My family hiked up the South Sister today. Sam reached the summit, Ben and Melanie turned back a half-hour short of the summit because Ben’s inadequate shoes were betraying him, and I stayed at the Devil’s Lake trailhead doing a stint of sabbatical work because I knew my brother-in-law would set a fast pace and I would hold the group back.
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So I feel especially prepared today to discuss the various ways we reach or fail to reach summits.
EFL Standings for 2017
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 82 | 40 | .675 | — | 693.5 | 478.1 |
| Haviland Dragons | 80 | 44 | .644 | 3.6 | 746.1 | 553.6 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 80 | 44 | .643 | 3.6 | 645.5 | 479.1 |
| Cottage Cheese | 79 | 45 | .636 | 4.5 | 671.2 | 502.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 73 | 50 | .594 | 9.9 | 707.4 | 574.1 |
| Kaline Drive | 71 | 53 | .573 | 12.3 | 623.3 | 535.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 67 | 56 | .547 | 15.6 | 606.6 | 558.9 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 66 | 58 | .529 | 17.7 | 621.9 | 571.2 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 58 | 64 | .471 | 24.9 | 581.2 | 617.0 |
| D.C. Balk | 47 | 75 | .383 | 35.6 | 600.3 | 765.1 |
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(Editor’s note: I apparently totally mangled the MLB standings I entered yesterday. I’m sorry about that. It was the first time I’d worked on an update in the presence of pretty much all my in-laws and I was distracted. My special apologies to Allegheny fans wherever they may be for the shock they are about to receive.)
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Pittsburgh: W (-2), L 1; (-9) – (-1). (.225, .289, .525; 8.7 ip, 4 er). The EFL has no more experienced summiteers than the mighty Alleghenys. So even though they’ve just slipped off the cliff at the summit (due to my error and their failure to activate Jose Torres and his 1.3 scoreless innings yesterday), I am confident they will have the experience and wherewithal to recover.
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Haviland: W 1, L (-1); 6 – 0. (.342, .468, .711; 2.3 ip, 1 er) . The Dragons are also veterans in EFL summiteering. This is how they apparently knew today would be the moment to strike the hot iron: behind Gary Sanchez’ two homers, and a pinch-hit blast from Jesse Winker, they leapt 1.2 games in the standings at the same moment as they traded for Yasiel Puig.
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Flint Hill: W 1, L (-1); 0 – (-5). (.234, .294, .404; 21.0 ip, 8 er). Here’s one of those nuts that hasn’t fallen too far from the tree. In fact, the nut and the tree are less than 0.1 games apart! And the nut has just struck its own deal for Manny Machado, on almost the same terms as he had been rejected multiple times by the Wolverines. So patient! So shrewd! So 1.4 games closer to first in a single whirl!
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Cottage: W, 7 – 0. (.256, .353, .419; 12.0 ip, 3 er). The Cottage book of Lamentations will have to classed with the prophecies rather than the poetry if this keeps up: on the day after publishing its vow to make (and win) a pennant race, Cottage gains 1.5 games all at once! Archer and Duffy combined for that entire 12 ip, 3 er stat line.
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Portland: W 1, L (-1); 5 – (-1). (.360, .439, .540; 11.7 ip, 5er). Portland saw the writing on the wall yesterday and immediately acted to sell off some major assets to teams still “in” the race. But the Top Rosebud should have read the writing on the wall. It didn’t consign the ‘Buds to doom. Instead it said “Sobblemetricians will be watching the Rosebuds closely for the remaining days of August to see if a team ten — I mean, eleven games out will find hope renewed by the fromagian fire.” Today the Rosebuds are more than 10% closer to first than yesterday, back under 10 games behind. We in Old Detroit can feel your loss, Portland, and the coming “alas! What might have been had we only kept our stars!”)
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Kaline: DNP, 5 – 0. (.367, .524, .367; 3.0 ip, 6 er). Nick Pivetta blew up yesterday: a nasty 1.3 ip, 6 er quadruple chulk. But he’s only allocated at 33%, so little harm was done.
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Peshastin: DNP, 5 – 4. (.360, .353, .660; 17.7 ip, 14 er.) A great day at the plate (e.g, Jackie Bradley went 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk) almost ruined by a melt-down on the mound of about equal proportion. The three starting pitchers (Carrasco, Ross, and Taillon) produced ERA’s of 8.10, 7.36, and 9.00 respectively.
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Old Detroit: DNP, 1 – 2. (.316, .350, .579; 5.7 ip, 4 er). Christian Yelich had a nice day (4 for 10 with two doubles and a homer). So there’s a pleasant little view we got from the bottom of the mountain where we lingered today, most un-Wolverine like.
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Canberra: W (-1), L 1; (-4) – 7. (.219, .265, .375; 5.7 ip, 9 er). There may be some distempered Kangaroo fans who will blame Commissioner’s Office bungling for the ‘Roos’ bad day. But the Commissioner’s Office isn’t to blame for weak Kangaroo hitting and chulks by Wandy Peralta (0.7 ip, 3 er) and Brock Stewart (2 ip, 5 er).
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DC: DNP, 0 – 2. (.235, .278, .441; 3.0 ip, 0 er). I played the role filled lately in the EFL by the Balk — going with the others to the trailhead, but mostly staying behind to read quietly or dabble in the creek (in DC’s case, by admiring Kole Calhoun’s 3 for 4 with two doubles and a walk). There is much to recommend this. After all, it is no great honor to be hard to please.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 80 | 44 | .643 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 52 | .581 | 7.8 |
| New York Yankees | 67 | 57 | .540 | 12.8 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 66 | 58 | .529 | 14.1 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 62 | 65 | .488 | 19.3 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 60 | 65 | .480 | 20.3 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 59 | 66 | .472 | 21.3 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 74 | 48 | .607 | — |
| Miami Marlins | 61 | 62 | .496 | 13.5 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 58 | 64 | .471 | 16.5 |
| Atlanta Braves | 56 | 68 | .452 | 19 |
| New York Mets | 54 | 70 | .435 | 21 |
| D.C. Balk | 47 | 75 | .383 | 27.3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 45 | 79 | .363 | 30 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 82 | 40 | .675 | — |
| Cleveland Indians | 67 | 55 | .549 | 15.4 |
| Kansas City Royals | 63 | 61 | .508 | 20.4 |
| Minnesota Twins | 65 | 69 | .485 | 23.4 |
| Detroit Tigers | 54 | 69 | .439 | 28.9 |
| Chicago White Sox | 48 | 75 | .390 | 34.9 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cottage Cheese | 79 | 45 | .636 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 67 | 57 | .540 | 11.9 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 66 | 61 | .520 | 14.4 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 63 | 62 | .504 | 16.4 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 60 | 66 | .476 | 19.9 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 53 | 73 | .421 | 26.9 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 80 | 44 | .644 | — |
| Houston Astros | 76 | 48 | .613 | 3.8 |
| Kaline Drive | 71 | 53 | .573 | 8.8 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 65 | 60 | .520 | 15.3 |
| Seattle Mariners | 64 | 62 | .508 | 16.8 |
| Texas Rangers | 61 | 63 | .492 | 18.8 |
| Oakland A’s | 55 | 71 | .437 | 25.8 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 35 | .715 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 73 | 50 | .594 | 15 |
| Peshastin Pears | 67 | 56 | .547 | 20.7 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 68 | 57 | .544 | 21 |
| Colorado Rockies | 68 | 57 | .544 | 21 |
| San Diego Padres | 56 | 69 | .448 | 33 |
| San Francisco Giants | 51 | 76 | .402 | 39 |