I’m sitting at home with the Tigers/A’s game on the TV. I’m monitoring Jeimer Candelario (who will be back for five more years) and Matt Chapman and Franklin Barreto (for whom I will have matching rights in the rookie draft next spring). I think they are, as a trio, going a cumulative 2 for 10 with a double. All the hits are Candelario’s, but the Tiger announcers are bathing the two Athletics with generous praise, so maybe they’re better than their current 0 for 6.
It’s a beautiful day in Detroit. Not so much in OLD Detroit. But just as pretty here, in our TV room, overlooking the sun shining into our back yard on a cool late summer/early fall partly cloudy day.
I have already done some reading for my sabbatical, and will return to it as soon as I post this. So don’t worry about whether I am misspending my sabbatical.
EFL Standings for 2017
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
RS |
RA |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
108 |
43 |
.713 |
— |
882.2 |
545.2 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
100 |
51 |
.662 |
7.8 |
779.5 |
556.9 |
Haviland Dragons |
97 |
53 |
.643 |
10.7 |
873.6 |
648.7 |
Cottage Cheese |
91 |
59 |
.608 |
16 |
785.2 |
620.9 |
Portland Rosebuds |
89 |
62 |
.587 |
19.2 |
840.7 |
690.4 |
Kaline Drive |
84 |
66 |
.560 |
23.3 |
755.4 |
668.5 |
Peshastin Pears |
84 |
67 |
.556 |
23.8 |
760.3 |
687.5 |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
78 |
73 |
.518 |
29.6 |
749.5 |
710.9 |
Canberra Kangaroos |
72 |
78 |
.481 |
35.1 |
714.5 |
743.7 |
D.C. Balk |
59 |
91 |
.393 |
48.3 |
725.2 |
904.0 |
.
Pittsburgh: W, 6 – 2. (.324, .342, .622; 6.3 ip, 6 er). Those of you hoping for a cataclysmic Allegheny collapse probably got a little rush looking at that pitching line. But all the earned runs were coughed up in Daniel Gossett’s six entirely minor league innings. So the A’s get off unscathed and move their September record to 18 – 1. With 11 games left, the 2001 Mariners’ 116-46 season is in line to be roadkill.
.
Flint Hill: W 2, L (-1). (.345, .441, .724; 7 ip. 1 er). Man, how great would it have been had the Tornados uncorked a few of these days a couple of weeks ago? Not a single starting pitcher was involved in the dominant pitching performance — just 6 relievers, 5 of them clearly in their grooves. AJ Pollock blasted two homers. So if the Tornadoes repeat this for the last 11 games of the season, can they still catch the A’s? Hmm — gained a half game. Do that 11 times, and you gain 5.5 games… which would leave them 2.3 games out.
.
Haviland: W, 4 – 3. (.265, .286, .500; 15.3 ip, 3 er). I read this morning that Miguel Sano may not get off the DL before the season is over. But Descalso has come out of nowhere to post an .869 OPS for the month at OH. So I doubt the Sano situation is causing that much stress in Haviland. Second place is slipping out of reach, especially after Flint Hill’s big day.
.
Cottage: W, 6 – 3. (.283, .309, .453; 6 ip, 2 er) Doggone it, Dave. I gave you that customer service award and now you’re actively undermining the value of that draft pick you sold me. If you could just shave .002 from that winning percentage, the pick you sold me would move up from 26th to 25th and be directly after the other pick I bought from Portland.
.
Portland: L, (-1) – 3. (.119, .178, .214; 17.3 ip, 6 er). See, Dave, how Mark J is trying to do the right thing, standing behind his product, trying to give the best value possible to the customer who bought his draft pick? He’s got further to go — at least .011 down to the Red Sox. So I’m not expecting him to help me, but I sure appreciate the effort. I could transfer that customer service award to Portland…
.
Kaline: W 2, L (-1); 6 – (-10!) (.368, .419, .500; 20.7 ip 2 er). Wow! I think -10 runs is the fewest an EFL team has ever surrendered. A ton of replacement innings got erased with sub-1.00 ERA pitching. That’s how you do it.
.
Peshastin: W, 5 – (-5). (.265, .345, .408; 15 ip, 3 er). The Pears did a junior version of what the Drive did. Emulating the Wizard is a good strategy in general.
.
Old Detroit: L, 3 – 8. (.176, .250, .412; 5.7 ip, 2 er). I didn’t have Tyler Skaggs activated, so his 5.3 ip, 2 er did not help us. Today I activated him to the max (only 33%) so maybe we can cut the replacement pitching and avoid slipping back under .500.
.
Canberra: L, 0 – 7. (.103, .133, .172; 2.3 ip, 1 er). It was a quiet evening in Canberra, except when the replacement pitchers took the mound — all five starter innings were handled by replacements.
.
DC: L, 2 – 5. (.194, .286, .333; 9.7 ip, 5 er). Mike Clevinger, whom I could have acquired for Corey Kluber had I acted quickly in two and a half months ago, made me regret my indecision again with his 6 sharp innings and only 1 earned run.
.
.
.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Flint Hill Tornadoes |
100 |
51 |
.662 |
— |
Boston Red Sox |
87 |
64 |
.576 |
12.9 |
New York Yankees |
84 |
67 |
.556 |
15.9 |
Old Detroit Wolverines |
78 |
73 |
.518 |
21.7 |
Tampa Bay Rays |
73 |
78 |
.483 |
26.9 |
Baltimore Orioles |
73 |
79 |
.480 |
27.4 |
Toronto Blue Jays |
71 |
80 |
.470 |
28.9 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Washington Nationals |
91 |
59 |
.607 |
— |
Canberra Kangaroos |
72 |
78 |
.481 |
18.9 |
Miami Marlins |
71 |
80 |
.470 |
20.5 |
Atlanta Braves |
67 |
82 |
.450 |
23.5 |
New York Mets |
65 |
86 |
.430 |
26.5 |
Philadelphia Phillies |
60 |
91 |
.397 |
31.5 |
D.C. Balk |
59 |
91 |
.393 |
32 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys |
108 |
43 |
.713 |
— |
Cleveland Indians |
94 |
57 |
.623 |
13.7 |
Minnesota Twins |
78 |
73 |
.517 |
29.7 |
Kansas City Royals |
73 |
77 |
.487 |
34.2 |
Detroit Tigers |
62 |
89 |
.411 |
45.7 |
Chicago White Sox |
60 |
90 |
.400 |
47.2 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Cottage Cheese |
91 |
59 |
.608 |
— |
Chicago Cubs |
84 |
66 |
.560 |
7.3 |
Milwaukee Brewers |
81 |
70 |
.536 |
10.8 |
St. Louis Cardinals |
78 |
72 |
.520 |
13.3 |
Pittsburgh Pirates |
68 |
84 |
.447 |
24.3 |
Cincinnati Reds |
66 |
85 |
.437 |
25.8 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Haviland Dragons |
97 |
53 |
.643 |
— |
Houston Astros |
92 |
58 |
.613 |
4.5 |
Kaline Drive |
84 |
66 |
.560 |
12.5 |
Los Angeles Angels |
76 |
74 |
.507 |
20.5 |
Texas Rangers |
74 |
76 |
.493 |
22.5 |
Seattle Mariners |
74 |
77 |
.490 |
23 |
Oakland A’s |
68 |
83 |
.450 |
29 |
TEAM |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PCT. |
GB |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
96 |
55 |
.636 |
— |
Portland Rosebuds |
89 |
62 |
.587 |
7.4 |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
87 |
65 |
.572 |
9.5 |
Peshastin Pears |
84 |
67 |
.556 |
12 |
Colorado Rockies |
82 |
69 |
.543 |
14 |
San Diego Padres |
68 |
83 |
.450 |
28 |
San Francisco Giants |
59 |
93 |
.388 |
37.5 |