We have a barn-burning race in the EFL!
The Balk lost one they could have won Sunday. Their MLB opponents, the Mariners, won, but only 5 – 4, reducing their rs/ra ratio from 17 – 8 to 22 – 12. Plus the Balk’s Tylor Megill pitched well, a 2.70 ERA over 6.7 innings. So hitting even a little better than replacement would have produced a win. Instead, Balkan hitters dribbled out a .187, .217, .205 batting line, well below replacement level. Harrison Bader went 2 for 3 to amass a 1.333 daily OPS, but the rest of the lineup went 6 for 41. So far this week the Balk’s top line, rounded-off record is 0 – 3 (0.7 – 2.3 before rounding).
You might think the Balky Balks are setting up the barn-burner race I mentioned earlier. They ARE setting up a race, for sure — the Wolverines are suddenly only 1.5 games back, thanks to a relatively compliant opponent this week (the Red Sox, who’ve scored 8 runs so far while allowing 11) and Byron Buxton, who rebounded from three straight strikeouts to finish the game with two homers, including what they claim is the longest walk-off home run ever measured by Statcast (469 feet).
I owe an apology to Carlos Correa. He didn’t play Sunday, probably because the Twins are as edgy about his poor start as I am. But Buxton told the press Correa got him to adjust his attitude after the strikeouts, putting him in the frame of mind he needed to hit homers in all his at-bats. If Correa keeps that up, all else will be forgiven. The media noted how Buxton and Correa share super-star status, but — I guess I should be used to this by now — totally failed to mention the reason Correa and Buxton are so close: they’ve been playing together for the Wolverines for over a year.
The early race at the top of the league is not just a two-team affair. The Dragons continue their amazing stand against the Dodgers (who lead the majors with a 12 – 3 expected record) after facing the Giants last week (who are second in the majors with an expected 12 – 4 record). Haviland lost yesterday — but then the Dodgers won 12 – 2, so it would have taken another perfect week of pitching to put Haviland in the win column. Getting 8.7 innings of 3.12 ERA pitching wasn’t going to do it, not with a respectable but not overpowering .257, .333, .343 batting line. three more games against the Dodgers and the Dragons will join the Kangaroos as the EFL teams with presumably the easiest schedule for the rest of the season.
The third-best expected record in MLB belongs to the Mets, at 12 – 5, whom we will all face this year, starting with the Wolverines in Week 6. After that it drops all the way to the Cardinals at 9 – 5, whom we do not face, and the Yankees, Mariners (!), and Cubs (!!) at 10 – 6, all of whom are on our schedule. Of course, those expected records also reflect each team’s early strength of schedule, and will change over time.
Maybe if the Seraphim weren’t backsliding these days I would call the top of our standings a barn-burning race. But, alas, the Seraphim … well, they haven’t become fallen angels just yet, but they are trending in the wrong direction. It’s hard to thrive in any league when your hitters AND your pitchers are performing below replacement level, which is the case for Salem this week. The hitters improved a bit yesterday, to about replacement, but the pitchers put up another sub-replacement day by our new standards (6.75 ERA compared to 6.00 ERA which is this year’s replacement level).
I still have faith in the Seraphim. They need to get healthier, like many of us, but that team should rebound and cause trouble in the pennant race. But that is in the future. For right now, even with the Cascades right on their tails, in fifth place, the top of our table is not where the best race can be found. We have a better one …
… at the bottom of the standings!
No, I’m not saying this just because I’m a little preoccupied with bottom-side issues today (heading off in an hour to my colonoscopy). It’s because ANYONE, even those prancing through life with no thought of such things, can see: our bottom is where the action is.
[Editor: Which is just about as far as you should go with this image!]OK, no more waxing poetic about things abysmal. Let’s just look objectively at the data:
- The bottom four teams are only 0.4 games apart.
- The very bottom team — the Tornados (for now) — are 4.0 – 11.0 , so there’s nothing illusory about their record.
- The Tornados have the best record this week in the EFL: 3 – 0 (rounded off, but still!).
- The Tornados, Pears, and Kangaroos have raw winning percentages over .600 this week. And the Alleghenys — the only one of the four going backward this week — are at a very respectable .456, not that different than the first-place Balk.
- Three games into the week, the Kangaroos have gained 1.2 games on first place. And the Tornados have done even better: 2.1 games gained.
- The other two teams have held basically steady in the EFL race despite facing MLB teams playing wildly over their heads: the Tigers (20 rs / 9 ra) and the Rangers (19 / 9).
So — while the bottom can be a miserable place, I find it inspiring to see so much energy and dynamism among our bottom teams. The bottom is clearly the happening place in our league today!
(My apologies to the Drive and the Rosebuds, who got so little attention in this update. Perhaps you should make your way to a more exciting part of the standings!)