League Updates

A beautiful day for baseball

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.

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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.

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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.

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EFL Standings for 2017
EFL
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Note:  I’ve noted changes in draft order soince two days ago. A negative figure means the pick is earlier — it’s a good thing.
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ORIGINAL ORDER CURRENT ORDER 1st RD Draft Pos
Pittsburgh Alleghenys Peshastin Pears 30
Flint Hill Tornadoes Flint Hill 29
Haviland Dragons Portland Rosebuds 28
Cottage Cheese Old Detritus Woeverines 26
Portland Rosebuds Old Detritus Woeverines 24
Kaline Drive Peshastin Pears 22
Peshastin Pears Kaline Drive 20
Old Detroit Wolverines Peshastin Pears 17    (-1)
Canberra Kangaroos Canberra Kangaroos 11    (-2)
D.C. Balk DC Balk 2     (-1)
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
AL East
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
NL East
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
AL Central
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
NL Central
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
AL West
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
NL West
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