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EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Old Detroit Wolverines	39	15	.718	—	319.8	200.2
Peshastin Pears	37	17	.689	1.6	250.6	168.2
Haviland Dragons	37	18	.675	2.1	260.2	181.6
Kaline Drive	36	19	.653	3.4	276.8	200.7
D.C. Balk	31	14	.679	3.7	232.3	160.0
Flint Hill Tornadoes	33	21	.607	6	244.8	201.1
Canberra Kangaroos	26	19	.568	8.7	242.8	214.5
Cottage Cheese	29	24	.543	9.5	292.3	279.0
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	26	26	.498	11.9	252.2	251.5
Portland Rosebuds	26	28	.473	13.2	264.4	279.2
Bellingham Cascades	25	27	.472	13.2	210.4	223.8

 

 

Old Detroit:  W, 3 – 3. (25 PA, .136, .240, .182;  6.3  ip, 1 er, 1.43 ERA). The W’s have two all-star third basemen. Neither of them played yesterday, due to weather back east, and Riley getting a rest day (I hope).  Nor did Ross Stripling pitch 5 innings, allowing 1 earned run for the Wolverines.  He did that for the Toledo Mudweasels. On the other hand, Josh Bell went 0 or 4 for Toledo, too, which improves Old Detroit’s batting line to .167, .286, .222, raising the daily OPS way up over .500.  

 

 

 

Peshastin:  L, 2 – 3. (27 PA, .217, .296, .261;  0.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  Peshastin’s lack of any May all-stars makes their ascension to the top of the EFL even more impressive.  It also helps explain their empty offense, and their almost literally empty pitching mound.  Yoan Moncada  (2 singles in 4 AB) and Willi Castro (a double and a walk in 4 AB) were almost the entire offense Sunday.  The Pears slid  0.2 games further from first place. 

 

Haviland:  “L”, 3 – 3.  (46 PA, .263,.370, .263;   7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)  Haviland’s all-star, reliever Alex Reyes,  did not play yesterday, either. Instead, Tarik Skubal started, going 6 shutout innings… except he’s only 70% active, so it was only 4.2 shutout innings.  Not to worry — Jesus Luzardo relieved with another shutout inning.  Except he’s only 33% active, so it was only 1/3 of an inning, making 5 in all.  Every other Haviland hurler is 100% active… sigh. Almost 3 runs leaked around that shrunken pitching duo.  

 

Kaline:  L, 6 – 9. (42 PA, .257, .381, .371;  11 ip, 8 er, 6.55 ERA).  Drive May all-star Jesse Winker did not play yesterday, but Aaron Judge broke the string of all-star no-shows at 4.  He was not the daily star;  his 1 double and 1 walk in 5 PA fell slightly behind Omar Narvaez’  1 homer and a walk in four plate appearances, and Yermin Mercedes’ two singles and two walks in five appearances.   

 

 

DC, W 1,  L (-1);  (-2) – (-2).   (26 PA, .095, .240, .238;   6 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  DC and Canberra continue to be held hostage by the division-leading Mets, who already have 8 fewer games than the Phillies, and may never play again.  Furthermore, neither of the Balk’s two May all-stars appeared on the field yesterday.   You could tell that by looking at the box score:  just 2 hits in 21 AB!  Fortunately, one of them was a Joey Gallo home run.  And there  were 4 walks — pathetic, like the W’s. 

 

 

Flint Hill: L, 4 – 14. (41 PA, .229, .317, .400;  8.4 ip, 11 er,  11.79 ERA) One of the Tornado’s May all-stars played yesterday — Paul Goldschmidt — but he went 0 for 4.  Teoscar Hernandez covered for him, though, going 2 for 7 with a homer.   The Flinties could have used their other all-star, Carlos Rodon.  Instead, Blake Snell chulked (3 ip, 7 er) and Zach Eflin didn’t clean up after him  (4.7 ip, 4 er).   Adam Plutko did get through 2/3 of an inning without a run scored, but he did that at AAA Rock City.  

 

 

Canberra: DNP, (-1) – 0.   (28 PA, .136, .286, .409;  1.7 ip, 1 er, 5.29 ERA)  Like everyone else so far, Canberra struggled because at least on of its May all-stars didn’t play.  In the case of the Kangaroos, the missing star was Rich Hill who, despite another superannuated resurgence, cannot seem to stay on the mound every day.   Vlad Guerrero Jr., the other ‘Roo May all star, did play, getting 7 plate appearances.  He expressed his all-starship by walking once and hitting a sacrifice fly, leaving the heavy lifting to young Mauricio Dubon (2 for 3 with a homer and a walk) and Kyle Tucker (a homer if 4 AB).  No, not the heavy lifting.  ALL the lifting.  No one else got a hit. 

 

 

Cottage: W, 4 – 4. (31 PA, .269, .387, .346;  6.3 ip, 2 er, 2.86 ERA).   Shohei Ohtani, one of the Cheese’s May All-Stars,  did play, but not like an all-star this time.  His only contribution in 5 plate appearances was an itty-bitty walk.  Fellow all-star Marcus Semien did the real damage, going 4 for 6 with two doubles and 2 walks, which Baseball Reference bizarrely rates as only the 31st – best day at the plate yesterday.  

 

Pittsburgh:  L, 4 – 7.  (13 PA, .167, .231, .417;  1.7 ip, 2 er, 10.59 ERA)  Max Muncy’s .337, .452, .733, 1.184  batting line, second only to Fernando Tatis,  and his 10 homers, second only to Adolis Garcia, forced the MLB people to choose him for a second-base all-star.  Evern though I am  not sure Muncy played more 2b than Gavin Lux, I endorse that choice. In fact, he’s hereby proclaimed to be the May MVP in the EFL.

 

 Portland: “W”, 3 – 5. (26 PA, .217, .269, .348;  no pitching).   Portland was slighted in MLB’s May all-stars list.  Without any pitchers pitching, they needed some good hitting, and didn’t get enough of it. Dylan Carlson did his job (2 for4 with  a homer), but the rest of the team went 3 for 19 with no extra bases and one walk.   The Rosebuds’ 1.3  buffer from the cellar disappeared in a single day, and they slid 0.2 games further from first.

 

 

 

Bellingham:  W 2, L (-1);  6 –  (-6).  (32 PA, .323, .344, .452;  13 ip, 1 er, 0.69 ERA).   The Cascades had BY FAR the best day in the league by:

* actually getting stellar play from their May all-star, Kevin Gausman (6 ip, 0 er),

* supplementing it with an almost as good 5 ip, 0 er from Tyler Mahle, 

* not throwing that stellar performance away, but building on it with a fine day at the plate winning 2 and erasing a loss,

* gaining 1.1 games on Old Detroit, 7.9% of the gap closed in a single day

* gaining 1.3 games on the Rosebuds, 100% of the gap closed in a single day, forcing a virtual tie for the cellar, 

 

 

 

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Old Detroit Wolverines	39	15	.718	—
Tampa Bay Rays	34	20	.630	4.8
Boston Red Sox	32	20	.615	5.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes	33	21	.607	6
New York Yankees	29	24	.547	9.3
Toronto Blue Jays	27	25	.519	10.8
Baltimore Orioles	17	36	.321	21.3

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
D.C. Balk	31	14	.679	—
Canberra Kangaroos	26	19	.568	5
New York Mets	25	20	.556	5.5
Atlanta Braves	24	26	.480	9
Philadelphia Phillies	25	28	.472	9.5
Miami Marlins	24	28	.462	10
Washington Nationals	21	28	.429	11.5

 

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago White Sox	32	20	.615	—
Cleveland Indians	28	23	.549	3.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	26	26	.498	6.1
Kansas City Royals	25	26	.490	6.5
Bellingham Cascades	25	27	.472	7.5
Detroit Tigers	22	31	.415	10.5
Minnesota Twins	21	31	.404	11

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
St. Louis Cardinals	30	23	.566	—
Chicago Cubs	29	23	.558	0.5
Cottage Cheese	29	24	.543	1.2
Milwaukee Brewers	28	25	.528	2
Cincinnati Reds	23	28	.451	6
Pittsburgh Pirates	20	32	.385	9.5

 

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Haviland Dragons	37	18	.675	—
Kaline Drive	36	19	.653	1.3
Oakland A’s	31	24	.564	6.2
Houston Astros	28	24	.538	7.7
Seattle Mariners	27	27	.500	9.7
Los Angeles Angels	24	29	.453	12.2
Texas Rangers	22	33	.400	15.2

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Peshastin Pears	37	17	.689	—
San Diego Padres	34	20	.630	3.2
San Francisco Giants	33	20	.623	3.7
Los Angeles Dodgers	31	22	.585	5.7
Portland Rosebuds	26	28	.473	11.7
Colorado Rockies	20	34	.370	17.2
Arizona Diamondbacks	19	35	.352	18.2