I don’t know the mental state of Rosebud fans. It seems to me they should be brimming with confidence, verging on complacency. The prophesies of Rosebud dominance started in January and have not relented, whether they come from Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, or the EFL Commissioner’s Office. And all season facts have slowly but almost steadily been building to confirm the prophecies. Sure there was a delay for about 6 weeks while the Wolverines had a chance to romp atop the standings, but they have been collapsing and now nothing stands in the way of the Rosebud Thorny Juggernaut.
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I have a better grasp of the “mental” state of Wolverine fans, given a sufficiently generous definition of “mental.” They are despondent. Wolverine pitching is in utter collapse. Wolverine aces evidently are not industrial grade: their cheaper aluminum arms are falling off in unison. The W’s have seen their winning percentage declining all week, along with their position in the standings. It would take a sudden miracle of pitching prowess to give the W’s any glimmer of hope. Today offered no such miracle. And yet…
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| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Portland Rosebuds | 93 | 51 | .648 | — | 785.8 | 563.9 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 94 | 52 | .641 | 0.7 | 735.5 | 540.2 |
| Brookland Outs | 81 | 62 | .566 | 11.9 | 749.6 | 660.5 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 81 | 65 | .556 | 13.2 | 679.1 | 609.4 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 79 | 67 | .541 | 15.4 | 770.4 | 715.9 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 75 | 71 | .517 | 19 | 678.2 | 652.0 |
| Haviland Dragons | 73 | 73 | .501 | 21.2 | 698.2 | 689.0 |
| Cottage Cheese | 70 | 73 | .488 | 23.1 | 686.8 | 700.3 |
| Kaline Drive | 68 | 78 | .469 | 25.9 | 632.6 | 675.0 |
| Peshastin Pears | 66 | 78 | .458 | 27.4 | 612.6 | 668.6 |
| D.C. Balk | 65 | 81 | .443 | 29.7 | 628.4 | 707.8 |
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Portland: “L”, 8 – 5. (61 PA, .321, .410, .566; 5 ip, 4 er, 7.20 ERA). Seven Rosebud hitters OPSed over 1.000 (Bradley, Castellanos, Escobar, Goldschmidt, Hundley, Laureano, and Rendon). Who can compete with that?
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Old Detroit: W, 4 – 4. (57 PA, .245, .333, .469; 1 IP, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA). The Wolverines didn’t slip any further behind, somehow. But we don’t take too much comfort from this. The heart of the offense Wednesday was Francisco Arcia, accidentally acquired last month and inactive. He went 3 for 4 with a double and two homers, but that wasn’t enough to merit activating him. On the other hand, Anthony DeSclafani reacted to his benching with a petulant 4.7 ip, 5 er — which didn’t hurt the team, except perhaps in morale.
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Brookland: DNP, (-3) – (-9). (49 PA, .163, .265, .186; 27.7 ip, 7 er, 2.28 ERA). The Outs took a hit in runs scored, but got a bigger boost in negative runs allowed, to close in a little on the leaders, and more importantly, open the gap a little between them and the Kangaroos.
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Canberra: L, 3 – 5. (45 PA, .233, .267, .442; 18 ip, 7 er, 3.50 ERA). A fair day offensively and a good day on the mound didn’t on the whole help the Kangaroos, because the Outs had an even better day pitching, as if they had added a complete game shutout to what the ‘Roos did.
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Pittsburgh: W, 3 – 2. (33 PA, .258, .303, .419; 20 ip, 5 er, 2.25 ERA). The best day overall of anyone in the top 5, probably. David Price pitched 7 shutout innings.
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Flint Hill: L, 2 – 4. (43 PA, .317, .349, .366; 2 ip, 0 er, 0 ERA).
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Haviland: “L”, 10 – 9. (52 PA, .273, .385, .614; 2.3 ip, 2 er. 7.71 ERA) The Dragons matched the Rosebuds’ number of 1.000+ OPSes (7: Alonso, Avila, Harper, McNeil, Puig, Rosario, Soto) on the way to a team OPS of .998 – even bette than Portland! Not enough pitching to make a complete day, but I know of at least one team who’d be glad to swap stats.
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Cottage: W 1, L (-1); 3 – (-6). (33 PA, .310, 394, .552; 6.7 ip, 1 er, 1.35 ERA). Wow! There’s another combination of great offense and good pitching from a team down under in the standings. Joc Pederson, the once-upon-a-time prospect, had the kind of day people used to expect from him: 2 for 3 with a double and a homer.
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Kaline: “L:, 4 – 3. (38 PA, .222, .263, .472; 4 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Probably you shouldn’t model your team’s production on the Wolverines just now, Tom. There are better models. Although it’s been a while since the W’s got 4 scoreless innings out of their pitching, so you must be getting that ispiration from somewhere else.
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Peshastin: W, 4 – 2. (33 PA, .226, .242, .484; 13 ip, 4 er, 2.77 ERA). Another team hitting like the Wolverines but pitching much better. Perhaps Old Detroit’s real home in the standings is just below the Pears.
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D.C.: “W”, 0 – 2 (36 PA, .200, .222, .229; 12 ip, 3 er, 2.25 ERA). Hopes have been aroused around the league that maybe the Balk won’t walk off after all, so we an still include in the EFL the exploits of people like Matt Chapman and Carlos Carrasco. But the Commissioner’s Office has not yet received any unequivocal notice of D.C.’s intent to revoke it’s withdrawal from the league. So I guess for now it’s still on.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Boston Red Sox | 100 | 46 | .685 | — |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 94 | 52 | .641 | 6.3 |
| New York Yankees | 90 | 56 | .616 | 10 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 80 | 65 | .552 | 19.5 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 75 | 71 | .517 | 24.6 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 65 | 80 | .448 | 34.5 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 41 | 104 | .283 | 58.5 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Atlanta Braves | 82 | 64 | .562 | — |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 81 | 65 | .556 | 0.8 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 74 | 71 | .510 | 7.5 |
| Washington Nationals | 74 | 72 | .507 | 8 |
| New York Mets | 66 | 78 | .458 | 15 |
| D.C. Balk | 65 | 81 | .443 | 17.3 |
| Miami Marlins | 57 | 87 | .396 | 24 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 82 | 64 | .562 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 79 | 67 | .541 | 3 |
| Minnesota Twins | 67 | 78 | .462 | 14.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 59 | 87 | .404 | 23 |
| Chicago White Sox | 57 | 89 | .390 | 25 |
| Kansas City Royals | 49 | 96 | .338 | 32.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago Cubs | 84 | 59 | .587 | — |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 83 | 62 | .572 | 2 |
| Brookland Outs | 81 | 62 | .566 | 3.1 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 64 | .559 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 71 | 73 | .493 | 13.5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 70 | 73 | .488 | 14.3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 63 | 83 | .432 | 22.5 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 92 | 54 | .630 | — |
| Oakland A’s | 89 | 57 | .610 | 3 |
| Seattle Mariners | 79 | 66 | .545 | 12.5 |
| Haviland Dragons | 73 | 73 | .501 | 18.8 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 73 | 73 | .500 | 19 |
| Kaline Drive | 68 | 78 | .469 | 23.5 |
| Texas Rangers | 62 | 84 | .425 | 30 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Portland Rosebuds | 93 | 51 | .648 | — |
| Colorado Rockies | 80 | 64 | .556 | 13.4 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 79 | 67 | .541 | 15.4 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 77 | 69 | .527 | 17.4 |
| San Francisco Giants | 68 | 79 | .463 | 26.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 66 | 78 | .458 | 27.4 |
| San Diego Padres | 59 | 88 | .401 | 35.9 |