Ok, continuing our count-up to the 2015 EFL championship.
In third place:
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 102 | 60 | .629 | 2.8 | 783.4 | 599.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 93 | 69 | .577 | 11.3 | 824.5 | 698.8 |
| Peshastin Pears | 85 | 77 | .524 | 19.8 | 675.9 | 643.6 |
| Cottage Cheese | 82 | 80 | .508 | 22.3 | 695.8 | 691.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 77 | 85 | .477 | 27.3 | 809.7 | 857.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 71 | 91 | .437 | 33.8 | 658.6 | 753.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 67 | 95 | .414 | 37.6 | 677.0 | 808.9 |
The Wolverines won 3.1 to 2.8 to squeeze past the 3-games-back mark, finally, on the last day despite a lackluster .200, .273, .275 batting line. Wolverine pitchers did manage a solid 11.7 ip, with 4 earned runs.
A finish this close inspires lots of “if-only” thinking. If only Giancarlo Stanton hadn’t lost half a season to injury, taking his .952 OPS out of the Wolverine offense. If only Manny Machado, Jackie Bradley, and Christian Yelich could have caught their late-season .900 OPS form earlier. If only Wolverine pitchers’ 3.50 FIP had translated into a 3.50 ERA like it should have, instead of 3.74 like it actually did…
If only Tom Johnson hadn’t drafted Jace Peterson so I would have had the nerve to trade Justin Upton and freed up $9,000,000 to grab better debutants. This one hurts because it’s not the vagaries of chance. It’s the vagaries of my own stupidity and Tom’s shrewdness. In other words, it’s the result of a permanent condition I’m not going to be able to change.
In second place:
Probably by now you’ve already peeked at the standings published on the webpage just to the right of this post. So you know who won. But I have to say some stuff first.
Here’s what I have to say: doggone it! How many times do I have to look at the backside of the Alleghenys! I’m like the bear going over the mountain except I always seem to come down on the same backside. Why are they yet again 1.9 games smarter, luckier, or whatever than my Wolverines!
OK. There’s more but this blog is not meant to be my personal rant space.
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 104 | 58 | .640 | 0.9 | 840.7 | 623.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 102 | 60 | .629 | 2.8 | 783.4 | 599.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 93 | 69 | .577 | 11.3 | 824.5 | 698.8 |
| Peshastin Pears | 85 | 77 | .524 | 19.8 | 675.9 | 643.6 |
| Cottage Cheese | 82 | 80 | .508 | 22.3 | 695.8 | 691.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 77 | 85 | .477 | 27.3 | 809.7 | 857.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 71 | 91 | .437 | 33.8 | 658.6 | 753.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 67 | 95 | .414 | 37.6 | 677.0 | 808.9 |
Pittsburgh struck fear into the hearts of the Dragons by hitting reasonably well (.263, .317, .421) and pitching their brains out (22.3 ip, 3 er). Shelby Miller (stolen ex-Wolverine 3.02 ERA in 205.3 ip) pitched 8 shutout innings. Lance Lynn (unreasonably good fourth starter with a 3.03 annual ERA) and Cole Hamels (Cole Hamels) combined for 14 more innings and 3 earned runs. Over the last 5 days, the Alleghenys hit furiously (.320, .390, .538) and pitched even furiouser (52.3 ip, 12 er, 2.06 ERA). And it was almost enough. In that period Mike Trout was Mike Trout Classic (.438, .545, .875) — and so were Jose Altuve (.389, .389, .833 — none of those distracting walks), Tyler Flowers (.667, .700, .778) and, of course Phil Gosselin (.412, .450, .824). The Allegheny rotation at the end of the season:
Price (220.3 ip, 2.45 ERA); Hamels (212.3 ip, 3.65 ERA), Miller (205.3 ip, 3.02 ERA), Lynn (175.3 ip, 3.03 ERA), and Syndergaard (150 ip, 3.24 ERA). Leaving Iwakuma ! on the bench (129.7 ip, 3.54 ERA) beside Stephen Strasburg (127.3 ip 3.46 ERA).
That’s the Pittsburgh strategy! Win by hogging all the good players! Give the W’s the 7th man in the Allegheny rotation and Old Detroit wins.
And the Winner Is…
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Haviland Dragons | 105 | 57 | .646 | — | 821.9 | 608.9 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 104 | 58 | .640 | 0.9 | 840.7 | 623.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 102 | 60 | .629 | 2.8 | 783.4 | 599.2 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 93 | 69 | .577 | 11.3 | 824.5 | 698.8 |
| Peshastin Pears | 85 | 77 | .524 | 19.8 | 675.9 | 643.6 |
| Cottage Cheese | 82 | 80 | .508 | 22.3 | 695.8 | 691.6 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 77 | 85 | .477 | 27.3 | 809.7 | 857.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 71 | 91 | .437 | 33.8 | 658.6 | 753.5 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 67 | 95 | .414 | 37.6 | 677.0 | 808.9 |
They built the lead in July and August and even though they slowed perceptibly in September Mocktober no one could catch them.
Next year we’ll make Mocktober 40 days long and the Dragons will finish third. But that’s next year. For this year we have to say, with all due respect and admiration:
Congratulations to the Haviland Dragons, the 2015 EFL champs.
Let me add my congratulations to the Haviland Dragons. They were masterfully managed and general-managed from start to finish. At virtually every monthly meeting throughout the season I watched as Haviland pulled just the right lever and made just the right move to keep powering ahead, sliding ahead in mid-summer and then staying uncatchable through the rest of the season. Chris Colabello–who was that guy?–was picked up early in the summer and hit a HR on the very last day of the season that finally broke the back of the Alleghenys. How about the shrewd trade to land Carlos Correa when the Dragon offense needed a shot in the arm? Is there any doubt that was a pennant-winner right there? Even the landing of Cueto when everyone wanted him and Cueto’s benching at just the right moment had General Manager of the Year written all over it.
The Alleghenys felt like their Pittsburgh counterparts, the Pirates, who chased the Cardinals all summer, ended up with the second-best record in all of baseball, and could never quite catch them. So it was with the Dragons being chased and chased all summer with one last mad rush falling a little short. Our commissioner/chronicler can no doubt track this down, but I seem to recall one year where the Alleghenys held off the Dragons in similar fashion, so this seems fair enough. And at least the Alleghenys have that Old Detroit lament of looking up at them again in the standings to warm those cold winter nights (though I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather pick ahead of the Wolverines in next year’s drafts).
Question to Haviland: did I make you just a little bit nervous in those last five days?
Here’s something I noticed that will surely delight the Commissioner to no end. The Alleghenys had the highest ranked offense in the league, and they had the best ERA in the league. How can one team rank #1 in offense and pitching and finish second in the league? It must be that all that dratted defense the commissioner works so hard on. The Alleghenys and their league’s worst defense must have booted enough balls and waved at enough ground balls that a reasonably competent defense would have snagged to create enough unearned runs to finish a hair behind the Dragons in the standings. Once again: great job, Dragons, in creating a balanced team built to win.
One last thought: this now becomes one of the saddest days of the year, the first day since April with no regular box scores to ponder over breakfast and no new standings to digest. My wife gets her half of the year with a little breakfast conversation. This sad day will of course become the cold dark seemingly forever days of winter after the World Series. But it won’t go on forever and we’ll soon enough hear the words that mark the hope of a new spring: “we need to set a time for the rookie draft.”
Great words, Mark. We’ll make a blogger out of you yet.
I wanted to add my thanks and commendation to Ron whose daily commentary is often more interesting than the box scores, over breakfast. I often wonder what it must be like to be able to think up words like that, to come up with themes that carry through the column on a near-daily basis. I struggle to write a poem once a year and the approach of August leaves me pale with fright.
Anyway, Ron, thanks for your semi-daily missives. I applaud your stick-to-it-ivness and your extraordinary imagination. Even though the Cheese often get wrongfully accused or (worse) ignored. It’s okay, really. I’m over it.
Congratulations to John and the Dragons, and to Mark and Ron for making a race out of it!
Thanks especially to Ron for the regular updates, great blogs, and helpful Commissionering.
Tom
Thanks, Pittsburgh, for such gracious comments which we don’t totally deserve (we were saved by debutante Cody Anderson who, if not for a late start to the monthly allocations, would have been inactive).
I am very happy that the season was not two days longer, or I think the EFL would have a different champ as the Dragons spent most of September (ahem, Mocktober), well, draggin’. Like you, I am sad for the dark, dreary days of winter ahead with no box scores to ponder over, nor any witty updates to read.
But there are rookies to scout, and, wow, what a bunch of rookies!