20 games were played in MLB yesterday, which meant a lot of action for our teams. My complaint about a lack of excitement was answered emphatically by almost every team, and today we have some movement in the standings along with some interesting performances.
Things at the top are getting tighter, with another team (Bellingham) joining the 20-win ranks. The Cascades have begin the month of September in earnest, and the Dragons and Drive would do well to pay attention to them, because falling down the side of a mountain is pretty painful, I imagine.
EFL Standings for 2020
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
RS |
RA |
| Kaline Drive |
21 |
14 |
.593 |
— |
170.4 |
140.7 |
| Haviland Dragons |
20 |
15 |
.571 |
0.8 |
185.0 |
160.9 |
| Bellingham Cascades |
20 |
19 |
.505 |
3.1 |
214.7 |
221.3 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes |
19 |
20 |
.487 |
3.8 |
204.6 |
217.1 |
| D.C. Balk |
18 |
20 |
.478 |
4.1 |
176.2 |
184.9 |
| Cottage Cheese |
18 |
20 |
.462 |
4.7 |
190.5 |
209.9 |
| Canberra Kangaroos |
17 |
21 |
.459 |
4.8 |
193.3 |
210.0 |
| Peshastin Pears |
18 |
22 |
.439 |
5.7 |
188.9 |
214.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
14 |
25 |
.370 |
8.3 |
182.1 |
238.5 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines |
14 |
25 |
.364 |
8.6 |
177.6 |
234.2 |
| Portland Rosebuds |
13 |
27 |
.329 |
10.1 |
196.4 |
280.5 |
Kaline: “W,” 3-4 (64PA; 1IP)
| AVG: 0.246 |
OBP: 0.281 |
SLG: 0.443 |
OPS: 0.724 |
Kaline’s first game back didn’t go as well as was planned. They did not lost any ground to the second place Dragons, but those terrestrial teams lurking just behind the Dragons have made up some good ground in the first 4 days of the final month of the season. The main culprit was not enough pitching, and really bad pitching from the guys who did take the mound. Mychal Givens and Ty Buttrey were abysmal, giving up 5 runs in 1 inning. New Drive Willson Contreras had a good day, going 3 for 4 with a HR, but the usually solid Jesse Winker went 1 for 6 with 4 Ks on the day.
Haviland: “L,” 3-3 (58PA; 19IP)
| AVG: 0.157 |
OBP: 0.259 |
SLG: 0.314 |
OPS: 0.572 |
Resuming play after an early September vacation, the Dragons looked like they had taken a few days off. The usually electric Jesus Luzardo gave up 4 runs in 4.7 IP, and Pablo Lopez did a little worse, giving up 5 runs in only 4 IP. Their bad days overshadowed another excellent start from Yu Darvish (7IP, 1ER) who is a great candidate for the NL Cy Young this season. 7 of the 14 batters who came to the plate were hitless on the day, though newcomer Phil Gosselin (look away, DC!) did his part going 1 for 2 with a 2B and a BB. The Dragons were truly helped to a win due to the strength of their stored PAs and IPs from the first few days. These stats will slowly leak out as the three missed games are played over the next two weeks. The good news is they didn’t slip further behind the Drive, and are still .8 games back of the leader.
Bellingham: W2, L0 17-13 (50PA; 10IP)
| AVG: 0.326 |
OBP: 0.400 |
SLG: 0.651 |
OPS: 1.051 |
The Cascades are the month’s hottest hitting team, now averaging over 8 runs a game. Yesterday, Ronald Acuna, Jr. got 3 hits, all of them HRs; Marcell Ozuna, newly acquired and newly energized, went 3 for 6 with 2 2Bs and 2 BBs; and Rowdy Tellez went 3 for 5 with a HR and a BB. That’s 9 hits (6 of them for extra bases) from three players. But the Cascades are also walking a fine line, with 15 replacement innings pitched already logged for the month of September. Perhaps this is due to a few SPs still to make their monthly debut, so the next two days will be watched closely by the Cascade management and the rest of the league. Yesterday their pitchers did provide over 10 innings of pitching, led by Tommy Milone who redeemed his first start with the Braves by going 4 innings and giving up only 1 run. Luis Garcia went 4 innings and gave up only 1 hit, which is even better. The Cascades climbed .3 games closer to first, and don’t look to be slowing down any time soon.
Flint Hill: W, 7-3 (56PA; 15.3IP)
| AVG: 0.271 |
OBP: 0.375 |
SLG: 0.417 |
OPS: 0.792 |
The Tornadoes addressed their achilles heel at the deadline, revamping their pitching staff which had the 9th worst ERA (5.72) in August. So far this month, the Tornadoes are leading the league with a 1.91 ERA, though today’s games could test their resiliency. Yesterday’s starter was one of the newly acquired Does, Carlos Carrasco, who went 6IP and gave up 1 ER. THe relievers did an excellent job holding the line in the win, while the hitters did just enough to outscore the opponent. Mike Trout went 2 for 3 with a HR and 3 BBs, while Keston Hiura went 2 for 4 with a 2B and a HR. One problem though, was that Tornado hitters struck out 13 times and grounded into 4 double plays, which suppressed some runs and might be an issue later in the month. The good news is the Tornadoes gained .4 games on the Drive and now sit less than 4 games out with still over 20 games to play this month.
DC: W1, L1 11-7 (53PA; 9.7IP)
| AVG: 0.340 |
OBP: 0.340 |
SLG: 0.560 |
OPS: 0.900 |
A very good day for the Balk by all accounts. They climbed back into 5th place and gained .7 games on the Drive. Dylan Bundy continued to excellent, going 7IP and giving up just two ERs, and Matt Wisler chipped in 2 more innings of 0 ERs. Mookie Betts and Adalberto Mondesi both collected 3 hits on the day, one of them a HR for Betts, and Mondesi swiped 2 bases to lead their team for the day. Perhaps the most amazing thing, though, is that Balk hitters collected exactly one BB in 53 PAs. Incredible!
Cottage: “W,” 7-11 (55PA; 6IP)
| AVG: 0.313 |
OBP: 0.382 |
SLG: 0.458 |
OPS: 0.840 |
Another great day for an EFL offense! 5 of the 13 hitters who came to the plate collected multiple hits, and only 3 collected 0 hits. However, besides HRs from Corey Dickerson and JP Crawford, and a 2B from Eric Thames, everything else was a single. The real issue, however, was on the mound, where both pitchers who appeared appeared to be throwing batting practice. Brady Singer gave up 5 runs in 5.7IP, and new Cheese Caleb Ferguson gave up another 2 in less than 1 inning. That one especially hurt since Ferguson also plays for the Cheese owner’s other favorite team.
Canberra: W0, L2 11-14 (58PA; 2IP)
| AVG: 0.327 |
OBP: 0.397 |
SLG: 0.558 |
OPS: 0.954 |
The Roos followed in the Cheese footsteps as a sign of respect, I assume, since they are following them in the standings. Their hitting was very strong, with 12 of 13 batters getting a hit, and 5 of them getting multiple hits. Kyle Tucker continued his hot streak, going 2 for 5 with 2 2Bs, and Yoshi Tsutsugo went 2 for 2 with a HR and 2 BBs. But the pitching was too little and too awful. The usually steady James Karinchak gave up 2 runs in an inning and no one started for the Roos, on a day when they played two games.
Peshastin: L, 4-11 (45PA; 15IP)
| AVG: 0.268 |
OBP: 0.333 |
SLG: 0.415 |
OPS: 0.748 |
The Pear day was not a good day. The hitting wasn’t too shabby, especially from youngsters Ryan Mountcastle (3 for 4 with a HR) and Victor Robles (3 for 8). But besides 2 HRs all the other hits were singles, and though they got 3 times as many walks as the Cascades, it was only 3 total BBs. But the pitching was what really did them in yesterday. 4 pitchers went to the mound, and all of them gave up at least 2 runs. The best day went to Dustin May who gave up the 2 runs over 5.7 IPs, but Huascar Ynoa gave up 6 runs in 2.3 IPs.
Pittsburgh: W0, L2 11-14 (48PA; 7IP)
| AVG: 0.333 |
OBP: 0.375 |
SLG: 0.578 |
OPS: 0.953 |
These stats by themselves do not seem to add up to 2 losses for the Alleghenys, and looking at their winning percentage proves I’m right. Even though they lost two games yesterday, their winning percentage of .370 stayed exactly the same. One of the oddities of the EFL! Pittsburgh hitters had a very good day, led by Mike Moustakas who went 3 for 4 with a 2B and a HR. In fact, only 2 of their 11 hitters didn’t get a hit. Their pitchers threw an admirable game, led by Dane Dunning’s 4.7IP and 3ER.
Old Detroit: “L,” 6-5 (76PA; 8IP)
| AVG: 0.265 |
OBP: 0.342 |
SLG: 0.426 |
OPS: 0.769 |
At first glance it might appear the Wolverine attempt to win the month took a hit yesterday, but you would be somewhat wrong. In fact, the climbed .1 games closer to first place, and their winning percentage climbed .004. They tried to beat the other team with volume yesterday, accruing 76 PAs from 16 different hitters on the day. Trea Turner and ELoy Jimenez both had 3 hits on the day, and Will Smith and Austin Riley each chipped in a HR. New pitcher Josh Fleming did not fare so well, giving up 4 runs in 5 IPs, and the only reliever not named AJ gave up another 2 runs. The AJ were Absolute Jewels, allowing 0 ERs to salvage the day.
Portland: L, 5-8 (34PA; .7IP)
| AVG: 0.333 |
OBP: 0.324 |
SLG: 0.545 |
OPS: 0.869 |
The Rosebuds added .1 games to their lead by doing very little and not doing it very well (or perhaps Rosebud management has shifted to believe that bad performances are actually good performances). Marcus Walden gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning, however none of them were earned due to a Alex Verdugo dropped fly ball in the outfield (gotta love those Red Sox!). The Rosebud hitters collected 11 hits on the day, but 9 of them were from two players – Jorge Polanco (5 for 7 with a HR) and Travis Shaw (4 for 7 with a HR). If a few other hitters would have joined in the fun, it could have been a sadder story for the Robertian Hopefuls.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2020
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Tampa Bay Rays |
27 |
12 |
.692 |
— |
| Toronto Blue Jays |
21 |
17 |
.553 |
5.5 |
| New York Yankees |
21 |
17 |
.553 |
5.5 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes |
19 |
20 |
.487 |
8 |
| Baltimore Orioles |
17 |
21 |
.447 |
9.5 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines |
14 |
25 |
.364 |
12.8 |
| Boston Red Sox |
13 |
27 |
.325 |
14.5 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Atlanta Braves |
23 |
15 |
.605 |
— |
| Philadelphia Phillies |
19 |
15 |
.559 |
2 |
| Miami Marlins |
16 |
17 |
.485 |
4.5 |
| D.C. Balk |
18 |
20 |
.478 |
4.8 |
| Canberra Kangaroos |
17 |
21 |
.459 |
5.5 |
| New York Mets |
17 |
22 |
.436 |
6.5 |
| Washington Nationals |
13 |
24 |
.351 |
9.5 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Chicago White Sox |
24 |
15 |
.615 |
— |
| Cleveland Indians |
23 |
15 |
.605 |
0.5 |
| Minnesota Twins |
24 |
16 |
.600 |
0.5 |
| Bellingham Cascades |
20 |
19 |
.505 |
4.3 |
| Detroit Tigers |
17 |
19 |
.472 |
5.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
14 |
25 |
.370 |
9.6 |
| Kansas City Royals |
14 |
25 |
.359 |
10 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Chicago Cubs |
23 |
15 |
.605 |
— |
| Milwaukee Brewers |
18 |
19 |
.486 |
4.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals |
14 |
15 |
.483 |
4.5 |
| Cottage Cheese |
18 |
20 |
.462 |
5.5 |
| Cincinnati Reds |
17 |
22 |
.436 |
6.5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates |
12 |
25 |
.324 |
10.5 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Oakland A’s |
22 |
13 |
.629 |
— |
| Kaline Drive |
21 |
14 |
.593 |
1.2 |
| Haviland Dragons |
20 |
15 |
.571 |
2 |
| Houston Astros |
21 |
16 |
.568 |
2 |
| Seattle Mariners |
16 |
22 |
.421 |
7.5 |
| Los Angeles Angels |
14 |
25 |
.359 |
10 |
| Texas Rangers |
13 |
24 |
.351 |
10 |
| TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers |
30 |
10 |
.750 |
— |
| San Diego Padres |
24 |
16 |
.600 |
6 |
| Colorado Rockies |
18 |
20 |
.474 |
11 |
| San Francisco Giants |
18 |
21 |
.462 |
11.5 |
| Peshastin Pears |
18 |
22 |
.439 |
12.4 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks |
15 |
24 |
.385 |
14.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds |
13 |
27 |
.329 |
16.8 |
