(Note: weigh in on options for our next manager’s meeting here. Now.)
(FRIENDS: WORDPRESS DID IT TO ME AGAIN. It neither saved this post when I last saved it nor did it post this post when I posted the finished version about 1:00 this afternoon. I just now discovered the problem. I will post what it last saved when I took a break to take my mom to the bank. I have no time to redo the omitted part now. My apologies. This is really frustrating.)
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The Mariners won Sunday, thanks to Yusei Kikuchi and fellow EFLers Mitch Haniger, Dan Vogelbach, JP Crawford, and Brandon Brennan (plus non-EFLers Edwin Encarnacion and Domingo Santana). It was an act of healing.
This is how M’s manager Scott Servais looked after Saturday’s game, embodying his team’s mood.
Daniel Vogelbach embodied his team’s mood as a result of Sunday’s action:
(When something needs embodiment, Vogey’s definitely your man.)
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After the M’s were 13-2, they went 9 – 24 until Sunday’s win. It wasn’t just that they were losing. It was the magnitude of the losses. Like these:
April 27: L, 15 – 1 (TEX)
April 28: L, 14 – 1 (TEX)
May 1: L, 11 – 0 (CHC)
May 10: L, 14 – 1 (BOS)
May 12: L, 11 – 2 (BOS)
May 16: L, 11 – 6 (MIN)
May 17: L, 7 – 1 (MIN)
May 18: L, 18 – 4 (MIN)
They did win three blowouts (Apr 25: 14 – 2; May 5, 10-0; May 8, 10 – 1). But their run differential, which peaked at +42 over 15 games, dropped to – 37 over 48 games. That’s -79 over 33 games. They dominated teams in a jaw-dropping way going 13 – 2 to start the season. But they paid for it by being dominated to almost the same jaw-dropping magnitude over a period twice as long.
Their 4 game lead in the pennant race turned into a place in the cellar, 10 games-behind. They fell 3.5 times further than they had risen in only a little more than twice the time. It’s like going on a roller coaster except you rise to the top on a rocket, which then suddenly tips and points straight down. Your fall doesn’t straighten out at ground level. You just keep going until you are so far underground they don’t even try to dig you out because you are already buried and no medicine can put you back together.
Ryan and I kept asking each other “how can they keep doing this?” as the M’s were on their meteoric rise. But the question applies to their meteoric descent, too. “How can they keep doing this? How can they keep going out there to play when they keep enduring these awful beatdowns?”
Even if I weren’t an M’s fan, I would feel badly for M’s fans. It’s not the way any human should be treated. Well, maybe it would be OK to do this to a Yankees fan. But not any other human.
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With so many EFL players on loan to the M’s and pitching in to end the misery for at least one day, we can all take quiet satisfaction in this irrefutable proof that the EFL is a force for good in the world. We all eased his pain.
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EFL | ||||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 29 | 16 | .644 | — | 267.7 | 198.5 |
Portland Rosebuds | 30 | 18 | .622 | 0.7 | 286.3 | 221.2 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 25 | 21 | .554 | 4 | 256.9 | 230.6 |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 24 | 21 | .537 | 4.8 | 243.6 | 225.2 |
Peshastin Pears | 24 | 24 | .508 | 6.1 | 229.6 | 226.8 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 23 | 23 | .505 | 6.3 | 215.4 | 212.8 |
Kaline Drive | 24 | 23 | .503 | 6.3 | 190.4 | 188.0 |
Haviland Dragons | 22 | 25 | .462 | 8.3 | 208.4 | 227.2 |
Bellingham Cascades | 20 | 26 | .445 | 9 | 225.7 | 256.0 |
Cottage Cheese | 19 | 25 | .438 | 9.2 | 215.3 | 244.0 |
Brookland Outs | 18 | 26 | .398 | 11 | 209.4 | 259.0 |
D.C. Balk | 18 | 28 | .382 | 11.9 | 192.2 | 246.3 |
AL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 29 | 16 | .644 | — |
New York Yankees | 28 | 17 | .622 | 1 |
Tampa Bay Rays | 27 | 17 | .614 | 1.5 |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 24 | 21 | .537 | 4.8 |
Boston Red Sox | 24 | 22 | .522 | 5.5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 19 | 27 | .413 | 10.5 |
Baltimore Orioles | 15 | 31 | .326 | 14.5 |
NL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Philadelphia Phillies | 27 | 19 | .587 | — |
Canberra Kangaroos | 25 | 21 | .554 | 1.5 |
Atlanta Braves | 25 | 22 | .532 | 2.5 |
New York Mets | 20 | 25 | .444 | 6.5 |
Washington Nationals | 19 | 27 | .413 | 8 |
D.C. Balk | 18 | 28 | .382 | 9.4 |
Miami Marlins | 13 | 31 | .295 | 13 |
AL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Minnesota Twins | 30 | 16 | .652 | — |
Cleveland Indians | 25 | 20 | .556 | 4.5 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 23 | 23 | .505 | 6.8 |
Chicago White Sox | 21 | 24 | .467 | 8.5 |
Bellingham Cascades | 20 | 26 | .445 | 9.5 |
Detroit Tigers | 18 | 26 | .409 | 11 |
Kansas City Royals | 16 | 31 | .340 | 14.5 |
NL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Chicago Cubs | 27 | 17 | .614 | — |
Milwaukee Brewers | 28 | 21 | .571 | 1.5 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 24 | 20 | .545 | 3 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 24 | 23 | .511 | 4.5 |
Cincinnati Reds | 21 | 26 | .447 | 7.5 |
Cottage Cheese | 19 | 25 | .438 | 7.7 |
Brookland Outs | 18 | 26 | .398 | 9.5 |
AL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Houston Astros | 31 | 16 | .660 | — |
Kaline Drive | 24 | 23 | .503 | 7.3 |
Los Angeles Angels | 22 | 24 | .478 | 8.5 |
Texas Rangers | 21 | 23 | .477 | 8.5 |
Seattle Mariners | 23 | 26 | .469 | 9 |
Oakland A’s | 22 | 25 | .468 | 9 |
Haviland Dragons | 22 | 25 | .462 | 9.3 |
NL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 31 | 17 | .646 | — |
Portland Rosebuds | 30 | 18 | .622 | 1.2 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 25 | 22 | .532 | 5.5 |
Peshastin Pears | 24 | 24 | .508 | 6.6 |
San Diego Padres | 23 | 24 | .489 | 7.5 |
San Francisco Giants | 20 | 25 | .444 | 9.5 |
Colorado Rockies | 20 | 25 | .444 | 9.5 |