Our featured photo shows Royals centerfielder Billy Hamilton about to have Pears RF Mitch Haniger’s triple go off his glove, just before Hamilton crashes into the wall and injures a knee.
Some random notes I for your Friday.
- Are you wondering which division is strongest in MLB, as of Friday morning?
- AL West: 16 games over .500
- NL East: 3 games over .500
- NL Central: 1 game under .500
- AL Central: 4 games under .500
- NL West: 6 games under .500
- AL East: 8 games under .500
- The EFL as of Thursday morning was about 4 games over .500. The Commissioner is content about this. Not so much about how his W’s are only 1 game over .500…
- The Mariners are 4 games ahead of Houston, and will stay that way until Saturday evening.
- The Brewers and Cardinals are tied for first among non EFL teams in the NL Central. The Cubs and Reds are tied for last — 3.5 games back. You could fit the entire NL Central Division race inside the gap between the M’s and the Astros. Except the NLC first place Brewers and Reds would be tied with the AL West second place Athletics.
- The Mariners have scored 117 runs. Second place in all of baseball: Flint Hill (101.8)
- Only four teams in MLB have scored more runs than the M’s have allowed (75):
- Cubs: 76
- Athletics: 86
- Dodger: 96
- M’s: 117
- Four more EFL teams have also outscored the M’s runs allowed:
- Rosebuds: 75.4
- Alleghenys: 78.8
- Kangaroos: 82.2
- Tornados: 101.8
- Walker Buehler homered Thursday. He also allowed 5 er in 4 ip, so big whoop.
- Ozzie Albies, possibly the Pears’ Tortuga, just signed with the Braves a seven year deal wort $35,000,000. That’s only $5,000,000 per year. Albies will be very affordable when his EFL Rookie contract expires after the 2022 season. Plan ahead!
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Ok, here are your standings.
EFL Standings for 2019
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 10 | 2 | .796 | — | 86.6 | 43.8 |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 9 | 4 | .707 | 0.9 | 101.7 | 65.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 8 | 4 | .629 | 2 | 76.7 | 59.0 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 8 | 6 | .574 | 2.5 | 79.4 | 68.3 |
| Peshastin Pears | 8 | 6 | .571 | 2.6 | 72.3 | 62.7 |
| Cottage Cheese | 7 | 6 | .558 | 2.8 | 72.0 | 64.1 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 6 | 7 | .497 | 3.6 | 71.6 | 72.1 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 6 | 6 | .464 | 4 | 61.0 | 65.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 6 | 9 | .400 | 5.1 | 47.0 | 57.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 4 | 8 | .353 | 5.3 | 39.8 | 53.8 |
| Brookland Outs | 5 | 8 | .357 | 5.4 | 50.2 | 67.3 |
| Haviland Dragons | 5 | 10 | .338 | 6 | 65.2 | 91.3 |
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Canberra: “W”, 4 – 6. (28 PA, .231, .286, .538; 6.3 ip, 4 er, 5.68 ERA) A nicely calibrated effort by Jorge Soler: a homer and a double in 5 plate appearances kept the Kangaroos from losing ground to the Tornados, but just barely didn’t cause the Mariners to take a loss.
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Flint Hill: DNP, 0 – (-2). (20 PA, .200 , .400, .400; 9 ip, 3 er, 3.00 ERA). The Tornados achieved a rarity: all their stats end in 00. 3 for 15 with a homer and 5 walks is how you get that .200, .400, .400. They had to choreograph 4 pitchers precisely to get that sweet 3.00 ERA.
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Pittsburgh: W 1, L (-1); (-2) – (-2). (25 PA, .190. .308, .238; 11 ip, 5 er, 4.09 ERA). Nate Eovaldi couldn’t stand the spotlight, with the Rosebuds scouting him: 5 ip, 5 er.
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Portland: W, 4 – 4. (27 PA, .095, .296, .238; 2 ip, 0 er, 0 ERA). The Rosebuds didn’t have much of a day, so I thought the W’s might catch up a little. Mookie Betts didn’t thrive under the spotlight, either — only 1 walk and 1 hbp in 5 trips to the plate. Harrison Bader got hit by two pitches — not in the same plate appearance.
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Peshastin: “W”, 4 – 4. (27 PA, .167, .250, .458; 1 ip, 0 er , 0 ERA). Mitch Haniger! He tied the game with 2 out in the ninth inning on a triple off Billy Hamilton’s glove, one day after winning the game on a 2-out homer in the ninth. The M’s got more out of these heroics than the Pears did. Martin Maldonado got hit by 2 pitches, too!
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Cottage: DNP, 0 – (-1). (18 PA, .267, .389, .333; 1 ip, 0 er , 0 ERA). Corey Seager joined the ranks of EFLers to get hit by a pitch, part of his perfect 2 for 2 with a double.
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Old Detritus: W (-1), L 1; (-1) – 3. (41 PA, .243, .317, .514; 4 ip, 5 er, 11.25 ERA). Buehler wore himself out hitting his first career homer. Soon after that he transformed his shutout into a disaster, and the Woeverines slid below .500. James Pazos has a 2.45 ERA at Lehigh Valley. All I need is 1/3 of an inning for the Phillies. Brilliant: depriving my team of a lefthanded reliever for the first time in Woeverine history during the longest month in EFL history.
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Austin Hedges added a HBP to his home run. And Rafael Devers hit a double for his first RBI of the season — thanks, Mark J! — and a supposedly “game winning” seeing eye RBI single. But even these heroics didn’t win the Woeverines anything.
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Bellingham: W 1, L (-1); 4 – 2. (18 PA, .471, .474, .941; 1.3 ip, 2 er, 13.50 ERA). Yesterday I proposed Ronald Acuna to be the Bellingham Tortuga. See what just a little affirmation does? 3 for 4 with a homer and a triple. The Cascade almost passed the Woeverines. (Hmm. I probably shouldn’t call them the Woverines if I want them to flower like Acuna.)
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Kaline: W (-1), L 2; 1 – 8. (30 PA, .115, .226, .115; no pitching). No Drives got hit by pitches, possibly because pitching seems to have been banned at Whidbey Field.
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DC: “L”, 2 – 1. (20 PA, .118, .250, .118; 18 ip 10 er, 5.00 ERA). The Balk offense consisted entirely of an Andrew Benintendi hit and walk, an Omar Narvaez pinch hit single, and a Danny Jansen HBP in 3 trips to the plate. Oh, and Eduardo Nunez pinch-ran and stole a base, just before Devers’ seeing eye single.
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Brookland: W 1, L (-1); 5 – (-7)! (25 PA, .450, .560, .500; 13 ip, 6 er , 4.15 ERA). Adam Jones singled, walked, and got hit by a pitch to lead the Outs to a big win. Big partly because it got them out of the EFL cellar. Also Jose Martinez went 4 for 5 with a double.
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Haviland: L, 7 -8. (38 PA, .303, .385, .424; 6 ip, 5 er, 7.50 ERA). The Draggins are draggin’ because Pablo Lopez coughed up 4 earned runs in 4.7 innings. And because despite an otherwise solid effort at the plate, no one got hit by a pitch.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 10 | 3 | .769 | — |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 9 | 4 | .707 | 0.8 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 6 | 7 | .497 | 3.5 |
| New York Yankees | 5 | 7 | .417 | 4.5 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 5 | 8 | .385 | 5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 4 | 9 | .308 | 6 |
| Boston Red Sox | 4 | 9 | .308 | 6 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 10 | 2 | .796 | — |
| New York Mets | 8 | 4 | .667 | 1.6 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 7 | 4 | .636 | 2.1 |
| Atlanta Braves | 7 | 5 | .583 | 2.6 |
| Washington Nationals | 6 | 5 | .545 | 3.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 4 | 8 | .353 | 5.3 |
| Miami Marlins | 3 | 10 | .231 | 7.1 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 8 | 4 | .667 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 8 | 4 | .629 | 0.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 8 | 5 | .615 | 0.5 |
| Minnesota Twins | 6 | 4 | .600 | 1 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 6 | 6 | .464 | 2.4 |
| Chicago White Sox | 3 | 8 | .273 | 4.5 |
| Kansas City Royals | 2 | 10 | .167 | 6 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 8 | 5 | .615 | — |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 8 | 5 | .615 | — |
| Cottage Cheese | 7 | 6 | .558 | 0.7 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 6 | 5 | .545 | 1 |
| Brookland Outs | 5 | 8 | .357 | 3.4 |
| Chicago Cubs | 4 | 8 | .333 | 3.5 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 4 | 8 | .333 | 3.5 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Seattle Mariners | 13 | 2 | .867 | — |
| Houston Astros | 8 | 5 | .615 | 4 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 7 | 6 | .538 | 5 |
| Oakland A’s | 9 | 8 | .529 | 5 |
| Texas Rangers | 6 | 6 | .500 | 5.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 6 | 9 | .400 | 7 |
| Haviland Dragons | 5 | 10 | .338 | 7.9 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| San Diego Padres | 9 | 5 | .643 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 8 | 6 | .574 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 8 | 6 | .571 | 1 |
| Peshastin Pears | 8 | 6 | .571 | 1 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 6 | 7 | .462 | 2.5 |
| San Francisco Giants | 5 | 9 | .357 | 4 |
| Colorado Rockies | 3 | 10 | .231 | 5.5 |