I want to start by thanking Jamie Johnson for his warm words about our little EFL community. I share his appreciation and second his sentiments.
As one small example, I appreciate it every time we get a photo from a league member’s visit to a stadium, perhaps with an account of what happened. I did a long-winded version of the latter two weeks ago. (The one where I call the winning home run just before it happened… you know, the one about how Enzo might have been made into a Felix fan?).
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We got one last night from Mark Johnson, also at T-Mobile, wishing the M’s luck. But then there was a telling parenthetical. It looked like this:
What effect did this imprecation have? The Ms never did go, losing 1 – 0. Anderson got in his 5 scoreless innings, in the process vandalizing the EFL pennant race almost beyond reclamation. (Sunday’s games are almost over as I write this, but I won’t reveal any spoilers.)
Somehow that doesn’t feel as warm and fuzzy as telling one’s grandson “there isn’t going to be another out” and then watching the prediction immediately come true.
EFL Standings for 2019
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
RS |
RA |
Portland Rosebuds |
105 |
56 |
.650 |
— |
1009.5 |
739.7 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
103 |
58 |
.642 |
1.3 |
995.4 |
739.8 |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
94 |
67 |
.586 |
10.4 |
940.7 |
787.4 |
Peshastin Pears |
89 |
72 |
.555 |
15.4 |
845.5 |
761.5 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
86 |
75 |
.537 |
18.2 |
837.0 |
761.2 |
Haviland Dragons |
83 |
78 |
.515 |
21.7 |
906.1 |
872.4 |
Canberra Kangaroos |
81 |
80 |
.501 |
24 |
897.2 |
898.6 |
Kaline Drive |
79 |
82 |
.493 |
25.4 |
775.5 |
788.8 |
Cottage Cheese |
77 |
84 |
.477 |
27.9 |
902.3 |
945.0 |
Bellingham Cascades |
67 |
94 |
.415 |
37.8 |
723.4 |
866.5 |
Brookland Outs |
65 |
96 |
.403 |
39.7 |
754.2 |
914.3 |
D.C. Balk |
65 |
96 |
.402 |
39.9 |
699.4 |
857.2 |
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Portland: W, 1 – 0. (53 PA, .109, .226, .130; 15 ip. 3 er, 1.80 ERA)
Apparently 1009 runs is enough. You would think with Tornados right behind you, you’d want a little more from your offense, but the Rosebuds are really good at what they do. They seem to know just what is required. If your upstart older brother gets within 0.1 game of you with less than a week to go, you hold him there for a couple of days without letting him catch all the way up, then you put on a little spurt and leave him spitting out your dust. And that spurt can be accomplished with one hand tied behind your back, as long as it’s not your pitching hand — you need Anderson’s 5 innings, but only 5, because you were going to get 5 just like them from Trent Thornton, and 5 more ok innings from John Means — so you can bury him with only half of your best effort. Cruel…
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Flint Hill: L, 1 – 6. (.39 PA, .182, .308, .455; 3.7 ip, 1 er, 2.45 ERA)
… And there was nothing the Tornados could do about it, despite the best efforts of T. Hernandez (2.750 OPS), X. Bogaerts (2.300 OPS) and JD Martinez (1.400 OPS). From Martinez it’s over 1.000 OPS down to the next Tornado batter (J. Abreu, 0.393). And you needed more good pitching than just 3.7 ip.
Look, Jamie, if you don’t make up that 1.3-game deficit on Sunday, you can always hope for the Cards and Brewers to tie so they’d have to play a 163rd game on Monday… no, I’m sorry, Sunday’s games are over now. That’s not in the Cards, heh heh. But there’s still this: it’s pretty likely that the Tornados overtook the Rosebuds for an inning here or there as games were unfolding on those days you ended up 0.1 games back. In case you never get back to a late-season lead, you can with reasonable confidence tell yourself and your fan base (surely I’m not being redundant) that the Tornados were likely in first place at one or more points during the last week of the season. Also, you just need 4.6 runs Sunday to join the Rosebuds in the 1,000 runs scored promised land.
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Old Detroit:: W, 11 – 6. (47 PA, .317, .404, .780; 7 ip, 4 er, 5.14 ERA).
So if you know the other team is going to score 6, you know you have to score more than six. Why am I having to explain this ? Jorge Soler is ending his brief W’s contract with a bang: two more homers Saturday to achieve a 3.417 OPS and lead a band of 5 W’s OPSing over 1.000.
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Peshastin: “L”, 3 – 2. (35 PA, .143, .314, .179; 8.3 ip, 3 er, 3.24 ERA)
Didn’t you read what I explained Friday? About how in our league you don’t get credit for three wins if you outscore your opponent 3 – 2 three days in a row. You need to throw in some lopsided scores to keep your win streak going.
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Pittsburgh: “L”, 6 – 5. (31 PA, .269, .269, .692; 6 ip, 2 er, 3.00 ERA)
Another official loss born of not blowing one’s opponents away. Pete Alonso blasted his 53rd Saturday to take the all-time rookie record away from Aaron Judge. We’ll see this happen again pretty soon, I’d guess, unless Rob Manfred tones the ball back down.
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Haviland: W, 8 – 6. (30 PA, .227, .433, .682; no pitching)
The Dragons crossed the 900 runs scored line on the season Saturday, scoring enough to beat a 6-run opponent. Same Hilliard scored a 5.000 OPS with a pinch hit homer.
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Canberra: W, 4 – 3. (48 PA, .205, .354, .333; 11 ip, 4 er, 3.27 ERA)
The ‘Roos go into the last day of the season with a .501 winning percentage. Without a collapse they are likely to end nominally at 81-81, but they need to at least tie to be sure of officially being over .500. They are within 3 runs of scoring 900 and within 2 of giving up 900. And within 1.5 runs of a positive run differential. So many milestones within reach! (I first wrote that as “so many millstones.” That, too, if, say, they get blown out.)
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Kaline: L, 6 – 7. (40 PA, .278, .350, .361; 9 ip, 6 er, 6.00 ERA)
The Drive, on the other hand, have one day to do some SERIOUS work if they want to get to that .500 mark. It’s possible, but expecting for a 2 win, 1 loss result on a particular day is about like asking to roll a 12 and then getting it. Adam Wainwright didn’t help matter with his 4 ip, 6 er outing.
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Cottage: W, 5 – 3. (28 PA, .140, .286, .520; 4 ip, 2 er, 4.50 ERA)
The Cheese also crossed the 900 runs scored line on Saturday which makes them just like the Dragons, except for the having the worst pitching in the league for the season. To their credit, they worked on fixing that pitching problem Saturday. By the way, I watched the video of Felix giving the ball to Scott Servais several times, and was impressed with how JP Crawford handled himself as a supportive supporting cast member as he stood in the cluster of infielders around the King. He looked positively pastoral as he watched Felix with visible, calm empathy. I’m all set for shortstop next season, but if I weren’t I’d be a sucker for a JP Crawford trade.
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Bellingham: W, 6 – 4. (15 PA, .333, .467, .750; 4.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)
I think the Cascades are on some kind of low-volume high calorie team diet. Only five hitters showed up, splitting 15 PA, meaning they had to absorb at least 13 replacement plate appearances and still score 6 runs. And two of the five only batted once, making outs, while everyone else OPSed north of 1.000.
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Brookland: L, 6 – 9. (31 PA, .200, .385, .600; no pitching)
This is the second EFL team for whom no pitchers reported for duty. The Outs can little afford this if they are trying to stay out of the cellar – a big “if,” I admit. As of this morning they sit barely 0.2 games up on the wily Balk. Manny Machado’s homer might be all that kept the team afloat into Sunday.
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DC: “W”, 5 – 5 (44 PA, .286, .318, .405; 2.7 ip, 0 er, 0 ERA)
The Balk are still right there, ready to slip past Brookland with Sunday’s stats. Richie Martin, whoever he is, led the team Saturday with a homer and a double in 4 plate appearances. I am tempted to go suss out what happened today… but the veil of ignorance needs to stay down until tomorrow, when we find out whether the Outs or the Balk will have the league’s first pick next spring; whether the Kangaroos stayed above .500 (and the Drive joined them); and which brother is going to represents us all on the trophy this fall.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2014
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
103 |
58 |
.642 |
— |
New York Yankees |
103 |
58 |
.640 |
0.4 |
Tampa Bay Rays |
96 |
65 |
.596 |
7.4 |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
94 |
67 |
.586 |
9.1 |
Boston Red Sox |
83 |
78 |
.516 |
20.4 |
Toronto Blue Jays |
66 |
95 |
.410 |
37.4 |
Baltimore Orioles |
54 |
107 |
.335 |
49.4 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Atlanta Braves |
97 |
64 |
.602 |
— |
Washington Nationals |
92 |
69 |
.571 |
5 |
New York Mets |
85 |
76 |
.528 |
12 |
Philadelphia Phillies |
81 |
80 |
.503 |
16 |
Canberra Kangaroos |
81 |
80 |
.501 |
16.3 |
D.C. Balk |
65 |
96 |
.402 |
32.2 |
Miami Marlins |
56 |
105 |
.348 |
41 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Minnesota Twins |
101 |
60 |
.627 |
— |
Cleveland Indians |
93 |
68 |
.578 |
8 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
86 |
75 |
.537 |
14.5 |
Chicago White Sox |
71 |
88 |
.447 |
29 |
Bellingham Cascades |
67 |
94 |
.415 |
34.1 |
Kansas City Royals |
58 |
103 |
.360 |
43 |
Detroit Tigers |
46 |
113 |
.289 |
54 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
St. Louis Cardinals |
90 |
71 |
.559 |
— |
Milwaukee Brewers |
89 |
72 |
.553 |
1 |
Chicago Cubs |
84 |
77 |
.522 |
6 |
Cottage Cheese |
77 |
84 |
.477 |
13.2 |
Cincinnati Reds |
74 |
87 |
.460 |
16 |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
69 |
92 |
.429 |
21 |
Brookland Outs |
65 |
96 |
.403 |
25 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Houston Astros |
106 |
55 |
.658 |
— |
Oakland A’s |
97 |
64 |
.602 |
9 |
Haviland Dragons |
83 |
78 |
.515 |
23 |
Kaline Drive |
79 |
82 |
.493 |
26.7 |
Texas Rangers |
77 |
84 |
.478 |
29 |
Los Angeles Angels |
72 |
89 |
.447 |
34 |
Seattle Mariners |
67 |
94 |
.416 |
39 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
105 |
56 |
.652 |
— |
Portland Rosebuds |
105 |
56 |
.650 |
0.3 |
Peshastin Pears |
89 |
72 |
.555 |
15.7 |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
84 |
77 |
.522 |
21 |
San Francisco Giants |
77 |
84 |
.478 |
28 |
San Diego Padres |
70 |
91 |
.435 |
35 |
Colorado Rockies |
70 |
91 |
.435 |
35 |