League Updates

The Thorn on the Rosebuds’ Side

Those Rosebuds keep right on coming.

.

EFL Standings for 2018
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 85 49 .638 655.1 486.1
Portland Rosebuds 84 49 .632 0.9 705.4 529.0
Brookland Outs 77 55 .583 7.5 703.5 596.9
Canberra Kangaroos 72 60 .545 12.5 615.2 564.9
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 69 63 .526 15 694.6 663.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes 68 66 .506 17.6 603.2 592.7
Cottage Cheese 66 66 .499 18.6 645.2 644.8
Haviland Dragons 66 67 .493 19.4 607.1 613.4
Kaline Drive 64 69 .484 20.5 586.1 604.7
Peshastin Pears 62 71 .464 23.3 568.0 612.8
D.C. Balk 57 75 .430 27.7 568.2 654.4
.
Old Detroit: “L”, 3 – 1. (39 PA, .216, .256, .324; 8 ip, 1 er, 1.12 ERA). Alex Wood delivered 7 scoreless innings to slow the Rosebuds’ advance — a task beyond the Wolverine offense lately.
Portland: W, 8 – 3. (38 PA, .294, .368, .559; 4 ip, 3 er, 6.75 ERA).  Diego Castillo let slip 3 earned runs in 2 innings to blunt the Rosebud advance, otherwise led by that pesky man Mookie Betts and his homer, double, single and walk in 5 trips to the plate. Betts really is a thorn on the Rosebuds’ side.
.
Brookland:  L, 7 – 9. (49 PA, .244, .306, .533; 16.3 ip, 11 er, 6.06 ERA). CJ Cron has not given up: 4 for 5 with a double and a homer — one of 5 Outs OPSing 1.000 or better. Jake Arrieta (3 ip, 4 er) and Freddy Peralta (4.3 ip, 5 er) stumbled, but Zack Godley partly fixed the damage (7.7 ip. 1 er).
.
Canberra: W, 7 – 1. (42 PA, .324, .40-5, .541 — Happy Edgar Martinez Day!; 8.3 ip, 1 er, 1.08 ERA). If only the Kangaroos hadn’t slid so far out of the race in the last 6 or 7 weeks.  Here again, as they have pretty frequently lately, they play championship quality baseball.  Lucchesi feasted on Mariners (6.7 ip, 1 er).  Billy Hamilton terrorized with a homer and three singles in 5 trips to the plate, scoring himself 3 times as many runs as the entire Mariners team.
Pittsburgh: W (-1), L 2; 4 – 11. (51 PA, .233, .353, .302; 14.7 ip, 11 er, 6.75 ERA).  Ryan Borucki struggled (again): 4.7 ip, 5 er.  David Price joined him (3 ip, 3 er), and Dereck Rodriguez didn’t fix it (5 ip, 3 er).  Allegheny project Blake Swihart turned in hopeful results Wednesday: 2 for 2 with a double.
.
Flint Hill: L, 6 – 8. (23 PA, .286, .348, .667; 9 ip, 5 er, 5.00 ERA).  The Tornados continued their dalliance with replacement players, in their ongoing experiment to see how high one can finish while only supplying 23 PA on a busy day in MLB.  Adalberto Mondesi throve amongst replacements, going 2 for 3 with a triple and a homer, plus a walk, for a daily OPS of 3.083.
.
Cottage: W, 6 – 1. (33 PA, .250, .333, .571; 9.3 ip, 1 er, 0.96 ERA).  Another team with players who are still trying to win.  Like Danny Duffy and his six shutout innings,  bringing his season ERA down to 4.72.  And Manuel Margot going 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. And why not? The Tornados are gliding without power, their engines apparently having fallen off (or perhaps late summer atmospheric conditions cooling off too much for cyclonic activity),  bringing 6th place into easy range.
Haviland: 7 – 13. (46 PA, .268, .348, .512; 7 ip, 11 er, 14.14 ERA).  Six Dragons OPSed 1.000 or better (Alonso, Harper, Nimmo, Puig, Soto, Souza), but Sean Newcomb faltered (4 ip, 6 er) and Drew Steckenrider crashed (0 ip, 3 er) to undermine everything the offense had accomplished.
Kaline: L, 1 – 7. (42 PA, .167, .262, .333; 9.7 ip, 7 er, 6.52 ERA).  An uninspiring day on both offense and defense left the Drive at the bottom of a four-team knot competing for 6th place.  Trevor Williams had the best day in Kaline (6 ip, 0 er), but Michael Fulmer countered with 3.7 ip, 7 er.
Peshastin: “W”, 5 – 5. (34  PA, .250, .294, .531;  no pitching).  Devot  Travis went 3 for 4 with two doubles and a homer for the highlight of the day in Peshastin.
.
D.C.: “W”, 6 – 7. (37 PA, .353, .389, .529; 5.7 ip, 5 er, 7.94 ERA). It’s really hard to win when your real pitchers pitch worse than their hypothetical, abstract replacements.  Brock Holt (2 for 2 with a triple) and Eduardo Nunez (3 for 4 with a homer) tried to win anyway, and didn’t miss by much.
.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Boston Red Sox 92 42 .687
Old Detroit Wolverines 85 49 .638 6.6
New York Yankees 84 49 .632 7.5
Tampa Bay Rays 71 62 .534 20.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes 68 66 .506 24.1
Toronto Blue Jays 60 73 .451 31.5
Baltimore Orioles 40 94 .299 52
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Atlanta Braves 74 58 .561
Canberra Kangaroos 72 60 .545 2
Philadelphia Phillies 71 62 .534 3.5
Washington Nationals 67 67 .500 8
New York Mets 59 74 .444 15.5
D.C. Balk 57 75 .430 17.2
Miami Marlins 53 81 .396 22
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Cleveland Indians 75 57 .568
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 69 63 .526 5.6
Minnesota Twins 62 70 .470 13
Detroit Tigers 53 80 .398 22.5
Chicago White Sox 53 80 .398 22.5
Kansas City Royals 42 91 .316 33.5
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago Cubs 78 54 .591
Brookland Outs 77 55 .583 1
St. Louis Cardinals 74 59 .556 4.5
Milwaukee Brewers 74 60 .552 5
Cottage Cheese 66 66 .499 12.2
Pittsburgh Pirates 65 68 .489 13.5
Cincinnati Reds 57 76 .429 21.5
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 82 51 .617
Oakland A’s 80 54 .597 2.5
Seattle Mariners 74 59 .556 8
Haviland Dragons 66 67 .493 16.5
Kaline Drive 64 69 .484 17.6
Los Angeles Angels 64 69 .481 18
Texas Rangers 58 76 .433 24.5
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Portland Rosebuds 84 49 .632
Arizona Diamondbacks 73 60 .549 11
Colorado Rockies 72 60 .545 11.5
Los Angeles Dodgers 72 61 .541 12
San Francisco Giants 67 68 .496 18
Peshastin Pears 62 71 .464 22.4
San Diego Padres 52 83 .385 33