League Updates

Broken Spirits

I am in Seattle.  We came here to see our grandsons, and to support Melanie while she preached at Seattle Mennonite. Melanie and Sam are headed home, Ben is still in Oregon camping with friends, and I have a few minutes to do this update before Melissa and Rahul get back from a party with the boys.

So it won’t be long. But it sure will be sweet. For some of us, who can still enjoy perfect summer evenings for baseball (like we’re having here in Seattle this weekend).

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EFL Standings for 2018
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Portland Rosebuds 60 38 .609 516.8 407.9
Old Detroit Wolverines 60 40 .596 1.1 464.4 381.4
Canberra Kangaroos 55 41 .575 3.6 429.4 369.6
Brookland Outs 54 43 .561 4.8 511.3 454.1
Cottage Cheese 54 43 .557 5.2 501.4 443.2
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 50 47 .519 8.9 509.6 494.9
Kaline Drive 52 49 .515 9.2 467.7 443.3
Flint Hill Tornadoes 50 50 .498 11 430.3 433.7
Peshastin Pears 47 51 .476 13 418.7 443.2
Haviland Dragons 45 56 .446 16.1 431.3 485.9
D.C. Balk 39 57 .409 19.4 399.9 482.2
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Portland:  “W”, 3 – 4. (31 PA, .214. .290, .250; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA) Probably due to a spate of east coast rainouts, only six Rosebuds came out to bat, Saturday, plus only one lonely reliever. Niko Goodrum (0 for 4) and Marcell Oznua (1 for 7) were almost completely shut out at the plate, sabotaging the fair work of the rest of the team (5 for 21 with a double and three walks: .240, .333, .289.   Not great, but the Rosebuds are supposed to be steadily pulling away from everyone else right about now, judging by the pre-season chatter.
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Old Detroit:  W, 9 – 5. (54 PA, .304, .352, .457; 10.3 ip, 6 er, 5.23 ERA).  Fortunately for the Wolverines, Anthony DeSclafani is pitching in Toledo right now, so his 4.3 ip, 3 er didn’t count.  That left the W’s with 6 ip, 3 er: a 4.50 ERA. Not great, but not devastating, either.  The hitting was very nice by Wolverine standings, lead by under-performers Josh Bell (4 for 4 with a double) and Jose Iglesias (2 for 3 with a double and a homer).  W’s fans, used to our recent history of also-running, are waiting for the inevitable collapse — but so far, it hasn’t happened.
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Canberra:  W (-1), L 1, 0 – 2. (24 PA, .150, .333, .300; 6 ip, 5 er).  The Kangaroos struggled on both offense and pitching Saturday. Steven Matz did the 5 ip, 5 er start.  Only three of the 7 Kangaroo batters got hits — 3 for 9 with a home — but it was almost enough for the Kangaroos to tread water and let the Rosebuds come back to them. (What about the Wolverines? They’re practically invisible. o one expects the W’s to actually, you know, win this year.The W’s don’t seek out the limelight. They hardly get mentioned in even the EFL press.)
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Brookland:  W 1, L 2; 1 – 15. (47 PA, .098, .213, .122; 14 ip, 8 er).  The Outs are having trouble getting traction in the pennant race.  They sent a BUNCH of people (twelve, to be exact)  to the plate Friday, but got only 4 hits and six walks for all that work.  They sent a bunch of people to the mound (6 of them) and got slightly better outcomes (5.14 ERA over 14 innings) but Bartolo Colon (5 er, 4.7 ip) and Zack Godley (5 ip, 3 er) set the stadium on fire.  In a bad way. 
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Cottage: W 2, L 1; 19 – 12. (33 PA, .267, .333, .300; 2.7 ip, 1 er).  The Cheese have apparently been living right. They got caught in a surprise summer triple header, produced barely a game’s worth of hitting, and less than half a game’ worth of pitching — but still managed to win 2 and lose only 1 and, more importantly, cut 0.7 games off the gap between them and first place. And they did it quietly.  7 of their 9 hitters contributed to the offense, and both pitchers did ok.
Pittsburgh: L, 5 – 6.  (21 PA, .250, 429, .313; 15.3 ip, 8 er).  Those east coast rainstorms caused way more havoc than one would imagine, with only two games cancelled but several EFL franchises struggling to field a full team. At least all five of the A’s hitters actually hit — except Altuve, who walked twice. Three starters — Lynn, Weaver and Yarbough — combined to allow 8 earned runs in 13 innings, but two relievers took the edge off with 2.7 scoreless innings.
Kaline: W, 5 – (-2). (44 PA, .256, .318, .487; 22.3 ip, 5 er, 2.01 ERA).  Kaline had another very nice day.  This team has been making the biggest move in the league since the All Star break, and is now soaring over .500, just behind the Alleghenys and almost 2 games ahead of the Tornados.  Aaron Judge went 3 for 4 with a double and a homer to be one of the four hitting studs with at least a 1.000 OPS for July.  Marcus Stroman (7 ip, 1 er) and Brian Johnson (5 ip 0 er) led the pitchers to a strong finish, too.
Flint Hill: W, 3 – 1. (44 PA, .167, .318, .222; 13 ip, 3 er, 2.08 ERA).  It isn’t as bad as it looks. The pitching was very good, and this hitting… well, it has a bright spot in Miguel Andujar’s 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. Mike Trout failed to hit a fair ball… and that was the last straw for the Tornado leadership.  They sounded the retreat by trading James Paxton to the wily Kangaroos for two pitchers whose value lie entirely in the future.
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The Commissioner’s Office feels bad about this.  We obsessed with following the Mike-Trout-laden Tornados and chronicled Trout’s failure to add zip to the windy ones (Trout Saturday: 0 for 2 with 2 walks).  I think this is the first time the Commissioner’s Office ever broke a team’s spirit.  I am remorseful.  So remorseful that I invite the Tornados to raid our larder of prospects like they just did for our rival Kangaroos. We owe you one or two.
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Peshastin: “W”. 2 – 4. (41 PA, .211, .268, .237; no pitching) Another dismal day for an EFL offense — there were so many of them Saturday! But Aledmys Diaz wasn’t affected.  He went 2 for 3, building on his 4 for 5 day Friday to compile a two-day line of .750, .750, 1.250.  What a great pick-up by the Pears!  But watch out for those Tornados!  They are crashing through the lineup like… um… whirling wind storms. They may maneuver themselves into your spot in the draft order!
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Haviland: W, 8 – 1. (29 PA, .360, .448, .600 — Happy Edgar Day!; 11 ip, 0 er — Happy Randy Johnson Day!)  It’s interesting to compare what demoralizes people. The Tornados trade for the best player alive, find themselves sinking just as fast into the nether regions of the league, and then get worse rather than better.  That demoralizes them, and they start tearing things down by trading Paxton.  The Dragons, on the other hand, have a wonderful day at the plate (Yonder Alonso — 2 homers!) and the mound (Dylan Covey two-hitting the Mariners over 8.3 innings of shutout baseball!). But the Dragons look around and see themselves still in 10th place and advertise a yard sale on all their expiring contracts. www
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DC: DNP, 2 – (-8).  (39 PA, .324, .410, .353;  14.3 ip, 4 er).  Congratulations to the Balk and their fans wherever they may be!  The Balk had a great day kind of like the Drive did, and gained almost an entire game on the Rosebuds.  Four Balks batted over 1.000 OPS. Carlos Carrasco and Alex Cobb had strong starts (11.7 ip, 3 er between them) and the bullpen did its job. If Haviland offloads enough talent, and the Tornados keep careening wildly toward the bottom of the league, there could be quite a dust-up for that first draft pick next spring.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Boston Red Sox 69 31 .690
New York Yankees 63 34 .649 4.5
Old Detroit Wolverines 60 40 .596 9.4
Tampa Bay Rays 49 49 .500 19
Flint Hill Tornadoes 50 50 .498 19.2
Toronto Blue Jays 45 52 .464 22.5
Baltimore Orioles 28 71 .283 40.5
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Canberra Kangaroos 55 41 .575
Philadelphia Phillies 54 42 .563 1.2
Atlanta Braves 53 42 .558 1.7
Washington Nationals 48 49 .495 7.7
Miami Marlins 43 57 .430 14.2
New York Mets 40 56 .417 15.2
D.C. Balk 39 57 .409 15.8
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Cleveland Indians 54 43 .557
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 50 47 .519 3.7
Minnesota Twins 44 52 .458 9.5
Detroit Tigers 42 58 .420 13.5
Chicago White Sox 34 63 .351 20
Kansas City Royals 29 68 .299 25
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago Cubs 57 40 .588
Milwaukee Brewers 56 44 .560 2.5
Brookland Outs 54 43 .561 2.6
Cottage Cheese 54 43 .557 3
St. Louis Cardinals 50 48 .510 7.5
Pittsburgh Pirates 50 49 .505 8
Cincinnati Reds 43 55 .439 14.5
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 66 35 .653
Seattle Mariners 59 40 .596 6
Oakland A’s 56 43 .566 9
Kaline Drive 52 49 .515 14
Los Angeles Angels 49 50 .495 16
Haviland Dragons 45 56 .446 20.9
Texas Rangers 41 58 .414 24
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Portland Rosebuds 60 38 .609
Los Angeles Dodgers 54 44 .551 5.7
Colorado Rockies 53 45 .541 6.7
Arizona Diamondbacks 53 46 .535 7.2
San Francisco Giants 51 49 .510 9.7
Peshastin Pears 47 51 .476 13
San Diego Padres 40 60 .400 20.7