There is one question that I have been asking my baseball loving friends as this season has progressed:
“If someone hits .400 this season, will it count in the record books?”
As of this morning, there are three players who are hitting over .400 – and I bet you can’t guess any of them without looking (I definitely had no idea until I just peeked at Baseball Reference):
| 1. | Solano • SFG | .465 |
| 2. | LeMahieu • NYY | .429 |
| 3. | Cano • NYM | .412 |
Or what about the ERA record, held currently by Tim Keefe who threw 105 innings in 1880 for a .86 ERA. Currently, 5 players have a better ERA this season than that historical mark:
| 1. | Lynn • TEX | 0.49 |
| 2. | Dobnak • MIN | 0.60 |
| 3. | Bauer • CIN | 0.68 |
| 4. | Houser • MIL | 0.75 |
| 5. | Bieber • CLE | 0.8 |
And so I ask you, esteemed colleagues and fellow owners – will it count if these records are broken? Your answer matters, and has nothing to do with the fact that this morning the Tornadoes are no longer in first place (nor, second or third, for that matter). I assure you, it has nothing at all to do with that fact…
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 8 | 5 | .613 | — | 69.6 | 54.3 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 7 | 6 | .553 | 0.8 | 64.5 | 50.8 |
| Cottage Cheese | 7 | 6 | .529 | 1.1 | 69.8 | 66.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 6 | 6 | .526 | 1.2 | 56.5 | 55.9 |
| Kaline Drive | 7 | 6 | .500 | 1.5 | 62.2 | 61.9 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 5 | 7 | .384 | 2.9 | 56.5 | 72.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 5 | 9 | .391 | 3 | 54.6 | 68.3 |
| Peshastin Pears | 4 | 8 | .360 | 3.1 | 46.1 | 61.4 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 5 | 9 | .367 | 3.3 | 50.4 | 73.2 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 3 | 9 | .222 | 4.8 | 35.1 | 65.1 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 3 | 10 | .215 | 5.2 | 44.7 | 95.0 |
Haviland: W, 10-2 (23PA; no pitching)
| AVG: 0.364 | OBP: 0.391 | SLG: 0.909 | OPS: 1.300 | ||||||||||
The Dragons slugged their way into first place, getting 4 HRs from 4 different players for an OPS over 1.000. The heat in August has been supplied by the Dragons (which makes sense) and it is going to spell disaster for the rest of us if they don’t consider how the earth is already dealing with higher annual temperatures than it has ever experienced. Think about the rest of us, Haviland!
Pittsburgh: W, 7-6 (33PA; 1IP)
| AVG: 0.310 | OBP: 0.323 | SLG: 0.690 | OPS: 1.012 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 0.000 | ||||||||||||
I have never thought about a career as a motivational speaker, but after the Alleghenys day at the plate yesterday, just one day after I publicly mentioned their league-last BA, the produced a line that propelled them into second place! So consider this an invitation from me to the rest of you owners – I will motivate your team for a small price. Please contact my agent. This over-1.000 OPS was led by Jose Altuve (1 HR, 1 2B) and Jorge Soler (3-5 with a HR).
Cottage: L, 6-12 (25PA; 7.7IP)
| AVG: 0.261 | OBP: 0.320 | SLG: 0.435 | OPS: 0.755 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 9.35 | WHIP: 1.558 | ||||||||||||
The Cheese, I think, should be glad that they didn’t fall any further behind the leader since their day was not too great. Scoring 6 runs is usually a good thing, but giving up 12 is almost impossible to overcome.
Flint Hill: L, 5-12 (28PA; 4.3IP)
| AVG: 0.333 | OBP: 0.357 | SLG: 0.370 | OPS: 0.728 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 12.56 | WHIP: 2.093 | ||||||||||||
You would think a motivational speaker would be able to motivate his own team. In this instance, all the things I wrote about the Cheese remain true for the Tornadoes, but we were supposed to fall to third, not fourth! And the time spent atop the standings was supposed to be more than 24 hours. Nothing more needs to be said.
Kaline: “W,” 4-6 (39PA; 2IP)
| AVG: 0.270 | OBP: 0.308 | SLG: 0.378 | OPS: 0.686 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 1.000 | ||||||||||||
It’s beginning to be a usual occurrence for the Drive to win on days when they score fewer runs than they allow, and to lose on days when they allow fewer runs than they score. How confusing! Drive hitters earned a hit for every K, and nearly caused the Tornadoes to drop even further. Don’t you know, Tom, that it is a bad idea to Drive into Tornadoes?!?!
Portland: W1, L1, 8-8 (36PA; 1.3IP)
| AVG: 0.258 | OBP: 0.361 | SLG: 0.258 | OPS: 0.619 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 3.077 | ||||||||||||
The Rosebuds make it three Johnsons in a row in today’s edition of the standings. They got 8 hits, all of them singles, which translated into 8 runs (that is some good production!). Maybe tomorrow we will have 4 Johnsons in a row? That would be fun, don’t you think, Dragons?
DC: “L,” 4-(-3) (25PA; 14IP)
| AVG: 0.182 | OBP: 0.280 | SLG: 0.409 | OPS: 0.689 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 2.57 | WHIP: 0.643 | ||||||||||||
Dylan Bundy pitched a complete game yesterday against the Mariners, allowing only 1 ER. And it wasn’t one of those weak, 7 inning complete games. This was the real deal!
Peshastin: W0, L2, 0-8 (27PA; 7IP)
| AVG: 0.125 | OBP: 0.185 | SLG: 0.167 | OPS: 0.352 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 1.000 | ||||||||||||
The Pears have, unofficially, been the recipient of the worst luck in the EFL this season. First, they spent 2 weeks without their hitting star, Juan Soto. No sooner did Soto return than they lost their pitching star, Mike Soroka, for the remainder of the year with a torn achilles. The team is clearly reeling from this most recent loss. Even excellent pitching performances from Eflin and Peralta couldn’t get the team to produce any runs.
Canberra: W, 4-1 (28PA; 13.7IP)
| AVG: 0.296 | OBP: 0.321 | SLG: 0.630 | OPS: 0.951 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 1.97 | WHIP: 0.730 | ||||||||||||
This is the type of game the Roos have needed, and it will perhaps serve as a turning point for them this season. Half as many Ks as hits, and 5 of their 8 hits were for extra bases, led by Starling Marte. On the mound, Carlos Carrasco delivered a gem (6IP, 0ER).
Old Detroit: L, 3-8 (28PA; no pitching)
| AVG: 0.160 | OBP: 0.250 | SLG: 0.280 | OPS: 0.530 | ||||||||||
The Wolverine hitting turned in another sub-.200 day, despite a Vogelbach HR (for which OD management had patiently been waiting). There were signs of life yesterday, so perhaps today will be an anomaly.
Bellingham: L, 4-8 (24PA; 10.3IP)
| AVG: 0.227 | OBP: 0.292 | SLG: 0.455 | OPS: 0.746 | ||||||||||
| ERA: 6.99 | WHIP: 1.942 | ||||||||||||
The Cascades had 0 – that’s right, 0!! – batter strikeouts yesterday. I think that is the first time this season a team has had 0 Ks from their batters. Nice work! Unfortunately, their pitchers gave up 4 HRs to their opponents.