Things are kind of exciting right now in EFL Land. We have four teams within 0.4 games of first place. Come on, Tornados! Let’s make it 5 within 0.5!
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Caveat: There is an error in Peshastin’s standings. Ignore them for now. The standings, not the Pears.
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EFL Standings for 2018
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 30 | 23 | .572 | — | 241.7 | 209.1 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 31 | 23 | .570 | — | 248.8 | 215.7 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 31 | 23 | .569 | 0.1 | 225.5 | 196.6 |
| Brookland Outs | 31 | 24 | .562 | 0.4 | 274.3 | 243.5 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 29 | 25 | .529 | 2.3 | 228.2 | 215.3 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 26 | 26 | .492 | 4.2 | 272.9 | 280.9 |
| Cottage Cheese | 27 | 28 | .487 | 4.5 | 283.5 | 290.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 27 | 28 | .484 | 4.7 | 235.0 | 242.2 |
| Haviland Dragons | 25 | 30 | .446 | 6.8 | 228.9 | 254.8 |
| D.C. Balk | 22 | 31 | .416 | 8.3 | 213.5 | 253.6 |
| Peshastin Pears | 22 | 32 | .411 | 8.6 | 222.5 | 267.3 |
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Canberra: W 0, L 2; 6 – 10. (.241, .310,. .351; 11 ip, 6 er). Brock Stewart (4 ip) and Andrew Suarez (5 ip) struggled (both allowing 3 earned runs). Except for Tim Anderson (a homer in 4 AB), Michael Conforto (3 for 7 with 2 walks) and Mitch Garver (2 for 3 with a double and a walk), Kangaroo hitters struggled, too (3 for 23 for the others, with no extra bases or walks). Spread that over two games, and the kindly Kangaroos heeded our calls: “Hey guys! Wait up!”
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Portland: W, 6 – 4. (.297, .350, .622; 7.7 ip, 3 er). This was a little too good of a day for Portland, by my lights. Chris Archer spun 6 scoreless innings. At the plate Jonathan Villar led the way: 1 for 3 with a homer and a walk. Fortunately Richard Bleier quadruple chulked (0.7 io, 3 er) to keep the Rosebuds from running away with the league lead.
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Old Detroit: W, 6 – 3. (.286, .342, .429; 6 ip, 3 er). The W’s, frustrated because their good hitting days all seem to be ruined by bad pitching, and vice versa, decided to try focusing on just hitting Monday. It worked, as long as you consider that to be a good batting line. The W’s do; anything OPSing over .700 looks good to us. (That pitching is all for show. Doug Fister is at 0% activation. Really, someone should steal him away from the W’s with a trade offer.)
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Brookland: L, 1 – 5. (.167, .314, .238; 0.3 ip, 0 er). Brookland also waited up for us, kindly as any Kangaroo. Daniel Descalso continued undermining Kolten Wong’s career by hitting a triple and walking in four plate appearances, but even Wolverine management concedes it’s what weenie Wong deserves, as bad as he’s hitting.
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Flint Hill: W, 2 – (-2). (.200, .324, .233l 13.7 ip, 3 er). Great pitching trumped crummy hitting for the Tornados. This is all well and good, but getting this much gain from such a mixed performance doesn’t put one’s team in the best light. Still, Trevor Cahill’s 8 scoreless innings would look good in anybody’s light, so it would be churlish to begrudge the Tornado’s their 0.8 game gain in the standings.
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Pittsburgh: W 1, L 1; 7 – 9. (.163, .222, .388; 15.7 ip, 8 er). Three starters ascended the mound for the Alleghenys. Lance Lynn led the way (6 ip, 2 er); Luke Weaver was worst (4 ip, 4 er); and David Price was in the middle (5 ip, 2 er). Altuve, K. Suzuki, and JD Martinez all homered. But lingering effects of my mistakes the previous two days in loading the Allegheny stats left the the A’s with a loss Monday.
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Cottage: W, 6 – 6. (.265, .265, .588; 2.3 ip, 0 er). Would it hurt the Cheese to walk a little? They went a decent 9 for 34, with 11 extra bases. But to get a real win they needed to add some of the softer skills. A walk or two now and then? A stolen base? As it was, they needed a solo homer from Mike Trout (otherwise 0 f0r 4) to eke out the narrowest of wins.
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Kaline: “W”, 6 – 7. (.275, .348, .575; 5.7 ip, 4 er). Chris Owings and James McCann put up identical lines (1 for 3 with a homer, a walk, and a strikeout) to lead the strong Drive offense. Max Fried had a solid 5 innings, 1 earned run, and everything was set up for a win. Except AJ Minter quadruple chulked (0.7 ip, 3 earned runs).
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Haviland: W 2, L (-1); 6 – (-2). (.220, .313, .356; 10.7 ip, 2 er). That offense was apparently better than it looks in the stat line. How is this possible? Well, Susac and Dozier went a combined 0 for 7 — and they are both allocated at 0%. Take those empty AB away, and the Dragon line become .250, .339, .404. Bryce Harper went 0 for 3 — but walked twice (see, Cheese?). Yonder Alonso went 2 for 2 with 2 walks. Pile up 60 plate appearances like those, erase a few replacement plate appearances, round up — and you get 6 runs scored. You also get runs erased when you pitch to an ERA under 1.80 and replace several replacement innings.
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DC: W 1, L 1; 12 – 10. (.359, . 409, .615; 7 ip, 3 er). A wonderful, balanced, quality day for both hitting and pitching. Addison Russell hit two homers in two trips to the plate to set an elevated tone for the entire offense. Five other Balks followed Russell with daily OPSes of 1.000 or higher. Alex Cobb backed that up with 7 ip, 3 er.
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Peshastin: L, 2 – 8. (.314, .314, .371; 7.3 ip, 6 er). I just noticed: Ozzie Albies has dropped off the stats sheet again. Thus the Pears aren’t getting his stats for May. I thought I had solved this problem. I will make another attempt. I’m guessing 113 plate appearances at a .731 OPS will make a significant difference to the Pears’ standings. So ignore Peshastin’s standings for now.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Boston Red Sox | 37 | 17 | .685 | — |
| New York Yankees | 33 | 17 | .660 | 2 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 31 | 23 | .569 | 6.3 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 29 | 25 | .529 | 8.4 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 26 | 26 | .500 | 10 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 25 | 29 | .463 | 12 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 17 | 37 | .315 | 20 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Atlanta Braves | 31 | 22 | .585 | — |
| Washington Nationals | 30 | 22 | .577 | 0.5 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 30 | 23 | .572 | 0.7 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 29 | 22 | .569 | 1 |
| New York Mets | 26 | 24 | .520 | 3.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 22 | 31 | .416 | 9 |
| Miami Marlins | 20 | 33 | .377 | 11 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 27 | 25 | .519 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 26 | 26 | .492 | 1.4 |
| Detroit Tigers | 24 | 29 | .453 | 3.5 |
| Minnesota Twins | 22 | 27 | .449 | 3.5 |
| Kansas City Royals | 18 | 36 | .333 | 10 |
| Chicago White Sox | 16 | 35 | .314 | 10.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 35 | 20 | .636 | — |
| Brookland Outs | 31 | 24 | .562 | 4.1 |
| Chicago Cubs | 28 | 22 | .560 | 4.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 28 | 23 | .549 | 5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 28 | 25 | .528 | 6 |
| Cottage Cheese | 27 | 28 | .487 | 8.2 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 19 | 36 | .345 | 16 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 35 | 20 | .636 | — |
| Seattle Mariners | 33 | 20 | .623 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 29 | 25 | .537 | 5.5 |
| Oakland A’s | 28 | 26 | .519 | 6.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 27 | 28 | .484 | 8.4 |
| Haviland Dragons | 25 | 30 | .446 | 10.4 |
| Texas Rangers | 22 | 34 | .393 | 13.5 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Portland Rosebuds | 31 | 23 | .570 | — |
| Colorado Rockies | 29 | 25 | .537 | 1.8 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 27 | 26 | .509 | 3.3 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 25 | 28 | .472 | 5.3 |
| San Francisco Giants | 25 | 29 | .463 | 5.8 |
| Peshastin Pears | 22 | 32 | .411 | 8.6 |
| San Diego Padres | 22 | 33 | .400 | 9.3 |