The Thorn on the Rosebuds’ Side

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Old Detroit Wolverines	85	49	.638	—	655.1	486.1
Portland Rosebuds	84	49	.632	0.9	705.4	529.0
Brookland Outs	77	55	.583	7.5	703.5	596.9
Canberra Kangaroos	72	60	.545	12.5	615.2	564.9
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	69	63	.526	15	694.6	663.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes	68	66	.506	17.6	603.2	592.7
Cottage Cheese	66	66	.499	18.6	645.2	644.8
Haviland Dragons	66	67	.493	19.4	607.1	613.4
Kaline Drive	64	69	.484	20.5	586.1	604.7
Peshastin Pears	62	71	.464	23.3	568.0	612.8
D.C. Balk	57	75	.430	27.7	568.2	654.4

Old Detroit: “L”, 3 – 1. (39 PA, .216, .256, .324; 8 ip, 1 er, 1.12 ERA). Alex Wood delivered 7 scoreless innings to slow the Rosebuds’ advance — a task beyond the Wolverine offense lately.

Portland: W, 8 – 3. (38 PA, .294, .368, .559; 4 ip, 3 er, 6.75 ERA).  Diego Castillo let slip 3 earned runs in 2 innings to blunt the Rosebud advance, otherwise led by that pesky man Mookie Betts and his homer, double, single and walk in 5 trips to the plate. Betts really is a thorn on the Rosebuds’ side.

Brookland:  L, 7 – 9. (49 PA, .244, .306, .533; 16.3 ip, 11 er, 6.06 ERA). CJ Cron has not given up: 4 for 5 with a double and a homer — one of 5 Outs OPSing 1.000 or better. Jake Arrieta (3 ip, 4 er) and Freddy Peralta (4.3 ip, 5 er) stumbled, but Zack Godley partly fixed the damage (7.7 ip. 1 er).

Canberra: W, 7 – 1. (42 PA, .324, .40-5, .541 — Happy Edgar Martinez Day!; 8.3 ip, 1 er, 1.08 ERA). If only the Kangaroos hadn’t slid so far out of the race in the last 6 or 7 weeks.  Here again, as they have pretty frequently lately, they play championship quality baseball.  Lucchesi feasted on Mariners (6.7 ip, 1 er).  Billy Hamilton terrorized with a homer and three singles in 5 trips to the plate, scoring himself 3 times as many runs as the entire Mariners team.

Pittsburgh: W (-1), L 2; 4 – 11. (51 PA, .233, .353, .302; 14.7 ip, 11 er, 6.75 ERA).  Ryan Borucki struggled (again): 4.7 ip, 5 er.  David Price joined him (3 ip, 3 er), and Dereck Rodriguez didn’t fix it (5 ip, 3 er).  Allegheny project Blake Swihart turned in hopeful results Wednesday: 2 for 2 with a double.

Flint Hill: L, 6 – 8. (23 PA, .286, .348, .667; 9 ip, 5 er, 5.00 ERA).  The Tornados continued their dalliance with replacement players, in their ongoing experiment to see how high one can finish while only supplying 23 PA on a busy day in MLB.  Adalberto Mondesi throve amongst replacements, going 2 for 3 with a triple and a homer, plus a walk, for a daily OPS of 3.083.

Cottage: W, 6 – 1. (33 PA, .250, .333, .571; 9.3 ip, 1 er, 0.96 ERA).  Another team with players who are still trying to win.  Like Danny Duffy and his six shutout innings,  bringing his season ERA down to 4.72.  And Manuel Margot going 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. And why not? The Tornados are gliding without power, their engines apparently having fallen off (or perhaps late summer atmospheric conditions cooling off too much for cyclonic activity),  bringing 6th place into easy range.

Haviland: 7 – 13. (46 PA, .268, .348, .512; 7 ip, 11 er, 14.14 ERA).  Six Dragons OPSed 1.000 or better (Alonso, Harper, Nimmo, Puig, Soto, Souza), but Sean Newcomb faltered (4 ip, 6 er) and Drew Steckenrider crashed (0 ip, 3 er) to undermine everything the offense had accomplished.

Kaline: L, 1 – 7. (42 PA, .167, .262, .333; 9.7 ip, 7 er, 6.52 ERA).  An uninspiring day on both offense and defense left the Drive at the bottom of a four-team knot competing for 6th place.  Trevor Williams had the best day in Kaline (6 ip, 0 er), but Michael Fulmer countered with 3.7 ip, 7 er.

Peshastin: “W”, 5 – 5. (34  PA, .250, .294, .531;  no pitching).  Devot  Travis went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a homer for the highlight of the day in Peshastin.

D.C.: “W”, 6 – 7. (37 PA, .353, .389, .529; 5.7 ip, 5 er, 7.94 ERA). It’s really hard to win when your real pitchers pitch worse than their hypothetical, abstract replacements.  Brock Holt (2 for 2 with a triple) and Eduardo Nunez (3 for 4 with a homer) tried to win anyway, and didn’t miss by much.

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AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Boston Red Sox	92	42	.687	—
Old Detroit Wolverines	85	49	.638	6.6
New York Yankees	84	49	.632	7.5
Tampa Bay Rays	71	62	.534	20.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes	68	66	.506	24.1
Toronto Blue Jays	60	73	.451	31.5
Baltimore Orioles	40	94	.299	52

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Atlanta Braves	74	58	.561	—
Canberra Kangaroos	72	60	.545	2
Philadelphia Phillies	71	62	.534	3.5
Washington Nationals	67	67	.500	8
New York Mets	59	74	.444	15.5
D.C. Balk	57	75	.430	17.2
Miami Marlins	53	81	.396	22

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cleveland Indians	75	57	.568	—
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	69	63	.526	5.6
Minnesota Twins	62	70	.470	13
Detroit Tigers	53	80	.398	22.5
Chicago White Sox	53	80	.398	22.5
Kansas City Royals	42	91	.316	33.5

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago Cubs	78	54	.591	—
Brookland Outs	77	55	.583	1
St. Louis Cardinals	74	59	.556	4.5
Milwaukee Brewers	74	60	.552	5
Cottage Cheese	66	66	.499	12.2
Pittsburgh Pirates	65	68	.489	13.5
Cincinnati Reds	57	76	.429	21.5

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	82	51	.617	—
Oakland A’s	80	54	.597	2.5
Seattle Mariners	74	59	.556	8
Haviland Dragons	66	67	.493	16.5
Kaline Drive	64	69	.484	17.6
Los Angeles Angels	64	69	.481	18
Texas Rangers	58	76	.433	24.5

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Portland Rosebuds	84	49	.632	—
Arizona Diamondbacks	73	60	.549	11
Colorado Rockies	72	60	.545	11.5
Los Angeles Dodgers	72	61	.541	12
San Francisco Giants	67	68	.496	18
Peshastin Pears	62	71	.464	22.4
San Diego Padres	52	83	.385	33