Yesterday the Mariners and Red Sox squared off for their first game this season. Both teams are playing well right now, better than most people expected. As a fan of the Boston team, I hold little hope that the team, as currently constructed, will win enough games to make the playoffs this year. But that doesn’t mean these first 20 games haven’t been fun! I believe Mariners fans would say the same thing about their team – the main hope for a Mariner playoff run is in 1 or 2 years, but these early games have given good reason for that future hope.
Last night, the Mariners took the first game of the series with what looks to be a rather pedestrian score, 7-3. However, it was actually a historic night for Seattle! How so? Well, this tweet from Jayson Stark says it all:
The main culprit hero was Pear Mitch Haniger, who hit a 3 run home run in the 10th to essentially win the game for the Mariners. The only other 2 hits were doubles – one by Ty France and the other by Sam Haggerty. That’s it! They were helped by 7 BBs and one HBP, in addition to one error by the Red Sox.
This tweet made we wonder the MLB record for most runs scored in a game on the fewest hits. I came across this gem from 1909:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Washington Senators | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
 |
Chicago White Sox | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| WP: Jim Scott (10-8) • LP: Dolly Gray (3-13) | |||||||||||||
This is the record – 6 runs scored on 1 hit – for the White Sox. Dolly Gray pitched a complete game for the Senators and was nearly unhittable – except for the 11 BBs he issued on the day.
This is not too different from the 3rd/4th grade baseball game my son umpired last week. It was a 4 inning game in which the winning team won 20-16, I think. But there were no outs recorded in the field. Every single batter who didn’t strike out scored. It wasn’t the prettiest game of baseball ever played, but according to my son, it was fun.
Yesterday was a lighter MLB day, so how did our EFL teams fare? Was it as fun a day as the Mariners had?
EFL Standings for 2021
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 16 | 4 | .802 | — | 123.3 | 61.3 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 14 | 6 | .699 | 2 | 84.0 | 55.1 |
| Haviland Dragons | 13 | 6 | .696 | 2.3 | 76.0 | 50.2 |
| D.C. Balk | 10 | 4 | .681 | 3.5 | 68.7 | 47.0 |
| Peshastin Pears | 11 | 8 | .575 | 4.6 | 78.7 | 67.7 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 10 | 7 | .577 | 4.7 | 73.9 | 63.3 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 8 | 6 | .590 | 4.8 | 78.0 | 65.0 |
| Kaline Drive | 11 | 8 | .567 | 4.8 | 90.6 | 79.1 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 9 | 8 | .527 | 5.6 | 84.8 | 80.2 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 10 | 9 | .506 | 5.9 | 81.6 | 80.7 |
| Cottage Cheese | 7 | 11 | .386 | 8.1 | 97.5 | 123.0 |
Old Detroit: W, 8-(-1); 25PA, 10IP
| AVG: 0.333 | OBP: 0.417 | SLG: 0.524 | OPS: 0.940 |
| ERA: 1.80 | WHIP: 0.800 |
Yesterday I found myself a little sad when Rafael Devers hit a laser beam home run over the Mariners bullpen, and that alarmed me. Here I am, a staunch Red Sox fan, disappointed that Devers gave us a 1-0 lead because I knew it meant good news for the Wolverines. Not only did Devers homer, but he also collected a single and a stolen base. The most important work, though, was done by Walker Buehler, who heard the cry of his manager to avoid replacement IP, and hurled 7 innings of 2 run baseball. Three relievers joined him, all of them giving up no runs. And the Wolverine lead extended to 2 games over the Tornadoes. The Wolverines got 8 runs on 7 hits.
Flint Hill: “W,” 2-3; 15PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.077 | OBP: 0.200 | SLG: 0.231 | OPS: 0.431 |
Tornado hitting is truly awful this month. Yesterday’s hitters came to bat 13 times and struck out 6 times while collecting one hit, a triple by Enrique Hernandez. I will stop writing now before I say something I might regret since these posts seem to live on for eternity. The Tornadoes got 2 runs on 1 hit.
Haviland: DNP, (-2)-(-5); 18PA, 7IP
| AVG: 0.125 | OBP: 0.222 | SLG: 0.125 | OPS: 0.347 |
| ERA: 2.57 | WHIP: 1.143 |
As awful as Tornado hitting has been, Dragon hitting has been worse this month (sorry, Dad). Which isn’t a great way for a team to usher its owner into retirement. But Dragon pitching still has a little bite left, yesterday getting 7 innings from Yankees Domingo German and Chad Green while allowing only 2 runs. That was enough to erase some replacement innings, and inch a little closer to the Tornadoes in the standings. It should be noted that the Dragons overtook the Tornadoes for the best team ERA this month, and now lead by .01 points (2.54 to 2.55). The Dragons got -2 runs on 2 hits.
DC: W, 4-3; 16PA, 1IP
| AVG: 0.188 | OBP: 0.188 | SLG: 0.500 | OPS: 0.688 |
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 1.000 |
The Balk have held steady in 4th place for a few days now, and pulled out a win yesterday, even with that rather ugly offensive line. One the same day he said he was salivating over a home run derby at Coors Field, Pete Alonso backed up his words with a HR in the windy city. Besides a triple by speedster Myles Straw, not much happened but nothing else needed to happen for a Balk win. The Balk got 4 runs on 3 hits.
Peshastin: L, 4-8; 14PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.167 | OBP: 0.286 | SLG: 0.417 | OPS: 0.702 |
The good news? That’s a better offensive output than two of the teams ahead of the Pears in the standing. The bad news? No pitching led to 8 runs and a loss for the Pears, who slipped 1.3 more games behind the leading Wolverines. But Mitch Haniger hit a home run to win for the Mariners, so maybe that is some consolation? The Pears got 4 runs on 2 hits.
Bellingham: DNP, 0-3; 13PA, 8.7IP
| AVG: 0.250 | OBP: 0.308 | SLG: 0.250 | OPS: 0.558 |
| ERA: 6.21 | WHIP: 1.839 |
Justin Dunn shut down the Red Sox, throwing 5 innings and giving up only two runs. But in what was most likely his last start as a Cascade, Alex Cobb expressed his frustration by being sent to Cottage by giving up 4 earned runs in 2.7 innings pitched to sabotage Dunn’s done deal. The Cascades got 0 runs on 3 hits.
Canberra: “L,” 6-6; 22PA, 4.6IP
| AVG: 0.263 | OBP: 0.364 | SLG: 0.263 | OPS: 0.627 |
| ERA: 5.87 | WHIP: 1.087 |
Alex Bregman contributed 3 singles for the Roos yesterday, which is as many extra base hits as he has on the season. But Joey Lucchesi gave up 3 runs in 3 innings and the Roos were not able to squeak out a win with those numbers. The Roos got 6 runs on 5 hits.
Kaline: W(1), L(-1), 2-(-3); 43IP, 8.3IP
| AVG: 0.222 | OBP: 0.349 | SLG: 0.417 | OPS: 0.766 |
| ERA: 5.42 | WHIP: 1.446 |
Like driving a tractor down a gravel road at high speeds, Kaline created some volume yesterday – the only team to amass more than 25 plate appearances on the day. That volume allowed them to earn a win and shed a loss. According to Baseball Reference this morning, Jesse Winker put up the best line in the MLB yesterday, going 2 for 4 with 2 HRs and 2 BBs. With Darwinzon Hernandez giving up the 3 run bomb to Haniger, the Drive pitching line would have been 8.3 innings and 2 earned runs allowed. The Drive got 2 runs on 8 hits.
Pittsburgh: DNP, 0-0; 13PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.182 | OBP: 0.308 | SLG: 0.273 | OPS: 0.580 |
Dom Smith collected the 2 Allegheny hits on the day. Christian Vazquez collected the 1 Allegheny confidence point when he answered, “Christian Vazquez,” to a reporter’s pre-game question, “Who is the best catcher in the American League right now?” Vazquez then went 0 for 3 with a BB. The Alleghenys got 0 runs on 2 hits.
Portland: L, 3-7; 8PA, 1.6IP
| AVG: 0.000 | OBP: 0.000 | SLG: 0.000 | OPS: 0.000 |
| ERA: 11.25 | WHIP: 1.875 |
The Rosebuds vied for least impressive EFL day yesterday – thankfully it wasn’t a voluminous day. Corey Seager and Nick Senzel were the 0-fers from the plate, and Bryan Abreu was the loafer from the mound. The Rosebuds got 3 runs on 0 hits – that’s interesting!
Cottage: DNP, 0-(-3); 16PA, 5IP
| AVG: 0.188 | OBP: 0.188 | SLG: 0.375 | OPS: 0.563 |
| ERA: 3.60 | WHIP: 1.000 |
I didn’t notice until this morning that the Cheese are second in the EFL in runs scored with 98. Which emphasizes even more the difficulties they have faced on the mound. But yesterday they flipped the script, getting good pitching from Mitch Keller (5ip, 2er) and bad hitting from everyone except Alex Verdugo (2 for 5 with a 3B and 2 SB) and JD Davis (1 for 1 with a 2B). The Cheese got 0 runs on 3 hits.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 16 | 4 | .802 | — |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 14 | 6 | .699 | 2 |
| Boston Red Sox | 12 | 8 | .600 | 4 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 10 | 9 | .526 | 5.5 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7 |
| New York Yankees | 7 | 11 | .389 | 8 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| D.C. Balk | 10 | 4 | .681 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 8 | 6 | .590 | 1.3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 9 | 9 | .500 | 2.5 |
| New York Mets | 7 | 7 | .500 | 2.5 |
| Miami Marlins | 8 | 10 | .444 | 3.5 |
| Atlanta Braves | 8 | 10 | .444 | 3.5 |
| Washington Nationals | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.5 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Kansas City Royals | 10 | 7 | .588 | — |
| Bellingham Cascades | 10 | 7 | .577 | 0.2 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 9 | 8 | .527 | 1 |
| Chicago White Sox | 9 | 9 | .500 | 1.5 |
| Cleveland Indians | 8 | 9 | .471 | 2 |
| Detroit Tigers | 7 | 12 | .368 | 4 |
| Minnesota Twins | 6 | 11 | .353 | 4 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 11 | 7 | .611 | — |
| Chicago Cubs | 9 | 9 | .500 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 9 | 9 | .500 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 9 | 10 | .474 | 2.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 8 | 10 | .444 | 3 |
| Cottage Cheese | 7 | 11 | .386 | 4.1 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Haviland Dragons | 13 | 6 | .696 | — |
| Seattle Mariners | 12 | 7 | .632 | 1.2 |
| Oakland A’s | 12 | 7 | .632 | 1.2 |
| Kaline Drive | 11 | 8 | .567 | 2.4 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 9 | 8 | .529 | 3.2 |
| Texas Rangers | 9 | 10 | .474 | 4.2 |
| Houston Astros | 8 | 10 | .444 | 4.7 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 14 | 5 | .737 | — |
| San Francisco Giants | 12 | 7 | .632 | 2 |
| Peshastin Pears | 11 | 8 | .575 | 3.1 |
| San Diego Padres | 11 | 10 | .524 | 4 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 10 | 9 | .506 | 4.4 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 9 | 10 | .474 | 5 |
| Colorado Rockies | 6 | 12 | .333 | 7.5 |