Last night as Erin I were going on a walk – it was her birthday yesterday! – we noticed how many houses have begun to decorate for Halloween. Ghosts are appearing on people’s porches, and orange lights are being hung across tree branches. Living in a neighborhood where, in a non-COVID year – we get a lot of kids asking for candy at our door, we, too, have begun to engage in the festivities with an inflatable pumpkin that lights up. We haven’t yet set it out, and won’t for a while, but it will appear at some point in the next few weeks.
As I was thinking about Halloween, I began to wonder what the fascination with the day might be. Certainly candy is part of the attraction, but there is also joy in the opportunity to frighten people, to create a little bit of fear. I admit, when my kids were younger (and even sometimes now), I would get great satisfaction from hiding behind a wall or a door and jumping out to scare them as they passed by. And though, if I was successful, they would jump in fear, we would both end up laughing together, having engaged in something we both considered fun.
I am not one of those people who loves to watch scary movies, nor do I think it is healthy to live in fear. But a little fear? It might be a good thing…which is why I am going to help you think about one thing your team should fear! In doing so, I hope it will serve to motivate you, not make you hide under a bed (though if the Wolverines would like to encourage their players to hide under a bed for the rest of the season I will allow it…).
EFL Standings for 2021
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 102 | 45 | .693 | — | 848.9 | 564.7 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 98 | 49 | .664 | 4.3 | 821.4 | 572.2 |
| D.C. Balk | 89 | 55 | .621 | 11 | 826.8 | 649.0 |
| Peshastin Pears | 90 | 57 | .614 | 11.7 | 751.5 | 600.9 |
| Kaline Drive | 89 | 57 | .609 | 12.5 | 777.5 | 622.3 |
| Cottage Cheese | 81 | 65 | .555 | 20.3 | 813.3 | 744.4 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 79 | 65 | .547 | 21.7 | 766.1 | 711.6 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 78 | 68 | .536 | 23.1 | 727.5 | 674.8 |
| Haviland Dragons | 78 | 68 | .532 | 23.8 | 750.6 | 729.3 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 75 | 71 | .516 | 26.1 | 623.5 | 604.8 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 71 | 76 | .486 | 30.5 | 773.5 | 806.2 |
Old Detroit: W, 8-7.7; 18PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.353 | OBP: 0.389 | SLG: 0.588 | OPS: 0.977 |
What should the Wolverines fear? Well, for starters, this is the list of pitchers on the IL: Jameson Taillon, Jonathan Loaisiga, Shane McClanahan, Mike Minor, Blake Snell, Chris Paddack. That’s right, 7 pitchers on the IL. Yesterday they accrued replacement innings, which isn’t something they have had to deal with much. But, wait! Carlos Correa cam to the rescue, going 2 for 4 with a home run. And though only three other batters appeared alongside Correa, they all collected at least one hit. So on a night when Wolverine fans were scared about the state of their pitching, the hitters calmed those nerves, sending them to a victory!
Flint Hill: W, 10-4; 40PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.378 | OBP: 0.425 | SLG: 0.514 | OPS: 0.939 |
The Tornadoes have spent a fair amount of the month being afraid. Afraid of fizzling out, afraid of having only a handful of players under control after this season, afraid of having to give the trophy, which looks so nice in my office, to another team after only one season. I think our biggest fear, however, is that we will continue to get closer and closer to the Wolverines (we gained another .4 games yesterday) only to have finish second by a microscopic margin. A close second would be more painful than a distant second, we believe. Last night Flint Hill had no pitching, but we have innings in reserve, waiting to be used at a 3.70 ERA. The hitting continued to be awesome, though the two best hitters (Harrison and Frazier) had most of their stats wasted in Granite Flats.
DC: DNP, 3-0; 15PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.417 | OBP: 0.467 | SLG: 0.833 | OPS: 1.300 |
The Balk should be afraid of losing third place to the Pears, who are suddenly on fire and only .7 games behind them. True, there is no trophy for a third place finish, but there is honor and dignity in it, to be sure! Last night’s effort was almost entirely entrusted to Bryce Harper, who smashed his way to a 3 for 4 night with two doubles, one home run, and 2 walks. The battle is on between him and Juan Soto for NL MVP, in my opinion. Which is why there is some drama in the DC/Peshastin battle for third currently underway in the EFL.
Peshastin: “L,” 8-5; 19PA, 2.7IP
| AVG: 0.263 | OBP: 0.263 | SLG: 0.579 | OPS: 0.842 |
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 1.111 |
Finally, a team with some pitching! And it was good pitching, though a small amount. In my reckoning, the Pears have a couple of things of which they should be afraid: 1) Fighting to wrest third away from the Balk, only to have Kaline swoop in at the last minute and steal third away from both of them; 2) Pear players beginning to believe that it is a requirement to spend significant time on the IL each season. The Pear fortunes were bright at the end of May, until the injury bug struck them unfairly. Since June 1, they have been just a shade above .500 as a team (43-38), which is a far cry from where they were after the first two months (37-17). But they are on a late season comeback, last night fueled by Ryan Mountcastle, who passed Cal Ripken, Jr. for most home runs by a rookie, and Mike Zunino, who hit another home run – get this, he has 62 hits this season and 31 of them are home runs! That’s an incredible stat.
Kaline: W, 5-4; 27PA, 1IP
| AVG: 0.240 | OBP: 0.296 | SLG: 0.400 | OPS: 0.696 |
| ERA: 9.00 | WHIP: 2.000 |
The Drive are generally fearless, it seems, congenial and affable, happy to finish in the middle of the pack each season. So they might want to fear a late season push, as they seem to be doing, to finish in the top half of the league, perhaps even as high as third place. Another thing they might fear is the amount of research and bidding they’ll have to do next, as they will be losing half of their roster to expiring contracts. Last night the batters did a good job of quieting any fears incited by their one pitcher, Mark Melancon, giving up one run in one inning (hardly that scary, to be honest). Willson Contreras went 2 for 4 with a home run, and Yuli Gurriel added in two hits of his own to lead the Drive to a win.
Cottage: DNP, 1-(-3); 18PA, 8IP
| AVG: 0.286 | OBP: 0.389 | SLG: 0.500 | OPS: 0.889 |
| ERA: 1.13 | WHIP: 0.875 |
The Cheese had a good off day, shedding three runs allowed through the excellent pitching of Alex Cobb, Daniel Lynch, and Josh James. I think their biggest, though, is that their stud, Shohei Ohtani, is being asked to do too much and incurring too many injuries. His start this weekend is being skipped due to a sore arm, and one has to wonder if his recent home run drought is due to fatigue that no other player has to deal with. MLB is better when Shohei is healthy, so let’s hope that fear is never realized. Last night he went 2 for 4, as did Yandy Diaz, who made one of his hits a home run.
Canberra: W(1), L(-1), 5-0; 14PA, no pitching
| AVG: 0.636 | OBP: 0.714 | SLG: 0.818 | OPS: 1.532 |
For starters, I am afraid that batting line is illegal! How can there be so much goodness in such a small sample? Well, the main reason is Austin Nola’s 3 for 3 with a double and Kyle Tucker’s 2 for 4 with a double. Throw in 2 walks from Manny Margot and you have a killer line – and people should be very afraid of killers. On a larger scale, I think the Roos should be somewhat afraid of the fact that they will only have about 5 or 6 open roster spots but something like $75 million to spend on those spots. Sometimes it is scary to have too much money and no enough places to spend it, at least that what I imagine rich people saying.
Pittsburgh: L, 4-5; 9PA, 3IP
| AVG: 0.222 | OBP: 0.222 | SLG: 0.222 | OPS: 0.444 |
| ERA: 3.00 | WHIP: 0.667 |
The Alleghenys weren’t able to muster enough offense to score more than 5 runs, but they were still able to create a little more space between themselves and the heel-biter Dragons. I think the main fear of Allegheny fans is that Luis Robert will become their Mike Trout. An incredible player, which he is certainly becoming, but without a strong supporting cast to help him. I mean, Pittsburgh did manage to pry away Jose Berrios from the Tornadoes, and the upstart Bobby Dalbec from the Drive. Those are good pieces, it seems, with whom to surround Robert. And Mark will be able to add an additional 10-12 players to his team next season, which is certainly a good omen. But the pressure will surely be on to make the Alleghenys more than a one-man team, lest they suffer the curse of Mike Trout (I just made that up, but I think it works – don’t you, Ryan?).
Haviland: L, 2-6; 23PA, 1.3IP
| AVG: 0.150 | OBP: 0.261 | SLG: 0.200 | OPS: 0.461 |
| ERA: 0.00 | WHIP: 1.765 |
The Dragons have had their fair share of injuries this season, though they also know that others have experienced injury woes and have fared better. So I don’t think they are afraid of injuries derailing future seasons. No, I think their main fear might be that their young pitchers, who are controlled for a few years and have been expected to be top of the rotation arms, won’t be that. Names like Jesus Luzardo, AJ Puk, Spencer Howard and Tarik Skubal – all pitchers seemingly high ceilings who have been going through rough times this year, with a combined ERA somewhere in the upper 5s. Those arms, if they become what they have been projected to become, are a multi-year weapon to lead the Dragons and cause fear in their opponents. As it is now? They are something Dragons fans fear, and that’s something Haviland management will need to…well, manage.
Bellingham: “L,” 5-2; 28PA, 14.3IP
| AVG: 0.208 | OBP: 0.321 | SLG: 0.333 | OPS: 0.655 |
| ERA: 2.52 | WHIP: 1.259 |
Here is something the rest of the league should fear: Cascade pitchers have been, except for one fluke month, in the top 3 of team ERA every month this season, and all of their best pitchers are returning for at least one more year. What should the Cascades fear, then? Well, they should fear that their hitting continues to perform at a level much lower than their pitching. Yesterday was the perfect example of this. The pitchers, led by Tyler Mahle’s 6 innings and 0 runs were good – even good enough to absorb Kevin Gausman’s 4 runs allowed in 5 innings and keep their ERA below 3. But the hitters struggled. They only got 5 hits on the day, though three of them were doubles.
Portland: “L,” 6-4; 7PA, 7IP
| AVG: 0.000 | OBP: 0.571 | SLG: 0.000 | OPS: 0.571 |
| ERA: 3.86 | WHIP: 1.143 |
The Rosebuds have already surpassed their June win total, earning their 10th win (though it shows up as a loss in this update). Their season high of 16 wins in one month came in August, so they are certainly trending in the right direction. Unfortunately, it would be foolish to surmise that the trend will continue across an offseason. And I think that might be the biggest fear for the Rosebuds. With their young players, is the success we are seeing from them something that will last, or a product of the league not knowing them? Or just being lucky? We won’t know until next year, but certainly the trend is alarming to the rest of the EFL. That batting line you see from yesterday is interesting – two batters appeared, no hits were earned, but 4 walks were!
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 102 | 45 | .693 | — |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 98 | 49 | .664 | 4.3 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 91 | 56 | .619 | 10.9 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 82 | 64 | .562 | 19.4 |
| Boston Red Sox | 83 | 65 | .561 | 19.4 |
| New York Yankees | 82 | 65 | .558 | 19.9 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 47 | 99 | .322 | 54.4 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| D.C. Balk | 89 | 55 | .621 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 79 | 65 | .547 | 10.7 |
| Atlanta Braves | 76 | 68 | .528 | 13.4 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 74 | 72 | .507 | 16.4 |
| New York Mets | 72 | 75 | .490 | 18.9 |
| Miami Marlins | 62 | 84 | .425 | 28.4 |
| Washington Nationals | 60 | 86 | .411 | 30.4 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago White Sox | 83 | 63 | .568 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 78 | 68 | .536 | 4.7 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 75 | 71 | .516 | 7.6 |
| Cleveland Indians | 71 | 73 | .493 | 11 |
| Detroit Tigers | 70 | 77 | .476 | 13.5 |
| Kansas City Royals | 66 | 80 | .452 | 17 |
| Minnesota Twins | 64 | 83 | .435 | 19.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 89 | 57 | .610 | — |
| Cottage Cheese | 81 | 65 | .555 | 7.9 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 76 | 69 | .524 | 12.5 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 76 | 71 | .517 | 13.5 |
| Chicago Cubs | 66 | 81 | .449 | 23.5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 54 | 92 | .370 | 35 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Kaline Drive | 89 | 57 | .609 | — |
| Houston Astros | 86 | 60 | .589 | 2.9 |
| Oakland A’s | 79 | 67 | .541 | 9.9 |
| Seattle Mariners | 78 | 68 | .534 | 10.9 |
| Haviland Dragons | 78 | 68 | .532 | 11.3 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 72 | 74 | .493 | 16.9 |
| Texas Rangers | 54 | 92 | .370 | 34.9 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| San Francisco Giants | 95 | 52 | .646 | — |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 94 | 53 | .639 | 1 |
| Peshastin Pears | 90 | 57 | .614 | 4.8 |
| San Diego Padres | 76 | 70 | .521 | 18.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 71 | 76 | .486 | 23.6 |
| Colorado Rockies | 68 | 78 | .466 | 26.5 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 47 | 99 | .322 | 47.5 |
I fear the Wolverines will need at least two GREAT days to stem the slow leakage of their lead. And I fear those two Great days will not come with only three healthy starting pitchers. How dreadful would it be to lead 95% of the season, including four and half months straight, only to succumb in the last few days of the season? I think that would be far worse than coming up just short on a last minute surge toward the top.
Yes, that would be far worse. See? Your post yesterday helped me to develop some compassion, when I wanted to say no to your question.