The Mariners won again last night, thanks to Ron’s encouraging post about them yesterday. I am hoping he might write one about all of our teams at some point in the next week or two. Think of how the commissioner’s kind words would act as a catalyst for each of us in the doldrums of this long season. What a kindness it would be, and it would certainly lend to his re-election campaign to prop us each up with affirming words that might give us enough energy to finish the month strong.
You can begin with the Tornadoes, if you’d like.
EFL Standings for 2021
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
RS |
RA |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
88 |
38 |
.695 |
— |
719.3 |
476.4 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
82 |
44 |
.649 |
5.8 |
665.8 |
489.0 |
D.C. Balk |
80 |
46 |
.632 |
7.9 |
717.8 |
547.8 |
Peshastin Pears |
78 |
47 |
.628 |
8.6 |
632.3 |
490.7 |
Kaline Drive |
77 |
49 |
.614 |
10.2 |
684.8 |
542.4 |
Cottage Cheese |
72 |
54 |
.568 |
16 |
721.5 |
646.3 |
Haviland Dragons |
70 |
56 |
.559 |
17.2 |
655.8 |
602.3 |
Canberra Kangaroos |
69 |
57 |
.545 |
18.8 |
646.0 |
602.1 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
69 |
58 |
.539 |
19.5 |
643.2 |
593.0 |
Bellingham Cascades |
66 |
61 |
.519 |
22.1 |
548.1 |
527.9 |
Portland Rosebuds |
59 |
66 |
.475 |
27.7 |
668.8 |
705.1 |
Old Detroit: W, 11-5; 45PA, 2IP
AVG: 0.378 |
OBP: 0.489 |
SLG: 0.676 |
OPS: 1.165 |
After a few days of being unresponsive, the Wolverine bats were resuscitated yesterday. Austin Riley, who has quietly made a case for being at least a vote-getter in the NL MVP race (.300/.376/.574 with 27 home runs), led the way going 3 for 3, though all were singles. Carlos Correa, himself having a strong month (.877 OPS in August), went 2 for 3 with a double. Will Smith and Jurickson Profar both hit home runs while playing each other, Ke’Bryan Hayes added a triple. Andrew Kittredge was the only pitcher to appear, and he tossed 2 innings allowing only one hit and striking out 4 while keeping the other team from scoring. Wolverine fans can breathe a little easier today, knowing that they created a little more cushion at the top.
Flint Hill: W, 5-4; 33PA, 5.7IP
AVG: 0.267 |
OBP: 0.333 |
SLG: 0.400 |
OPS: 0.733 |
The Tornado cause was certainly helped by a sterling play in left field by AJ Pollock, who robbed a 2 run home run while Julio Urias was pitching after a 10 day lay off for a bruised shin. Urias’ 5 innings with zero runs allowed was the sole reason the Tornadoes won, seeing as the hitting was only good enough to score 5 runs and the relief pitchers – Hirokazu Sawamura (2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, and some replacement innings) – were bad. At the plate, Jarred Kelenic got a couple of hits, one a double, and Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernandez coupled a stolen base with their singles.
DC: W, 3-0; 42PA, 10.6IP
AVG: 0.244 |
OBP: 0.262 |
SLG: 0.366 |
OPS: 0.628 |
The Balk walked away with a resounding win yesterday, keeping pace with the Wolverine’s steps. Unlike the Wolverines, the Balk win was due almost completely to the pitching. Dylan Cease and Drew Steckenrider combined for 9.3 innings of one run ball. If it weren’t for Martin Perez’s two earned runs allowed, the Balk may have even made up some ground on OD. Enrique Hernandez went 2 for 5 with a home run, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Pete Alonso both added two hits apiece.
Peshastin: L, 10-10; 48PA, 4IP
AVG: 0.326 |
OBP: 0.396 |
SLG: 0.581 |
OPS: 0.977 |
The good news is that the Pears had some outstanding hitting yesterday. Ryan Mountcastle swatted two home runs, Jo Adell had two hits including a triple, and Yoan Moncada had 3 singles. Jazz Chisholm improvised two stolen bases, too, and the Pears put up 10 runs easily. The bad news is staff ace Jack Flaherty left last night’s game with a sore shoulder after giving up 4 runs in two innings, including two home runs and three walks. Hopefully he just had a bad night, and nothing more. The Pear pitching staff has suffered enough this season already.
Kaline: W, 8-(-1); 58PA, 7.7IP
AVG: 0.291 |
OBP: 0.328 |
SLG: 0.527 |
OPS: 0.855 |
An excellent day on the mound for the Drive led to a win and a movement of .3 games towards the top of the standings. JT Brubaker and Kwang Hyun Kim combined for 7.7 innings pitched and 0 runs allowed, striking out batters even though the allowed a combined 5 walks. Hunter Renfroe continued his hot week, hitting two more home runs and Michael Chavis hit a home run in his Pirate debut.
Cottage: W, 8-6; 52PA, 1.3IP
AVG: 0.333 |
OBP: 0.385 |
SLG: 0.500 |
OPS: 0.885 |
The Cheese needed some good hitting to cover up the replacement pitchers, and they did just that! They sent 12 batters to the plate, and every single batter got at least one hit. As a team they collected a total of 8 doubles, including two from Alex Verdugo. Their display of fine hitting overshadowed another day without enough innings pitched, even though Michael Fulmer tried his best, tossing 1.3 innings of scoreless baseball.
Haviland: L, 3-7; 29PA, 11.4IP
AVG: 0.240 |
OBP: 0.345 |
SLG: 0.280 |
OPS: 0.625 |
The Dragons, whose owner is enjoying a week in Seattle including watching a game or two in T-Mobile Park, did not have a great day while their owner was vacationing. The problems began on the mound, with Jesus Luzardo allowing 5 runs in 4.7 innings, and then Reiss Knehr and AJ Puk each allowing 2 runs in just 2.7 combined innings. Needing some good offense to offset a bad day on the mound, the Dragons did not respond, getting only 6 hits – two of them from Jose Iglesias (including a double).
Canberra: W, (-1)-(-4); 42PA, 11.7IP
AVG: 0.135 |
OBP: 0.238 |
SLG: 0.162 |
OPS: 0.400 |
Sometimes it pays to focus on the beauty of the world in the midst of the pain. And so, Roo fans, I implore you to look only at the pitching line, which was beautiful. Casey Mize and Chris Flexen combined for 11.7 innings and only one run allowed. It was a true work of art! The hitting was, to be nice, not. Mitch Garver had two of the team’s 5 hits, including its only extra base hit, a double. No one else did much of anything, as you can tell by the line.
Pittsburgh: “W,” 7-10; 22PA, 3.7IP
AVG: 0.350 |
OBP: 0.409 |
SLG: 0.500 |
OPS: 0.909 |
As though being held up to a mirror, the Alleghenys produced an overall line nearly opposite of the Kangaroo line, and I will again implore Pittsburgh fans to look only at the offense, ignoring the pitching. Luis Robert went 3 for 5 with a double, and Mike Moustakas went 2 for 4 with his own double. It is challenging to think that 7 runs scored doesn’t win a ballgame, but Tyler Megill was serving up batting practice last night, giving up 11 hits, 4 home runs and 7 runs in 3.7 innings. Yikes!
Bellingham: “W,” 5-5; 26PA, 11.7IP
AVG: 0.261 |
OBP: 0.346 |
SLG: 0.522 |
OPS: 0.868 |
After two lopsided games from the teams directly above them, it’s nice to see competency demonstrated on both the mound and in the batter’s box. However, it was too competent, resulting in a tie (though, actually, a win). Jorge Polanco (with an August OPS of .979) led the way, going 2 for 5 with a home run. DJLM added in his own home run, and Bryan de la Cruz added two singles. Tyler Mahle was great, going 5.7 innings and allowing only one run, but Charlie Morton was not, giving up 4 runs in 5 innings.
Portland: W, 6-1; 30PA, 10.6IP
AVG: 0.269 |
OBP: 0.333 |
SLG: 0.538 |
OPS: 0.872 |
The Rosebuds successfully kept pace with the Cascades, and are now as far behind the Cascades as the Tornadoes are behind the Wolverines. We’ll have some nice brotherly competition to see who can close the gap the quickest! Sammy Long went 5.3 innings, giving up 0 runs. For some reason Dylan Bundy, the starter, only wen 1.3 innings even though he only surrendered 1 run (maybe it was the three walks?). Every hitter but Rhys Hoskins got a hit, and Corey Seager and Dylan Carlson made theirs a double.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
88 |
38 |
.695 |
— |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
82 |
44 |
.649 |
5.8 |
Tampa Bay Rays |
78 |
48 |
.619 |
9.5 |
New York Yankees |
74 |
52 |
.587 |
13.5 |
Boston Red Sox |
72 |
55 |
.567 |
16 |
Toronto Blue Jays |
65 |
59 |
.524 |
21.5 |
Baltimore Orioles |
38 |
86 |
.306 |
48.5 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
D.C. Balk |
80 |
46 |
.632 |
— |
Canberra Kangaroos |
69 |
57 |
.545 |
11 |
Atlanta Braves |
68 |
58 |
.540 |
11.7 |
Philadelphia Phillies |
63 |
62 |
.504 |
16.2 |
New York Mets |
61 |
64 |
.488 |
18.2 |
Washington Nationals |
54 |
70 |
.435 |
24.7 |
Miami Marlins |
51 |
75 |
.405 |
28.7 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Chicago White Sox |
73 |
54 |
.575 |
— |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
69 |
58 |
.539 |
4.5 |
Bellingham Cascades |
66 |
61 |
.519 |
7.1 |
Cleveland Indians |
61 |
62 |
.496 |
10 |
Detroit Tigers |
61 |
66 |
.480 |
12 |
Kansas City Royals |
56 |
69 |
.448 |
16 |
Minnesota Twins |
54 |
71 |
.432 |
18 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Milwaukee Brewers |
77 |
49 |
.611 |
— |
Cottage Cheese |
72 |
54 |
.568 |
5.5 |
Cincinnati Reds |
69 |
58 |
.543 |
8.5 |
St. Louis Cardinals |
63 |
61 |
.508 |
13 |
Chicago Cubs |
55 |
72 |
.433 |
22.5 |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
46 |
80 |
.365 |
31 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Kaline Drive |
77 |
49 |
.614 |
— |
Houston Astros |
74 |
52 |
.587 |
3.4 |
Haviland Dragons |
70 |
56 |
.559 |
7 |
Oakland A’s |
70 |
57 |
.551 |
7.9 |
Seattle Mariners |
69 |
58 |
.543 |
8.9 |
Los Angeles Angels |
63 |
64 |
.496 |
14.9 |
Texas Rangers |
44 |
81 |
.352 |
32.9 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
San Francisco Giants |
81 |
44 |
.648 |
— |
Peshastin Pears |
78 |
47 |
.628 |
2.5 |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
79 |
47 |
.627 |
2.5 |
San Diego Padres |
68 |
59 |
.535 |
14 |
Portland Rosebuds |
59 |
66 |
.475 |
21.6 |
Colorado Rockies |
57 |
68 |
.456 |
24 |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
42 |
85 |
.331 |
40 |