2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Finals

I'm breaking from football again for a little bit because the 2019 MLB Tournament of Champions is still rolling on!

We've managed to narrow the field down to 16 teams from the original 128, including every World Series champion. It's a little amazing when in other sports that I've done Tournaments of Champions for it's all more modern teams, while here, half the remaining field is from before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Our two highest seeds from group play, as well as our defending Champion of Champions from 2017 are all still in contention.

So today I'm going through the third round, which is the last set of series that will be played within the confines of the groups I set up at the beginning of the tournament. It's also the final round of a best-of-five. Home field advantage goes to the higher seed based on group finish in a 2-2-1 format. This is only a factor for three teams and thus three series, but any home games for American Leagues from 1973 onward are played with a designated hitter; all other games have the pitcher batting ninth.

You can view the bracket so far, as well as go back to see how group play went, here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's set up the Elite Eight!


Group G

(2) 2001 Seattle Mariners vs (1) 1967 St. Louis Cardinals

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'01 SEA 1, @ '67 STL 0	'01 SEA leads 1-0	W: Moyer (1-2) | L: Willis (1-3)
@ '67 STL 5, '01 SEA 4	Series tied 1-1	W: Hughes (2-0) | L: Sele (1-1) | SV: Hoerner (6)
'67 STL 5, @ '01 SEA 3	'67 STL leads 2-1	W: Lamabe (1-0) | L: Rhodes (3-1) | SV: Hoerner (7)
@ '01 SEA 4, '67 STL 1	Series tied 2-2	W: Garcia (2-0) | L: Gibson (0-1)
@ '67 STL 1, '01 SEA 0	'67 STL wins 3-2	W: Carlton (3-0) | L: Moyer (1-3) | SV: Hoerner (8)

Group F

(6) 1953 New York Yankees vs (5) 2018 Boston Red Sox

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'53 NYY 8, @ '18 BOS 4	'53 NYY leads 1-0	W: Ford (1-1) | L: Price (1-1)
'53 NYY 6, @ '18 BOS 3	'53 NYY leads 2-0	W: Raschi (1-0) | L: Rodriguez (1-1) | SV: Reynolds (2)
@ '53 NYY 2, '18 BOS 0	'53 NYY wins 3-0	W: Lopat (3-0) | L: Sale (2-2) | SV: Gorman (1)

Group C

(6) 1947 New York Yankees vs (5) 1984 Detroit Tigers

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
@ '84 DET 6, '47 NYY 5	'84 DET leads 1-0	W: Lopez (2-0) | L: Drews (1-1) | SV: Hernandez (5)
@ '84 DET 8, '47 NYY 7	'84 DET leads 2-0	W: Lopez (3-0) | L: Johnson (0-1)
@ '47 NYY 11, '84 DET 2	'84 DET leads 2-1	W: Chandler (2-1) | L: Wilcox (1-1)
@ '47 NYY 4, '84 DET 0	'Series tied 2-2	W: Reynolds (2-1) | L: Berenguer (2-1)
@ '84 DET 8, '47 NYY 0	'84 DET wins 3-2	W: Morris (2-0) | L: Newsom (0-1)

Group D

(3) 1975 Cincinnati Reds vs (1) 1924 Washington Senators

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'75 CIN 2, @ '24 WAS 1 (12)	'75 CIN leads 1-0	W: Borbon (2-0) | L: Martina (0-1) | SV: Eastwick (3)
'75 CIN 8, @ '24 WAS 4	'75 CIN leads 2-0	W: McEnaney (1-0) | L: Russell (1-1)
@ '75 CIN 8, '24 WAS 3	'75 CIN wins 3-0	W: Norman (1-1) | L: Mogridge (0-2)

Group E

(2) 1922 New York Giants vs (1) 1927 New York Yankees

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'22 NYG 5, @ '27 NYY 4	'22 NYG leads 1-0	W: Nehf (1-0) | L: Hoyt (1-1) | SV: Jonnard (2)
@ '27 NYY 7, '22 NYG 1	Series tied 1-1	W: Shocker (3-0) | L: J. Barnes (0-2)
'27 NYY 8, @ '22 NYG 2	'27 NYY leads 2-1	W: Pennock (3-0) | L: Douglas (1-1) | SV: Moore (4)
'27 NYY 15, @ '22 NYG 3	'27 NYY wins 3-1	W: Ruether (1-0) | L: McQuillian (0-2)

Group A

(4) 1932 New York Yankees vs (2) 1939 New York Yankees

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'32 NYY 5, @ '39 NYY 2	'32 NYY leads 1-0	W: Gomez (1-1) | L: Ruffing (2-1)
@ '39 NYY 7, '32 NYY 3	Series tied 1-1)	W: Gomez (2-0) | L: Ruffing (1-2)
@ '32 NYY 5, '39 NYY 2	'32 NYY leads 2-1	W: Pipgrass (1-1) | L: Donald (1-1) | SV: Wells (2)
@ '32 NYY 6, '39 NYY 1	'32 NYY wins 3-1	W: Allen (2-0) | L: Hadley (0-1)

Group B

(6) 1943 New York Yankees vs (1) 1944 St. Louis Cardinals

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
@ '44 STL 9, '43 NYY 4	'44 STL leads 1-0	W: Cooper (3-0) | L: Chandler (0-3)
@ '44 STL 4, '43 NYY 3 (11)	'44 STL leads 2-0	W: Schmidt (2-0) | L: Zuber (0-1)
'44 STL 2, @ '43 NYY 1	'44 STL wins 3-0	W: Breechen (2-0) | L: Wensloff (2-1) | SV: Donnelly (1)

Group H

(4) 1938 New York Yankees vs (2) 2016 Chicago Cubs

Final Score	Series Summary	Decisions
'38 NYY 3, @ '16 CHC 1	'38 NYY leads 1-0	W: Gomez (3-0) | L: Arrieta (2-1) | SV: Murphy (2)
@ '16 CHC 3, '38 NYY 2	Series tied 1-1	W: Strop (1-1) | L: Beggs (0-1)
'16 CHC 3, @ '38 NYY 2	'16 CHC leads 2-1	W: Lester (3-0) | L: Pearson (1-1) | SV: Rondon (3)
@ '38 NYY 6, '16 CHC 0	Series tied 2-2	W: Chandler (1-1) | L: Lackey (0-2)
@ '16 CHC 7, '38 NYY 5	'16 CHC wins 3-2	W: Arrieta (3-1) | L: Gomez (3-1) | SV: Grimm (2)