Stat break: Giants 87

Hitters

Name              AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
Aldrete              8     2    4    0        1    0    0      2      0    .500
Brenly             17     4    7    4        4    0    0      0      0    .412
W. Clark         25     2    8    2        1    0    2      3      0    .320
C. Davis          21     4    7     3        2    0    1      2      0    .333
Leonard           18     2    4     1        2    1    0      2      0    .222
Maldonado      17     3    4     1        1    0    0      1      0    .236
Melvin              4     2     2    4         1    0    1      1      0    .500
E. Milner          8     2     4    2         1    0    1       3      0    .500
Mitchell          22     2    4     2         1    0    0      4      0    .182
Speier               1     0     0     0        0    0    0      0      0    .000
Thompson      26     4   10     6        3    0    1       0      0    .385
Uribe               22    1    2     2        1    0    0       1      0    .091
Williams           2    1    1     2        0    0      1      0      0    .500

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L   ERA

Downs              1      1      3          2      0      0        2     3       0       0     0     0.00

Dravecky          2      2     14        15     4      4        8   10       0       1     0     2.57

Garrelts             2      0      4          0      0      0       0       4       0      1     0     0.00

Hammaker        2      0      5           7     3      3       1      3        0      0     0     2.57

LaCoss              1      1      5.3       8     1       1       3      2        0      0     0    1.69

Price                 2      0       1         1      0      0        0      0        0      0     0    0.00

Reuschel           2     2     16         9      1       1        4    13       0      2     0    0.56

D. Robinson     2     0       5          9      4       4       2       3       0      0      2   7.20

Stat break: Braves 87

Hitters

Name              AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
Blauser             4     0    2    2        0    0     0       0     0    .500
Griffey             5     0    0     0       1    0     0       1      0    .000
Hall                20    1     5     0       0    0     0      0      0    .250
Hubbard         23    2     6     0       3    0     0      1      0    .261
James             24    3     7     1       1    1     0      0      0    .292
Murphy          26    2    7      4       1    0     1      2      0    .269
Nettles              9   0    1      0        0    0     0     2      0    .111
Oberkfell         8    1    2     0        1    0     0       2      0    .250
Perry              13   0    3     2         1    0    0       1      0    .231
Ramirez           8   0    1     0        1    0     0       2      0    .125
Roenicke          6   0    0     1        0    0     0       2      0    .000
Simmons        21   1    7     2        1    0     0       1      0    .333
Thomas          17   1    4     0        0    0     0       0      1    .235
Virgil             11   2    2     0        0    0     0       3      0    .182

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L   ERA

Acker                 2      0      3         3      2      2      1      2       0      1     0      6.00
Alexander          1      1      7         7      3      3      1      2       0      0     0      3.38

Assenmacher     3      0      2.3      4      3      3      1      1       0      0     0    11.59

Dedmon             1     0       2         0      0      0      1      0       0      0     0      0.00

Garber                4     0      5          5      2      2      1     2       1      1     1      3.60

Glavine              1      1      6         6      1       1     2      5       0      0     0      1.50

Mahler               2     2       8.3      8      6      6      6     4        0      0     1     6.48

D. Palmer          1      0      6         4       1      1     2     5        0      0     0      1.50

Puleo                 1      0      2         2      1      1      1     3        0      0     0      4.50

Smith                 2      2    11       29     10    10     3    10       0      0     2      8.18

Ringo bracket: Giants (87) defeat Braves (87) in six games

Game One: San Francisco 7, Atlanta 2
WP: Reuschel (1-0)
LP: Z Smith (0-1)

Game Two: San Francisco 9, Atlanta 3
WP: Dravecky (1-0)
LP: Mahler (0-1)
HR: R. Thompson (1), W. Clark 2 (2), Melvin (1), M. Williams (1)

Game Three: Atlanta 2, San Francisco 1
WP: Acker (1-0)
LP:  D. Robinson (0-1)
Save: Garber (1)

Game Four: Atlanta 5, San Francisco 4
WP: Garber (1-0)
LP: D. Robinson (0-2)
HR: Murphy (1), Milner (1)

Game Five: San Francisco 6, Atlanta 0
WP: Reuschel (2-0)
LP: Z. Smith (0-2)
HR: C.Davis (1)

Game Six: San Francisco 2, Atlanta 1 (10 innings)
WP: Garrelts (1-0)
LP: Garber (1-1)

It took the Giants three tries, but they finally won a close one -- and closed out the series in the process.

Game One started out well for Atlanta, as the Braves stung Rick Reuschel for a run in the second -- driven in by starting pitcher Zane Smith. But the Giants smacked the lefty around for three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth, with RobThompson and Bob Brenly each clubbing two-run doubles. "Big Daddy" Reuschel allowed one run in his seven innings of work, scattering six hits.

Game Two featured a first-inning battering of Braves starter Rick Mahler. Thompson and Will Clark opened the frame with back-to-back homers, and Bob Melvin -- catching because of a first game injury to Brenly -- closed the scoring with a grand slam. Dave Palmer saved the Atlanta bullpen with six-innings of one-run relief.

The Braves, down 0-2 in the series, bypassed veteran Doyle Alexander for Game Three in Atlanta and turned instead to rookie Tom Glavine, and the southpaw came through with six innings of one-run ball. That was only good for a tie, however; the Braves got their second, and final, run in the eighth. Jim Acker and Gene Garber combined to throw three no-hit innings in relief.

The Braves tied the series in a dramatic Game Four. They were down 3-0 after three innings, but then Giants starter Kelly Downs hurt himself hitting in the top of the fourth. The Braves plated two runs off Atlee Hammaker in the fifth, then tied it in the seventh with a run off Don Robinson, The Giants responded in the eighth with a pair of doubles from Kevin Mitchell and Brenly, only to see the Brave win in the bottom of the ninth on a single by Dion James, a double by Dale Murphy, an grounder from Gerald Perry and a base hit by Ted Simmons.

Reuschel dominated the Braves in Game Five, tossing a two-hit shutout. Thompson went 3-for-5 for the Giants with three RBIs.

As bad as Mahler was in Game Two, he was good in the dramatic Game Six.

The Braves scored in the first inning of Dave Dravecky, and Mahler made that run stand up a long time. He took a 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, when pinch-hitter Mike Aldrete led off with a double. Eddie Milner then walked. Mahler popped up Thompson. Lefty reliever Paul Assenmacher got Will Clark on a liner to second. Then came Garber, who retired Mitchell on a fly to center to end the threat.

Garber opened the ninth by walking Jeffrey Leonard, but the submariner induced Candy Maldonaldo to bounce into a double play. Garber was just one out from evening the series, but he couldn't close the deal. Brenly singled and Jose Uribe doubled him home to tie the game.

And in the bottom of the 10th, Garber hit Thompson with a pitch, gave up a base hit to Clark and, with two outs, surrendered the game -- and series -- ending hit to Leonard.

Scott Garrelts went two innings in relief for the win.

Reuschel's pitching brilliance was matched by Thompson, who was stellar in the field and went 10-for-26 at the plate with three runs and six RBIs. They are co-players of the series.

Pitcher availability for Round 2: Dravecky needs two games off.  Downs cannot pitch until Game Three. All other pitchers available.

Projected rotation: Reuschel-LaCoss-Dravecky-Downs-(Reuschel)-(LaCoss)-(Dravecky)

Stat break: Tigers 87

Hitters

Name              AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
Bergman         11    2     3    1        0    1     1     1      0    .273
Brookens        10     2    3    1        1    0     0      1      0    .300
Coles                4     0    1    1        1    0     0      0      0    .250
Da. Evans       19    3    4     3        0    0     1      3      0    .211
Gibson            25    3     6     4        1   0     1      3      2    .240
Heath                9    0    2     2        0    0    0       1      0    .222
Herndon           4     0    1    0         0    0     0      1      0    .250
Lemon            22   3    9     3        3    0     1       1      0    .409
Madlock         17   3    2     2         0    0    1       4      0    .118
Nokes             18   2    3     1        0    0     0       1      0    .167
Sheridan         18   1    4     0        0    0     0       0      0    .222
Trammell        25   2    8     7        1    0     2       1      0    .320
Whitaker         23   5    3     1        0    0     0       6      1    .130

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L   ERA

Alexander          1      1     8          6      3      3      1      6        0     1     0     3.38

King                   1      0      1          1      1      0      2      1       0      0     0    0.00

Morris                2      2   16.6      13     6      6      4       9       0      1    1     3.24

Robinson           1      0     0.3        0      0      0      0      0       0      0    0     0.00

Petry                  2      0      2.3      11     8       7     2      2       0      0     0  27.04

Tanana               2     2     17.6      15     9      8      2     18      0      0    2     4.07

Terrell               1      1        4.3     11    7      7      1      5        0      0    1   14.55

Thurmond         1      0       1.6        0     0      0      0     0       0      0      0    0.00

Stat break: Rangers 87

Hitters

Name              AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
Brower             7     0    1    1        0    0    0      0      0    .143
Browne           27    4    5    3        1    0    1      0      0    .185
Buechele         21    6    9    7        2    0    2      2      0    .429
Fletcher           21   5    6     4        0    1    1      2      2    .286
Incaviglia        20   5    7     4        2    1    0      0      0    .350
McDowell       20   2    6     6        2    0    2      0      0    .300
O'Brien            17   2    2    0         0    0    0     2       0    .118
Paciorek            5   0    0     0        0    0    0      0      0    .000
Parrish            24   3    6     3         0    0    1      0      0    .250
Petralli            12   3    9     3        1    0    1       3      0    .750
Porter               1    0    0     0        0    0    0       0      0    .000
Sierra              25   4    4     2        1    0    1       1      0     .160
Stanley            7     1    1     2        0    0    1       0     0      .143
Wilkerson        1     1    1    0        0    0     0      0      0     .000

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L   ERA

Guzman            2      2     16.6       8      3      3      3     14       0     2     0   1.62

Hough               2     2     10.6     19    18     18    12    14       0      0     2  15.18

Howe                4      0      3           2      0      0      0       2       0      0    0    0.00

Kilgus               1      1      7           7      2      2      2      3        0      1    0    2.57

Loynd               1      0      3           4     2       2      1      2        0      0     0    6.00

Moharcic           1     0      1.6        0      0      0      1      0        0      0     0    0.00

Russell               2    0       3          3      1       1      0      2       0       0     0    3.00

M. Williams      1     0       1          1      0       0      0      0       1      0      0    0.00

B. Witt               1      1      7         5       1       1     9       7       0      1     0     1.29

Ringo bracket: Rangers (87) defeat Tigers (87) in six games

Game One: Detroit 12, Texas 1
WP: Morris (1-0)
LP: Hough (0-1)
HR: Da. Evans (1), Trammell (1), Lemon (1), Buechele (1)

Game Two: Texas 2, Detroit 1
WP: Guzman (1-0)
LP: Tanana (0-1)
HR: Browne (1), Madlock (1)

Game Three: Texas 17, Detroit 2
WP: B. Witt (1-0)
LP: Terrell (0-1)
HR: Parrish (1), Buechele (2)

Game Four: Detroit 8, Texas 4
WP: Alexander (1-0)
LP: Hough (0-2)
HR: K. Gibson (1), Petralli (1), McDowell (1)

Game Five: Texas 5, Detroit 2
WP: Kilgus (1-0)
LP: Morris (1-1)
S; Williams (1)
HR: McDowell (2), Sierra (1)

Game Six: Texas 7, Detroit 2
WP: Guzman (2-0)
LP: Tanana (0-2)
HR: Stanley (1), Fletcher (1), Trammell (2), Bergman (1)

The 40-Years Tourney opened with a significant upset, as the 1987 team with the most wins got clobbered in six games.

Remarkably, the Texas Rangers pulled off the upset over the Detroit Tigers without any help from ace starter Charlie Hough, who allowed 17 runs (all earned) in 10.6 innings over two starts.

Jose Guzman stepped up for Texas, however, holding the powerful Tigers to three runs in his two starts, going 16.6 innings and yielding just eight hits.

Detroit jumped on Hough early in Game One, getting a three-run bomb from Darrell Evans in the first inning. The knuckleballer kept the score at 3-0 until the fifth, when the Tigers bombed him for seven runs, including a three-run blast from Alan Trammell and a two-run dinger by Chet Lemon.

Jack Morris threw a complete-game three-hitter, with Steve Buechele touching him for a solo shot in the ninth. Morris fanned nine and walked two,

Guzman evened the series by outdueling Frank Tanana in Game Two. Guzman threw a three-hitter of his own, with seven strikeouts. Jerry Browne hit a two run homer off Tanana in the third inning. The Rangers didn't get another runner until the ninth, but the two runs stood up.

Game Three was a total Texas rout. Walt Terrell and Bobby Witt matched zeros for three innings, but the Rangers celebrated their first home game with three runs in the fourth and seven in the fifth, which drove Terrell from the mound, The Rangers stung Dan Petry for seven more in the seventh.

The only Ranger in the lineup without an RBI was Pete O'Brien, and he scored a run; the only Ranger who didn't score was Oddibe McDowell, and he had three hits and two RBIs. Pete Incavigila was 4-for-6 with three runs, three RBIs, a double and an improbable triple.

Witt walked nine men in his seven innings, but the Tigers couldn't come up with hits behind those walks. Jeff Russell finished in relief.

Detroit evened the series behind Doyle Alexander in Game Four. The Tigers again jumped on Hough early with a pair of runs in the first, taking advantage of a bit of overmanaging by the Rangers, who walked Evans intentionally. Hough never really settled in.

Lou Whitaker walked four times against Hough and scored twice. Kirk Gibson had four RBIs.

Alexander went eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits, including a pair of homers. Eric King mopped up and allowed an unearned run.

Pivotal Game Five went to Texas as Paul Kilgus kept the ball in the park for seven innings. McDowell led off against Morris with a home run. The score was 2-2 after six, but after Kilgus pitched around a two out single in the seventh, the Rangers broke the tie as McDowell plated pinch-runner Curtis Wilkerson with a double. Sierra added a homer off Morris in the eighth. Lefties Steve Howe and Mitch Williams choked off the Tigers in the final two frames..

Texas completed the series win in Game Six, peppering Tanana for five runs in the first four innings. Bob Brower capped a three-run second with a nifty squeeze bunt, and Mike Stanley hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Tanana held the Rangers at bay until the ninth, when Scott Fletcher hit a two-out, two-run shot.

Guzman took a no-hitter into the fifth. He did allow solo homers to Trammell (sixth inning) and pinch-hitter Dave Bergman (eighth). Howe entered to get Evans to finish the eighth, and Russell wrapped things up with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Player of the series: Jose Guzman.

Pitcher availability for Round 2: Kilgus needs a game off; Guzman needs one, two without penalty, All other pitchers immediately available.

Projected rotation: Hough-Witt-Guzman-Hough -(Kilgus)-(Witt)-(Hough)

Park effects

I have the 2009 park effect sheet and 1969's will come with the cards. The 1987 sheet I don't. But I have found the numbers online, and I will record them here for future access:

American League

Baltimore

Singles (L&R) 1-3

HR (L&R) 1-11

Chicago

Singles (L&R) 1-9

HR (L&R) 1-4

Detroit

Singles (L) 1-2, (R) 1

HR: (L) 1-14, (R) 1-11

Kansas City

Singles (L&R) 1-11

HR (L&R) 1-3

Milwaukee

Singles (L&R) 1-6

HR (L&R) 1-5

Minnesota

Singles (L) 1-16 (R) 1-13

HR (L&R) 1-11

Texas

Singles (L&R) 1-11

HR (L&R) 1-11

Toronto

Singles (L&R) 1-9

HR (L&R) 1-11

National League

Atlanta

Singles (L&R) 1-13

HR (L&R) 1-13

Chicago

Singles (L&R) 1-9

HR (L&R) 1-14

Houston

Singles (L&R) 1-10

HR (L&R) 1-2

Montreal

Singles (L&R) 1-4

HR (L&R) 1-4

Pittsburgh

Singles (L&R) 1-10

HR (L&R) 1-9

San Diego

Singles (L&R) 1-4

HR (L&R) 1-14

San Francisco

Singles (L&R) 1-4

HR (L&R) 1-8

St. Louis

Singles (L&R) 1-11

HR (L&R) 1-4

Making up ratings or going without

Probably the most vexing issue in setting up the 40-Years Tourney is what to do about the ratings and rules installed by Strat-O-Matic after 1987.

Those are, specifically, the closer ratings and the passed ball-wild-pitch-balk ratings.

I know they are part of the 2009 cards, and I expect they will be in the as-yet unreleased 1969 set as well. But they aren't in the 1987.

Fortunately, the 1987 teams comprise one 16-team bracket. I can play the Ringo bracket out without using those rules.

But then what will I do when the Ringo winner has to play a 1969 or 2009 team?

I am confident that I can assign individually accurate closer ratings to the relief pitchers of 1987. Anybody with 25 saves or more gets a 6; anybody with no saves gets a N; anybody with one save gets a 0, anybody with two to five gets a 1; six to 10 gets a 3, 11 to 20 gets a 4, 20 to 24 gets a 5. That may not be precisely how Strat would arrange it, but it's close enough.

I am equally confident that I have no chance of cracking the codes for passed balls, wild pitches and balks.

My inclination is to simply assign the same numbers to each pitcher and catcher on the Ringo winner: PB 2, Balk 2, WP 7. There is not the slightest chance that those assignments will be right for individuals, but they'll be closer to right collectively than doing nothing.

Three-man rotations, my asterisk

It is a Strat staple that pitchers listed on the roster with an asterisk are permitted to start on three games rest.

It is my belief that they're pretty lenient on that. Take the 2009 Twins as an example. Three pitchers -- Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Carl Pavano -- have the asterisk. But I sincerely doubt that either Baker or Blackburn ever started on three days rest in their entire careers.

Starting on short rest has long been a staple of elimination series, and I don't want to take it out of the picture here. But I also don't want to see a team make an extended run with just three starters of truly limited durability. At the same time, I look at the 1969 Dodgers and see a team that really could go a month plus of such series with just three starters.

So, my rule:

Any pitcher with the asterisk is permitted to start on three days rest, as described in the post on the schedule. BUT a pitcher who does so loses an inning on his point-of-weakness rating, and continues to lose an inning with each consecutive short-rest start.

The exception, through the round of eight: Any pitcher who

• pitched at least 300 innings or
• made at least 40 starts

in the given season may start on short rest without penalty.

Strictly speaking, 12 pitchers meet that criteria:

Claude Osteen, Bill Singer and Don Sutton, 1969 Dodgers
Ferguson Jenkins and Bill Hands, 1969 Cubs
Larry Dierker, 1969 Astros
Bob Gibson, 1969 Cardinals
Denny McLain, 1969 Tigers
Dave McNally, 1969 Orioles
Gaylord Perry, 1969 Giants
Mel Stottlemyre, 1969 Yankees
Charlie Hough, 1987 Rangers

Juan Marichal of the 1969 Giants misses by one start or one third of an inning. I will round him up; he's a durable Hall of Famer, not the kind of pitcher this rule was intended to discourage from starting three times in a long series.

(Interesting how sharply workloads declined from 1969 to 1987. Nobody in 2009 comes close to qualifying on either count.)

In the round of four, the standards will be relaxed to 35 starts or 250 innings, with the proviso that penalties already earned remain.

In the championship round, any asterisked pitcher may work on short rest without further penalty. Existing penalties remain.

The 1969 Dodgers will definitely use a three-man rotation. Between them, Osteen, Singer and Sutton started 122 of the Dodgers' 162 games and pitched 930 of their 1,457 innings. Could they stand up to a month of three-man rotation in series play? I don't see why not. They worked that kind of schedule for the full season.

Roster sizes and injuries

The standard active roster in baseball is, and has been for most of my fandom, 25. But for this tournament, I'm setting the rosters at 24. The figure works for all three seasons:

1969: While I don't have the new set yet -- it's not even available for order yet -- the original basic-play-only set was largely limited to 24 players per team. There was a basic 20-man roster (eight pitchers, two catchers, and either six infielders and four outfielders or five infielders and five outfielders), plus a handful of additional players. A few teams had five additional players, but most had four.

And, frankly, with roster changes far less frequent in 1969 than in today's game, 24 works. The Twins for example. The "missing" player is Tom Tischinski, third-string catcher who played in 37 games and hit .191. We're not exactly missing a key piece of the puzzle by missing him.

1987: Collusion was at its height in 1987, and while the main piece of that story was the refusal of teams to sign free agents, another piece was the under-the-table agreement to cut a roster spot. Teams carried 24 players that year, not 25. Even more, perhaps, than in 1969, 24 players works.

2009: Everybody carried 12 or even 13 pitchers. This is a dubious use of roster space even in the long regular season, and even more so in the context of a sequence of seven-game elimination series. Deleting a roster space can be viewed as simply deleting the fifth starter, few of whom would start in a best-of-seven anyway. Here 24 works because 25 is a waste.

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Injuries. Yes, I will have them.

In both the defunct Free Press league and my solitaire Presidential League, injuries were strictly remainder of game. Here I'm going to roll the 20-sider and allow multiple-game injuries. I will have a five-game disabled list available, and it will allow a use for the extra players included in the 1987 and 2009 sets. I hope there will be some extras in the 1969 set, but that's unknown.

The schedule

All series are best of seven. They will use the standard TV-era format: 2 games at Team A, an off day, three games (as needed) at Team B, an off day, two games (as needed) at Team A. There will be one off day to follow. For purposes of calculating pitcher rest, assume that all seven games were needed. For example, if a team sweeps a series, it has five off days (Game 5, off day, Game 6 Game 7, off day.)

In bracket play, the higher seeded team gets home field. In the first round of the John, Paul and George brackets, the team with the most wins gets home field.

Once to the round of four, home field first goes to the higher seed. (If a ninth or lower Ringo seed emerges, it will be treated as if it were the seed of the team it beat in the first round; i.e, the 15th seeded Padres would be regarded as a No.2 seed.) If two evenly seeded teams meet, home field goes to the one with the most wins in their given season, If that is even, home field goes to the team with the better winning percentage in the tournament. If that is even, draw lots.

In the round of four, the winner of the John bracket will face the winner of the Ringo bracket. The winner of the Paul bracket will play the winner of the George bracket.

All rounds will be completed before beginning the next round.

The Ringo bracket

The fourth bracket is different from the others. It is entirely made up of teams from the 1987 season -- 16 of the 26 teams at the time, so 10 are left out.

I started with the four division winners (the Twins and Tigers from the American League, the Cardinals and Giants from the National) and filled out the field with these priorities:

• An even split between the two leagues and four divisions;
• a mix of good and bad records;
• my personal interest in the squads.

My original intent was to fill this bracket with a full 16-team season from the pre-expansion era, but Strat's offerings are limited. If they had the 1908 season (Merkle's Boner), I would have jumped at it. As it was, I was insufficiently enthused by the options to spend nearly $40 on a new season,

So ... unlike the other brackets, the Ringo bracket is seeded 1 to 16. The Twins, as World Series winners, are the top seed, the Cardinals are second. The AL and NL teams are grouped together.

Seed one

Minnesota Twins (85 wins). Arguably the weakest team to win a World Series, and beloved in my memory.

Seed 16

Baltimore Orioles (67 wins). The O's collapse from winning the World Series in 1983 wasn't yet complete -- things got worse in 1988 -- but it was pretty bad. As an distant admirer of the Oriole Way, it was baffling.

Seed eight

Milwaukee Brewers (91 wins). Last AL team in. Selected on the basis of Paul Molitor and Robin Yount.

Seed nine

Kansas City Royals (83 wins). George Brett on the decline, and the emerging Bo Jackson. Two years removed from their World Series win.

Seed 12

Chicago White Sox (77 wins). Carlton Fisk and Ozzie Guillen. 

Seed five

Toronto Blue Jays  (96 wins). One team won more games, but the Jays didn't make the playoffs. They did have the MVP winner in George Bell, who didn't deserve it.

Seed 13

Texas Rangers (75 wins). Rough, tough Charlie Hough and a talented young outfield (Pete Incaviglia, Oddibe McDowell and Ruben Sierra) that never reached the levels I expected.

Seed four

Detroit Tigers (97 wins). Alan Trammell should have won the MVP; if he had, he might be in the Hall of Fame, which he also deserves.

Seed three

San Francisco Giants (90 wins). Chili Davis was the regular centerfielder. By 1991, he was limited to DH duties.

Seed 14

Atlanta Braves (69 wins). Doyle Alexander gets to pitch for both the Tigers and Braves as long as they both play. The Braves probably won't last long

Seed six

Montreal Expos (91 wins). The great Tim Raines, who was better than Andre Dawson

Seed 11

Chicago Cubs (76 wins). Andre Dawson, who won the MVP Award in the single largest MVP travesty of my time as a fan. Also of interest: Greg Maddux is a rotation regular for the first time in his career (with a 5.61 ERA), and Jamie Moyer throws more than 200 innings. (Moyer will be in the 2009 Phillies rotation as well.)

Seed 10

Houston Astros (76 wins). I seeded the Cubs higher so I could have Dawson vs. Raines in the first round. Nolan Ryan was probably the best pitcher in the NL, and he went 8-16.

Seed seven

Pittsburgh Pirates (80 wins). On the verge. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek are all here, but not yet prime.

Seed 15

San Diego Padres (65 wins). Last NL team in. Tony Gwynn was the deciding factor.

Seed two

St. Louis Cardinals (95 wins). Jack Clark, Tony Pena and seven leadoff hitters. Pretty soft rotation for a 95-win team. Were it my choice, Ozzie Smith would have been the NL MVP.

The George bracket

The third of the brackets pitting 1969 teams against their 2009 successors:

Seed one

1969 Boston Red Sox (87 wins) vs. the 2009 Boston Red Sox (95)

I was a bit surprised the Red Sox snuck onto a top line, but here they are. The '69 Sox had an imposing outfield: Carl Yastrzemski hit 40 homers, Reggie Smith hit .309 with 25 homers and Tony Conigliaro returned from a devasting eye injury to hit 20. (But Yaz, who had won batting titles in both 1967 and 68, hit just .255, and Tony C.'s percentage lines are not impressive.) Rico Petrocelli hit 40 dingers, impressive for a shortstop outside the steroid era. The '09 Sawx won more games; I'm not sure they were a better team.

Seed eight

1969 San Diego Padres (52 wins) vs. the 2009 San Diego Padres (75)

A first year expansion club on one hand, and just a subpar team 40 years later. Both teams got almost all their offense from their first baseman: Nate Colbert in 1969, Adrian Gonzalez in 2009.

Seed five

1969 Oakland Athletics (88 wins) vs. the 2009 Oakland Athletics (75)

The '69 A's were showing signs of their early 70s dynasty in 1969. Reggie Jackson hit 47 dingers, Sal Bando hit 31, and Rollie Fingers started making a home for himself in the bullpen. The talent was still settling in, The 2009 A's bore no resemblance to the team that reached the playoffs in 2012-14.

Seed four

1969 Baltimore Orioles (109 wins) vs. the 2009 Baltimore Orioles (64)

There is no wider gap in first round pairings than this: 45 games. The '69 Orioles are a scary good team. The 2009 Orioles are bird food.

Seed three

1969 Chicago Cubs (92 wins) vs. the 2009 Chicago Cubs (83 wins)

The '69 Cubs are the fall guys to the '69 Mets legend. (So are the Orioles, but the World Series can be seen as a fluke.) Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams -- four Hall of Famers without a division title, much less a pennant or World Series to their credit together. The '09 Cubs had a winning record, but not that kind of talent.

Seed six

1969 Philadelphia Phillies (63 wins) vs. the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies (93 wins)

Not as large a mismatch as the Orioles series, but a pretty serious one. I had forgotten until I was going through the '09 cards that Pedro Martinez finished his career with the Phils. It's also difficult to see how I'm going to get him into the rotation. The '09 Phillies lost the World Series to the Yankees; they're a serious threat to win this tournament.

Seed seven

1969 Kansas City Royals (69 wins) vs. the 2009 Kansas City Royals (65)

How bad were the '09 Royals? Zach Greinke won the AL Cy Young for them, and they still won four fewer games than their first-year expansion team counterpart.

Seed two

1969 Los Angeles Dodgers (85 wins) vs. the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers (95 wins)

The 1969 Dodgers are the one team I'm tempted to let go with just three starters. Claude Osteen, Bill Singer and Don Sutton averaged more than 300 innings apiece. Nobody else has three workhorses like that. The '09 Dodgers have a really deep outfield: Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre,who merely hit .308.

The Paul Bracket

Continuing the bracket examination:

Seed 1

1969 New York Yankees (80 wins) vs. the 2009 New York Yankees (103).

There are many worse teams in this tournament than the '69 Yankees, but they will be decided underdogs in the first round. The '09 team won the World Series and has the second-highest regular season win total in this tournament. The 2009 Yankees, as the top seed with the most single-season wins, will have home field advantage in any series they play.

Seed 8

1969 Cleveland Indians (62 wins) vs. the 2009 Cleveland Indians (65 wins).

Two bad seasons, which is how you wind up with an eighth seed. The '69 squad does have Sudden Sam McDowell and Luis Tiant. The '09 team doesn't even have Victor Martinez; he was traded in midseason and is on the Red Sox roster.

Seed 5

1969 Cincinnati Reds (89 wins) vs. the 2009 Cincinnati Reds (78)

The '69 Reds outfield is pretty imposing. Pete Rose, Bobby Tolan and Alex Johnson each hit well over .300. Add in the power of Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Lee May, it's an imposing lineup (until you see the middle infielders). The '09 Reds have Joey Votto and little else. Both teams were a year or two away from emerging.

Seed 4 

1969 Washington Senators (86 wins) vs. the 2009 Texas Rangers (87)

The only winning record in Washington Senators history, right here. Frank Howard hit 48 homers. Dick Bosman led the American League in ERA. This is the closest of any first round pairing in terms of wins.

Seed 3

1969 Detroit Tigers (90 wins) vs. the 2009 Detroit Tigers (86)

The '69 Tigers were a distant second in the AL East to the juggernaut Orioles, but Denny McLain did cop a share of the Cy Young Award. The '09 team will be remembered for its late fade -- the Twins beat them in a Game 163 for the AL Central title -- and for Miguel Cabrera's drunken spree in the final weekend that landed him in jail. Somehow Miggy's reputation has survived that.

Seed 6

1969 Houston Astros (81 wins) vs. the 2009 Houston Astros (74)

The '69 Astros are part of the backdrop for Ball Four, which, as I said in introducing this tournament, is part of my interest in the 1969 season. The '09 Astros don't do much for me, and I can see, looking back, why the new management decided to do a complete teardown.

Seed 7

1969 Seattle Pilots (64 wins) vs. the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers (80)

And the Pilots were the other part of the backdrop for Ball Four. Theoretically, Jim Bouton could start against Jim Bouton if the '69 Pilots and the '69 Astros should both advance to the third round. Not real likely, but if they do play each other, Bouton will face Bouton. 

Seed 2

1969 Atlanta Braves (93 wins) vs. the 2009 Atlanta Braves (86)

Henry Aaron, Phil Niekro and Orlando Cepeda from the '69 Braves are all in the Hall of Fame. Chipper Jones from the '09 version will be, but it's a low-grade, near-the-end-of-the-line version of Chipper.

The John Bracket

I don't know how legible that bracket is, but I'll go over it here anyway, going top to bottom ...

Seed 1

1969 Minnesota Twins (97 wins) vs. the 2009 Minnesota Twins (88).

It's purely coincidence that my favorite team got the top overall seed. Honest. This matchup pairs the AL MVPs from the two seasons, Harmon Killebrew from 1969 and Joe Mauer from 2009. 

Seed 8

1969 Montreal Expos (52 wins) vs. the 2009 Washington Nationals (59).

One was a first-year expansion team in (as described by Jonah Keri in "Up, Up and Away") a state of chaos; the other had been a ward of the league and denuded of talent. The wonder, really, is that the two seasons combine for as many wins as they did.

Seed 5

1969 California Angels (71) vs. 2009 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (97)

Looking at the roster of the '69 team, I see platoon players forced into everyday duty -- and those, other than Jim Fregosi, are the GOOD players. Just not deep enough to threaten the more recent edition, I fear.

Seed 4

1969 New York Mets (100 wins) vs. the 2009 New York Mets (70)

The '69 Mets, of course, are legendary. The '09 Mets ... are not. 

Seed 3

1969 San Francisco Giants (90 wins) vs. the 2009 San Francisco Giants (88)

Willie Mays. Willie McCovey. Juan Marichal. Gaylord Perry. There are four Hall of Famers on the '69 team; I don't see any likely candidates on the '09 squad. (Buster Posey arrived in 2010.) They do have the Panda (Pablo Sandoval) and Tim Lincecum, however. McCovey was the NL MVP in 1969. Lincecum was the NL Cy Young winner in 2009.

Seed 6

1969 Pittsburgh Pirates (88 wins) vs. the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates (62).

Pretty impressive outfield on the'69 Pirates. Roberto Clemente in right hit .341; Matty Alou in center hit .331; Willie Stargell in left hit .307 with 29 dingers, pretty impressive in the large expanses of Forbes Field. Not much to see in the '09 version, although Andrew McCutcheon makes his debut.

Seed 7

1969 Chicago White Sox (68 wins) vs. the 2009 Chicago White Sox (79).

Frankly, I lack enthusiasm for either squad. The '69 Sox were so dreary they prompted manager Al Lopez to retire after 17 games. (Luis Aparicio did have a good year, though.) The '09 Sox were better, but a ho-hum just-south-of-.500.

Seed 2

1969 St. Louis Cardinals (87 wins) vs. the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals (91)

The '69 Cards were coming off back-to-back pennants, but they faded to fourth in the first year of divisional play. Some great players on these two squads: Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Joe Torre on the '69 team, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina on the '09 team. The arbitrary selection of these specific seasons, as opposed to some of the surrounding years, keep the Cards out of a One Seed. Pujols gives this bracket its fourth MVP. Yes, the John Bracket sweeps the MVPs. 

Setting up the brackets: John, Paul and George

The NCAA identifies its tourney brackets by geographic region. I will instead use the first names of the four Beatles. (It does tie into 1969, at least).

The John, Paul and George brackets will contain the 1969 and 2009 teams. The Ringo bracket will have the 1987 teams.

I am "seeding" the first three brackets, in effect, in the second round. The first round will be strictly paring the franchises 1969 and 2009 teams: The 1969 Yankees vs. the 2009 Yankees, the '69 White Sox vs. the '09 White Sox, the '69 Seattle Pilots vs. the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers, and so forth.

To get the seedings, I added up the regular season wins for each pair, then created eight groups of three and filled out the brackets accordingly. When two franchises tied, the higher seed went to the the best single-season record. (There were three such cases.)

1st seeds: Twins (184 wins), Yankees (183), Red Sox (182)
2nd seeds: Dodgers (180), Braves (179), Cardinals (178)
3rd seeds: Giants (178), Tigers (176), Cubs (175)
4th seeds: Orioles (173), Senators-Rangers (173), Mets (170)
5th seeds: Angels (168), Reds (167), A's (163)
6th seeds: Phillies (156), Astros (155), Pirates (150)
7th seeds: White Sox (147), Pilots-Brewers (144), Royals (134)
8th seeds: Padres (127), Indians (127), Expos-Nationals (111)

Note that 15 of the 24 pairs were above .500 (162).

The 1969 Twins won 97 games, the '09 Twins won 87 -- 184. The Yankees were 80 and 103, the Red Sox 87 and 95.

The Cardinals were put a line above the Giants by one game: 91 wins in 2009, one more than the Jints had in 1969. The other ties (Orioles vs. Sen.-Rang. and Padres vs. Indians) were within the group.

There were no 100-win teams in 1987. There were two in 1969 and one in 2009, and it so happened that they are all in different brackets. That wasn't intentional, but it's nice that it worked out that way.

Welcome to the 40 Years Tourney

After several years of dormancy, my Strat-O-Matic obsession was awakened last week by the news that the 1969 season will be re-released in Super-Advanced form.

I've been waiting a long time for that. 1969 is a significant baseball year for me.

• It was the season I discovered the joys of baseball
• The original 1969 set (released, of course, in 1970) was my introduction to the wonders of Strat.
• 1969 was the backdrop to "Ball Four," the legendary diary book by Jim Bouton, which played no small role in my fascination with baseball.

1969 was also the year of the Miracle Mets, and the reason I've hankered for a Super-Advanced version of the season is that the Mets platooned all over the field -- first base (Donn Clendenon and Ed Kranepool); right field (Ron Swoboda and Art Shamsky); third base (Ed Charles and Wayne Garrett); second base (Ken Boswell with a number of right-handed or switch hitters). The '69 Mets without the platoon factor was like the Metrodome without the roof. What's the use?

So now it's coming, and here, in a nutshell, is the plan: A 64-team bracketed tournament, along the lines of the NCAA basketball tournament, only instead of single games the teams will play best of seven series.

Three of the four "regionals" will pair the 24 teams from 1969 with their successor teams from 2009. Why 2009? Because I brought that set back in the day and haven't done anything with it. This is my chance to get some use out of that investment.

The other bracket will be filled with teams from 1987. Why '87? Again, I have the set. Besides that, it's kinda sorta halfway between the two bookended seasons, and my favorite team (the Twins) won the World Series without having a real powerhouse team.

As I did a few years ago with the Presidential League, I will chronicle my progress with the 40 years Tourney here. And I will begin with the organization of it.