League Updates

Stranger Things

Odd stuff happens — odd and wonderful and even beautiful — in the earliest days of an EFL season.

TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Brookland Outs 1 0 0.989 9.5 1
Kaline Drive 1 0 0.954 4.5 1
D.C. Balk 1 0 0.903 0.1 8.1 2.6
Canberra Kangaroos 1 0 0.878 0.1 7.8 2.9
Old Detroit Wolverines 1 0 0.861 0.1 4.5 1.8
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 1 0 0.506 0.5 3.6 3.6
Haviland Dragons 0 1 0.494 0.5 4.8 4.9
Flint Hill Tornadoes 0 1 0.314 0.7 4.6 6.7
Cottage Cheese 0 1 0.227 0.8 1.9 3.5
Portland Rosebuds 1 1 0.298 0.9 4.9 7.6
Peshastin Pears 1 1 0.29 0.9 5.7 8.9

 

Brookland: DNP, 1-0. Stats for the season so far (BP won’t let me select just yesterday’s stats): .302, .333, .453; 9 ip, 0 er. The only run allowed by the Outs so far was unearned. Odorizzi’s 6 shutout innings Thursday lead the way. Jose Martinez and Gregory Polanco have homered, Polanco’s Thursday in walk-off fashion.

Kaline: DNP, 2 – (-1). (season: .276, .364, .460; 7 ip, 0 er).  Chase Anderson erased Kaline’s one earned run allowed with his 6 scoreless, one-hit inning. Kris Bryant leads the offense so far with his 4 for 10 with a homer, two doubles, and 2 walks… although Wolverine refugee Steve Pearce has an even higher 1.500 OPS in his two plate appearances.

DC: DNP, 2 – 1. (.273, .355, .509; 17.7 ip, 3 er.) Jarlin Garcia — the Jarlin Garcia Balk management tried to DFA illegally a few days ago! — pitched 6 glorious one-hit, 6 k, scoreless innings in the 17-inning, 2 – 1 marathon between the Cubs and the Marlins last night.

Canberra: DNP, 2 – 2.  (.298, .389, .660; 17 ip, 5 er).  Corey Kluber dominated the Mariners Thursday, except for one swing by Nelso Cruz producing 2 earned runs.  Noted slugger Tim Anderson leads the team with 2 homers and a shiny 2.600 OPS.

Old Detroit: W 1, L (-1); 2 – (-2). (.250, .316, ,.398; 26.7 ip, 5 er) Shane Greene coughed up 3 earned runs on 2/3 of an inning, but Scherzer and Wood produced 15 scoreless innings and Fister added 5 innings, 1 earned run against the Astros in Texas.  Nick Ahmed fills the “suddenly slugging shortstop” role covered by Tim Anderson in Canberra with his 4 for 7 with a double and a homer.

Pittsburgh: W 1, L (-1); 1 – (-6). (.23o, .329, .279; 14 ip, 5 er).  David Price’s 7 brilliant scoreless innings were pretty much cancelled out by Kendall Graveman’s 5 ip, 5 er.  No one has really stepped all that forward for the Allegheny offense — maybe Dansby Swanson’s 8 ab, 3 hits?

Haviland: W (-1), L 1; (-1) – (-1). (.262, .342, .369; 8.3 ip, 4 er). Carlos Martinez stumbled out of the gate this season with 4.3 ip, 4 er.  Adrian Gonzalez’ restoration project got off to a much better start: 2 for 3, with a double and two walks.

Flint Hill: DNP, 1 – 2. (.244, .299, .397; 15.7 ip, 11 er).  The Johnson Family, still in the last days of Lent, continue their self-abnegation with 5 ip, 6 er from Robbie Ray.  Jackie Bradley Jr. is 0 for 7 so far, but fellow outfielder A. J. Pollock got off to a better start with 3 for 8 with a double and a triple.

Cottage: DNP, 1 – 2. (.204, .235, .367; 23.3 ip, 8 er).  (.204, .235, .367; 23.3 ip, 8 er).  Danny Duffy had a rough go at 4 ip, 5 er.  Luis Severino repaired some damage with 4 ip, 5 er, and Sean Manaea added 7.7 ip, 1 er.  Unfortunately, the only hitters to perform were Xander Bogaerts (5 for 8 with four doubles) and Mike Moustakas (2 for 5 with a double).  The rest of the team went 3 for 36 with one homer. By Mike Trout.

Portland: W, 2 – 3. (.162, .313, .235; 18.7 ip, 7 er). Chris Sale uncorked a beautiful 6 scoreless innings.  But Chris Archer and Jon Gray gave up 7 earned runs in their 10 joint innings pitched. Just about the only good thing they’ve done at the plate was a homer from last-minute acquisition Jake Marisnick.

Peshastin: W, 3 – 0. (7.7 ip, 1 er; .203, .257, .304.) Such fine pitching from Tyler Skaggs (6.3 ip, 0 er) gone to waste because no one other than Mitch Haniger (3 for 3 with a double) has hit a lick.

NOTES:

  • The database is finding the best record among MLB teams in  division by looking at winning percentage, not games ahead.  This is why most of us who have 2-win MLB teams in our divisions only have one game.
  • Brookland is portrayed in brick and grey because, in my research (including on-the-ground in Brookland) this photo seems to serve as the brand, the icon, the default image of the Brookland neighborhood in D.C.  
  • Is Brookland somehow a former farm team of the DC Balk?  The location, the subsidiarity of the real Brookland to the real DC, the endearing theme of embracing bad outcomes… Maybe we’ve adopted promotion and relegation, English soccer-style.
  • Wouldn’t that add some drama to our league? The threat of being relegated if you finish last?
  • When I say I was on-the-ground in Brookland, so far I’ve only been on-the-Metro several metres above the ground.  I didn’t take the picture.
  • Brooks can install a different symbol and/or color scheme if he wants. A simpler logo would be especially helpful.
  • And yes, the EFL Commissioner has travelled to the actual Brookland. And if you want to believe he did that just to make the Outs more welcome, you can.  After all, I did the same for the Balk in 2016.