What the EFL offers MLB

We focus so much on our own little EFL world…

… but are we missing some of the ways we impact baseball at large?  The EFL pennant race is down to two teams, if we’re generous about our definition of a “race.”  What about our teams as they race in their various MLB divisions?  If the mainstream media paid more attention to EFL teams, would it liven or kill their pennant race drama?

.

To address these burning questions, we’ll take our standings upside down today, beginning with the  AL EAST:

Old Detroit: W, 5 – 4. 

Flint Hill: W, (-1) – (-1). 

• The AL East isn’t the strongest division in baseball.  The MLB teams in that division were only 40 games above 500 on Sunday morning.  But add in the Old Detroit and Flint Hill and the division moves into first place at 88 games above .500.
• In the MLB-only AL East, the Red Sox clinched the division title several days ago.  But as of Sunday morning, with 7 games left to play, the Wolverines were only 6.7 out of first place.  This is not a source of much hope to Wolverine fans.  They’ve pretty much given up on catching the Rosebuds, and the Red Sox are 3 or 4 games better than the ‘Buds. But we know something the Red Sox don’t know:  in the EFL, things are always a little closer than they appear in the mirror. An EFL team can tear off a 2 W, (-1) L any day, and doesn’t have to necessarily give any of that back.  We’ve even seen 3 W, (-2) L days, maybe once in our 15 years. No, actually, I think those were (-2) W, 3 L days… no matter. If one is possible, so is the other.  So being 7 games back with 6 to play isn’t mathematical elimination when an EFL team is involved.
• Even if the W’s can’t catch the Red Sox, it doesn’t matter.  They’re beating the Yankees. That’s the whole reason they’re in the AL East: to beat the Yankees as often as possible.
• Furthermore, the Wolverines are close to clinching the home field advantage in the American League Wild Card game.  Maybe this offseason I should calculate Franchise History Points, assigning values to different outcomes.  Winning the EFL is, of course, the pinnacle possible achievement in baseball, and would be worth 10 points.  Winning one’s MLB division would be worth, say, 4 points.  Winning the first seed in the wild card game would be worth 3 points, and the second seed would be worth 2 points.  Finishing above .500 would be 1 point.
• We could award bonus points for other season achievements, to be added to whatever basic score teams get in the above section. Achievements would include finishing second, finishing less than 1, 2, and games out.

 

NL EAST

NL East
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Atlanta Braves	88	68	.564	—
Canberra Kangaroos	86	70	.550	2.2
Philadelphia Phillies	78	77	.503	9.5
Washington Nationals	78	78	.500	10
New York Mets	73	83	.468	15
D.C. Balk	70	86	.448	18.1
Miami Marlins	62	93	.400	25.5

Canberra: W (-1), L 2;  4 – 14.  The Kangaroos threw away their entire cushion in the race for third place, going from 1.8 games up to 0.0.

D.C. L, (-1) – 5.

In the standings at MLB.com, Atlanta is portrayed as having clinched the division. But in the REAL standings that is far from the case.  The Kangaroos are right there, closer than in any other MLB division. The ‘Roos are long out of the EFL race, so this is a double win for baseball fans: the Kangaroos in important race, and the NL East race goes from being a dud (albeit with a pleasantly surprising winner) to being a barn-burner with TWO pleasantly surprising possible winners.

Note also that our last place team is far from being in last in the NL East.  The Balk are positively humiliating the Marlins, and giving the Mets a run for 5th place.  Go Balk!

 

AL CENTRAL

AL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Cleveland Indians	87	68	.561	—
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	84	71	.543	2.8
Minnesota Twins	72	83	.465	15
Detroit Tigers	63	93	.404	24.5
Chicago White Sox	61	94	.394	26
Kansas City Royals	54	102	.346	33.5

Pittsburgh: L, 2 – 3.

Without the EFL, this is the most pathetic division in MLB, one of the most pathetic in MLB history.  As of Sunday morning, the AL Central was 104 games below .500.  They were averaging 20 gams under .500 per team.  We have sent only one EFL team to this desperately suffering mission field.  But over the years, it has been our BEST EFL team.  This year the Alleghenys are not dominating the EFL, but their more modest approach to the 2018 season has fit the AL Central perfectly. Without the A’s, the division is a boring runaway, with the Indians favored to win from the beginning, and obviously running away with the division since May or something.  But recognize the Allghenys’ membership in the division, and suddenly there’s  a great race heading into the final week of the season.  And the A’s bring the division’s record up to 90 games below .500, and their average record to only 15 games under water as of Sunday morning.

 

NL CENTRAL

NL Central
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Chicago Cubs	91	64	.587	—
Milwaukee Brewers	89	67	.571	2.5
St. Louis Cardinals	87	69	.558	4.5
Brookland Outs	85	70	.550	5.8
Pittsburgh Pirates	78	76	.506	12.5
Cottage Cheese	73	82	.473	17.6
Cincinnati Reds	66	91	.420	26

Brookland:  W, 11 – 8.  The Outs are 0 games Out of 3rd place, with an extra game to play!  What a scintillating race!

Cottage: W (-1), L 2; 0 – 8.

But the MLB-only race is also lively in this division, with three teams still alive, and all of them — the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals — good teams who will make trouble throughout the playoffs.  Toss in the Brookland Outs, and you have a four-team race, although Brookland’s recent swoon has them on the verge of being shoved out of contention.   The Cheese also add some respectability to the division, leaving the Reds still isolated on the outer fringes of the standings.

 

AL WEST

AL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Houston Astros	98	57	.632	—
Oakland A’s	94	62	.603	4.5
Seattle Mariners	85	70	.548	13
Haviland Dragons	77	78	.496	21.1
Los Angeles Angels	75	81	.481	23.5
Kaline Drive	73	82	.469	25.3
Texas Rangers	66	89	.426	32

Haviland: L, 6 – 8. 

Kaline:  L, 4 – 10.

The Oakland A’s might be an honorary EFL team.  They have come out of nowhere with a roster of mostly cast-offs, and have shrewdly built a powerhouse capable of challenging the super-powerhouse Astros for the division title.  Even without the EFL teams, the AL West is clearly the strongest of the six divisions, its teams a cumulative 54 games above .500 as of Sunday morning. The Dragons and Drive aren’t adding to that strength this year, although they normally do. But even with the Double Drs dragging a little, the division is still 46 games over .500 as of Sunday morning.  And our EFL representatives nicely break up the long gaps (about 10 games) on either side of the Angels, giving Angels fans (and Dragon and Drive fans)  something to root for.

 

NL WEST

Here is the one division where recognizing the EFL teams would destroy a pennant race rather than enhance or even save one.

NL West
TEAM	WINS	LOSSES	PCT.	GB
Portland Rosebuds	102	54	.657	—
Los Angeles Dodgers	87	69	.558	15.4
Colorado Rockies	85	70	.548	16.9
Arizona Diamondbacks	79	77	.506	23.4
Peshastin Pears	73	83	.466	29.8
San Francisco Giants	72	84	.462	30.4
San Diego Padres	62	94	.397	40.4

Portland:  W, 9 – (-1).  So that’s where God sent the good day taken from the Balk yesterday in answer to my prayer.  I am so sorry, DC!  I had no idea God would bestow even greater favor on the Rosebuds.  Clearly Portland is God’s annointed city in 2018.  Well, not for the Thorns, I guess.  But once Florence hit North Carolina, that state needed some kind of uplift, and God apparently chose the Courage as the vessel in which to deliver a blessing.  Deprived of the predestined NWSL win, Portland needed its own consolation, and the Rosebuds are God’s chosen ones for that purpose.  God’s ways are inscrutable, they say, although I just scruted them in this case.  Let it be done unto us as God wills.

.

Peshastin:  L, 5 – 11. As of Sunday morning, the Dodgers held a narrow 1.5 game lead over the Rockies, with the D-backs on the verge of elimination 7 games out. Stick the Rosebuds in there and they have an insurmountable 15.1 game lead over the Dodgers.  The Pears would find themselves directly in front of the Giants, giving both Peshastin and San Francisco  something to root for in the last week of the season. (Although Peshastin already had 9th, or even 8th place in the EFL to root for — see above).