League Updates

The View From The Top

Did you study the featured image? Here, look at it again:

This is how September has looked to the Alleghenys.  Sure, that Tornado is scary looking.  But it’s off at a safe distance. You might want to keep an eye on it, but it needn’t interfere with the day’s plans.

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EFL Standings for 2017
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 112 46 .711 936.4 584.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes 103 55 .655 8.9 812.9 589.6
Haviland Dragons 101 57 .642 11 917.1 683.7
Cottage Cheese 96 62 .607 16.5 837.6 668.6
Portland Rosebuds 93 66 .585 19.8 894.4 740.3
Kaline Drive 91 67 .575 21.6 813.7 697.1
Peshastin Pears 87 72 .550 25.4 786.9 719.4
Old Detroit Wolverines 82 76 .520 30.2 778.1 733.1
Canberra Kangaroos 77 81 .486 35.6 766.5 790.3
D.C. Balk 61 97 .386 51.4 755.3 954.2
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Pittsburgh: W 1, L 1;  11 – 9. (.229, .304, .443; 16 ip, 12 er). The Alleghenys are eroding!  They’ve  lost 4 of their last 14 games!  Their winning percentage is down .001 in the last two days!  At their current .711 winning percentage they’re projected to finish with only 115 wins — actually about 115.35. If we project the last six games at their sagging .856 September winning percentage they’d end up at about 15.55 wins.  That would round up to 116, appearing to tie the 2001 Mariners, but we’d all know better. The Commissioner would see to it.
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Flint Hill: W 1, L 1;  8 – 5. (.244, .286, .397; 24 ip, 8 er).  The Tornados are not moving toward the A’s. Why not? Is it the fearsome wooden fence? The lawnmower?  Perhaps they have given up on the season? I do have a bit of evidence in the form of this plaintive missive I received from the Flint Hill front office at 10:29 pm Tuesday:
Not that I’m expecting it soon or even before the turn of the year, but I just have to know when you generally plan to update defenses because I can’t wait to see what Buxton’s new rating will be! 😳
Apparently Byron Buxton made a spectacular catch Tuesday evening.  But note the emoji. Here. Let’s make it bigger so you can see it better:
What is it? Is it pleading? Terrified? Did it just glance over the back fence and see a huge tornado? Not the latter — the note was written by a Tornado. I think it’s the face of a man who sees the end of the baseball season approaching, and after that the Abyss stretching out apparently forever.  This is the look of utter despair.  I guess I’m not the only one who’s got it bad.
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Haviland:  W 1,  L 1; 17 – 12. (.304, .429, .551; 13.3 ip, 11 er). Of nine Dragon pitchers, only two chulked. John Brebbia triple chulked (0.7 ip, 2 er) while Jeff Hoffman infinitely chulked (0 ip, 4 er).
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Cottage: W 2, L 0; 18 – 10. (.308, .383, .589;  18.7 ip, 8 er). Nine Cheeses OPSed over 1.000 the last two days. Three Cheese starters completed 6 innings with various outcomes but the net result was a solid 3.86 ERA on the day.
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Portland: W 0, L 2; 13 – 25. (.270, .345, .541; 24.3 ip, 25 er). Yikes about the 25 earned runs allowed . That much of a 9.25 ERA will make a dent in anyone’s records. Consolation comes as Carlos Correa clouting 7 hits in 10 A, with 3 doubles.
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Kaline: W 2, L 0; 18 – 10. (.317, .417, .549)a — Happy Edgar Martinez Day!; 11.3 ip, 5 er). Aaron Judge didn’t hit any homers these last two days but in his 9 plate appearances he had two doubles and four walks.  That’ll do.
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Peshastin: W 1, L 1; 3 – 2. (.202, .242, .298; 14.3 ip, 1 er). The Pears spread 17 hits out over 84 plate appearances, striking out 26 times. Fortunately Pear pitchers picked up most of the slack.
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Old Detroit:  W 0, L 2; 12 – 15.  (.299, .249, .468; 21.7 ip, 15 er). On Tuesday, Matt Moore endured through 1.3 innings, giving up only 7 earned runs for a nice quintuple chulk. Alex Wood and Emilio Pagan cleaned up after Moore wit 7.7 ip, 2 er to bring the daily ERA down to 9.0. Wednesday repeated the pattern. Clayton Richard surrendered 6 er in 5 ip, but Rich Hill (pitching in the same game) turned in 7 scoreless innings and  Shane Greene added another 0.7, to get the daily ERA under 4.50.  So, yeah, we here in Old Detroit are celebrating not stinking too bad. But this is the EFL — having 82 wins with four games to go does not guarantee we’ll finish above .500, so there is still some anxiety among Wolverines  fans.
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Canberra: W 1, L 1; 17 – 18. (.382, .417, .618 — happy Edgar Martinez Day!;  12.7 ip, 11 er).  The Cane Gurus (in case you couldn’t decipher my pun the other day) continue the theme of bad pitching betraying good hitting. Half the Canberra hitters OPSed over 1.000, but Blake Snell quadruple chulked (1 ip, 4 er) and Rick Porcello struggled (5.7 ip, 5 er).
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DC: W 1, L 1; 9 – 13. (.261, .321, .577; 18.3 ip, 11 er).  Sam Dyson nonuple chulked (0.3 ip, 3 er), taking a loss and ending the season as he began it.
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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   (+1 grr)
Portland Rosebuds Old Detritus Woeverines 24
Kaline Drive Peshastin Pears 22
Peshastin Pears Kaline Drive 20
Old Detroit Wolverines Peshastin Pears 17
Canberra Kangaroos Canberra Kangaroos 14   (+2)
D.C. Balk DC Balk 1
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2017
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Flint Hill Tornadoes 103 55 .655
Boston Red Sox 92 66 .582 11.4
New York Yankees 89 69 .563 14.4
Old Detroit Wolverines 82 76 .520 21.2
Tampa Bay Rays 76 82 .481 27.4
Baltimore Orioles 75 84 .472 28.9
Toronto Blue Jays 75 84 .472 28.9
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Washington Nationals 95 63 .601
Canberra Kangaroos 77 81 .486 18.2
Miami Marlins 74 84 .468 21
Atlanta Braves 71 87 .449 24
New York Mets 69 90 .434 26.5
Philadelphia Phillies 64 95 .403 31.5
D.C. Balk 61 97 .386 34
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 112 46 .711
Cleveland Indians 99 59 .627 13.4
Minnesota Twins 83 75 .525 29.4
Kansas City Royals 78 80 .494 34.4
Chicago White Sox 65 93 .411 47.4
Detroit Tigers 62 96 .392 50.4
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Cottage Cheese 96 62 .607
Chicago Cubs 89 69 .563 6.9
Milwaukee Brewers 83 75 .525 12.9
St. Louis Cardinals 82 76 .519 13.9
Pittsburgh Pirates 73 85 .462 22.9
Cincinnati Reds 67 91 .424 28.9
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Haviland Dragons 101 57 .642
Houston Astros 98 60 .620 3.4
Kaline Drive 91 67 .575 10.6
Los Angeles Angels 78 80 .494 23.4
Seattle Mariners 77 82 .484 24.9
Texas Rangers 76 82 .481 25.4
Oakland A’s 73 85 .462 28.4
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 102 57 .642
Portland Rosebuds 93 66 .585 9
Arizona Diamondbacks 92 67 .579 10
Peshastin Pears 87 72 .550 14.6
Colorado Rockies 86 73 .541 16
San Diego Padres 70 89 .440 32
San Francisco Giants 62 97 .390 40