I featured David Bote yesterday. Last evening I ran across an article with a nice story about Bote’s path to the majors. It’s worth a read… especially because it reveals the double life our own Mark Johnson has been living:
Mark Johnson, one of Bote’s Minor League managers, also gave him a pep talk.
.
Perhaps, like me, you were wondering yesterday why the Rosebuds, with so much more WAR on their roster than anyone else, aren’t clearly leading the EFL right now. Now we have the answer: distraction at the top.
.
Unfortunately, distraction can be corrected. Today’s results indicate it may already have been corrected.
.
EFL Standings for 2018
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 76 | 44 | .630 | — | 587.0 | 437.6 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 74 | 46 | .613 | 2 | 624.5 | 488.8 |
| Brookland Outs | 68 | 49 | .578 | 6.5 | 618.6 | 531.0 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 64 | 54 | .539 | 11 | 610.0 | 573.3 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 63 | 54 | .539 | 11 | 528.0 | 490.0 |
| Cottage Cheese | 61 | 56 | .520 | 13.2 | 590.7 | 567.9 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 61 | 59 | .507 | 14.8 | 546.0 | 536.0 |
| Kaline Drive | 60 | 59 | .505 | 15 | 528.3 | 518.8 |
| Haviland Dragons | 60 | 59 | .500 | 15.6 | 537.8 | 534.2 |
| Peshastin Pears | 55 | 65 | .462 | 20.2 | 513.2 | 555.7 |
| D.C. Balk | 50 | 67 | .431 | 23.6 | 499.9 | 574.3 |
.
Old Detroit: W 1, L (-1); 3 – 0. (37 PA, .310, .432, .552; 21.3 ip, 6 er). That offense is mostly Ronald Acuna having the biggest day of his professional career. Acuna led off both games of a doubleheader with home runs — only the fourth time that’s been done in MLB history — and also doubled, walked twice and collected a pair of singles (and a stolen base) for a personal OPS of 2.000.
.
And he did that in front of a nearly empty stadium both times. The Braves claimed there were 16,049 fans in the stadium for the morning game — but judging by what you can see in the videos of Acuna’s homer, there were maybe a quarter of that number actually present. For the nightcap the stands looked fuller, so the announced attendance (18,204) might be only a modest exaggeration. Still — even the official numbers are embarrassments for baseball fans in Atlanta. They have a new stadium, an exciting first-place team, Acuna, Albies, etc., and they still can’t get anywhere near 20,000 fans? Even the Oakland A’s can do better…
.
… never mind. The A’s only had 10,400 fans at their thrilling nailbiter win over the Mariners last night.
.
Portland: W 2, L (-1); 11 – 2. (39 PA, .441, .513, .647; 8 ip, 1 er). The Rosebuds shaved over 23% off the distance by which they trail the Wolverines. Didn’t I just say yesterday Portland is still the favorite in the EFL race? Brad Keller, whoever he is, spun 7 innings with only 1 earned run. Nick Castellanos went 5 for 5 with two doubles and a homer — and only needed one game to do it.
.
Brookland: DNP, 1 – 0. (38 PA, .333, .421, .424; 5 ip, 3 er, 5.40 ERA) Jose Martinez went 4 four 5 (all singles) to pace the Out attack, but Bartolo Colon only managed 5 innings with 3 earned runs to put a damper on things. This left the Outs hanging 6.5 games back, right where they were yesterday, and suspended precisely 4.5 games behind the Rosebuds and 4.5 games in front of the Alleghenys and Kangaroos.
.
Pittsburgh: “W”, 3 – 4. (30 PA, .250, .30o, .286; 0.3 ip, 0 er). It wasn’t a particularly good day in Pittsburgh — Michael Brantley’s 3 for 6 with a double the only potential highlight — but it was good enough to slip past the Kangaroos into fourth place. A race between the Alleghenys and the Kangaroos would be fun, even (or especially, from a Wolverine point of view) if it’s not for the EFL pennant.
.
Canberra: W 1, L 1; 7 – 10. (22 PA, .167, .273, .333; 0.7 ip, 0 er). Michael Conforto did well (a homer and a single in four PAs) but there was nothing else to cheer for in Canberra yesterday. The ‘Roos, dominant in May, are now 11 games out of the running. That wisp of a hope for a pennant I wrote about yesterday is considerably fainter today. But there’s still a great chance to beat the mighty Alleghenys.
.
Cottage: DNP, 0 – 2. (18 PA, .250 , .333, .313; 12.3 IP, 9 er, 6.57 ERA). As we move down the list, the highlights seem to be getting dimmer. So the Cheesy highlight is probably Sean Manaea’s 7 ip, 2 er performance — completely undermined by Scott Alexander’s quadruple-chulky 2/3 of an inning, 3 earned run mess, among other things. On the other hand, “Manaealator” may be the best of the “Players Weekend” nicknames.
.
Flint Hill: DNP, 2 – 3. (24 PA, .211, .375, .368; 9 ip, 6 er, 6.00 ERA). Miguel Andujar homered and… well, that was about it for Tornado highlights, other than staying atop the three-way Johnson clan melee for seventh place.
.
Kaline: DNP, 0 – 0. (29 PA, .259, .310, .444; no pitching). James McCann led the Drive with a double and two singles in 4 at bats. Todd Frazier and AJ Pollock also OPSed over 1.000. But beyond that there wasn’t much Driving going on in Kaline yesterday.
.
Haviland: DNP, 3 – 3. (30 PA, .286, .333, .821; 7.3 ip, 5 er, 6.14 ERA). Come to think of it, none of the three teams in the Johnson Melee had a game yesterday, which may largely account for the lack of dynamism in the Melee this morning. Juan Soto tried to do something about that, going 1 for 2 with a homer and a walk, joined by Brandon Nimmo (double, homer, and walk in 5 PA). Remember how sad John was to be putting Pablo Lopez up for bid? Well, Lopez pitched 5.3 innings, allowing 5.0 runs, to contribute an 8.44 daily ERA to the Dragon cause.
.
Peshastin: “L”, 6 – 3. (29 PA, .333, .379, .481; 2 ip, 0 er). Yesterday I wondered why the Pears were gradually floating upward toward a .500 winning percentage, when their rebuild strategy requires good draft position. The Pear front office responded, cryptically:
Never fear. The Pears WILL get an excellent draft position.
What does that mean? They aren’t going to get excellent draft position by having Ozzie Albies and Mitch Haniger combine for 7 hits in 14 plate appearances. Are they going to bilk the Balk’s spot? Are they going for a restart (if so, they need to read the restart rules carefully)? Do they expect one as a wedding gift? Is he talking about drafting something other than ballplayers?
.
DC: W 1, L 1; 15 – 8. (35 PA, .414, .514, .862; 8 ip, 4 er). The Balk had the second best day in the EFL. (I just now, after 14+ years, realized the natural pronunciation of “EFL” is “efil” — like an especially malevolent “evil”. Creepy? Nah, we’ll just ignore it an move on.) Five Balkans OPSed over 1.000, led by budding superstar Matt Chapman (3 doubles in 5 plate appearances). Chapman’s 1.800 OPS was surrounded by teammates: Kole Calhoun (1.800), Omar Narvaez (1.833), Ronald Guzman (1.833).
.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Boston Red Sox | 85 | 35 | .708 | — |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 76 | 44 | .630 | 9.4 |
| New York Yankees | 74 | 44 | .627 | 10 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 60 | 58 | .508 | 24 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 61 | 59 | .507 | 24.1 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 53 | 65 | .449 | 31 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 35 | 84 | .294 | 49.5 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Atlanta Braves | 66 | 51 | .564 | — |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 65 | 52 | .556 | 1 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 63 | 54 | .539 | 2.9 |
| Washington Nationals | 60 | 59 | .504 | 7 |
| New York Mets | 50 | 66 | .431 | 15.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 50 | 67 | .431 | 15.5 |
| Miami Marlins | 48 | 73 | .397 | 20 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 67 | 51 | .568 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 64 | 54 | .539 | 3.4 |
| Minnesota Twins | 54 | 63 | .462 | 12.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 50 | 69 | .420 | 17.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 42 | 76 | .356 | 25 |
| Kansas City Royals | 36 | 82 | .305 | 31 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago Cubs | 68 | 49 | .581 | — |
| Brookland Outs | 68 | 49 | .578 | 0.4 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 67 | 54 | .554 | 3 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 64 | 55 | .538 | 5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 61 | 56 | .520 | 7.1 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 61 | 58 | .513 | 8 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 52 | 67 | .437 | 17 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 73 | 46 | .613 | — |
| Oakland A’s | 71 | 48 | .597 | 2 |
| Seattle Mariners | 69 | 51 | .575 | 4.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 60 | 59 | .505 | 12.9 |
| Haviland Dragons | 60 | 59 | .500 | 13.4 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 60 | 60 | .500 | 13.5 |
| Texas Rangers | 53 | 68 | .438 | 21 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Portland Rosebuds | 74 | 46 | .613 | — |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 65 | 55 | .542 | 8.6 |
| Colorado Rockies | 63 | 55 | .534 | 9.6 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 64 | 56 | .533 | 9.6 |
| San Francisco Giants | 60 | 60 | .500 | 13.6 |
| Peshastin Pears | 55 | 65 | .462 | 18.2 |
| San Diego Padres | 48 | 73 | .397 | 26.1 |
I keep looking for my players’ stats in the mornings when I read the Seattle Times. There are a lot of guys I cannot find, day after day. Did they get lost on a road trip? Where are they? So, I did a little research. The results helped me understand why I get some replacement innings and runs created vs. ERA is disappointing.
Max Fried ATL – injured
Michael Fulmer DET – injured
Kelvin Herrera KCR- injured
Nick Kingham – demoted to AAA
Dinelson Lamet SDP – out for season
Brandon Morrow CHC – injured
Kris Bryant CHC – injured
Willi Castro – AA
Aaron Judge NYY – injured
Wil Myers SDP – injured
Chris Owings AZD – AAA
Jorge Soler KCR – injured
Jesse Winker CIN – out for the season
The Drive will get Judge and Bryant back eventually. So, maybe we can move closer to our goal of the middle of the standings. That’s how we define mediocrity, not finishing at .500, though if this injury epidemic keeps up we might have to settle for that. Do you all have an injury list similar to this? That’s more research than I want to do.