouts: 13-32

1944 CARDINALS SERIES STATS: Batting (.254, 35-of-138); Extra-Base Hits: 15 (5 doubles, 10 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 2-1; Double Plays-Errors: 4-3; Walks-Strikeouts: 14-20

[webrian]

******** LAST TEAM STANDING ********

No. 2 1929 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS
vs.
No. 2 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

First, a short and necessary preview.

Look back where we started. Look where we are now.

This was a *miniature* tournament compared to some of the other gargantuan and amazing projects on these boards. This format was dumb simple, has been done to death on other screens, and it hasn't exactly been full of surprises. For the most part, the legendary teams advanced; the merely “great” ones only got so far, and the “good” ones got chewed up and spit out as soon as they entered the arena.

I’m looking at you, 2015 Royals, 1991 Twins, 2019 Nationals, and 2011 Cardinals. Way to “bring it,” champs.

I don’t know what the hell happened to the 1986 Mets, guys. That’s the one team lifelong Mets fans should never have to wonder about, especially when the Metropolitans of recent years have been so confounding. I think the OOTP coders should give the 1986 Mets a booster shot because they never perform in the game the way I remember.

In the end—and we’re just about there now—several “all-time great teams” that many believed should be here are not here.

• The 1975 Reds never quite recovered from an 11-0 loss in Game One against the 1929 Athletics. Must have been shell shock.

• The 1927 Yankees couldn’t finish off a 3 games to 0 lead against the 1953 Dodgers, thus proving that it’s not over until one team thinks it’s over.

• The 1970 Orioles saw a futuristic mirror image of themselves in the 2016 Cubs and it freaked them right out of the tournament — but not before Mike Cuellar tossed a no-hitter.

• The 1961 Yankees brought their powerful bats but couldn’t stop tossing meatball hanging curves to the 1998 Braves. And then the 2019 Astros took care of those Braves before the 2016 Cubs showed Houston the door.

And the 1998 Yankees and 2001 Mariners? These legendary teams would have made a scintillating final. The two clubs combined for 230 regular-season wins and made impressive runs in this project. The Yanks looked unbeatable for seven straight games before the tread started to wear. The Mariners outlasted two of the best teams of the 2010s — the 2017 Dodgers and the 2018 Red Sox — after taking literally everything those mighty clubs could throw at them. If nothing else, they validated their greatness in this tourney, despite not reaching the World Series in 2001.

So why are the 1998 Yankees and 2001 Mariners not in this final? Well, because they fell to the two teams who did get here: the 1944 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics.

Let us pray.

***********
***********

The 1929 PHILADELPHA ATHLETICS

Real-life record: 104-46 .... 6.0 runs per game // 4.1 runs allowed

World Series: Beat the Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 1, outscoring them 26 to 17.

Tournament record: 16-8 ....... 5.6 runs per game // 4.9 runs allowed

Teams eliminated: 1941 Yankees, 1975 Reds, 2001 Mariners, 1953 Dodgers

Top five hitters this tourney: CF Mule Haas: .310, 7 HR, 28 RBI ..... LF Al Simmons .308, 7 HR, 15 RBI ..... 1B Jimmie Foxx: .250, 11 HR, 28 RBI ..... SS Jimmy Dykes: .301, 6 HR, 16 RBI ..... C Mickey Cochrane: .232, 2 HR, 14 RBI

Pitching: LHP Lefty Grove: 5-1, 2.83 ERA, 63.2 IP, 19 W, 70 K ...... RHP George Earnshaw: 4-3, 4.22 ERA, 53.1 IP, 27 W, 48 K ...... LHP Rube Walberg: 2-2, 5.18 ERA, 41.2 IP, 23 W, 28 K ....... BULLPEN: 5-2, 7 saves, 3.88 ERA, 55.2 IP, 21 W, 36 K .......... TEAM ERA: 3.90

NOTES: The ball club once dubbed by Sports Illustrated as “The Team that Time Forgot” is on a mission to remind us. The Philadelphia Athletics have approached this tournament as a challenge to their “mental toughness.” Manager Connie Mack told this bunch in spring training of 1929, after back-to-back years of 90-plus wins but no pennant, “You’ve got all the talent in the world. But now you must prove you have the mental toughness to go as far as your talent can take you.” (I’m paraphrasing!) ... Having the right approach day after day in a long season matters. You *will* get knocked down. How fast can you get back up? Your talent will make winning feel easy at times. Are you strong enough to stay focused on the goal? At various points, you will feel lazy, distracted, or nervous and unsure of yourself. Can you respond at those times when your team is counting on you?

Boy, have these 1929 Athletics risen to every challenge.

• Against the rival 1941 Yankees in the quarterfinals, the Athletics dominated Game One, 11-1, but then lost the next two by a combined 15-4. How did they respond? By winning the next three in a row to close it out. Mule Haas cracked a solo homer in the top of the ninth inning of Game Four to break a 3-3 tie at Yankee Stadium. The same Haas drove in the winning run in the eleventh inning of Game Six to clinch it.

• In the semifinals against the 1975 Reds, the A’s took Game One by an 11-0 score and boat-raced to a 3 games to 0 advantage while outscoring the Big Red Machine by a combined 26-5. When the Reds won Game Four (11-3), the A’s shrugged it off and eliminated Cincy in Game Five, 3-1, yielding only 3 hits, reasserting their dominance.

• The A’s got their first serious test of the tournament against the 2001 Mariners in the Bracket B Finals. The unintimidated, 116-win Mariners made Philly work for every run in a series marked by tense, low-scoring contests. Lefty Grove got the A’s their usual Game One victory, but it was much closer (5-2) than the previous two. The M’s took the next two games, 2-1 at Seattle and 3-2 in Philadelphia by scoring the tie-breaking run in the ninth inning of each. Mack’s men faced their second 2 games to 1 deficit of the tournament after back-to-back late-inning losses, but they got back up! They took Game Four, 1-0, despite getting out-hit 9 to 3, and then won Game Five 5-2 behind a 10-strikeout performance by George Earnshaw. But then they had to go back to Seattle. The A’s took a 3-0 lead early but trailed 5-3 after seven innings. Jimmie Foxx tied the game with a clutch 2-run homer in the eighth, and the A’s took the lead on a Mickey Cochrane sac fly in the ninth for a 6-5 clincher.

• The 1929 Athletics’ run differential took a hit in the semifinals of the Final Four. Their runs-allowed-per-game warped from 3.6 after three series to 4.9 coming into the finals. All because of the *dragon* they had to slay: the dashing, bashing, scoreboard-crashing 1953 Dodgers. At first, it did not seem the Athletics would be tested. Lefty Grove struck out 11 in a 5-1 Game One triumph. In Game Two, Philly had an 8-0 lead after seven innings and won 8-4. But then the series shifted to Brooklyn, and the tables turned. The Dodgers romped to an 8-1 victory in Game Three. In Games Four and Five, the Athletics had leads of 8-2 and 6-0, but lost both contests, 16-8 and 13-10, as Brooklyn’s bats roared to life. Look at it from the A’s perspective: Suddenly, they couldn’t get the Dodgers out. Lefty Grove failed to hold his lead in Game Four. George Earnshaw got blasted early in Game Five. The bullpen was ineffective and in tatters from overuse. And Rube Walberg was scheduled to start Game Six after getting shelled in Game Three. It looked hopeless. And yet .... it’s the Athletics who find themselves in the Last Man Standing Championship Series. Why? Because when all else failed them, the A’s “mental toughness” came through. They hung on for a 5-4 victory in Game Six despite getting out-hit 14 to 3. They shouldn’t have had anything left for Game Seven, but it took *everything* for them to win. They trailed 9-3 when they came to bat in the bottom of the ninth and were saved by a two-strike, two-out grand slam by Jimmie Foxx, sending Game Seven to extra innings. The A’s found themselves down to their last strike again, trailing 11-9 in the bottom of the eleventh. But then Al Simmons tripled in a run, and Foxx delivered the series-winning 2-run homer for a 12-11 triumph.

So that’s the story of the 1929 Athletics in this tournament. Talented enough to dominate, but also gritty enough to *find a way* when they had to. They haven’t only been tested in this tournament; they’ve been forged.

Now let’s look at the powerhouse the A’s will be facing for the championship.

***

The 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Real-life record: 105-49 .... 4.9 runs per game // 3.1 runs allowed

World Series: Beat the St. Louis Browns, 4 games to 2, outscoring them 16 to 12

Tournament record: 16-4 ....... 5.0 runs per game // 3.2 runs allowed

Teams eliminated: 1980 Phillies, 2023 Rangers, 1998 Yankees, 2016 Cubs

Top five hitters this tourney: RF Stan Musial: .355, 1 HR, 11 RBI ..... C Walker Cooper: .200, 4 HR, 17 RBI ..... 3B Whitey Kurowski: .300, 4 HR, 15 RBI ..... 1B Ray Sanders: .259, 2 HR, 8 RBI ..... CF Johnny Hopp: .250, 4 HR, 10 RBI

Pitching: LHP Max Lanier: 4-0, 2.50 ERA, 54 IP, 22 W, 43 K ...... RHP Mort Cooper: 4-0, 2.98 ERA, 42.1 IP, 16 W, 26 K ...... LHP Harry Brecheen: 3-2, 5.00 ERA, 36 IP, 10 W, 32 K ......... BULLPEN: 5-2, 9 saves, 1.75 ERA, 56.2 IP, 12 W, 31 K

NOTES: Pretend this is Rocky IV for a minute. Okay fine, pretend it’s February of 1986 too, if it’ll jog your memory. The Chicago Bears just crushed the Super Bowl. The Space Shuttle blew up in the sky. Songs like “Burning Heart” and “Kyrie” are all over the radio, and it’ll be 15 years before your eyes adjust to how dorky you looked in that mullet — the same hair you had when you sat in the theater watching Rocky IV and hating those cruel, arrogant Commies. ... Okay, now rejoin us in the smartphone age: The 1929 Athletics are Rocky Balboa. They’re from Philly, just like him. They had to overcome a major power (the Yankees) before they could *be* the power, as Rocky had to defeat Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and Clubber Lang (Mister T). Like the Italian Stallion in every movie, the Athletics have taken a lot of uppercuts and body blows in this tournament. They withstood them and then *delivered* a lot of punishing blows. They’ve even landed a few roundhouse whoppers to stagger and knock out their foes. Yep, the A’s are Rocky Balboa — bloody and sweaty and slurring and senseless, but also victorious!

The 1944 St. Louis Cardinals are Ivan Drago. Towering, trained, efficient, and merciless. These Cardinals are the culmination of a brilliant and ruthless plan: the largest, best, and most well-run minor league system in the majors. Their starting nine and pitching rotation weren’t just the cream of the crop; they were the *cream of the cream.* They don’t get talked about anymore because there was too much going on in their heyday. But the 1944 Cardinals were every bit the dynasty the Athletics had been 15 years earlier.

*** From 1929 to 1931, the Athletics won 315 regular-season games and two World Series.

*** From 1942 to 1944, the Cardinals won 316 regular-season games and two World Series.

In fact, the Cardinals had been riding high on their farm system for so long that they played the Athletics in the 1930 and 1931 World Series, defeating the A’s in seven games in that last one.

The Athletics built their beast on a peerless, widely-feared lineup, and a couple of excellent pitchers. The Cardinals of the early 1940s took the opposite approach. They assembled a fine, serviceable lineup around a couple of ringers like Stan Musial and Walker Cooper. But they developed a whole platoon of top-flight pitchers. In real-life, these Cards had a rotation that could go six deep and still have four or five quality guys in the bullpen. And they’re proving it in this project. After 20 games against other World Series winners, the 1944 Cards’ team ERA is 2.86.

These powerful Cardinals are so consistent that their tournament run differential (5.0 to 3.2) practically matches their real-life RD from 1944 (4.9 to 3.1). Except in 1944 they played a lot of regular-season schleps, whereas they’re beating World Series champions here.

• In the quarterfinals, the Cardinals beat Steve Carlton twice to put the 1980 Phillies away in six games. It might have been the most difficulty the 1944 Cardinals have faced. They lost twice to (double checks notes) DICK RUTHVEN and even got shut out once. It took them 14 innings to win Game Six and and move on.

• The Cardinals were as surprised as anyone to find the 2023 Rangers, not the 1986 Mets, waiting for them in the bracket semifinals. They shrugged and swept the Rangers in four perfectly neat performances, limiting Texas to just 2 runs per game. No drama. No fuss. No sweat.

• The 1998 Yankees, a true powerhouse and the No. 2 *overall* seed in the 48-team project, awaited the 1944 Cardinals in the Bracket D finals. Both teams saw red. The Empire had opposed these Cardinals in two of their three World Series, with St. Louis winning in five games in 1942, and the Yanks getting revenge in 1943. This time, it was war. The first three games were each decided by one run, but the Cardinals won two of them. In Game Four, the Yanks had leads of 3-0 and 5-4, but STL’s Johnny Hopp hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth, and Danny Litwhiler won it with a 2-run shot in the tenth. The Yanks led 5-1 in Game Five, but the Cardinals got four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, forcing the Bombers to play three more innings before winning it in twelve, delaying their elimination. But delay was the best these Yankees could do. The Cardinals took control in the middle innings and won the sixth game 9-4, smothering the last flickering candle of the Yankee dynasty.

• The Final Four semifinal clash with the 2016 Cubs attracted a lot of pre-series hype. The Cardinals flattened the Cubs so decisively in a four-game sweep that all the hype-mongers were driven into hiding. None of the games were close. In each of the first three games, the Cardinals teased the Cubs with a sliver of early hope, then kicked them square in the face. By Game Four, the Cubs were listless, beaten before they even took the field. The Cardinals outscored the 2016 Cubs 31 to 12, recording their second four-game sweep in the tournament.

Now you see it, right? As pitiless and domineering as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Those aw-shucks country-boy smiles and Stan Musial’s legendary kindness barely mask this team’s fine-tuned ferocity on the diamond.

** Two champions have risen above the rest.

** Two champions have polished the shine on their decades-old mystique.

** Two golden era powerhouses have awakened like sleeping giants to claim what each believes is rightfully theirs. But they both know:

There can be only one LAST TEAM STANDING.


NOTE: Beause the 1944 Cardinals had a pre-tournament power rating of 171, and the 1929 Athletics came up just short at 170, it is the Cardinals who will have HOME FIELD advantage.

Games One and Two, and if necessary, Games Six and Seven will be hosted at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. ... Games Three, Four, and Five will be hosted at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

****

[webrian]

~ Let's Rumble ~

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

1929 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS (16-8) vs. 1944 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (16-4)

At Busch Stadium, St. Louis

GAME ONE

Each team carried a distinct aura of invincibility into Game One. The 1929 Athletics could be best described as dominant and determined, while the 1944 Cardinals have been dominant and domineering. Anticipation intensified like steam in a pressure cooker as the teams went through their pre-game routines. For once, there was less simmering hostility between these teams than had been evident in most of the preceding matchups in this tournament. Before the game, the players on both sides mixed amicably, almost cheerfully, posing side-by-side for photographs and engaging in playful, good-natured ribbing. The mutual respect was obvious. These teams considered each other worthy opponents and were delighted to be playing for the championship.

Nevertheless, at the cry of “Play Ball!” at exactly 7:11 p.m. local time, LHP Max Lanier threw a called first strike past Athletics 2B Max Bishop, and the contest began.

The pitchers controlled the game. Over the early innings, Lanier gave up a hit here, a walk there, but got out of trouble with timely groundouts and double plays. Philadelphia’s Lefty Grove was simply overpowering. At the end of three scoreless innings, Grove already had seven strikeouts with zero walks. It was going to be a close game.

The Cardinals got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Stan Musial led off with a single and Walker Cooper reached on a misplayed chopper at third base. Next, Whitey Kurowski singled to load the bases with nobody out. It had all the makings of a big inning — but Grove bore down. He struck out Danny Litwhiler but then walked Marty Marion on six pitches, forcing in Musial for the game’s first run. Grove limited the damage to just the one run, inducing veteran Pepper Martin into a double play grounder to shortstop. 1-0 Cardinals.

The Athletics squandered a golden chance to score in the fifth with two singles and another batter reaching on an error. But in between those successes, Joe Boley got caught stealing second, Bishop grounded out, and Al Simmons hit an infield pop-up with two runners on.

St. Louis maintained its 1-0 lead until the top of the seventh. Sammy Hale and Boley opened the inning with back-to-back singles off a tiring Lanier. Cards skipper Billy Southworth had guys throwing in the bullpen but for now decided to stick with his ace southpaw. George Burns, pinch-hitting for Bishop, ripped a double past third base and up the left field line. Hale came around to score the tying run. Still, Southworth hesitated to make the change, with lefties Mule Haas and Mickey Cochrane due up. Lanier struck out Haas for the inning’s first out, but Cochrane tagged a sharp single into left field, driving in Boley for a 2-1 Athletics’ lead. ... At last, Southworth relieved Lanier with righty Red Munger, who struck out both Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx to end the inning: 2-1 Athletics.

Lefty Grove was also tiring. Two of the first three Cardinal hitters reached base to start the bottom of the seventh. Grove had to bear down again. He struck out Ray Sanders but then walked Musial to load the bases. Walker Cooper, a right-handed cleanup hitter, was due next. Grove shot a fierce “Don’t you dare take me out” glance at the Athletics’ dugout and went back to work. He got Cooper to ground out to third, ending the threat.

That was the end of the night for Grove, who had thrown 133 pitches: 7 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 4 W, 11 strikeouts.

The relievers finished the game. Munger allowed two hits but no runs over his 2.2 innings of work. Bill Shores took over for Grove in the bottom of the eighth and allowed only two baserunners.

Cardinals CF Johnny Hopp drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth, but his haste to get in scoring position proved costly. After Sanders flew out, Musial stood at the plate hoping to at least advance the runner. Hopp leaned too far off first base. Shores whipped around and *picked him off* for the game’s final out. ... FINAL: Athletics 2, Cardinals 1

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

At Busch Stadium, St. Louis

GAME TWO

One pitcher had his good stuff. The other didn’t. Unfortunately for the 1944 Cardinals, Mort Cooper was on the wrong side of the comparison. When Al Simmons led off the top of the second with a screaming double off the top of the right-field wall and later scored on a sacrifice fly, it was only the beginning.

The 1929 Athletics added to their 1-0 lead with four more runs in the fourth inning—on a solo home run by Simmons, three singles, two walks, and two errors—and then four more in the sixth, capped by Mickey Cochrane’s two-run blast off reliever Blix Donnelly.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia righty George Earnshaw was mowing the Cardinals down. In fact, they never came close to scoring. Earnshaw turned in one of his best performances of the tournament: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 1 W, 9 strikeouts.

For the first time in this tournament, the 1944 Cardinals have lost two games in a row. Now they must find a way to regain their mojo on the road. FINAL: Athletics 9, Cardinals 0

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

At Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

GAME THREE

The air of invincibility has turned into a gasp of desperation for the 1944 Cardinals. They were outscored 11-1 in their two home games to open this series and rolled into Philadelphia starving for some offense.

Rube Walberg and the 1929 Athletics deprived the Redbirds of runs for another nine innings. The left-hander picked up right where Lefty Grove and George Earnshaw left off, racking up several early strikeouts as the frustration mounted for St. Louis.

The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Jimmie Foxx led off with a double to centerfield, then scored two batters later on Jimmy Dykes’ double to left. They increased the margin to 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth. Sammy Hale singled, stole second, stole third, then scored on Max Bishop’s two-out double to center. Cardinals’ starter Harry Brecheen wasn’t pitching badly, but his margin for error was literally zero. That’s how many runs the Cards had on the board.

The 1944 Cardinals came in looking like the “domineering” ball club. The 1929 Athletics are redefining that term inning by inning.

Finally, in the bottom of the seventh, Connie Mack’s troops turned the 2-0 nailbiter into a rout. Mickey Cochrane unloaded a three-run homer to right off reliever Ted Wilks. Al Simmons followed with a solo blast to just a few rows beyond where Cochrane’s homer landed. Now the lead was 6-0.

The Cardinals loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning as Walberg became fatigued. With one more out to get, Mack sent in Ossie Orwol, a middling reliever who only worked 30 innings in 1929, and has not appeared even once during this tournament. Orwol threw one pitch and Emil Verban hit a harmless flyball to center for the final out.

There might only be one game left in this entire project. The 1929 Athletics now stand at the threshold of one hell of a coup de grace. They’ve outscored the 1944 Cardinals 17-1 over these first three games and pitched two straight shutouts. They have a 10-1 advantage in extra-base hits and a 4-0 edge in homers. They’re not just beating the Cardinals. They’re erasing them.

It won’t make for the most exciting championship ending to a project like this. BUT — it will be one unforgettable mic drop, exclamation point, closing statement.

Lefty Grove will take the mound in Game Four with an opportunity to sew up the sweep and leave no doubt. ... FINAL: Athletics 6, Cardinals 0

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

At Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

GAME FOUR

Ever since Johnny Hopp got picked off first base to end Game One, the 1944 Cardinals had been reeling. They went 24 innings without scoring a run as the 1929 Athletics ran out to a 3 games to 0 lead in this ** Last Team Standing ** Championship Series. The Redbirds badly needed a jolt, something to break the spell they’d been under.

They finally got it—but it still wasn’t enough, at least not by itself.

St. Louis 3B Whitey Kurowski crushed a Lefty Grove fastball for a 114-mph line-drive solo home run to lead off the top of the second inning. Kurowski’s blast clearly bothered Grove, who gave up two more runs on four more hits in the inning. Danny Litwhiler followed the homer with a hard-hit double off the leftfield wall and scored two batters later on a double by veteran Pepper Martin. Later, a single by Hopp plated Martin to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Suddenly, Billy Southworth’s Cards had some life in them. But Grove, ever the bitter competitor, spent the next six innings trying to choke that life out. After his shaky second inning, Grove gave up just one more hit the rest of his outing. He departed after eight innings, with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Meanwhile, the 1929 Athletics chipped away where they could against LHP Max Lanier. Jimmie Foxx led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to get his team on the board.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mickey Cochrane singled, stole second, and went to third on Foxx’s one-out single. Lanier was wobbling.Bing Miller followed Foxx with a solid single up the middle, scoring Cochrane and pulling the Athletics within 3-2. .... Though he hated to do it, Southworth pulled Lanier to put in his most dependable reliever, Red Munger. Jimmy Dykes greeted Munger with a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield, bringing the crowd fully to life. Foxx crossed the plate, making it a brand new ball game at 3-3.

Now there were two runners on with one out, and the Philly crowd was roaring: “SWEEP!! SWEEEEEEP!! SWEEEEEEEEEP!!”

Munger had been tough in Game One. He was tough this time too, getting Sammy Hale to bounce into an inning-ending double play. The Cards had staggered but now had time to find their legs again.

They couldn’t find their bats, though. In the top of the eighth, Grove needed only four pitches to retire Ray Sanders, Stan Musial, and Walker Cooper on two groundouts and a flyout.

In the bottom of the eighth, Max Bishop hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a Mule Haas groundout. Cochrane followed with a line-drive single to left, and Bishop made the hard turn at third, charging for home with the potential go-ahead run. But Litwhiler got to the ball quickly and made a perfect throw to the plate. OUT! The game remained tied, going into the ninth inning.

Bill Shores replaced Grove in the top of the ninth, and he was just as effective, retiring the middle of the Cardinals’ lineup on two strikeouts and a flyout to keep the score knotted at 3-3.

The Citizens Bank Park crowd was still chanting “SWEEP! SWEEEEEEEEP!” as the A’s came up in the bottom of the ninth. Al Simmons led off and struck a high drive toward left field. It had a 42-degree launch angle and all the trajectory of a series-ending home run, but the wind must have slowed it down. The ball fell right at the base of the wall and Simmons had to settle for a leadoff double. .... Next came Foxx, but Munger —whose mother didn’t raise no fool— intentionally walked him. Now the crowd was absolutely bloodthirsty in its frenzy. They could *taste* it.

Bing Miller hit an easy ground ball to shortstop. It should have been a double play, but the Cards’ regular SS Marty Marion had departed for a pinch-hitter earlier. Now George Fallon was playing the position. Instead of trying to rise above his skill level, Fallon made a careful throw to first to get the first out. Simmons and Foxx advanced to third and second, respectively. Next came Jimmy Dykes. Munger wasn’t taking any chances with him either. He gave Dykes four wide ones, juicing the bases again.

Now the advantage swung to Munger with the A’s No. 8 and No. 9 hitters due up. But there was no margin for error. Munger got both Hale and Boley to ground into forceouts, preserving the 3-3 tie and sending the game to extra innings.

The 1944 Cardinals were still sitting on six hits — and they’d gotten five of them way back in the second inning. Had their bats gone back to sleep? ... The top of the tenth got off to a bad start for St. Louis. Pinch-hitter Augie Bergamo drew a leadoff walk, but Shores quickly picked him off. It was Shores’ second late-game pickoff in as many appearances! However, this time, the Redbirds responded with back-to-back singles from Emil Verban and Hopp, with Verban scooting all the way to third. Sanders, who is batting .056 in this series, hit a flyball to shallow center field, but Verban took off from third anyway. Haas, possibly surprised, didn’t even throw home as Verban gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

The Cardinals hoped to add on when Shores intentionally walked Musial, but Cooper struck out swinging. Now all the Cardinals had to do was protect their one-run lead.

They couldn’t. Munger walked Bishop and Haas to start the bottom of the tenth. Cochrane followed with a chopper up the first base line. The Cards got the batter at first, but the runners advanced to second and third. .... Now Munger had to concentrate on Simmons, but as he aimed at an outside corner, the ball got past the catcher and skittered away. Bishop raced home from third, tying the score again, 4-4. Munger ended up walking Simmons, leaving runners at first and third with one out. ... “SWEEP!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEP!!” Time for a pitching change! Southworth relieved Munger with hard-throwing righty Blix Donnelly, who came in and got two quick strikes on Foxx. But Double-X is a terrifying site at the plate when your whole mission is at stake. Donnelly couldn’t find the courage to throw anything else near the strike zone. The next four pitches to Foxx were balls, and he walked. Fortunately for Donnelly, he struck out Miller and got Dykes to hit a line drive out to center. Whew! On to the eleventh!

Eddie Rommel came out of the A’s bullpen to replace Shores for the eleventh. The 1944 Cards could not contain their enthusiasm. Kurowski and Litwhiler singled on back-to-back pitches to lead off the inning, and Fallon sacrificed them both into scoring position with a bunt. Bergamo stood in next. Philly skipper Connie Mack ordered Rommel to walk Bergamo so there’d be a forceout at every base. Next, Verban battled Rommel for four pitches, then struck a single up the middle past the diving shortstop (Dykes). Kurowski scored, giving the Cards a 5-4 lead.

The bases were still loaded. Hopp moved into the batter’s box, not sure if he’d yet atoned for his baserunning blunder at the end of Game One. But he saw his chance in Rommel’s first pitch to him, a fat curveball that didn’t break. Hopp got ALL of it. The ball sailed 418 feet over the wall in left-center for a GRAND SLAM!

That shut the crowd up.

The Cardinals didn’t score any more runs in the top of the eleventh but didn’t need to. Donnelly pitched around an error and a single in the bottom of the eleventh to nail down the victory. It remains to be seen whether the Redbirds canome back to win the series, but at least they won’t be swept. FINAL: Cardinals 9, Athletics 4 (11 innings).

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

At Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia

GAME FIVE

A dramatic victory in Game Four saved the 1944 Cardinals from getting swept. But could they stay alive long enough to get the series back to Busch Stadium? The 1929 Athletics weren’t about to let it happen. The glory of a dominant sweep had barely slipped through their fingers, but the championship was still within their grasp. All they had to do was tighten their grip for nine more innings.

The A’s got off to a decent start. Al Simmons hit a run-scoring single in the bottom of the first, driving in Mickey Cochrane for a 1-0 lead. But this time, Mort Cooper did not fold as he had in Game Two. He recovered and kept Philadelphia stuck on one run for six innings.

The Cardinals struck back in the top of the third. Four of their first five hitters reached with singles. The last two, by Johnny Hopp and Ray Sanders, put them on top, 2-1. After Stan Musial hit into a fielder’s choice, Walker Cooper got hit by a pitch, loading the bases with two outs. Next, RHP George Earnshaw faced Whitey Kurowski and struck him out on five pitches—but the third strike got away from catcher Mickey Cochrane, and Hopp raced in from third as Kurowski beat Cochrane’s throw to first. The inning could have ended at 2-1. Now it was 3-1 with the bases still loaded. Fortunately for Earnshaw, Danny Litwhiler grounded into a forceout to end the inning.

The Cardinals maintained their 3-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh. Jimmie Foxx led off against Cooper and watched three straight balls go by. Then Cooper threw a strike and decided to see if he could sneak another one through. Nope. Foxx turned on Cooper’s fifth pitch and hammered an opposite-field shot over the wall, narrowing the gap to 3-2. ... Cooper tried to shake that off, but Bing Miller hit a grounder to shortstop, and Marty Marion booted it. That got the crowd going again. Cooper took a deep breath, regained his focus, and retired the next three in a row. Crisis averted — for now.

Neither team scored in the eighth. The Cardinals really wanted an insurance run, but Verban and Hopp made quick outs in the top of the ninth against reliever Bill Shores. Then Ray Sanders doubled, and Musial drew an intentional walk. Walker Cooper got down in the count, two strikes, but fought off a fastball for a line-drive single to left. Verban came in to score, making it a 4-2 Cardinals lead.

Reliever Freddy Schmidt came in to pitch the bottom ninth for St. Louis. He gave up singles to Foxx and pinch-hitter Homer Summa. But with two out, he got Joe Boley to ground out to shortstop. Game over! Series heading back to St. Louis! ... FINAL: Cardinals 4, Athletics 2

[webrian]

***** LAST TEAM STANDING *****

At Busch Stadium, St. Louis

GAME SIX

Once again, Busch Stadium buzzed with pre-game anticipation. But unlike all the ceremony that had preceded Game One, there was no sense this time that “anything” could happen. By Game Six, so much had already happened. The 1929 Athletics looked dominant for three games, but then the determined 1944 Cardinals stopped them in their tracks.

Now, just maybe, the Cardinals were about to author an unforgettable finish.

But skipper Billy Southworth was nervous, precisely because Connie Mack’s Athletics were not nervous. They showed easy smiles and playful banter around the batting cage and still carried themselves as if they had a 3 games to 0 lead. Southworth hoped his Cards would hit LHP Rube Walberg early. Get him on the ropes. Get the crowd excited and ride the wave into Game Seven.

That is not what happened. It was not Walberg but St. Louis lefty Harry Brecheen who found himself on the ropes early. Philadelphia’s Al Simmons hit a leadoff double to spark a two-run second inning. Mule Haas blasted a solo homer to cap a two-run third inning. As the game moved to the fourth, the Cardinals trailed 4-0, and Brecheen had already been sent to the showers.

That remained the score until the bottom of the sixth. A two-out single by Danny Litwhiler scored Stan Musial from second to get St. Louis on the board.

The 1944 Cardinals had an excellent chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Emil Verban led off and reached first on an error at shortstop. Johnny Hopp followed with a single, and Ray Sanders then cranked a double into the right-centerfield gap. Verban scored, and suddenly St. Louis had the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out. ... Jack Quinn relieved Walberg and got Musial to hit a long flyout to center field. Verban scored on the sac fly, and now it was 4-3. Walker Cooper followed with a single to left, and Sanders flew around third base on his way home.

But Simmons had quickly corralled the ball in left and fired it home on a laser trajectory. Mickey Cochrane applied the tag on Sanders to keep the score at 4-3. Whitey Kurowski batted next, but grounded out at third to end the seventh.

The Cardinals never got any closer. Haas singled to open the top of the eighth against Ted Wilks. Cochrane followed with a double to the right field gap, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. ... Blix Donnelly came out to relieve Wilks. Simmons greeted him with an opposite-field line drive that sailed over the right field wall for a **three-run homer.** And before Simmons even dropped his bat and started his trot, you could feel the whole ... stadium ... DEFLATE.

With the score at 7-3, the game, the series, and the entire tournament felt over. But the teams kept exchanging blows. Litwhiler led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer to pull the Cards back within 7-4. In the top of the ninth, Sammy Hale hit a leadoff single, and light-hitting Joe Boley cracked a 406-foot, two-run homer to left-center, making it 9-4 for the Athletics. They were all smiles in the Philadelphia dugout after that one. Connie Mack even took his suit jacket off.

In the bottom of the ninth, it was time once again, for the last time, to COUNT THE OUTS.

But the Cardinals weren’t conceding yet. Hopp led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, and Sanders followed with a massive blast to right-center, a two-run jack that pulled St. Louis back within three runs. ... Taking no chances, Mack yanked Quinn and replaced him with normal stopper Bill Shores. Now, now it was time to count the outs.

Musial greeted Shores with a solid single to right. The crowd stirred even louder. Perhaps this would be a comeback after all? But then Cooper swung at a first pitch and hit a lazy fly to left. One out.

The end came abrubtly. Kurowski attacked a Shores fastball, but his hard-hit ball rolled straight to shortstop Jimmy Dykes, who threw to second for the forceout, then Bishop drilled the ball to first to complete the double play! GAME OVER.

Kurowski turned briefly toward the first base umpire to try and plead his case, but the Athletics were already storming the field. Litwhiler fell to his knees in the batter’s box and just sat there. Musial got to his feet and took a moment to congratulate the nearest Philadelphia player, who happened to be Haas, trotting in happily from center field.

St. Louis fans sat in the stands watching everything unfold. Some smiled in spite of themselves. Some cried. Most sat expressionless. Overhead, fireworks began to pop and blossom against the night sky.

It’s all over, folks! The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics are the LAST TEAM STANDING.

The 1929 Athletics WIN the series, 4 games to 2, outscoring the 1944 Cardinals, 32 to 20.

MVP-1: Athletics LF Al Simmons: 12-for-26, 3 HR, 5 doubles, 7 RBI, 5 runs scored

MVP-2: Athletics C Mickey Cochrane: 13-for-28, 2 HR, 2 doubles, 6 RBI, 6 runs scored

MV-Pitcher: Athletics LHP Lefty Grove: 1-0, 15 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 11 H, 4 W, 19 K.

1929 ATHLETICS TEAM STATS: Batting: (.302, 67-of-222); Extra-Base Hits: 21 (12 doubles, 9 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 5-2; Double Plays-Errors: 7-6; Walks-Strikeouts: 15-33 (-18).

1944 CARDINALS TEAM STATS: Batting: (.268, 58-of-216); Extra-Base Hits: 10 (6 doubles, 4 HR); Stolen Bases-Caught: 5-3; Double Plays-Errors: 10-9; Walks-Strikeouts: 16-54 (-38).

*****

*****

Thank you, my friends, for following this project.

I would still have had plenty of fun keeping it to myself, but I had even more fun writing about it and sharing it with you. I know I got carried away lots of times!

I’m going to take a little break and ponder what project to do next.

Like I’ve said, this was really a miniature project. Only 48 teams and a simple format. I wanted to complete it *before* the start of the World Baseball Classic, but I just didn’t make it.

LAST TEAM STANDING: February 9 to May 25, 2026. ~~