That’s the cushion the Seraphim have left.
If this keeps up, I will have to study up on my Milton to adequately describe Salem’s fate.
Unless, of course, this is all just a feint on the Arch-Seraph’s part, to add drama to the end of our season.
Canberra 3.5 (.938 raw winning %), Salem 0.5 (.698 raw): The Seraphim must feel like they are living a nightmare. Here they are, purring along at almost exactly their season-long .700 winning percentage, but they’ve lost 2.9 games in the standings to the Kangaroos, who just finished losing 3.2 games in the standings to the pathetic Pittsburgh Pirates! Whatever happened to the transitive principle in math?
Does it feel worse to be a Seraph, going through the short end of this devilry now, or a Kangaroo who, having just been through similar devilry, is furiously scrambling to undo the harm it suffered? Canberra has chopped almost 3 games off its 8-game deficit in just four games. It has 14 games left to eliminate the other 5 games of its deficit. If that gap is down to 4 games or less by Thursday morning, the Kangaroos might be on the way to an absolutely stunning comeback.
Old Detroit 2.8 (.813), DC 1.2 (.659): The Balk are feeling an only slightly-muted version of the Seraphim experience this week. DC’s .659 raw winning percentage this week is only a skoosh lower than its .671 season-long performance. But they’ve run into a Wolverine team playing way over its head. Old Detroit’s sub-2.00 ERA is well outside its norms, and a rare Edgar Martinez Day on offense Monday (.353, .450, .529) has helped the Wolverines keep their .813 balloon in the air. So far. The Balk are still outscoring the W’s by more than a run per game, but their 3.69 weekly ERA is too close to twice the Wolverines’ to allow DC to keep up. So far.
Both of these pursuing teams are thrilled with the Kangaroos’ heroic work this week, and hope to do something similar when it’s their turn to face the heavenly host.
Haviland 3.0 (.742), Bellingham 1.0 (.525). Same song, third verse, a little bit lower, and a little bit worse. Well, not worse, that isn’t fair. In fact, the Dragons have been kinder than any of the four teams ahead of them, in that they took a break to have some sunflower seeds Monday, attempting only 16 plate appearances and one inning pitched, and achieving only a .133, .187, .200 slash line and one shutout inning. That definitely non-championship pace trimmed Haviland’s weekly raw winning percentage to “only” .761. But Bellingham didn’t walk through the gate so kindly left open. The Cascades attempted no pitching on Monday, and only 13 plate appearances. Their 4 singles did give them a .308, .308, .308 slash line, nice and neat if not very robust.
Kaline 2.8 (.378), Pittsburgh 1.2 (.212). This polite mutual deference, where each contestant strives to be more generous than its opponent, is so exotic and intriguing for our top teams. What would life be if we could move away from constant competition for dominance? What if we could enjoy sunflower seeds whenever we wanted without shame? I’m munching on Fritos while I write this… why shouldn’t everyone have the same freedom?
I admit it: an uncompetitive unlimitedly deferential league is unimaginable to me, or at least boring. The Deferential Unlimited, Uncompetitive, UniMaginably Boring Fantasy League (the D-U-U-U-M-B FL ) probably would not be my cup of tea. But then, tea isn’t my cup of tea, either.
Flint Hill 3.5 (.745), Peshastin 0.5 (.272). All our outcomes are pretty dramatic this week, so far. No winning team has won fewer than 70% of the games played, and (of course) no losing team has won more than 30%. This season has more extreme MLB records than any season in decades — maybe since Babe Ruth began to play. Our teams, as of today, sport records inside the bounds set by MLB’s best and worst teams. And a week IS a short sample. Still — having 5 teams winning 70% of the games and 5 teams losing 70% is a polarizing trend, for sure. What does a civility project have to say about this kind of harsh alienation?
Portland 3.2 (.341), Pittsburgh Pirates 0.8 ( .117). Even the Rosebuds are winning 80% of their games against the Pirates, despite producing a .190, .277 , 298 line against the sesame seed warriors of Pittsburgh. On the other hand, some of us hope Ke’Bryan Hayes will straighten up and go on a season-ending tear to prove he can rise above the controversy.