A league in balance – The Official EFL Web Site

(Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to weigh in on options for our next manager’s meeting here. Now.)

Today we start the day with every EFL team having scored at least 200 runs, but none having scored 300. Every EFL team has also allowed at least 200 runs, but no one has allowed 300 — not even close. We have six teams above .500 and five below. Plus one right smack dab at .500.

The EFL is a league in beautiful balance.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s the wonderful warm but not hot sunshine on a quiet day when I don’t have any immediate deadlines. Maybe it’s the league with all of us in the same ballpark, essentially. Maybe it’s the Wolverines migrating from 1 to 10th and back to 3rd, where the big boys atop the standings kind of have to pay them some attention.

Maybe it’s Josh Bell emerging before my very eyes.

EFL Standings for 2019

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Portland Rosebuds	31	19	.626	—	295.8	226.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes	30	18	.616	0.7	285.5	223.6
Old Detroit Wolverines	27	21	.557	3.6	263.4	233.3
Canberra Kangaroos	26	23	.538	4.5	267.9	248.2
Peshastin Pears	26	24	.527	5	239.5	228.9
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	25	23	.523	5.2	223.1	212.4
Kaline Drive	25	25	.500	6.3	200.6	200.0
Haviland Dragons	23	27	.468	7.9	226.2	243.2
Bellingham Cascades	21	27	.443	9	236.9	268.8
Cottage Cheese	19	28	.408	10.6	223.5	269.4
Brookland Outs	19	28	.402	10.9	225.4	276.3
D.C. Balk	18	31	.365	12.9	200.0	264.7

Portland: L, 5 – 7. (62 PA, .291, .371, .527; 3.7 ip, 5 er, 12.27 ERA). Seven Rosebuds OPSed 1.000 or more, but it wasn’t enough considering the lovely big ERA recorded when Merrill Kelly came back to earth with a 1.7 ip, 4 er chulk. Kelly’s season ERA is now 4.75.

Flint Hill: W, 5 – 4. (36 PA, .414, .528, .793; 8 ip, 4 er, 4.50 ERA.) Only 7 Tornados appeared at the plate Wednesday, but 5 of them OPSed 1.000 or better. Derek Dietrich led the way: 2 for 3 with a homer, a walk, and one of three Tornado HBP. I can’t imagine hurting a tornado with even the fastest fastball. It would probably just suck it in, making it go even faster, and then toss it miles away, laughing at you derisively all the time. Anyway, the Rosebuds lost about 1/3 of their lead Wednesday.

Old Detroit: W, 6 – 1. (55 PA, .275, .327, .667; 8 ip, 3 er, 3.38 ERA). As I write this I’m watching the Pirates play what must have been some kind of morning baseball. It’s only 11:15! Well, here, in Oregon.(12:00 noon: Josh Bell homered just now. The Pirates announcers are going on about how Bell combines the strengths of Honus Wagner (batting .341), Willie Stargell, and Ralph Kiner. I wish they’d shut up. No need to jinx the guy.) But they’re in the 5th inning already, and Josh Bell is two for two with a walk and a double and the Pirates are leading the Rockies 8 – 0. Josh Bell is the single biggest reason the Wolverines have returned from their death bed to rattle the cages of the Rosebuds and Tornados. I considered leaving him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft last winter… such a scary thought! Kind of like when you stumble on the edge of a cliff and realize later how close you came… Just one more point: Bell’s homer was only one of 6 hit by Wolverines Wednesday, including two by Eloy Jimenez.

Canberra: L, 4 – 9. (30 PA, .240, .367, .480; 1.7 ip, 2 er, 10.80 ERA). Alex Bregman did his best (2 for 3 with a homer and a walk. But the pitching just wasn’t there — except for the part that was there, which wasn’t very good.

Peshastin: L, 4 – 4. (52 PA, .244, .346, .356; 1 ip, 0 er, 0 era). Peshastin is averagign 4.79 runs scored per game, and 4.58 runs allowed. So 4 – 4 is like a nothing game. It doesn’t really move the needle. The season winning percentage dropped from .528 to .527. Maybe the Pears are just waiting for the Big Pear to come back from Denmark or wherever he is right now.

Pittsburgh: DNP, 0 – (-3). (40 PA, .147, .194, .441; 10 ip, 4 er, 3.60 ERA). Derek Holland is struggling. The former Wolverine allowed 3 runs in 3 innings Wednesday. Fortunately Frankie Montas had already completed 6 scoreless innings, and Lou Trivino relieved for another scoreless inning, to cut the damage and give the Pirates a chance to erase runs allowed on an off-day.

Kaline: W, 5 – 4. (30 PA, .286, .333, .357; 12 ip 5 er, 3.75 ERA). The Drive have played 50 games. They’ve allowed EXACTLY 200 runs. Thanks, Kaline! I can do that math in my head: 4.0 runs allowed per game. They’ve scored almost exactly 200 runs (200.6). That means they’ve scored 4.012 runs per game. The Drive are in their 15th season in the league, I believe. They’ve had a very strong centripetal force about them the whole time, always regressing toward .500. So they are now — probably the barest possible bit above .500, but not enough for the standings to show it.

Haviland: L 4 – 6. (39 PA, .314, .385, .571; 2 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). All 8 Dragons who came to the plate Wednesday got at least one hit, leading to a very nice offensive stat line — which didn’t produce many runs. I don’t know why. But with a replacement starter going 5 ip at a 7.50 ERA, the Dragons could not work out a win.

Bellingham: DNP, 0 – (-1). (40 PA, .306, .375, .556; 0.7 ip, 1 er, 13.50 ERA). On an off-day, the Cascades nudged themselves a bit toward .500 with homers from Rajai Davis, Hunter Pence, and Rowdy Tellez.

Cottage: L, 4 – 9. (28 PA, .240, .321, .240; 4.7 ip. 4 er, 7.71 ERA). All 7 Cheese hitters reached base safely at least once, but non of them could muster an extra base, so the impact was blunted.

Brookland: L, 5 – 7. (37 PA, .235, .289, .529; 0 ip, 1 er, infinite ERA). In this game I’m watching right now, Jordan Lyles dominated the Rockies for 5 and 2/3 innings. Then with two out in the 6th he gave up a double. Then a bunch of other hits. By the time he left the game he’d surrendered 6 earned runs in 5.2 innings… Had he been pulled before the double, it would have made maybe a game difference in the standings. On Wednesday, Vladdy Jr homered and so did Nick Hundley as part of his 3 for 4 with a double and a walk. But without any pitching, and free run given away on the board, the Outs couldn’t get a win.

DC: “W”, 3 – 4. (37 PA, .182, .279, .364; 6.3 ip, 2 er, 2.84 ERA). Kevin Kiermaier homered and so did… Richie Martin? Who is Richie Martin? He also singled to put up a 2.333 OPS for the day. His season OPS still sags at .522.

Excuse me I have to flip over to watch Josh Bell bat again. Struck out. Oh, well, we’ll probably keep him anyway.

Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
New York Yankees	31	17	.646	—
Flint Hill Tornadoes	30	18	.616	1.4
Tampa Bay Rays	28	18	.609	2
Old Detroit Wolverines	27	21	.557	4.3
Boston Red Sox	26	23	.531	5.5
Toronto Blue Jays	20	29	.408	11.5
Baltimore Orioles	15	34	.306	16.5

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Philadelphia Phillies	28	21	.571	—
Atlanta Braves	27	23	.540	1.5
Canberra Kangaroos	26	23	.538	1.7
New York Mets	23	25	.479	4.5
Washington Nationals	19	30	.388	9
D.C. Balk	18	31	.365	10.1
Miami Marlins	15	31	.326	11.5

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Minnesota Twins	32	16	.667	—
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	25	23	.523	6.9
Cleveland Indians	25	23	.521	7
Chicago White Sox	22	26	.458	10
Bellingham Cascades	21	27	.443	10.7
Detroit Tigers	18	28	.391	13
Kansas City Royals	17	32	.347	15.5

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago Cubs	29	18	.617	—
Milwaukee Brewers	29	22	.569	2
Pittsburgh Pirates	24	22	.522	4.5
St. Louis Cardinals	25	24	.510	5
Cincinnati Reds	22	27	.449	8
Cottage Cheese	19	28	.408	9.8
Brookland Outs	19	28	.402	10.1

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	33	17	.660	—
Texas Rangers	24	23	.511	7.5
Oakland A’s	25	25	.500	8
Kaline Drive	25	25	.500	8
Haviland Dragons	23	27	.468	9.6
Los Angeles Angels	22	26	.458	10
Seattle Mariners	23	29	.442	11

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Los Angeles Dodgers	32	18	.640	—
Portland Rosebuds	31	19	.626	0.7
Peshastin Pears	26	24	.527	5.7
San Diego Padres	26	24	.520	6
Arizona Diamondbacks	25	25	.500	7
Colorado Rockies	22	25	.468	8.5
San Francisco Giants	21	27	.438	10

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