League Updates

Fun Times For All Teams!

Another day down in the EFL, and things at the top continue to compress just a little. The month of September should prove to be very fun, and a little exciting – both at the top where there are 7 teams within 5.5 games or fewer of the league leading Drive, and also at the bottom as three teams jockey for first draft pick in 2021. Only two more days of August! 

EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Kaline Drive 20 14 .599 169.0 137.8
Haviland Dragons 19 15 .569 1 186.3 162.7
D.C. Balk 16 16 .495 3.5 152.9 154.3
Bellingham Cascades 16 17 .479 4.1 168.3 187.9
Canberra Kangaroos 15 17 .478 4.1 169.5 177.1
Flint Hill Tornadoes 16 18 .468 4.5 180.4 197.2
Cottage Cheese 15 18 .446 5.1 157.8 176.5
Peshastin Pears 15 20 .438 5.5 157.3 178.1
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 13 20 .398 6.8 157.0 192.3
Portland Rosebuds 12 23 .346 8.8 176.6 242.9
Old Detroit Wolverines 10 24 .299 10.2 138.8 209.9

Kaline: W1, L1 11-10 (45PA; 1.4IP)

AVG: 0.220 OBP: 0.267 SLG: 0.634 OPS: 0.901
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 1.429

The Drive became the first EFL team to win 20 games in the 2020 season. Their hitters hit for the cycle, with Kevin Pillar coming the closest to doing it himself, going 2 for 3 with a 3B and a HR. Kaline’s dominance this month has been due to the pitching staff, who has thrown 195 innings with a 3.64 ERA. They are the only EFL team with an ERA under 4 this month, and this dominance has led to the best record in the month and first place as the August days wane. Yesterday the Drive were only able to produce 1.4 innings, and though they didn’t give up a run, they didn’t pitch enough to keep from receiving replacement innings, and also earned a loss on the day. 

Haviland: W1, L1 6-4 (46PA; 16IP)

AVG: 0.214 OBP: 0.283 SLG: 0.333 OPS: 0.616
ERA: 1.69 WHIP: 1.063

The Dragons also earned a win and a loss yesterday, and managed to once again creep within 1 game of the EFL lead. If Ramon Laureano had not shown up, it might have been two losses on the day for the Dragons, even though their pitching was incredible. Laureano collected 4 of the Dragon’s 9 hits on the day, and all of their extra base hits (2 2Bs and a HR). 4 other players each hit a single, and that was about it for offense on the day. But the pitching! Haviland is second this month in pitching, behind the Drive. They have thrown 202 innings and have an ERA of 4.11, and lead the league in Ks, having struck out 236 batters this month. Yesterday it was Pablo Lopez (7IP, 2ER) and Yu Darvish (6IP, 0ER) who led the way. 

DC: W2, L(-1) 7-(-4) (59PA; 18IP)

AVG: 0.260 OBP: 0.345 SLG: 0.460 OPS: 0.805
ERA: 3.00 WHIP: 1.667

The Balk kindly observed the Cascadian ascent into third place for a day, and then very boldly took it back a day later. First of all, they continued to send Tim Anderson to the plate, and he continued to do as he has done all year – going 4 for 5 with 2 2Bs. And then sent Mookie Betts to the plate (1 for 2 with a 2B and 3 BBs), and then they added in Matt Chapman, who went 3 for 6 with a HR. Opposing pitchers are in a rough spot when those three come to the plate time and time again. And the Balk pitching was another level yesterday. For a team whose ERA this month is 4.66, they proved yesterday that they are much better than that, throwing 18 innings and giving up 6 runs for an ERA on the day of 3.00. The Balk made the biggest jump on the Drive, gaining an entire game in one day, and are now 3.5 games out of first.  

Bellingham: L, 2-8 (38PA; 7.3IP)

AVG: 0.172 OBP: 0.342 SLG: 0.207 OPS: 0.549
ERA: 7.40 WHIP: 2.055

The Cascades had an uncharacteristically bad day yesterday. It began with starting pitcher Brett Anderson, who gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, but further declined as only 3 batters were able to get any hits. Nick Madrigal made his return from an arm injury and collected two singles in 4 ABs, so that is good news in the midst of a lot of unwelcome news. More good news is that the Cascade hitters are still showing that obscene amounts of Ks are not necessary, collecting only 4 Ks in 38PAs, while amassing 8 BBs. The Cascades have two more August days to take back third place from the Balk, but it appears they also need to be on the lookout for the upstart Roos, who are quietly ascending the standings and are now tied with the Cascades at 4.1 games behind the Drive.

Canberra: W, 8-1 (41PA; 8IP)

AVG: 0.308 OBP: 0.341 SLG: 0.590 OPS: 0.931
ERA: 1.13 WHIP: 0.875

When I think of the Roos’ owner Ryan, I think of someone who is resilient. Which is a good trait to have, because he might be tempted to feel remorseful as he watches his team finish out the month of August. The main reason? About a week ago he decided to trade away Carlos Carrasco, who is in the final year of his contract. The Tornadoes were the welcome recipient of the Roo relegation, but in hindsight it might have been a mistake. But who knows? Maybe the trade kickstarted a team Roo management was sure would be more competitive than it had demonstrated in the first 25 games of the season. Carrasco tossed 6 innings yesterday, giving up 0 runs in his final start as a Roo. The hitters demonstrated they are not going to give up, led by Kyle Tucker (3 for 7 with a 3B and as HR), Rhys Hoskins (3 for 4 with a 2B and a HR) and 2 hits apiece from both Vladito and Mauricio Dubon. Now just 4.1 games behind the Drive, will the Roos make a move or two before September’s allocations are due? 

Flint Hill: W, 6-1 (50PA; 6.1IP) 

AVG: 0.267 OBP: 0.320 SLG: 0.467 OPS: 0.787
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.820

Mike Trout and Xander Bogaerts did what they are being paid to do – lead this team to victory. They combined to go 6 for 8 with a 2B and a HR each. Teoscar Hernandez continued to show that it was a mistake to trade him away, as he joined in on the fun going 2 for 4 with a SB. The Pears are going to like him, I think. But it was the pitching that led the way, uncharacteristically for the Tornadoes. This month has been a pitching struggle for Flint Hill, with their staff ERA at 5.69. It has been demoralizing for the batters, who though they average almost 5.5 games a game, are not able to keep up with the amount of runs the other team scores. But not yesterday, and hopefully not for much longer. The Tornado pitching staff in September has been totally revamped, and the players are feeling energized (we hope).

Cottage: W1, L1 10-8 (45PA; 11IP)

AVG: 0.316 OBP: 0.422 SLG: 0.421 OPS: 0.843
ERA: 2.45 WHIP: 1.273

The Cheese enjoyed one great game yesterday, and lamented the losing of a second game. 5 Cheese hitters had 2 hits, but only two of their team total 12 hits were more than a single – a 2B by JP Crawford and a HR by Ryan O’Hearn. Their OBP was higher than their SLG, which might explain why they ended up losing one of their two games. Their pitching was very good, led by new Blue Jay Taijuan Walker’s 6IP and 0ER.

Peshastin: L, 1-(-1) (37PA; 22.7IP)

AVG: 0.194 OBP: 0.324 SLG: 0.226 OPS: 0.550
ERA: 3.57 WHIP: 0.969

A tale of two teams yesterday. The Pear pitchers showed up with volume and also excellence, led by Zach Eflin, Jack Flaherty and Robert Gsellman who combined for 16IP and 3ER. Sadly, Justus Sheffield turned an incredible line into just a very good line, by giving up 6 runs in 4.7IP. The batters were told before the game to be like Sheffield, but unfortunately it wasn’t specified if it was Gary or Justus, and they chose Justus. The Pears had 6 hits on the day, four for them from Martin Maldonado and Jacoby Jones (gotta love alliterative initials!), and only one hit (a 2B by Jones) was not a single. 

Pittsburgh: L, 5-10 (49PA; 9.3IP)

AVG: 0.295 OBP: 0.347 SLG: 0.409 OPS: 0.756
ERA: 8.71 WHIP: 2.043

Before his start yesterday, Montas was a hot item at least among teams situated in the undulative region of Kansas. However, that interested was quelled upon delivery of 5 runs in 3 short innings. And that is a microcosm of yesterday for the Alleghenys. There was some glimmers of hope on the hitting side, with Max Muncy hitting a HR (about all he has hit this year is HRs, of which he has 9, but his BA is .198) and Mike Moustakas (again! Love those alliterative initials) getting 3 singles and a BB in 7 PAs. But Luke Weaver joined Montas in mediocrity, allowing 4 runs in 3 innings (maybe that is moving out of mediocrity and into just being awful), and Pittsburgh once again lost.

Portland: L, 2-7 (55PA; 2.7IP)

AVG: 0.182 OBP: 0.291 SLG: 0.273 OPS: 0.564
ERA: 3.33 WHIP: 2.222

Rosebud management is now cheering for awful days, in the hopes of sliding into the last spot in the league and earning the top pick in the 2021 draft. And they did a good job of being bad yesterday. They got 8 hits from 8 different players, all of them singles but one (a 2B from Christin Stewart), and 13 total Ks, though 8 of those coming from players heading to different teams in a couple of days. 

Old Detroit: L, 7-9 (53PA; no pitching)

AVG: 0.273 OBP: 0.365 SLG: 0.386 OPS: 0.752

Well, one way to make sure you lose is to send zero pitching to the mound, though OD’s monthly ERA of 5.70 isn’t much of an improvement over replacement innings. The bad news is the Wolverine lead slipped by half a game, as the Rosebuds are now only 1.3 games behind them. There were two bright spots for the Wolverines – Trea Turner (alliterative initials!) went 5 for 5 with 2 2Bs, and Josh Bell hit a HR.