League Updates

This Update is Boring

September 8, 2021
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Today was the first day of school for about 80% of Newberg children. The rest will begin tomorrow. Chaos was everywhere on the streets, but the students are back in person. Masked, and if old enough, hopefully vaccinated. Ready to learn in classrooms that stood largely empty the past 18 months. Join me in praying for teachers (their health, their energy, their teaching) and for students (their health, their energy, their learning). The Newberg educational scene is, at the moment, a challenging environment for a lot of reasons, and we need your prayers!

Now onto the boring EFL update. 

EFL Standings for 2021
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 96 43 .693 — 807.1 536.9
Flint Hill Tornadoes 89 50 .643 6.9 742.1 552.7
D.C. Balk 86 51 .628 9.3 778.7 597.7
Peshastin Pears 85 54 .615 10.9 708.6 565.7
Kaline Drive 84 54 .609 11.8 738.3 590.9
Cottage Cheese 79 61 .565 17.8 790.6 712.1
Canberra Kangaroos 76 61 .557 19 726.1 656.5
Haviland Dragons 75 63 .542 21.1 714.0 680.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 74 64 .536 21.9 688.8 639.3
Bellingham Cascades 72 66 .519 24.2 591.3 570.4
Portland Rosebuds 67 72 .484 29.1 738.7 771.9
 
Old Detroit: W, 7-0; 56PA, 13IP
AVG: 0.269 OBP: 0.321 SLG: 0.442 OPS: 0.764
ERA: 3.46 WHIP: 1.000
Blake Snell tossed 7 innings of one hit baseball, giving up two runs. Logan Gilbert added his own 2 earned runs over 4.3 innings. Will Smith went 4 for 4 with a home run and Marcus Semien continued his torrid September going 2 for 3 with a double and a home run. The Wolverines seem intent to make it impossible to catch them!
 
Flint Hill: L, 2-7; 52PA, 2IP
AVG: 0.184 OBP: 0.212 SLG: 0.327 OPS: 0.538
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 1.000
The Tornadoes seem intent to see if the Wolverines will do enough to lose their lead instead of going out and trying to win it themselves. Not enough pitching (now 14 replacement innings) and bad hitting are the culprits. Basically, all the things that can go wrong are going wrong. Oh, well. Alex Bregman was 3 for 5 with a double and a home run, but that’s all the good news there is. 
 
DC: W, 4-1; 37PA, 7.3IP
AVG: 0.182 OBP: 0.270 SLG: 0.394 OPS: 0.664
ERA: 1.23 WHIP: 1.370
Good pitching rescued sub-optimal hitting. James Kaprielian only went 4 innings, but only gave up 1 run. Three relievers tossed scoreless innings. Pete Alonso was the only Balk to have a good day, and it was very good – 2 for 4 with 2 home runs. 
 
Peshastin: W, 18-7; 42PA, 2.7IP
AVG: 0.424 OBP: 0.524 SLG: 0.818 OPS: 1.342
ERA: 3.33 WHIP: 0.370
18 runs! Wow! 3 home runs, 1 triple, 2 doubles, 1 HBP and 7 walks led to that excellent output. Mike Zunino hit two home runs, and Yoan Moncada had 2 doubles. And, surprise! Juan Soto walked twice. Who cares if only three relievers appeared and with replacement innings the Pears gave up 7 runs? When you score 18 little else matters. 
 
Kaline: L, 2-5; 47PA, 18IP
AVG: 0.159 OBP: 0.213 SLG: 0.364 OPS: 0.576
ERA: 4.50 WHIP: 1.389
That’s a lot of pitching, and all by Paolo Espino was good. He gave up 5 runs in 5 innings, but everyone else was good. Well, Kwang Hyun Kim struggled again, giving up a couple runs in just a little more than one inning. The hitting was pretty bad, unfortunately. 15 team strikeouts compared to 7 hits. However, Willson Contreras and Jose Altuve homered.
 
Cottage: W, 9-3; 42PA, 6IP
AVG: 0.341 OBP: 0.357 SLG: 0.585 OPS: 0.943
ERA: 1.50 WHIP: 1.167
If you hadn’t just read about the Pears offensive line, you would be impressed by this one. 9 runs scored is great! But not as great as 18. Alejandro Kirk hit two home runs of his own, and Randy Arozarena had 2 doubles. Steven Matz did all of the pitching, going 6 innings and giving up only one run. 
 
Canberra: L, 3-9; 39PA, 13.3IP
AVG: 0.229 OBP: 0.308 SLG: 0.314 OPS: 0.622
ERA: 6.77 WHIP: 1.128
Yesterday wasn’t a superb day for the Roos. It began with bad pitching from Jackson Kowar, who gave up 6 runs in 6 innings. Then Paul Sewald gave up a two run home run to Alex Bregman and the Astros eventually won, which wasn’t good. Tommy La Stella and Kyle Tucker lead the offense with two hits each. 
 
Haviland: L, 4-10; 39PA, 3.3IP
AVG: 0.250 OBP: 0.308 SLG: 0.250 OPS: 0.558
ERA: 10.91 WHIP: 1.818
Some more bad pitching for the Dragons – this time from AJ Puk, who gave up 3 runs in one third of an inning – and the Dragons slipped closer to the Alleghenys after yesterday’s separation. The offense mustered 9 singles and 3 walks, which was not enough to overcome the pitching. 
 
Pittsburgh: W, 5-5; 32PA, 9.3IP
AVG: 0.290 OBP: 0.313 SLG: 0.484 OPS: 0.796
ERA: 6.77 WHIP: 1.505
The Alleghenys found a way to win, even though the pitching was not great. Two pitchers appeared, and one was ok – Logan Webb surrendered 3 runs in 7 innings, but Edward Cabrera gave up 4 in 2.3 innings. Bobby Dalbec replaced Rafael Devers when the game was seemingly unwinnable for the Red Sox, and Dalbec used his two ABs to swat two home runs. If I weren’t rooting for the Red Sox I would hope for Devers to sit more in favor of Dalbec.
 
Bellingham: “W,” 3-6; 43PA, 2.3IP
AVG: 0.225 OBP: 0.279 SLG: 0.425 OPS: 0.704
ERA: 7.83 WHIP: 0.870
I still can’t decide if fake wins are actually enjoyable. The Cascades did not play that well, but got a fake win anyway. Only two relievers appeared, one of them (Cam Bedrosian) gave up two runs in an inning and a third. Jonathan India continued to make a case for ROY with another leadoff homerun. 
 
Portland: W, 10-0; 32PA, 9IP
AVG: 0.370 OBP: 0.469 SLG: 0.519 OPS: 0.987
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.667
That’s what you call good baseball on both sides of the ball. Eric Lauer tossed 7 innings, giving up 0 runs. The offense had 4 doubles and 4 walks, led by Tyler O’Neill and CJ Cron who both hit two doubles. 
 
 
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Old Detroit Wolverines 96 43 .693 —
Flint Hill Tornadoes 89 50 .643 6.9
Tampa Bay Rays 88 51 .633 8.3
New York Yankees 78 60 .565 17.8
Boston Red Sox 79 62 .560 18.3
Toronto Blue Jays 75 62 .547 20.3
Baltimore Orioles 44 93 .321 51.3
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
D.C. Balk 86 51 .628 —
Canberra Kangaroos 76 61 .557 9.7
Atlanta Braves 73 64 .533 13.1
Philadelphia Phillies 71 67 .514 15.6
New York Mets 70 69 .504 17.1
Miami Marlins 57 81 .413 29.6
Washington Nationals 57 81 .413 29.6
 
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago White Sox 80 58 .580 —
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 74 64 .536 6.1
Bellingham Cascades 72 66 .519 8.3
Cleveland Indians 68 68 .500 11
Detroit Tigers 65 75 .464 16
Kansas City Royals 62 76 .449 18
Minnesota Twins 61 77 .442 19
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 85 55 .607 —
Cottage Cheese 79 61 .565 5.9
Cincinnati Reds 74 66 .529 11
St. Louis Cardinals 69 68 .504 14.5
Chicago Cubs 64 76 .457 21
Pittsburgh Pirates 50 89 .360 34.5
 
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Kaline Drive 84 54 .609 —
Houston Astros 81 57 .587 3
Haviland Dragons 75 63 .542 9.3
Seattle Mariners 75 64 .540 9.5
Oakland A’s 74 64 .536 10
Los Angeles Angels 69 70 .496 15.5
Texas Rangers 50 88 .362 34
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
San Francisco Giants 89 50 .640 —
Los Angeles Dodgers 88 51 .633 1
Peshastin Pears 85 54 .615 3.5
San Diego Padres 73 65 .529 15.5
Portland Rosebuds 67 72 .484 21.8
Colorado Rockies 63 76 .453 26
Arizona Diamondbacks 45 94 .324 44
 
 

4 Comments

  • Bregman’s homer was NOT good news. It’s bottom-of-the-ninthness cost the Mariners what would have been a very valuable, and encouraging, victory. It may be the nail on the M’s post-season hopes. Also, it made me nervous and upset (until I went and added up my players’ stats).

    • Sorry, I posted my comment before I read the Canberra section where you acknowledged the other perspective on Bergman’s stupid homer.

      • I mean, as a Red Sox fan, I don’t really want the Mariners to win. Even more when its my EFL players who can do the damage. But I also feel bad saying those things, because I do really like the Mariners and I really do not like the Astros. What a complicated world we live in…