The four teams who were really quite sincerely dead yesterday all improved their winning percentages. Indeed, even while I was typing about the three Wolverines sporting 0 for the season batting lines, one of them (Jose Iglesias) was clouting a home run for his first hit of the season. (Hedges went 0 for Saturday and Profar for some reason didn’t play.) All four of the dead were under .200 yesterday morning, and now all four are over .200.
But it didn’t help. We were an average of 2.8 games behind yesterday. Today we’re an average of 2.95 games back. Meanwhile the upper echelons of the league are busy sorting themselves into projected WAR order — with the Dragons impersonating the Wolverines.
EFL Standings for 2017
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Peshastin Pears | 5 | 1 | .780 | — | 26.9 | 14.3 |
| Cottage Cheese | 4 | 1 | .755 | 0.4 | 21.0 | 12.0 |
| Haviland Dragons | 4 | 2 | .676 | 0.6 | 34.3 | 23.8 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 4 | 2 | .602 | 1.1 | 33.6 | 27.3 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 2 | 2 | .567 | 1.4 | 19.0 | 16.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 2 | 3 | .448 | 1.9 | 23.6 | 26.2 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 1 | 3 | .237 | 2.7 | 12.0 | 21.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 2 | 4 | .305 | 2.9 | 13.9 | 21.1 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 1 | 4 | .236 | 3 | 11.3 | 20.4 |
| D.C. Balk | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3.2 | 22.1 | 44.3 |
Peshastin: W, 3 – 2.
Cottage: W, 5 – 2.
Haviland: L, 1 – 6.
Portlabd: W 2, L 1; 9 – (-1).
Flint Hill: W, 7 – 3.
Canberra: L, 4 – 9.
Old Detroit: “L”, 3 – 3.
Kaline: W, 5 – 0.
Pittsburgh: “L”, 4 – 4.
DC: L, 5 – 6.
There are many story lines hidden here, but I cannot tell them — I will be busy all the rest of the day. Any of you who want to see a story told are free to tell it in the comments.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2014
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Baltimore Orioles | 4 | 0 | .000 | — |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 4 | 2 | .667 | 1 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 2 | 2 | .567 | 1.7 |
| Boston Red Sox | 2 | 2 | .500 | 2 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 1 | 3 | .237 | 3.1 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3.5 |
| New York Yankees | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3.5 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Miami Marlins | 3 | 2 | .600 | — |
| Washington Nationals | 3 | 2 | .600 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 2 | 3 | .448 | 0.8 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 2 | 3 | .400 | 1 |
| New York Mets | 2 | 3 | .400 | 1 |
| Atlanta Braves | 1 | 4 | .200 | 2 |
| D.C. Balk | 1 | 4 | .200 | 2 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Minnesota Twins | 4 | 1 | .800 | — |
| Detroit Tigers | 3 | 1 | .750 | 0.5 |
| Cleveland Indians | 3 | 2 | .600 | 1 |
| Chicago White Sox | 2 | 2 | .500 | 1.5 |
| Kansas City Royals | 2 | 3 | .400 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 1 | 4 | .236 | 2.8 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cottage Cheese | 4 | 1 | .755 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 3 | 2 | .600 | 0.8 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 3 | 2 | .600 | 0.8 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 2 | 2 | .500 | 1.3 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 2 | 3 | .400 | 1.8 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 2 | 4 | .333 | 2.3 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 4 | 2 | .676 | — |
| Los Angeles Angels | 4 | 2 | .667 | 0.1 |
| Houston Astros | 3 | 3 | .500 | 1.1 |
| Oakland A’s | 3 | 3 | .500 | 1.1 |
| Kaline Drive | 2 | 4 | .305 | 2.2 |
| Texas Rangers | 1 | 4 | .200 | 2.6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 1 | 5 | .167 | 3.1 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 5 | 1 | .833 | — |
| Colorado Rockies | 5 | 1 | .833 | — |
| Peshastin Pears | 5 | 1 | .780 | 0.3 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 4 | 2 | .602 | 1.4 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 3 | 3 | .500 | 2 |
| San Diego Padres | 3 | 3 | .500 | 2 |
| San Francisco Giants | 1 | 5 | .167 | |
The Cheese continued their steady pace – nothing spectacular, certainly not enough to brag about. Decent hitting (.256/.333/.452) and little good pitching (8.7 IP, 2.08 ERA) enabled the Cottage contingent to continue their collective climb through the upper echelons of the EFL (heights too rarely seen by this club). Besides Addison Russell’s 3-for-4 with two doubles, the best Cheese move of the day was to bench Greg Bird, who has not been hitting – apparently one of his feet fell off A WEEK AGO and they never noticed. I finally had to call Joe Girardi and ask him to set the boy down for a spell.