My last few updates have wandered too far afield. Today we will look at some baseball questions, the first of which is punctuated by Juan Soto hitting the first pitch he saw Monday for a homer — in his first start in the big leagues.
EFL Standings for 2018
EFL | ||||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
Brookland Outs | 30 | 18 | .618 | — | 260.7 | 206.9 |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 26 | 18 | .583 | 2 | 185.8 | 157.6 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 26 | 20 | .569 | 2.5 | 208.2 | 181.1 |
Portland Rosebuds | 27 | 21 | .567 | 2.5 | 220.5 | 192.3 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 23 | 21 | .529 | 4.4 | 185.4 | 174.8 |
Kaline Drive | 24 | 24 | .506 | 5.4 | 213.2 | 210.9 |
Cottage Cheese | 24 | 24 | .496 | 5.9 | 249.2 | 251.3 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 21 | 24 | .470 | 7 | 237.4 | 254.1 |
Haviland Dragons | 22 | 26 | .458 | 7.7 | 195.8 | 213.2 |
Peshastin Pears | 21 | 27 | .447 | 8.2 | 204.0 | 230.8 |
D.C. Balk | 20 | 26 | .431 | 8.9 | 186.9 | 214.7 |
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Brookland: L, 3 – 7. (.136, .240, .409; 8.3 ip, 6 er). On Sunday Ryan pointed out to me how the Brookland Outs were like the Golden Knights. If you are as ignorant as I was, this may be news to you:
1. The Golden Knights call Las Vegas home. (No, I don’t know what hockey lore “Golden Knights” refers to. Hockey lore must be very thin, if teams are reaching this far. At least Ducks, Sharks, and Hurricanes are aquatic references, although distinctly unseasonal for hockey. There is even a hockey team oxymoronically called the “Flames.” The ice is burning! The ice is burning!)
2. The Golden Knights won their division and three rounds of playoffs. They are going to play in the Stanley Cup.
3. The Stanley Cup is not a giant cup where people play hockey. It’s the hockey version of the World Series. Stanley was someone who used to be famous in hockey circles. Sort of like Albert Spalding, I think.
4. The Golden Knights are an expansion team. Like the Outs.
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I found this news disturbing. I was consoling myself that it was impossible for an expansion team to win a title. Surely the Outs would collapse and restore hope to the pennant race. But now, knowing of the Golden Knights, things have changed. Now I have to console myself with the news that it’s possible for the Outs to lose a game once in a while, and let their pursuers gain 0.6 games all in one day. It can happen, if Bartolo Colon surrenders 6 earned runs in 5.3 innings. (I guess the Yankees are good for something after all).
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Old Detroit: W, 4 – 2. (.190, .190, .381; 7 ip, 1 er). Walker Buehler’s 7 ip, 1 er outing carried the team to the win, despite that bad batting line. Buried in that badness is a puzzle: why are Lewis Brinson and Ronald Acuna slumping so badly (bot 0 for 4 yesterday), while Buehler and Ohtani aren’t? Are Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto, and other phenoms bound to slump sometime? Most crucially — how likely is it the Outs will also slump? I don’t understand the dynamics of mysterious prospect booms and busts, nor how to manage them. And since I have Brinson and Acuna and Rafael Devers (and Buehler and Ohtani) and am chasing this apparition of a phenom team, I must get on top of this.
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Canberra: L, 4 – 5. (.292, .370, .417; 1 ip, 0 er). Seven ‘Roos batted yesterday. The studs were veterans at the beginning of the aplhabet (Abreu, Adrianza, and Conforto) who combined to go 5 for 11 with three doubles and a walk: .455, .500, .727). The busts were the rookies and prospects (Anderson, Garver, Hoskins, Kingery) who combined for 2 for 13 with a walk (.154, .214, .154). The Kangaroos should also have a keen interest in the dynamics of prospects’ early careers.
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Portland: W 2, L 0; 11 – 4. (.240, .367, .480; 16 ip, 3 er). Gleyber Torres comes up in our discussion today because of his two homers yesterday to help the Yankees win one and the Rosebuds win two. I don’t know how the Rosebuds can stand the moral contradictions in benefitting from Yankee success. You’d think they wouldn’t have bid so high on Torres, or would jump at the first opportunity to wash their hands of him. But they did and they haven’t. ( Disclosure: as part of my duty as Commissioner to tend to the spiritual welfare of my flock, I offered a generous trade to the Rosebuds as a way of helping them escape their immoral entanglement with the Yankees. But after Torres hit those two homers, the Rosebuds withdrew from negotiations. They were like the rich young man in Jesus’ parable. And I wasn’t even calling them to give up all they had. I was too late. The Precious had gained too much power over Portland.)
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Flint Hill: L, 2 – 3. (.105 .261, .105; 1 ip, 0 er). I have to be careful these days. I have always assumed that a pitcher going only one shutout inning is a reliever. In Flint Hill’s case, Corey Knebel was relieving. But in MLB, Sergio Romo wasn’t, twice in a row. He started two Tampa Bay Rays games, pitched only an inning, and gave way to the traditional starter who in at least one game pitched the next 6 1/3. Romo is on our free agent list. He’ll be eligible next month as a starter. He will have very limited innings for a starting pitcher, but that’s how it works for the Rays, so it’s not a problem for us.
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Kaline: DNP, (-2) – (-1). (.129, .129, .387; 6 ip, 2 er). The Drive are looking sluggish lately, stuck in first or reverse. Of the nine Drives who appeared yesterday, 2/3 seemed to be in park: six Drive batters combined to go 0 for 21. On the other hand, Aaron Judge and Neil Walker — Yankees! — had identical 2 for 5 days, each with a homer and a double (and a strikeout). And Chase Anderson — mercifully not a Yankee — went 6 innings with only 2 earned runs. This is an excruciating game sometimes.
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Cottage: L, 2 – 7. (.158, .200, .211; 0.3 ip, 0 er). Another team suffering from incredibly bad hitting. This bout of offensive ineptitude left the once high-flying Cheese just under .500 for the season. Actually, Monday was a small piece of that dismal puzzle. The biggest is the collapse of Danny Duffy: 19.3 innings pitched, 20 earned runs. That’s a 9.31 ERA. To go with a 9.35 FIP — meaning he is probably not suffering from bad luck. He’s just been bad. Why is this happening? Danny Duffy doesn’t even know, according to mlbtraderumors:
“Sometimes you’re not special at something. Right now I’m not special at pitching,” he said. “What are you going to do? Run from it with some phantom DL crap? I’m not going on the DL. I feel great. Do they want to talk about the bullpen? I don’t know. That’s their decision.”
I don’t know, if I was paying someone $15,750,000 a year to pitch I think I’d like something more than “What are you going to do?” from a pitcher carrying a 9.31 ERA and a 9.35 FIP.
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Pittsburgh: DNP, 1 – 0. (.257, .278, .629; no pitching). Mark Reynolds blasted two homers yesterday, part of his 3 for 5 performance. Reynolds couldn’t get an MLB contract last winter, so he ended up signed after Opening Day to play in the Nationals (and Allegheny) minors. Now, 6 games into his 2018 MLB season, Reynolds is batting .444, .500, 1.167 (8 for 18 with a double, two walks, and four homers). Surely this is unsustainable. Right? Not that I’m all that afraid of another unstoppable Allegheny rise to the top or anything.
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Haviland: W 1, L (-1); 3 – (-2). (.214, .313, .500; 3 ip, 1 er). Bryce Harper is not one of those prospects we talked about above. Nor is he an older player making an improbable comeback after a detour through the minors. Harper’s an established expensive star. So we expect him to go 2 for 4 with a homer, double, and walk. Jake Lamb, however, hasn’t established himself at that level — so his 1 for 2 with a homer and two walks may please Dragon fans even more.
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Peshastin: W 0, L 2; 6 – 10. (.176, .263, .412; no pitching). The Pears did not build on Sunday’s success because they sent no one to the mound for either half of the double hitter, except replacements. Joey Gallo ripped another homer, and Jose Iglesias a double, but the rest of the hitting might as well have been replacements, too.
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DC: “W”, 5 – 5. (.200, .200, .600; no pitching). Like the Pears, only less (with just 10 plate appearances compared to Peshastin’s 19) .
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
AL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
New York Yankees | 31 | 13 | .705 | — |
Boston Red Sox | 32 | 15 | .681 | 0.5 |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 26 | 18 | .583 | 5.3 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 23 | 21 | .529 | 7.7 |
Tampa Bay Rays | 22 | 23 | .489 | 9.5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 22 | 25 | .468 | 10.5 |
Baltimore Orioles | 15 | 32 | .319 | 17.5 |
NL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Atlanta Braves | 28 | 18 | .609 | — |
Philadelphia Phillies | 27 | 18 | .600 | 0.5 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 26 | 20 | .569 | 1.8 |
New York Mets | 24 | 19 | .558 | 2.5 |
Washington Nationals | 25 | 21 | .543 | 3 |
D.C. Balk | 20 | 26 | .431 | 8.2 |
Miami Marlins | 17 | 30 | .362 | 11.5 |
AL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Cleveland Indians | 22 | 23 | .489 | — |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 21 | 24 | .470 | 0.8 |
Minnesota Twins | 20 | 23 | .465 | 1 |
Detroit Tigers | 20 | 27 | .426 | 3 |
Chicago White Sox | 13 | 31 | .295 | 8.5 |
Kansas City Royals | 14 | 33 | .298 | 9 |
NL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Brookland Outs | 30 | 18 | .618 | — |
Milwaukee Brewers | 29 | 19 | .604 | 0.7 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 26 | 19 | .578 | 2.2 |
Chicago Cubs | 25 | 19 | .568 | 2.7 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 26 | 20 | .565 | 2.7 |
Cottage Cheese | 24 | 24 | .496 | 5.9 |
Cincinnati Reds | 16 | 32 | .333 | 13.7 |
AL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Houston Astros | 30 | 18 | .625 | — |
Seattle Mariners | 27 | 19 | .587 | 2 |
Los Angeles Angels | 26 | 21 | .553 | 3.5 |
Oakland A’s | 25 | 22 | .532 | 4.5 |
Kaline Drive | 24 | 24 | .506 | 5.7 |
Haviland Dragons | 22 | 26 | .458 | 8 |
Texas Rangers | 18 | 31 | .367 | 12.5 |
NL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Portland Rosebuds | 27 | 21 | .567 | — |
Colorado Rockies | 26 | 22 | .542 | 1.2 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 25 | 22 | .532 | 1.7 |
San Francisco Giants | 24 | 24 | .500 | 3.2 |
Peshastin Pears | 21 | 27 | .447 | 5.7 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 20 | 27 | .426 | 6.7 |
San Diego Padres | 20 | 29 | .408 | 7.7 |