League Updates

The End of an Era

September 13, 2021
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Last night Newberg Baseball elected a new President who will begin his two year term next month. It’s the first time in over 6 years that there will be a new President of Newberg Baseball, since I have served in that role since 2016. It has been full of good things and also challenging things. There have been expletives thrown my way, and good conversations about the important work of providing a program in our community that is accessible, affordable, and  a positive contributor to the health of our youth. Newberg Baseball has regularly had 500 kids, ages 4-14, playing baseball every season. It is the largest youth sport in Newberg, and under my leadership it was the cheapest youth sport in the community (those two things are probably somewhat correlated). But there is so much more that goes into running a community-based sports league. There are coaches, umpires and Board Members to recruit and train every single year. There are egos to manage, injuries to address, and holes to fill. At the end of the day, there are hundreds of kids of all skill levels who get to learn, play, and hopefully develop a lifelong love for this game we love.

The picture attached to this post is of my kids playing baseball in the backyard of Haviland’s old headquarters (it is likely Haviland’s owner pitching to the skinny kid whose bat is bigger than he is) about 11 years ago. It’s a fun image representing so many things, but most of all, how this game is a catalyst for so many good things to flourish.

And that makes me happy, as does being done serving as President. 

 

EFL Standings for 2021
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 99 44 .694 — 824.8 547.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes 93 50 .654 5.8 779.0 563.0
D.C. Balk 88 54 .621 10.6 811.5 635.9
Peshastin Pears 87 56 .609 12.2 727.6 590.1
Kaline Drive 86 56 .608 12.4 761.2 610.3
Cottage Cheese 80 64 .556 19.6 808.2 740.2
Canberra Kangaroos 78 64 .549 20.9 749.5 692.8
Haviland Dragons 77 65 .543 21.7 726.4 689.7
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 77 66 .536 22.6 709.3 658.0
Bellingham Cascades 74 69 .517 25.3 610.0 590.4
Portland Rosebuds 69 74 .482 30.4 755.3 792.4
 
Old Detroit: L, 2-5; 62PA, 3.7IP
AVG: 0.163 OBP: 0.323 SLG: 0.245 OPS: 0.567
ERA: 4.86 WHIP: 1.622
The Wolverines once again took a voluminous approach at the plate. Their approach was a lot like today’s pop music – a lot of volume but not a lot of substance. The two hitters who contributed their fair share were two guys who have not seen a lot of MLB action this season due to injuries. Byron Buxton went 2 for 3 with a double and Gavin Lux went 2 for 2 with two singles. Luis Garcia also added a home run to the mix, but where OD really shined was in their patience, collecting a team total of 10 walks (one intentional) and in their toughness, collecting 3 HBPs. Perhaps the biggest news was that for the second day in a row the pitching was not what you want from a league-leading staff. Just days after losing Jameson Taillon to an arm injury, Blake Snell went down with a groin injury after 2/3 of an inning. Will either be back before the season ends? Two relievers both gave up one run in a combined 3 innings of work. Perhaps we will have some drama to end this season?
 
Flint Hill: “L,” 11-4; 51PA, 1.4IP
AVG: 0.302 OBP: 0.392 SLG: 0.605 OPS: 0.997
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.000
Yesterday’s results erased half a game from the OD lead, which isn’t extremely significant, but worth watching. This month has been the best month all season in terms of Tornado offense. Yesterday’s contributors were three guys who wear blue and white – Mookie Betts (2 for 4 with a HR), Bo Bichette (2 for 4 with 2 singles) and Teoscar Hernandez (2 for 3 with a HR). Rookie (and as Ron mentioned earlier, underperforming) Jared Kelenic added a home run as did his teammate in real life, Mitch Haniger. Brad Boxberger managed to pitch and not give up any runs, which helped Flint Hill fans to breathe a little easier for the time being. The biggest question Flint Hill needs to answer is this: will they activate Yu Darvish in time for today’s game? His pitching has been worse than replacement until his last game, but his paycheck is big. The fans are getting restless, demanding that Tornado management be held accountable for their reckless spending. A late season run would help both Darvish and team leaders. What will they do?
 
DC: L, 7-7; 35PA, 5.7IP
AVG: 0.250 OBP: 0.294 SLG: 0.563 OPS: 0.857
ERA: 6.32 WHIP: 1.930
The Balk find themselves in a bit of no-man’s land, where they are not competing with anyone at the moment, which in turn has led to the players being ok with ties in order to compete with themselves. Can we score as many runs as we allow? That question was answered affirmatively yesterday. James Kaprielian gave up 4 runs in 3 innings, but then Danny Jansen came along and went 4 for 6 with 3 doubles to score his team nearly as many runs as Kaprielian allowed. Bryce Harper and Adalberto Mondesi each added in home runs to help the cause, and they were able to do it – a tie!
 
Peshastin: W, 9-4; 28PA, 6.3IP
AVG: 0.320 OBP: 0.370 SLG: 0.720 OPS: 1.090
ERA: 2.86 WHIP: 1.587
The Pears, on the other hand, do have someone to battle with to end the season. And yesterday they wrested 4th place back from the Drive. Leading the charge on offense was, fittingly, Ryan Mountcastle. He went 2 for 5 with a home run. And Ozzie Albies added his own umph, going 2 for 4 with a home run. Juan Soto got at least two pitches to hit (in addition to two more walks), and hit a double and a triple. I still don’t know why anyone pitches to him right now. Luis Patino rebounded from a difficult start to give up only 2 runs in 4 innings, and two relievers chipped in 2 scoreless innings. 
 
Kaline: L, 6-10; 47PA, 12.4IP
AVG: 0.326 OBP: 0.383 SLG: 0.395 OPS: 0.778
ERA: 8.71 WHIP: 1.532
The Drive gave up their spot to the Pears, though today is a new day and who knows what bounties may be found for the Drive. The main issue yesterday was Aaron Civale, who gave up 7 runs in 3 innings, including 3 home runs. There were some other pitchers, and they were ok, certainly not excellent, but they couldn’t undo the damage done by Civale. The hitters were a little too scared to move beyond first base, it seems. But they did get to first quite a bit! The team had 14 hits and 4 walks, and 13 of those hits were singles. The one exception? A home run from Wilmer Flores. That many hits usually results in a win, but not when your pitcher is so gracious. 
 
Cottage: L, 5-7; 41PA, 11.3IP
AVG: 0.286 OBP: 0.350 SLG: 0.429 OPS: 0.779
ERA: 6.37 WHIP: 1.239
The league was privy to an online diatribe delivered by the head Cheese about his pitchers. The main problem is that it didn’t seem to motivate the ones left out of the scolding. There was also some chatter among the Yankees and Mets yesterday about the Yankees stealing signs and relaying them to their batters while Taijuan Walker was pitching, but the Head Cheese did not care. I’m afraid of what might be said today about the pitchers who pitched yesterday. Michael Fulmer did his job, so I imagine he’ll remain in the bullpen. But the other two? Steven Matz gave up 5 runs in 6 innings (and still won the game!), and Bailey Ober gave up 3 runs in 4.3 innings. If they are benched, there might be some extra pitching for Ohtani to do to close out the season. Three players collected two hits apiece, as the hitters were left untouched by the undressing. Kevin Newman hit a triple in his two hits, Yandy Diaz made both of his hits doubles, and Jeff McNeil made one of his two hits a double. 
 
Canberra: L, 5-7; 32PA, 1IP
AVG: 0.259 OBP: 0.375 SLG: 0.481 OPS: 0.856
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.000
Canberra needed more pitching than it received, and thus took a loss. Javy Baez collected two more hits, this time to help the Mets win the final game of the Subway Series and to win the series overall (yay! Yankees lose!). There is increasing chatter about Vlad Jr. winning the Triple Crown, and last night’s home run helped. Will he do enough to overcome Ohtani’s great season? It’s fun, I admit, to have both MVP candidates on EFL teams, and to have them so close together in the standings. Maybe their rivalry for the remainder of the season will be about who can win the MVP? 
 
Haviland: L, 3-3; 32PA, 5.7IP
AVG: 0.323 OBP: 0.313 SLG: 0.355 OPS: 0.667
ERA: 1.58 WHIP: 0.702
Overall, yesterday was a good day for the Dragons. Their hitters collected 10 hits on the day. But there were some cracks you might not see on the surface: only one of the hits was more than a single (a double by JT Realmuto), and they had 0 walks on the day to go along with 12 strikeouts. It’s too bad (or maybe it’s good?), because their pitching was very good – Tarik Skubal tossed 3 innings, giving up 0 runs, and two other relievers went almost 2 innings with 0 runs allowed. Chad Green also played a hero, and for a reason of which I think the Dragons will approve – he gave up the eventual game-winning home run to Francisco Lindor. The Johnsons agree on quite a few things in life, but perhaps the strongest agreement is that any time the Yankees lose we are very happy. 
 
Pittsburgh: W, 6-5; 25PA, 17.7IP
AVG: 0.286 OBP: 0.360 SLG: 0.667 OPS: 1.027
ERA: 4.07 WHIP: 1.017
It seems all of the Allegheny pitchers pitch on the same day always. Yesterday’s total of 17 innings pitched is certainly welcome in Pittsburgh, because they were relatively good innings. And they got the win! Sonny Gray was the ace for the day, living more into his first name than his last. He tossed 7 innings giving up only 2 runs, striking out 6 and walking one. Garrett Hampson had himself a day, going 3 for 4 with 2 home runs! 
 
Bellingham: W, 4-4; 35PA, 5.3IP
AVG: 0.273 OBP: 0.314 SLG: 0.333 OPS: 0.648
ERA: 3.40 WHIP: 2.075
Sometimes you look at a line for your pitcher and panic. I imagine Andre doing that after seeing, on a day when Clarke Schmidt was starting, 5 runs scored by the Mets. But 3 of those were unearned, thanks to an error by Gleyber Torres, who was moved to second base today, the Yankees announced. So his line was only 2 earned runs, which I am certain resulted in a big sigh of relief for the Cascades. And Schmidt’s real life teammate, DJLM, did his best to bury the Mets, going 3 for 4. And it was enough! The Cascades won, but the Yankees didn’t (did I already mention that?).
 
Portland: L, 2-8; 39PA, 11.6IP
AVG: 0.189 OBP: 0.231 SLG: 0.378 OPS: 0.609
ERA: 6.21 WHIP: 1.379
The Rosebud owner was up roasting scads of coffee beans at 5:30 this morning, or so he was planning to be. Does that make reading this result later in the morning more bearable, or less bearable? Is there an endorphin rush from roasting coffee? A contact high of sorts? If not, he might be disappointed in another lackluster effort (or maybe not). Luis Urias was the only hitter to collect more than one hit (he had 2), and Corey Seager was the only home run hitter on the team. Eric Lauer pitched really well, giving up only one run over 5.2 innings. 
 
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Old Detroit Wolverines 99 44 .694 —
Flint Hill Tornadoes 93 50 .654 5.8
Tampa Bay Rays 89 54 .622 10.3
Toronto Blue Jays 80 63 .559 19.3
Boston Red Sox 81 64 .559 19.3
New York Yankees 79 64 .552 20.3
Baltimore Orioles 46 97 .322 53.3
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
D.C. Balk 88 54 .621 —
Canberra Kangaroos 78 64 .549 10.3
Atlanta Braves 76 66 .535 12.2
Philadelphia Phillies 72 71 .503 16.7
New York Mets 72 72 .500 17.2
Miami Marlins 60 83 .420 28.7
Washington Nationals 59 84 .413 29.7
 
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago White Sox 82 61 .573 —
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 77 66 .536 5.3
Bellingham Cascades 74 69 .517 8.1
Cleveland Indians 69 72 .489 12
Detroit Tigers 68 76 .472 14.5
Kansas City Royals 65 78 .455 17
Minnesota Twins 63 80 .441 19
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 89 55 .618 —
Cottage Cheese 80 64 .556 8.9
Cincinnati Reds 75 69 .521 14
St. Louis Cardinals 73 69 .514 15
Chicago Cubs 65 79 .451 24
Pittsburgh Pirates 52 91 .364 36.5
 
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Kaline Drive 86 56 .608 —
Houston Astros 83 59 .585 3.4
Haviland Dragons 77 65 .543 9.3
Seattle Mariners 77 66 .538 9.9
Oakland A’s 77 66 .538 9.9
Los Angeles Angels 70 73 .490 16.9
Texas Rangers 53 89 .373 33.4
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
San Francisco Giants 93 50 .650 —
Los Angeles Dodgers 91 53 .632 2.5
Peshastin Pears 87 56 .609 5.9
San Diego Padres 74 68 .521 18.5
Portland Rosebuds 69 74 .482 24.1
Colorado Rockies 66 78 .458 27.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 47 96 .329 46