As of this morning, all teams but one are above .500 in terms of winning percentages. And the Pears are trying to lull the rest of us into complacency during the warm summer-like days in May. But we must not succumb to their wily ways. No Pear grows alone, and so we must take action to support Peshastin by growing with them – instead of falling away as we all did yesterday (except for the Cheese).
Come to think of it, Cheese and Pears do make a nice combo. But we aren’t here for a culinary adventure. No, we want some drama! We want some intrigue! Let us cleanse our palates and pursue Peshastin with renewed vigor! The time is now.
EFL Standings for 2021
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
RS |
RA |
| Peshastin Pears |
29 |
11 |
.722 |
— |
185.2 |
114.6 |
| Haviland Dragons |
28 |
14 |
.668 |
1.8 |
197.4 |
141.4 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes |
28 |
14 |
.664 |
2 |
185.4 |
132.0 |
| D.C. Balk |
24 |
10 |
.698 |
2.1 |
181.5 |
119.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines |
27 |
15 |
.643 |
2.9 |
229.0 |
167.2 |
| Kaline Drive |
27 |
15 |
.641 |
3 |
200.4 |
150.4 |
| Canberra Kangaroos |
18 |
16 |
.516 |
8.3 |
184.9 |
179.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds |
20 |
20 |
.509 |
8.5 |
208.0 |
204.2 |
| Cottage Cheese |
21 |
20 |
.506 |
8.6 |
232.4 |
236.7 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
20 |
19 |
.505 |
8.7 |
195.4 |
189.9 |
| Bellingham Cascades |
17 |
22 |
.429 |
11.6 |
156.8 |
189.9 |
Peshastin: W, 10-4; 38PA, 20IP
| AVG: 0.375 |
OBP: 0.447 |
SLG: 0.531 |
OPS: 0.979 |
Yesterday the Pears had what might be the best all-around game this season. And not only was it a great game but it also gave them some cushion atop the standings with two weeks left in May. The best part of their day was the 20 innings of excellent pitching they received. If you look past the 5 runs Huascar Ynoa gave up in 4.3 innings, the rest of the staff collected 15.7 innings and gave up only 1 run. Alex Wood gave up that lone run in 6 innings and Freddy Peralta added 6 more scoreless innings. The Pear swatters collected 12 hits, including 5 doubles, and added in 5 walks. Mitch Haniger led the way going 2 for 4 with 2 doubles. Jazz Chisholm returned to the lineup after a stint on the IL, and went 2 for 5 with a stolen base.
Haviland: L, 1-3; 44PA, 7IP
| AVG: 0.244 |
OBP: 0.295 |
SLG: 0.512 |
OPS: 0.808 |
The Dragons lost a close one, but woke up in second place, having lost only .5 game off the leading Pears. Their pitching was also excellent, though the volume was not even half of what the Pears got. Pablo Lopez threw well against a hot-hitting Dodgers team, shutting them down for 5 innings and only giving up 2 runs. Only Maikel Franco collected more than 1 hit, going 3 for 4 with a double and a home run. Gary Sanchez and Brandon Lowe each added a home run.
Flint Hill: L, 3-8; 42PA, 1.3IP
| AVG: 0.256 |
OBP: 0.310 |
SLG: 0.487 |
OPS: 0.797 |
The Tornadoes did NOT get excellent pitching, with Adam Plutko opening for the Orioles and quickly spotting the Yankees 4 runs in the first innings. That was too much for the offense to overcome, and the Tornadoes fell another game behind the Pears, and now sit 2 games back. Bo Bichette and Mookie Betts combined to go 2 for 4 with a double (Betts) and a home run (Bichette).
DC: W, 6-2; 40PA, 6.7IP
| AVG: 0.278 |
OBP: 0.300 |
SLG: 0.361 |
OPS: 0.661 |
Dylan Cease stepped up for the Balk yesterday, leading them to victory and nearly third place in the standings. He tossed 5.7 innings and gave up 0 earned runs. The Balk hitters were light on slugging (one double and one triple) but heavy on hits (8 singles), which was enough to lead them to victory. Matt Chapman went 3 for 4 and Ryan McMahon went 2 for 4 with a double and a stolen base.
Old Detroit: L, 5-6; 34PA, 7IP
| AVG: 0.241 |
OBP: 0.353 |
SLG: 0.345 |
OPS: 0.698 |
Last month 5 runs in a game would have easily won most games for the then first-place Wolverines. This month that has not been the case, as the Wolverine pitching staff has a monthly ERA of 4.24. Yesterday was a good example of this. Marcus Stroman gave up 5 runs in 6 innings. In April? No big deal. The Wolverine offense was averaging a beautiful 6.02 runs per game. But in May? They are only averaging 4.42 runs per game, second worst in the EFL. And so they lost. Austin Riley continued his hot month, going 2 for 2 with 3 walks. Rafael Devers added a home run, and now OD sits 2.9 games behind the Pears and only .1 games above the Drive.
Kaline: W, 8-3; 51PA, 7IP
| AVG: 0.341 |
OBP: 0.412 |
SLG: 0.568 |
OPS: 0.980 |
The Drive put up a better offensive line than the Pears, but their pitching wasn’t quite as good. Still, it was a very good day for the Drive. The batters collected 15 hits – 9 singles, 4 doubles, and 2 home runs – in addition to 5 walks. Omar Narvaez went 3 for 4 with a double, and Willy Adames and Aaron Judge did an identical 2 for 3 with a home run. There were four pitchers who appeared, and 3 of them put up similar lines – a few innings and one run given up. But Mark Melancon did the best, giving up 0 runs while collecting a one-inning save. The Drive are on the hunt for some Wolverine roadkill, but might be too nice to take advantage of OD’s proximity to them.
Canberra: W, 8-4; 44PA, 3IP
| AVG: 0.366 |
OBP: 0.409 |
SLG: 0.610 |
OPS: 1.019 |
That offensive line (Happy EMD!) over that many PAs is a beautiful sight to behold for Canberra fans. 11 batters appeared at the plate, and 6 of them collected more than one hit. Vladito, who owns the highest OPS in MLB this season, went 3 for 5 with a double and a home run. Manuel Margot and David Dahl put up identical lines, going 2 for 4 with a home run. 3 relievers appeared, going one inning each and none of them surrendering a run.
Portland: “L,” 8-4; 47PA, .7IP
| AVG: 0.282 |
OBP: 0.383 |
SLG: 0.436 |
OPS: 0.819 |
These kinds of days are the hardest to accept when the EFL computer spits out loss. An 8-4 loss?!? You would expect and be ok with a 3-2 loss or something similar, but this feels unfair. Max Kepler went 2 for 3 with a double and a home run, and Luis Urias collected 3 walks (more in in one day than he has had all month!). The Rosebuds continued their flirtation with .500, and now sit just .2 games behind the Roos but only .1 ahead of the Cheese and .2 ahead of Pittsburgh.
Cottage: W(2), L(-1), 10-2; 37PA, 10IP
| AVG: 0.344 |
OBP: 0.432 |
SLG: 0.625 |
OPS: 1.057 |
The Cheese had a very good day, the only team to gain on the Pears yesterday. They did it the best hitting on the day, led by Trea Turner and Marcus Semien, who combined for 6 hits in 9 at bats with 3 doubles and a home run. The pitchers had a decent day, with Ryan Weathers and Mitch Keller getting most of the innings and all of the earned runs. It still doesn’t make sense that the Cheese are blue in the updates. Their roster page is green lettering on a yellow background. Every other team uses a color scheme from their page (either the font color or the background color), except for the Cheese. I think I’ll keep using green.
Pittsburgh: W, 4-3; 33PA, 11.3IP
| AVG: 0.250 |
OBP: 0.333 |
SLG: 0.357 |
OPS: 0.690 |
That good pitching line led the Alleghenys to victory yesterday. It was created by 4 different pitchers, whom, without Nathan Eovaldi’s 4 runs surrendered in 5 innings would have been even better – none of the other three gave up any runs! 4 players collected all 7 hits, with three of those players collecting 2 hits apiece – Jose Altuve, Kevin Plawecki (who got to ride in the laundry cart after his first home run of the season) and Dansby Swanson. After a few days in the cellar, Pittsburgh is slowly inching its way upward, now with the Cheese .1 game away and Portland only .2 games away – even the Roos are within a one day’s reach at .4 games away.
Bellingham: L, 3-9; 40PA, 1IP
| AVG: 0.206 |
OBP: 0.325 |
SLG: 0.235 |
OPS: 0.560 |
The Cascades lead the league this month in replacement innings, and in order to win with a replacement pitching you amazing offense, which it did not get yesterday. Tim Anderson tried his best, though, collecting 3 hits in 5 at bats, with a double and a stolen base. And Brad Miller collected two hits and two stolen bases of his own.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes |
28 |
14 |
.664 |
— |
| Old Detroit Wolverines |
27 |
15 |
.643 |
0.9 |
| Boston Red Sox |
25 |
17 |
.595 |
2.9 |
| Toronto Blue Jays |
22 |
17 |
.564 |
4.4 |
| New York Yankees |
22 |
18 |
.550 |
4.9 |
| Tampa Bay Rays |
23 |
19 |
.548 |
4.9 |
| Baltimore Orioles |
17 |
23 |
.425 |
9.9 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| D.C. Balk |
24 |
10 |
.698 |
— |
| New York Mets |
18 |
16 |
.529 |
5.7 |
| Canberra Kangaroos |
18 |
16 |
.516 |
6.2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies |
21 |
20 |
.512 |
6.2 |
| Atlanta Braves |
19 |
21 |
.475 |
7.7 |
| Miami Marlins |
18 |
22 |
.450 |
8.7 |
| Washington Nationals |
16 |
20 |
.444 |
8.7 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Chicago White Sox |
24 |
15 |
.615 |
— |
| Cleveland Indians |
21 |
17 |
.553 |
2.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
20 |
19 |
.505 |
4.3 |
| Kansas City Royals |
18 |
22 |
.450 |
6.5 |
| Bellingham Cascades |
17 |
22 |
.429 |
7.3 |
| Detroit Tigers |
14 |
26 |
.350 |
10.5 |
| Minnesota Twins |
13 |
25 |
.342 |
10.5 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| St. Louis Cardinals |
23 |
18 |
.561 |
— |
| Milwaukee Brewers |
21 |
20 |
.512 |
2 |
| Cottage Cheese |
21 |
20 |
.506 |
2.3 |
| Cincinnati Reds |
19 |
19 |
.500 |
2.5 |
| Chicago Cubs |
19 |
20 |
.487 |
3 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates |
17 |
23 |
.425 |
5.5 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Haviland Dragons |
28 |
14 |
.668 |
— |
| Kaline Drive |
27 |
15 |
.641 |
1.2 |
| Oakland A’s |
25 |
17 |
.595 |
3.1 |
| Houston Astros |
24 |
17 |
.585 |
3.6 |
| Seattle Mariners |
21 |
20 |
.512 |
6.6 |
| Los Angeles Angels |
17 |
22 |
.436 |
9.6 |
| Texas Rangers |
18 |
24 |
.429 |
10.1 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Peshastin Pears |
29 |
11 |
.722 |
— |
| San Francisco Giants |
24 |
16 |
.600 |
4.9 |
| San Diego Padres |
24 |
17 |
.585 |
5.4 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers |
22 |
18 |
.550 |
6.9 |
| Portland Rosebuds |
20 |
20 |
.509 |
8.5 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks |
18 |
23 |
.439 |
11.4 |
| Colorado Rockies |
15 |
26 |
.366 |
14.4 |
