Pawtucket Bracket - First Round Results

Todays Games:

#1 Kansas City 5 vs #16 Rochester 7
#8 San Francisco 1 vs #9 Charlotte 9

#4 Durham 1 vs #13 Texas 2
#5 Cheyenne 9 vs #12 Fresno 10

#3 Colorado Springs 11 vs #14 Charleston 6
#6 Pawtucket 4 vs #11 Charleston 5

#7 Texas 5 vs #10 Colorado Springs 6
#2 Kansas City 8 vs #15 Rochester 9

#1 seed Kansas City of season 5 is considered by many - especially pvc - to be the greatest team of all-time. They're one of the reasons this tournament was created, to see if they truly are the best. Their 122 regular season wins certainly are the best. But it took 5 games to win their ALDS matchup against a team that won 31 less games. And it took 7 games to win the World Series, a playoff resume that is a lot worse than a lot of other champions. No matter, season 7 Rochester, despite its impressive run to game 7 of the NLCS as a #4 seed, is no match in this one.

#8 San Francisco of season 1 is another team a lot of people have just forgotten about in the last 3 years. This team did win 103 games, and was the first ever NL Champion. They forgot to show up in the World Series, but that shouldn't diminish what they accomplished over their first 170+ games. Its certainly enough of a resume to be considered better than their opponents, season 8 Charlotte, who won an impressive 102 games, and reached game 7 of the ALCS.

If San Fran of season 1 is forgotten about, then there may not be anybody who rememebers the season 1 Durham Savages, the #4 seed in this bracket. That team won 109 games in the inaugural regular season, tops among all 32 SW teams. Their opponent, 12th seeded Texas of season 2, only won 95 regular season games, 5th best in the league that year. Numbers will point to Durham winning this with ease, but as they say, thats why they play the games. Durham was upset in their first playoff series, falling to eventual champion Kansas City 3-2, while Texas rode a hot streak all the way to the World Series Championship, going an impressive 11-3 in the playoffs, including 8-1 in the final two rounds. That run makes this team a force to be reckoned with in this tournament, even as a #12 seed.

Their next opponent, 5th seeded Cheyenne of season 9, will offer about as tough of a test as Durham just gave them. THat is to say, barely a test at all. Cheynne had a great season that year, winning 107 games, and then sweeping their first playoff series. Which is why #12 seeded Fresno of season 10 - and their 100 wins and ALCS appearance - are no match for Cheyenne in this one. But if history shows us anything, its that Cheyenne got swept 4-0 in their second series, while their next opponent, Texas, swept its series 4-0. One team is getting stronger, while the other is getting weaker.

In the lower half of the bracket, Colorado Springs of season 11 - the first CSP team to feature Chris Ramirez (who has 8 teams in the 2nd round of this tournament) - would have no trouble disposing of 14th seeded Charleston of season 6. That Charleston team was a great team, in the middle of a great run - albeit through the early rounds of the AL Playoffs - but their lack of success in the long term eventually caused their owner to retire, and certainly causes this team to not be considered among the 32 greatest of all-time.

Charlestons season 5 team, the #11 seed in this tournament, fares no better. In fact, they do worse. They also run into a Christopher Ramirez-led squad, although even more unfortunate for them, this is the only team in his 11 year career that Ramirez didn't win the Cy Young. That had less to do with Ramirez being bad - he was still great - and more to do with the fact that he was only the 2nd best pitcher on the team. We're talking of course about season 4 Pawtucket, which went on to win the World Series led by Cy Young winner Henry Mackowiak.

In a battle of good teams with short playoffs, #7 Texas of season 5 gets the upper hand on #10 Colorado Springs of season 6. Texas won 104 games, but failed to reach the NLCS. Colorado Springs won 101 games, also failing to reach the NLCS. Besides the 3 regular season victory difference, what causes Texas to win here? Their playoff record was 5-3, while CSP's was only 5-4.

And in the final matchup of the first round, we have #2 seed Kansas City of season 8. A team which was coming off 7 straight trips to the ALCS - still a record. A team which had won 5 of the first 7 AL Pennants, and 4 World Series titles. A team that looked to build on that, by winning 112 games during the season 8 regular season. Their opponent, the starstruck/lucky-to-be-here 15th seeded Rochester Raging Rhinos of season 9, who are the worst team in this tournament, with an 81-81 record. The 31 victory difference is the 2nd largest in this tournament, bested only by the 1/16 KC-Roc matchup of this bracket. KC came out victorious in that one, and with clearly the 2 best teams in this bracket, looks on the way to having a KC vs KC Bracket Championship matchup. Except before deciding this winner, we must look further into the history. This Kansas City team got swept out of the playoffs, losing 0-3 to a 102 win team. And what's more, this Rochester team went on one of the greatest runs in league history, beating 3 straight 100+ win teams to capture the NL Pennant, before losing 4-2 in the World Series.

Add another great upset to their resume, as the 15th seeded Rhinos are moving on to the round of 32. Is this the start of another great run by the biggest underdogs in world history? Will they finish what they started last time, and win it all? Or will they fall short, unable to string together a streak of upsets to match their last run?

Second round matchups in this bracket:
#1 Kansas City Season 5 vs #8 San Francisco Season 1
#5 Cheyenne Season 9 vs #13 Texas Season 2

#3 Colorado Springs Season 11 vs #6 Pawtucket Season 4
#7 Texas Season 5 vs #15 Rochester Season 9

To view the completed bracket with all the 2nd round matchups, CLICK HERE.

On Monday, the 2nd round of the Kansas City bracket will be posted.