Updated standings plus defense teasers – The Official EFL Web Site

I’ve been working on defense updates — I’ve got all the data now, but don’t have it just yet in a form I can share it. Most of the rest of my day is busy, so I’ll just leave you on tenterhooks for the a bit, with this little update as consolation.

Oh, ok, here are some teasers:

Highest rated OF in MLB: Mookie Betts, 4.3. Lowest rated: Austin Hays, on our waiver wire from Brookland.

Highest rated SS in MLB: Andrelton Simmons, 10.0. Highest in the EFL: Addison Russell (DC)- 9.5. (Wilmer Difo is also 9.5.)

Highest rated 3b in MLB: JP Crawford, 5.8. Highest in EFL: Matt Chapman, DC — 5.7.

Highest rated 2b in EFL: Ian Kinsler, HD — 7.8. Second base ratings have been declining lately. The average is down to 6.6 (it should be 7), and the highest rated on my sheet are all players who are barely eligible because they played in 2016 — but aren’t playing now. Jemile Weeks is highest at 8.5. I use the same formula for 2b as all the others; something must be going on in the various defense metrics as they apply to second base. I regret this trend. It’s fun to have a small number of very high defense ratings to go for in a draft.

Highest rated 1b in MLB: 3.8 (Brandon Belt and Travis Shaw). Highest in EFL: 3.5 (Goldschmidt, PR).

Highest rated Catcher in MLB: 8.2 (Barnhart, Pina). Highest in EFL: 8.1, Austin Hedges, OD. The average rating for catchers has stayed steady (“stayed” and “steady” have the same letters! Cool!) at right around 7, where it should be. (It’s 7.1 right now.) But the top ratings used to be around 9. My sheet shows an 8.4 for David Ross, who hasn’t quite dropped off yet since he played in 2016. The benefit of carrying a top-rated defensive catcher isn’t all that great when he’s only 1 point above average, or one win over an entire season. I suspect in actual baseball the effect at the skill positions up the middle of having the best defender versus an average one is more than one win.

AVERAGE RATINGS: NOMINAL , ACTUAL, RANGE

C: 7, 7.1, 8.4 – 5.8

1b: 3, 2.8, 4 – 1.3

2b: 7, 6.6, 8.5 – 4.9

3b: 4, 4.2, 5.8 – 4.2

ss: 8, 8.1, 10 – 5.6

of: 2, 2.0, 4.3 – (-2.8)

EFL Standings for 2018

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Portland Rosebuds	30	20	.591	—	231.0	191.9
Brookland Outs	30	21	.584	0.2	265.7	225.9
Old Detroit Wolverines	28	22	.566	1.2	204.1	179.2
Canberra Kangaroos	27	21	.560	1.6	213.8	189.0
Flint Hill Tornadoes	27	23	.534	2.8	210.3	196.5
Kaline Drive	26	25	.502	4.4	221.6	220.2
Cottage Cheese	25	26	.492	4.9	260.5	262.2
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	23	25	.478	5.6	246.4	261.0
Haviland Dragons	23	28	.460	6.6	216.3	234.4
Peshastin Pears	22	28	.435	7.8	209.6	242.0
D.C. Balk	19	29	.403	9.2	188.9	231.4

Portland: DNP, (-2) – 0. (.143, .143, .143; 1 ip, 0 er). Just 14 plate appearances — but this is good news when your team bats .143 with no walks or extra bases. I sure don’t see any need for the Rosebuds to panic yet. Just keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll be fine.

Brookland: W, 5 – 5. (.400, .455, .400; 0 pitching). Solid hitting over 22 plate appearances on a thin day: the Outs made it clear they aren’t dropping Out of the race just yet.

Old Detroit: L, 4 – 6. (.286, .444, .500; 3.7 ip, 4 er). On the first good hitting day in a while (albeit over only 18 plate appearances), Porcello stumbles. Sigh. At least the Rosebuds paused for a break, too, so the W’s didn’t get blown out of the race just yet.

Canberra: W 1, L (-1); 0 – (-6). (.211, .318, .421; 12 ip, 0 er). Steven Matz and Blake Snell both pitched 6 innings with no earned runs allowed, pushing the Kangaroos right back into the pennant race, and gaining 1.1 games on the Wolverines. Canberra can’t be counted out just yet.

Flint Hill: “W”, 3 – 3. (.167, .167, .250; 6 ip, 2 er). Charlie Morton pitched 6 strong innings, but the Tornados only had three batters, and they only went 2 for 12 with a double… and a double play and 4 strikeouts. What a waste! If only Morton had been pitching for the Wolverines, and Porcello for the Tornados — then at least one team could have had a really good day. But I don’t think our league is ready for that kind of day-trading. Not just yet.

Kaline: “W”, 4 – 4. (.235, .235, .412; 2.3 ip, 0 er). The Drive joined the younger Johnsons in eschewing the walk Thursday. Also, Brian Johnson, pitching for Tom Johnson, walked no one in his 2.3 innings. It’s an interesting approach, I guess, and these teams occupy three of the top 5 positions in the EFL standings, so I guess we can’t dismiss this strategy just yet.

Cottage: W, 6 – 0. (.300, .391, .500; 13 ip, 5 er). With 23 plate appearances and 13 strong innings, the Cheese came pretty close to getting a full day’s stats on an evening with a very thin MLB schedule. Mike Trout only had one hit in 4 trips to the plate. That hit was a homer. Maybe the Cheese aren’t quite as out of the race as I had assumed. I know I as Commissioner should never write an EFL team off. Doing so is not just, yet I still sometimes slip up. I will try to do better.

Pittsburgh: L, 1 – 9. (.077, .077, .077; 4.3 ip, 4 er). Ouch. It’s amazing they got even one run (rounding up) on that kind of hitting. Adt least it was only 13 plate appearances. But still, that’s only 1 single for 13 at bats, and there was a double play which will effectively erase a single.

Haviland: L, 7 – 8. (.333, .357, .519; 3.3 ip. 1 er). Two things to note here: First, the Dragons led the Johnson Division in walks yesterday, with one. And this would have led to a solid Dragons win except for one thing: they allowed 8 runs. Which leads to the second thing: how could 8 runs score, with 3.3 ip, 1 er pitching? Answer: most of Thursday’s good pitching (2 scoreless innings, in fact) was provided by Tyler Glasnow, who is allocated for May at 0%.

Peshastin: DNP, 1 – 0. (.214, .313, .500; 0 pitching). The Pears eked out a run on an off day on 3 for 14 hitting, because those three hits included a double, a homer and two walks.

DC: W (-1), L 1; (-3) – 2. (.200, .273, .300; 5.2 ip, 5 er). Mike Clevinger stank it up, and the Balk hit into two double plays and got caught stealing. So DC took a negative win and a loss on what was supposed to be an off day.

Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Boston Red Sox	34	16	.680	—
New York Yankees	31	15	.674	1
Old Detroit Wolverines	28	22	.566	5.7
Flint Hill Tornadoes	27	23	.534	7.3
Tampa Bay Rays	23	25	.479	10
Toronto Blue Jays	23	27	.460	11
Baltimore Orioles	16	34	.320	18

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Atlanta Braves	29	19	.604	—
Philadelphia Phillies	28	19	.596	0.5
Canberra Kangaroos	27	21	.560	2.1
New York Mets	25	21	.543	3
Washington Nationals	26	22	.542	3
D.C. Balk	19	29	.403	9.7
Miami Marlins	19	30	.388	10.5

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cleveland Indians	24	24	.500	—
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	23	25	.478	1.1
Minnesota Twins	21	24	.467	1.5
Detroit Tigers	21	28	.429	3.5
Kansas City Royals	17	33	.340	8
Chicago White Sox	15	32	.319	8.5

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Milwaukee Brewers	31	20	.608	—
Brookland Outs	30	21	.584	1.2
St. Louis Cardinals	26	21	.553	3
Pittsburgh Pirates	27	22	.551	3
Chicago Cubs	25	21	.543	3.5
Cottage Cheese	25	26	.492	5.9
Cincinnati Reds	18	33	.353	13

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	33	18	.647	—
Seattle Mariners	29	20	.592	3
Los Angeles Angels	28	22	.560	4.5
Oakland A’s	26	24	.520	6.5
Kaline Drive	26	25	.502	7.4
Haviland Dragons	23	28	.460	9.5
Texas Rangers	20	32	.385	13.5

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Portland Rosebuds	30	20	.591	—
Colorado Rockies	26	24	.520	3.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	25	24	.510	4
San Francisco Giants	24	26	.480	5.5
Los Angeles Dodgers	22	27	.449	7
Peshastin Pears	22	28	.435	7.8
San Diego Padres	21	30	.412	9