And this time I really, really mean it.
I’m not just crying “kangaroo”!
Canberra is working on its 10th straight week of improved winning percentages. In the previous nine weeks, they improved their winning percentage by an average of .013 per week. This week, in four games, they’ve improved by .012.
In the previous nine weeks, the ‘Roos gained on first place by a total of 8.7 games (from 12.6 to 3.8), for a little less than 1 game per week. In the first four days of this week, they’ve already gained 2 games, and are now only 1.8 out of first.
In the previous nine weeks, Canberra climbed from 6th place to 4th place. Now they are in 3rd, only 0.4 out of second. They will almost surely be in second place before the week is over.
Am I trying to jinx the Kangaroos? No, of course not. But it would be fair, considering someone has jinxed the Wolverines, who in the same four days have lost 3.4 games in the standings, fallen from 1st to 2d (temporarily), and been pummelled by the lowly Portland Rosebuds. It’s not ALL the Woeverines’ doing: the Rosebuds have blossomed suddenly, and are running an .805 raw winning percentage. But it is MOSTLY the Woeverines’ fault, whose raw winning percentage this week so far is only .290. That combination pushes Portland’s adjusted weekly winning percentage just over the .900 line (.910).
But that’s only third in our league. The Balk’s adjusted winning [percentage is .941 — and the Kangaroos’ is .957!
Thank God for Chris Flexen, the one Kangaroo pitcher to pitch poorly this week (5 er in 6 ip). The res of the pitching staff has covered 28.7 innings while allowing only 4 earned runs.
Thank God for Julio Rodriguez’ sore wrist. He may be back in the lineup tomorrow. The Kangaroos have been doing all this without him this week.
So far this year the league lead has rotated among three teams: the Balk, the Wolverines, and the Seraphim. But I predict: by sometime next week (if not THIS week) the Kangaroos will join that list.
Down in the middle of the standings we have a couple of teams charging hard in the opposite direction. The Kaline Drive (0.040 weekly adjusted winning percentage) are being mashed by the ‘Roos , and have lost 1.7 games in the standings. Just above them, the Flint Hill Tornados have had all the wind taken out of their sails by a combination of poor play (a .237 raw winning percentage) and a rare solid week by the Pittsburgh Pirates (16 rs / 16 ra), causing a 1.0 – game slide by the the T’s.
We have two more teams on a serious rise, both coming from the vicinity of the cellar, but now approaching the mid-point in the standings. The Portland Rosebuds are enjoying a booming week thanks to their own play (3.69 ERA and 8.2 r/g), led by Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Isbell who have combined to go 10 for 20 with a double, 2 triples, and 5 homers. These are the brutes tormenting the poor Wolverines.
Just below them are the surging Alleghenys, who started the second “half” in last place and are now in 9th, and beating the Dragons 3.1 games to 0.9 so far.
Further down we find the Bellingham Cascades, going through a tough spell with a weekly adjusted winning percentage of .060, inflicted upon them by the Balk. To be fair, the Balk are running scared from the herd of bounding Kangaroos.
We haven’t said anything about the last-place Pears, out of consideration for their feelings. But here is some good news: the Pears have the 8th best winning percentage this week at 0.146 — far better than the 0.090 Wolverines, and more than twice as good as the 0.060 Cascades, and three times as good as the 0.043 Kaline Drive.