16 in Quarantine

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Kaline Drive	19	10	.640	—	147.1	109.5
Haviland Dragons	17	12	.576	1.9	170.9	145.5
D.C. Balk	14	14	.495	4.2	139.1	140.4
Cottage Cheese	12	15	.451	5.4	127.6	141.4
Flint Hill Tornadoes	13	16	.442	5.7	150.7	175.7
Bellingham Cascades	12	17	.423	6.3	138.0	174.0
Peshastin Pears	12	18	.407	6.9	131.1	158.4
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	11	18	.385	7.4	132.2	165.8
Canberra Kangaroos	11	17	.379	7.5	131.0	168.5
Portland Rosebuds	11	19	.382	7.6	162.9	207.3
Old Detroit Wolverines	8	21	.263	10.9	111.9	185.4

 

AVG: 0.167

OBP: 0.250

SLG: 0.389

OPS: 0.639

ERA: 3.00

WHIP: 1.000

 

Kaline produced a fake win, which is like getting a haircut from SuperCuts – it looks good at the moment but in a few days you’ll notice it isn’t quite what you had hoped. Kevin Pillar went 2 for 5 with a HR and a SB, and Kyle Lewis hit another HR. He has a lock on Rookie of the Year if he can have even a decent September. The pitching was good but minimal, and at the end of the day, the Drive allowed the rest of the league a chance to get a little closer.

 

AVG: 0.282

OBP: 0.378

SLG: 0.436

OPS: 0.814

ERA: 3.88

WHIP: 1.724

 

The Dragons had a solid day at the plate and on the mound. It seems like a rarity for it to happen in the EFL, but the Dragons pulled it off while gaining .4 games on the Drive. Yu Darvish led the way, pitching 7 innings of one-run ball. He K’d 10 batters and walked one. Two offensive players who have been somewhat disappointing this season have, the past couple of days, seemingly found something to change their luck. Harrison Bader and Miguel Sano combined to go 5 for 7 with 3 2Bs and a HR. 

 

AVG: 0.235

OBP: 0.297

SLG: 0.618

OPS: 0.915

ERA: 2.45

WHIP: 1.293

 

I’m going to share something that only the Balk and the Rosebuds will like: the last two EFL championships have been won by the team with Mookie Betts. Yesterday’s three game change in their record moved the Balk a game closer to the Drive, and guess what? Mookie Betts was 3 for 5 with 2 HRs and 2 SB. Of course, this good of a day indicates there were others who joined in the fun, and there were. Those included all 4 pitchers who combined for nearly 15 innings and only 4 ER. Dylan Cease was the best, who in his battle with Yu Darvish, went 6 innings and gave up 2 runs. 

 

AVG: 0.345

OBP: 0.457

SLG: 0.655

OPS: 1.112

 

Who needs pitching when you OPS over 1.000? Not the Cheese. Cottage hitters took full advantage of the Drive’s Down Day (DDD), led by 4 batters who had multiple hits – Corey Seager, Shohei Ohtani, Yandy Diaz, and Cory Dickerson – with all but Diaz chipping in a HR. Happy Edgar Martinez Day!

 

AVG: 0.313

OBP: 0.465

SLG: 0.594

OPS: 1.059

ERA: 7.74

WHIP: 2.258

 

The pitching on the Tornadoes is atrocious. There is no other way to tell that story than to do so plainly. Joe Jimenez has pitching less than one full inning in the past 4 days and have given up 7 ER. He alone has caused Tornado fans everywhere to despair, were it not for a fleet of hitters who, when they want to, can rake with the best lawn care technicians in the land. Yesterday’s stars include the recently traded Teoscar Hernandez (uh-oh), who went 1 for 1 with a HR and 3 BBs and 2 SB, and Niko Goodrum who went 1 for 3 with a HR, a SB, and 2 BBs. The Tornado, like the Dragons and the Cheese, gained .4 games on the Drive. For the sake of Teoscar Hernandez, Tornado management hopes that gap continues to shrink over the next several days. 

 

AVG: 0.167

OBP: 0.286

SLG: 0.389

OPS: 0.675

ERA: 3.86

WHIP: 0.571

 

Justin Dunn spun a gem yesterday, giving up 0 runs in 6IP. It’s too bad Cascade hitters didn’t perform as usual, or else they may have won and leaped over the suspect Tornadoes in the standings. Their entire team combined for only 3 hits on the day, though one of those was a HR by the ageless Jeff Mathis. 

 

AVG: 0.125

OBP: 0.176

SLG: 0.156

OPS: 0.333

ERA: 3.00

WHIP: 1.333

 

I can tell why the Pears are so eager for Teoscar Hernandez to join their team in a week. That hitting line is the type of thing for which you ask your children to avert their eyes. But the pitching was a sight for sore eyes, getting a full 9 innings from 3 pitchers and only allowing 3 runs. Genesis Cabrera threw 2 innings of no-hit baseball, which led the way for their staff. 

 

AVG: 0.289

OBP: 0.372

SLG: 0.474

OPS: 0.846

ERA: 5.19

WHIP: 1.538

 

The Alleghenys made move in the standings, jumping over both the Rosebuds and the Roos while gaining .3 games on the leader after the DDD (see above for reference). Dansby Swanson went 3 for 5 with 3 2Bs, and Max Muncy performed like the Max Muncy of old (which hasn’t really happened much this year) but going 2 for 4 with a HR and a BB. Pittsburgh also got decent, though not spectacular pitching, from Frankie Montas and Luke Weaver, who did enough to help their team win. 

 

AVG: 0.188

OBP: 0.235

SLG: 0.563

OPS: 0.798

ERA: 8.67

WHIP: 2.410

 

That’s about as lopsided a fake win as you’ll see in the EFL, and though there is a W there, the Roos actually slid in the standings. Rhys Hoskins continued to heat up, going 2 for 5 with a HR, and youngsters Kyle Tucker and Austin Nola both hit HRs, but little else happened offensively for the Roos. The pitching was not great, and thus I’ll spare their staff the humiliation of seeing their line in such a public place.

 

 

AVG: 0.186

OBP: 0.222

SLG: 0.279

OPS: 0.501

ERA: 0.00

WHIP: 0.800

 

I wonder if Rosebud management does what every Red Sox fan does every night – lay in bed and wonder what life would be like if Mookie Betts was still wearing a Rosebud/Red Sox uniform? Because, speaking as a Red Sox fan, that is exactly what I do. The hitters were so discouraged after seeing Mookie’s day in a Balk uniform that they did absolutely nothing at the plate. But the pitchers? They did their best to show not having Mookie will be ok in the long run, although they gave up after 5 innings and 0 earned runs. 

 

AVG: 0.262

OBP: 0.326

SLG: 0.524

OPS: 0.850

ERA: 16.67

WHIP: 2.222

 

Scoring 8 runs will usually garner a win in the EFL, and it did! Kind of. The decent hitting, led by Trea Turner (3 for 3 with a 3B) and Kyle Schwarber (2 for 4 with a 2B and a HR), did its part. But the pitching, oh the pitching! Two appearances were made (Morejon and Phelps) that totaled 2.7IP…and 5ER given up. The good news for the Wolverines is that they held onto their position in the Luis Robert sweepstakes.