The pennant race is heating up even as the league overall has sunk to about three games below .500. This is not what we projected.
EFL Standings for 2018
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 8 | 5 | .601 | — | 65.1 | 53.1 |
| Kaline Drive | 9 | 7 | .579 | — | 75.4 | 64.2 |
| Brookland Outs | 8 | 6 | .581 | 0.2 | 75.0 | 63.7 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 6 | 5 | .569 | 0.5 | 58.7 | 51.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 6 | 7 | .467 | 1.7 | 52.8 | 56.4 |
| Cottage Cheese | 6 | 8 | .445 | 2.1 | 63.4 | 70.7 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 6 | 8 | .445 | 2.1 | 57.1 | 63.8 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 6 | 8 | .445 | 2.1 | 49.2 | 55.0 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 6 | 8 | .442 | 2.1 | 56.6 | 63.6 |
| Haviland Dragons | 7 | 9 | .418 | 2.6 | 69.1 | 81.5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 5 | 9 | .371 | 3.1 | 53.2 | 69.3 |
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Canberra: L, 1 – 3. (.129, .205, .129; 4 ip, 1 er) The Kangaroos looked for a day or two there like they might break away from the pack. The pack was dawdling enough, in a normal year with a normal leader (ie, Pittsburgh), that’s exactly what would have happened. But here we are, the pennant race tightened Saturday by an entire game, top to bottom, and there are four teams within a half game of first. A tip of the hat to the Kindly Kangaroos who are waiting up for us! (I wonder why Taijuan Walker only pitched two innings, having allowed only 1 earned run. That is alarming but I’m in a hurry so can’t look it up.)
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Kaline: W, 10 – 2. (.360, .33, .840; 7.3 ip, 1 er). Everyone — even Jorge Soler — contributed to the Drive offense — except 0 for 3 Ian Desmond. Who knew this kind of 89% contribution was possible? It must be the work of a Wizard.
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Brookland: L, 4 – 4. (.280, .321, .400; 14 ip 8 er.) Brad Peacock quadruple chulked (3 er, 2/3 of an inning) which is probably enough all by itself to keep the Outs out of outright first place. Just a little niggling thought: Ryan knows Brad from Ryan’s broadcasting days in Hagerstown, Maryland. Ryan makes friends easily and, in my observation, inspires a lot of loyalty…
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Pittsburgh: DNP. 8 – 4. (.444, .543, .694; 4 ip, 5 er). Pittsburgh should have chosen its home city more carefully. Probably the only thing keeping the Alleghenys out of first place right now is the weather in the Northeast. I strongly doubt this was engineered out of loyalty to Ryan.
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DC: L, 7 – 10. (.382, .432, .471; 3.7 ip 7 er). Alex Cobb got c(l)obbered with 7 er in 3.7 ip. Still, with good offense, the Balk were relatively undamaged. They lead the pack behind the pelaton, and the gap is not impassable.
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Cottage: L, 2- 4. (.185, .185, .407; 2 ip, 0 er) The Cheese have been slowly rising. They now occupy 6th place, the no-man’s land between the upper and lower divisions in an 11 – team league. Mike’s Moustakas and Trout led the offense with home runs.
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Portland: W (-1), L 2; 5 – 12. (.250, .321, .542; 9.7 ip, 12 er). It’s not my fault. I didn’t MEAN to jinx the Rosebuds with those rosy preseason predictions. I’m not the one who pitched so poorly: that was the work of Chris Archer and Jon Gray. It’s not Paul Goldschmidt’s fault, either (3 for 4 with a homer.) You will have to point that finger of blame somewhere else.
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Odd Detritus: W (-1), L 2; 3 – 11. (.186, .255, .279; 18 ip 13 er). You’ll be surprised to learn the “‘…and we’re back” title refers to the Wolverines, since we hardly ever mention them in these updates. A few days ago the W’s suddenly plunged 6 places in the standing to 8th. You may have heard about that. Yesterday they had quietly snuck back as high as 5th place. But now we’re back. The Woeverines put together that deadly combination: performances at or below replacement, and lots and lots of playing time (18 innings of 6.50 ERA; 47 PA of sub-replacement hitting). We’re back to 8th, and we’re back to 2017. Yuck. At least we are in excellent company, three teams essentially tied for 8th place.
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Flint Hill: W, 6 – 2. (.240, ;296,. .640; 7.3 ip, 2 er). I could talk about the Tornado’s nice win. But it’s more fun to point out that benched Jose Pirela went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles — the second best performance by a Tornado Saturday.
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Haviland: W, 6 – 4. (.316, .391., .632; 6.3 ip 2 er) Let’s talk about the Dragons nice win. They did it with only 22 plate appearances, so it could have been even nicer. Sean Newcomb came back from his last poor outcomb with 5.3 ip, 2 er — not dominating, but nice.
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Peshastin: W, 9 – 3. (.419, .448, .929; 10.3 ip, 5 er). Brandon Finnegan became just the 7th Pear pitcher to appear this April. He stank (4.3 ip, 5 er) but Pear management still was burbling with appreciation for the help. James Taillon did NOT stink (6 scoreless) and neither did any Pear hitter. Javier Baez (.600) was the only one of the six Pears to appear who did not OPS over 1.000. Ozzie Albies went 3 for 5 with a double and a homer to OPS over 2.000. Perhaps the Pears, now only 3.1 games out, should be making a run for it THIS year.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Boston Red Sox | 12 | 2 | .857 | — |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 9 | 5 | .643 | 3 |
| New York Yankees | 7 | 7 | .500 | 5 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 6 | 8 | .445 | 5.8 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 6 | 8 | .442 | 5.8 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 5 | 10 | .333 | 7.5 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 3 | 11 | .214 | 9 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| New York Mets | 11 | 2 | .846 | — |
| Atlanta Braves | 8 | 5 | .615 | 3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 8 | 5 | .615 | 3 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 8 | 5 | .601 | 3.2 |
| D.C. Balk | 6 | 7 | .467 | 4.9 |
| Washington Nationals | 7 | 8 | .467 | 5 |
| Miami Marlins | 4 | 10 | .286 | 7.5 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Minnesota Twins | 7 | 4 | .636 | — |
| Cleveland Indians | 8 | 6 | .571 | 0.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 6 | 5 | .569 | 0.7 |
| Detroit Tigers | 4 | 8 | .333 | 3.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 4 | 9 | .308 | 4 |
| Kansas City Royals | 3 | 10 | .231 | 5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 10 | 4 | .714 | — |
| Brookland Outs | 8 | 6 | .581 | 1.9 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 8 | 7 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 8 | 7 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Chicago Cubs | 7 | 7 | .500 | 3 |
| Cottage Cheese | 6 | 8 | .445 | 3.8 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 2 | 12 | .143 | 8 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Angels | 13 | 3 | .813 | — |
| Houston Astros | 10 | 5 | .667 | 2.5 |
| Seattle Mariners | 8 | 4 | .667 | 3 |
| Kaline Drive | 9 | 7 | .579 | 3.7 |
| Haviland Dragons | 7 | 9 | .418 | 6.3 |
| Oakland A’s | 5 | 10 | .333 | 7.5 |
| Texas Rangers | 5 | 11 | .313 | 8 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 11 | 3 | .786 | — |
| Colorado Rockies | 8 | 8 | .500 | 4 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 6 | 8 | .445 | 4.8 |
| San Francisco Giants | 6 | 8 | .429 | 5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 5 | 9 | .371 | 5.8 |
| San Diego Padres | 6 | 10 | .375 | 6 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 4 | 9 | .308 | 6.5 |