So Many Battles, So Little Time

EFL
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB	RS	RA
Old Detroit Wolverines	107	49	.683	—	899.7	613.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes	101	55	.648	5.4	860.7	632.5
D.C. Balk	97	58	.624	9.3	890.4	691.3
Kaline Drive	96	60	.619	10.1	831.3	653.0
Peshastin Pears	92	64	.592	14.3	794.1	672.1
Canberra Kangaroos	86	69	.556	19.9	830.9	752.9
Cottage Cheese	86	70	.550	20.7	857.8	790.8
Haviland Dragons	82	74	.525	24.6	806.2	792.8
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	82	74	.523	25	764.2	727.3
Bellingham Cascades	80	76	.516	26.1	662.6	642.4
Portland Rosebuds	80	76	.511	26.9	845.4	836.2

ERA: 9.00

WHIP: 1.000

Wolverine hitting continued to be a bit lukewarm, OPSing a mere .683 yesterday on the way to being outscored by their opponents. Three of their best contributors this season – Rafael Devers, JP Crawford and Ke’Bryan Hayes – all collected two hits apiece, including a double for each of them. The rest of the team went 6 for 42, a batting average of .142. Craig Kimbrel was the only pitcher to appear, and he gave up one run in his one inning. This moment of suffering the Old Detroit team us undergoing will be short-lived, though. With a lead of 5.4 games and only 6 games left to play, they would have to lose every game in order to even have a chance of not winning the league title. After today’s offday, they will send three starters to the mound on Tuesday, who only really have to be better than replacement pitching in order to secure the title. Wolverine fans can rest easy, even though the batters have, for the moment, left their bats at home.

ERA: 2.87

WHIP: 1.529

Good pitching allowed the Tornadoes to gain 1.1 games on the Wolverines in one day, but it is most assuredly going to be a case of too little, too late. Joe Musgrove’s 3 runs allowed in 5 innings was the worst outing yesterday among three starters. Alek Manoah followed it with 2 runs allowed in 5.2 innings, and Julio Urias went 5 scoreless innings to top it off. The batters were better than the line indicates, due to 11 ABs with only one hit being allocated to the bench. Paul Goldschmidt, Jarred Kelenic and Alex Bregman all added a home run in the victory. 

ERA: 10.47

WHIP: 3.023

The Balk battled with their foe yesterday, ultimately falling by two runs due to a lack of timely hitting and sub-par pitching. The batters collected 15 hits on the day, a great total, but they also collected 15 strikeouts. Three of their 15 hits were for extra bases – doubles by Pete Alonso and Myles Straw, an a home run from Danny Jansen. The pitchers struggled on a day when they only needed to hold their opponent below 8 runs. Triston McKenzie seems to have used all of his best pitches in the no-hitter he threw last month, because this month he has struggled. Yesterday’s line was 3 runs allowed in 2.3 innings. Jose Alvarado was worse, giving up 2 runs in 1.3 innings. 

ERA: 3.38

WHIP: 1.375

The Drive have thrown caution to the wind and are now attempting to finish in third place, 3 places higher than their stated intentions to finish in the middle of the league. And we are here for it! Four pitchers combined for 3 runs allowed in 8 innings, led by a renewed John Means who is using September to pitch better than he has all season. Three other relievers joined him by tossing an additional 3 innings with no runs allowed. Willy Adames helped the Brewers clinch the NL Central yesterday, going 2 for 4 with a home run. The Drive have left the Pears in the dust, and now have their sights on the Balk, and this final week should bring a lot of 3rd place drama! Both Rob and Tom are so nice, I could conceive of them finding a way to share the 3rd place trophy. So we might need to find an additional third place medal.

ERA: 2.25

WHIP: 1.083

Canberra is locked in a battle with Cottage for 6th place, and there could be some fireworks this past week of the season. Yesterday, the Roos stakes their claim, getting 10 runs while erasing 2 from their runs allowed total. The best day at the plate came from Wander Franco, who will be a Roo for only one more week. He went 2 for with a double and a triple. Carter Kieboom tried to live into his name, hitting a double among his two hits. But the mound is where the Roos really provided a needed bounce yesterday. Caleb Smith tossed 2 innings of scoreless baseball, Dane Dunning went 4.7 innings giving up 2 runs, and Jake Odorizzi went 4 innings giving up only one run. 

 

AVG: 0.250

OBP: 0.354

SLG: 0.450

OPS: 0.804

ERA: 1.29

WHIP: 0.714

Though not as emphatic of a win as the Roos had, it was still a solid win for the Cheese. Unlike the Drive and Balk, I don’t think Dave and Ryan will be happy to end in a tie, so one of them is going to have to find the will to finish the season strong – and yesterday proved that perhaps they both will have the will! Shohei Ohtani, undoubtedly the AL MVP this season, tossed 7 innings giving up one run. The batters did the rest (including Ohtani, who went 1 for 3). Trea Turner led the way, going 2 for 4 with a double and a home run. Adolis Garcia added a double, and Pedro Severino added a home run. 

 

 

AVG: 0.250

OBP: 0.314

SLG: 0.375

OPS: 0.689

ERA: 5.23

WHIP: 1.744

We have another battle raging, this one for 8th place, and the two teams are currently tied record-wise and only .002 percentage points apart from one another. Talk about exciting! The Dragons, who a week ago touted their efforts in terms of allocated pitchers, sent 6 total pitchers to the mound yesterday, which was impressive. But none of them threw more than the 4 innings Jesus Luzardo accrued. He gave up 2 runs in those 4 innings, and then 5 relievers appeared, surrendering a total of 3 runs. Which is better than replacement innings, so that is good for the Dragons. But it wasn’t enough, with the lackluster hitting. Jake lived into his last name (how, you ask? Well, keep reading). Etymologically, cronenworth comes from “worth of a crown.” So to hit a cronen worth is to hit like a king, and he did just that, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and a triple to assuage the Padres fans who are up in arms over the pathetic play of their team over the month of September (and abysmal 7-16). 

 

AVG: 0.091

OBP: 0.192

SLG: 0.091

OPS: 0.283

ERA: 1.50

WHIP: 1.333

The Alleghenys were content to keep pace with the Dragons, doing so with spectacularly bad hitting in addition to really good pitching. The team had 2 hits in 22 at bats. Add in 3 walks (yes, more walks than hits), and there was just not enough to keep them from losing a run. But surely the 6 innings shared by three different pitchers helps to soften the blow. Derek Holland and Lou Trivino combined for 3 innings and no runs, and Keegan Thompson tossed 3 innings giving up 1 run. There will be some heat in this matchup between a mighty river and a fire-breathing dragon. Can’t wait to see who prevails!

ERA: 0.60

WHIP: 0.733

And here, at the tail end of the EFL, we have another tight race to watch over the final week. The Cascades and the Rosebuds will be fighting all week, and what they are fighting for really matters, though they both seem to be confused. It is one thing to finish strong, for sure, it’s an entirely different thing to do so well that you lose the opportunity for the top EFL pick this winter. Yesterday, the Cascade pitched like they are in a pennant race, and it was beautiful. Look at that ERA over 15 innings pitched! Only one earned run was allowed between the 6 pitchers who appeared, and that belonged to Kevin Gausman who pitched 6 total innings. Tyler Mahle added 6 innings of his own, and then 4 relievers finished it off to erase 3 runs from their total runs allowed this season. Amazing! The team got 10 hits, which was good, but they got an even more impressive 7 walks on the day. 

 

AVG: 0.314

OBP: 0.368

SLG: 0.657

OPS: 1.026

ERA: 0.00

WHIP: 0.702

It is really the Rosebuds who are putting the pressure on the Cascades instead of the Cascades putting the pressure on the Rosebuds. Yesterday’s three game swing has brought them to within .8 games of the Cascades. I wish the race at the top was as exciting as this race at the bottom! Corey Seager hit two home runs, and Harrison Bader and CJ Cron each added one. Surprisingly, the Rosebuds had no other extra base hits besides those 4 home runs. On the mound, Adbert Alzolay had a strong but short outing, going 3.7 innings and giving up 0 runs. Logan Allen and Diego Castillo added scoreless innings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Old Detroit Wolverines	107	49	.683	—
Flint Hill Tornadoes	101	55	.648	5.4
Tampa Bay Rays	97	59	.622	9.6
New York Yankees	89	67	.571	17.6
Boston Red Sox	88	68	.564	18.6
Toronto Blue Jays	87	69	.558	19.6
Baltimore Orioles	50	106	.321	56.6

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
D.C. Balk	97	58	.624	—
Canberra Kangaroos	86	69	.556	10.6
Atlanta Braves	83	72	.535	13.8
Philadelphia Phillies	81	75	.519	16.3
New York Mets	73	82	.471	23.8
Miami Marlins	64	91	.413	32.8
Washington Nationals	64	92	.410	33.3

 

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago White Sox	88	68	.564	—
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	82	74	.523	6.5
Bellingham Cascades	80	76	.516	7.5
Cleveland Indians	76	79	.490	11.5
Detroit Tigers	75	80	.484	12.5
Kansas City Royals	71	84	.458	16.5
Minnesota Twins	69	87	.442	19

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Milwaukee Brewers	94	62	.603	—
St. Louis Cardinals	87	69	.558	7
Cottage Cheese	86	70	.550	8.2
Cincinnati Reds	81	75	.519	13
Chicago Cubs	67	89	.429	27
Pittsburgh Pirates	58	97	.374	35.5

 

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Kaline Drive	96	60	.619	—
Houston Astros	91	65	.583	5.5
Seattle Mariners	86	70	.551	10.5
Oakland A’s	85	71	.545	11.5
Haviland Dragons	82	74	.525	14.5
Los Angeles Angels	74	82	.474	22.5
Texas Rangers	57	99	.365	39.5

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
San Francisco Giants	102	54	.654	—
Los Angeles Dodgers	100	56	.641	2
Peshastin Pears	92	64	.592	9.7
Portland Rosebuds	80	76	.511	22.3
San Diego Padres	78	78	.500	24
Colorado Rockies	71	84	.458	30.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	50	106	.321	52