I haven’t written up a post for three days, mostly because all but one of my progeny were here and, well, even the EFL can’t compete with that. I didn’t post yesterday because Dave was helping me understand something I got worried about in our team stats displays: why for many players the EFL stats section of the stats report shows different rate statistics (AVG, OBP, and SLG) than the raw MLB stats. No matter how we allocate our hitters (or our pitchers and the ERA’s), their rate stats should be the same in EFL as they are in MLB.
Dave assures me (I think, I’m still wrapping my mind around his explanation) the stats ARE the same in the part of the database that calculates our records. The EFL stats sections of our team stats pages are calculated separately just for display purposes. Whatever is causing them to come out with different rate stats is not affecting our standings, according to Dave (who’s the one that knows).
S0 now I can go back to cheerfully commenting on our teams’ performances. While I have updated the standings every day, my comments here refer to our teams’ accomplishments on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
EFL Standings for 2016
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 39 | 21 | .645 | — | 340.3 | 253.6 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 37 | 25 | .597 | 2.7 | 304.7 | 246.1 |
| Haviland Dragons | 35 | 26 | .581 | 3.8 | 287.2 | 247.3 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 35 | 26 | .579 | 3.9 | 298.8 | 250.9 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 33 | 27 | .549 | 5.7 | 297.0 | 267.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 30 | 30 | .498 | 8.8 | 265.8 | 267.6 |
| Peshastin Pears | 30 | 32 | .488 | 9.4 | 252.5 | 260.8 |
| Cottage Cheese | 27 | 32 | .456 | 11.3 | 273.4 | 295.3 |
| Kaline Drive | 23 | 38 | .384 | 15.8 | 270.1 | 342.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 18 | 43 | .298 | 21 | 230.9 | 358.6 |
Old Detroit: W 3, L 0; 13 – 6. (.265, .294, .459; 25.7 ip, 4 er). At last! Good pitching for three straight days, capped by Corey Kluber’s complete game 2-earned run mastery last night.
Portland: W 1 , L 1; 11 – 8. (.252, .306, .478; 46.7 ip, 17 er). Seven Rosebud pitchers performed over the last three days. The worst of the seven was Chris Sale (5 er in 6 ip). The best were Jon Gray (7 ip, 1 er) and newbie Junior Guerra (6.7 ip, 1 er). Among the batters Steve Pearce (4 for 5 with two doubles) and Chris Iannetta (5 for 11 with a double and two homers) stood out, while Maikel Franco’s 0 for 7 with 4 strikeouts stood out in a different way.
Haviland: W 1, L 2; 13 – 20. (.247, .373, .341; 19.0 ip, 12 er). These three days saw Vincent Velasquez’ last attempt to pitch for a while — retiring the only batter he faced. Then he walked off the mound and onto the DL with a “right biceps strain.” Even I hope it’s not worse than that — he’s an exciting young player whom millions of Phillies and Dragons fans will miss terribly. Millions of Dragon and Pirate fans are mourning Juan Nicasio, who wishes he could have walked off the mound after the first batter he faced coming in to relieve in the top of the 12th. He struck out that one, and Steve “Pesky” Piscotty, too. Then he walked Matt Carpenter on a full count, and intentionally walked the Amazing Aledmys Diaz to get to the pitcher. Adam Wainwright, pinch hitting for Jonathan Broxton, doubled to drive in two runs. Matt Adams doubled on another 3-2 pitch. Nicasio got two strikes on Jhonny Peralta before he singled, and two strikes on Brandon Moss before he homered. (I admit I am writing this cheerfully, but it is mixed with genuine empathy for the Dragon’s double-whammy disappointments.)
Canberra: W 2, L 1; 17 – 10. (.295, .349, .446; 28.7 ip, 9 er). The Kangaroos seem to have straightened out their trajectory, after falling three places in the standings. Taijuan Walker, who had been in free fall, found his footing with an 8 inning shutout masterpiece. Chris Davis woke up his bat to go 3 for 6 with two homers and a walk, as did Jose Abreu to go 4 for 11 with 2 doubles and a walk. .
Pittsburgh: W 2, L 1; 18 – 11. (.308, .308, .577; 29 ip, 13 er). No pitchers really dominated — David Price coming closes with 2 er in 8 ip — but seven hitters OPSed at least 1.000. You know, the usuals: Nick Ahmed (1.625), Ender Inciearte (1.389), Pedro Alvarez (1.286), Tyler Flowers (1.083), plus Castellanos (1.089), and the Tiresome Twins: Altuve (1.155) and Trout (1.000).
Flint Hill: W 1, L 2; 3 – 14. (.186, .205, .239; 36.3 ip, 15 er). Jesse Hahn and Collin McHugh did most of the damage, each going 3.7 ip and surrendering 4 earned runs. Doug Fister came through for 6 ip an 1 earned run, which will help the Tornados as soon as I remember to process his activation as an injury replacement. Xander Bogaerts is trying to follow in Jackie Bradley’s hitting streak footsteps, adding 4 for 9 with a homer to his totals over these three days.
Peshastin: W 2, L 0; 7 – 0. (.239, .299, .341; 19.0 ip, 4 er). Max Scherzer put together 7 scoreless innings to pave the way. Meanwhile JT Realmuto and Trevor Story produced identical 4 for 8 batting lines, each with a double, to drive the offense.
Cottage: W 2, L 0; 20 – 8. (.333, .369, .667; 21.0 ip, 11 er). Seven out of eleven Cheese batters OPSed 1.000 or better, led by new-old Cheese Wil Myers (3 homers for 7 at bats). With the pitching on the so-so side, this offensive onslaught was crucial to the twin wins.
Kaline: W 1, L 2; 13 – 9. (.248, .283, .436; 20.7 ip, 5 er). Chase Anderson (6.7 ip, 0 er) and Bud Norris (7 ip, 1 er) stifled the opposing offense, opening the path to a double victory, so a committee sluggers (Yoenis Cespedes: 7 for 15 with a double and a homer; Alex Avila’s 2 homers in 7 trips; and Michael Saunders’ 3 for 8 with a double and a homer) could lead the team through the opening.
D.C.: W 2, L 1; 18 – 15. (.263, .327, .432; 16.3 ip, 7 er). The Balk won 2 out of three to stick with the Cubs-slaying Braves and their 18 – 42 twin Twins. Kenta Maeda (6.7 ip, 1 er) made up for the 0.3 ip, 3 er chulk by Trevor May. Mitch Moreland went 5 for 11 with three doubles and two homers to fire up the offense.
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 39 | 21 | .645 | — |
| Baltimore Orioles | 36 | 24 | .600 | 2.7 |
| Boston Red Sox | 35 | 25 | .583 | 3.7 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 33 | 30 | .524 | 7.2 |
| New York Yankees | 31 | 30 | .508 | 8.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 30 | 30 | .498 | 8.8 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 28 | 31 | .475 | 10.2 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Washington Nationals | 37 | 24 | .607 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 35 | 26 | .579 | 1.7 |
| New York Mets | 34 | 26 | .567 | 2.5 |
| Miami Marlins | 32 | 29 | .525 | 5 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 29 | 32 | .475 | 8 |
| Atlanta Braves | 18 | 42 | .300 | 18.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 18 | 43 | .298 | 18.8 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 34 | 26 | .567 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 33 | 27 | .549 | 1 |
| Chicago White Sox | 31 | 30 | .508 | 3.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 30 | 30 | .500 | 4 |
| Kansas City Royals | 30 | 30 | .500 | 4 |
| Minnesota Twins | 18 | 42 | .300 | 16 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago Cubs | 41 | 18 | .695 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 33 | 28 | .541 | 9 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 32 | 29 | .525 | 10 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 28 | 33 | .459 | 14 |
| Cottage Cheese | 27 | 32 | .456 | 14.1 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 23 | 38 | .377 | 19 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Texas Rangers | 37 | 24 | .607 | — |
| Haviland Dragons | 35 | 26 | .581 | 1.6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 34 | 27 | .557 | 3 |
| Houston Astros | 29 | 34 | .460 | 9 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 26 | 35 | .426 | 11 |
| Oakland A’s | 25 | 35 | .417 | 11.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 23 | 38 | .384 | 13.6 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Portland Rosebuds | 37 | 25 | .597 | — |
| San Francisco Giants | 36 | 26 | .581 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 33 | 29 | .532 | 4 |
| Peshastin Pears | 30 | 32 | .488 | 6.8 |
| Colorado Rockies | 28 | 33 | .459 | 8.5 |
| San Diego Padres | 26 | 36 | .419 | 11 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 26 | 37 | .413 | 11.5 |