At 5:15 PDT Tuesday, I got the following message from Canberra:
Unless Beckham has a five homer game in him, it looks like I’m falling out of first place.
Isn’t that poignant? Beckham did have a pretty good game in him: 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. But just as the Captain Kangaroo predicted, it wasn’t enough to save the ‘Roos, on whom the sun has set. For now.
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EFL Standings for 2019
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 12 | 5 | .725 | — | 132.1 | 81.4 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 11 | 6 | .656 | 1.3 | 96.3 | 69.7 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 12 | 7 | .619 | 1.6 | 110.8 | 87.0 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 10 | 7 | .568 | 2.7 | 101.7 | 88.7 |
| Kaline Drive | 9 | 8 | .553 | 2.9 | 57.0 | 51.3 |
| Cottage Cheese | 8 | 10 | .458 | 4.6 | 95.2 | 103.5 |
| Haviland Dragons | 8 | 9 | .446 | 4.7 | 86.9 | 96.9 |
| Peshastin Pears | 8 | 11 | .443 | 4.9 | 94.5 | 105.9 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 7 | 10 | .432 | 5 | 84.8 | 97.2 |
| Brookland Outs | 7 | 11 | .371 | 6.1 | 74.0 | 96.3 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 6 | 11 | .331 | 6.7 | 81.3 | 115.6 |
| D.C. Balk | 5 | 11 | .300 | 7 | 57.6 | 87.9 |
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Flint Hill: W, 5 – (-2). (40 PA, .286, .375, .486; 22 ip, 5 er, 2.05 ERA). Hard to resist days like the Tornados’ Tuesday. Javier Baez went 3 for 4 with a homer, and James Paxton pitched a great game: 8 ip, 0 er, 12 so, 2 h, 1 walk. Jon Gray was excellent, too: 7 ip, 1 er. The Tornados look kind of unbeatable right now. But a week ago I saying the same about Canberra.
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Canberra: L, (-2) – 7. (47 PA, .209, .277, .512; 1 ip, 6 er, 54.00 ERA). And if the team right behind you has an .861 OPS and 22 innings of 2.05 ERA, you aren’t going to thrive if your starter infinitely chulks for 6 runs.
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Portland: W, 8 – 5. (46 PA, .357, .413, .548; 7.7 ip 4 er, 4.70 ERA). Another Johnson boy had a good day. JT Realmuto led the way: 23 for 5 with two doubles and a homer. Chris Sale continued to struggle, though: 5 ip, 4 er. At this point, at think for the first time in league history, the three youngest owners monopolize the three top spots in the league. This probably signifies something, but I need a nap, so I’ll think about this later.
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Pittsburgh: W 2, L 2; 21 – 24. (42 PA, .222, .333, .361; 7 ip, 5 er, 6.43 ERA) Stephen Strasburg did almost as poorly as Sale: 6 ip, 4 er. But the Allegheny hitters did not match their Rosebud competitors.
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Kaline: L, 6 – 7. (46 PA, .333, .391, .429; 9.3 ip, 7 er, 6.75 ERA). On the elderly side like the Alleghenys. Poor pitching, like the Alleghenys. But much better hitting. And the magic last name… for now. Until the non-Johnsons get organized. You’ll see.
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Cottage: W, 10 – 6. (39 PA, .378, .390, .784; 3.3 ip, 1 er, 2.70 ERA) This might be the best day any nonjohnson had Tuesday. I presume there will be a little jockeying for the position of nonjohnson leader, and showing you can combine a sub-3 ERA with a 1.174 OPS is a nice start to the campaign.
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Haviland; W, 3 – 3. (33 PA, .179, .303, .321; 13 ip, 6 er, 4.15 ERA). The Dragons keep creeping up the standings, but Tuesday was seemingly a pause. Sure, the Dragons passed the Pears, but the Cheese passed the Dragons, which is pretty close to a wash. Three Dragon pitchers each gave up 2 runs. Papa Dragon Tyler Glasnow did his in 7 innings. Mama Dragon Pablo Lopez took only 5. but Baby Dragon Trey Wingenter was most efficient: he surrendered his 2 runs in only 1 inning.
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Peshastin: L, 4 – 7. (39 PA, .222, .282, .500; 8.7 ip, 5 er, 5.19 ERA). Ozzie Albies seemed to shake off the controversy surrounding his 7-year, $35,000,000 contract extension, going 2 for 5 with a homer. Eloy Jimenez got $43,000,000 in 6 years before he’d debuted in MLB. Ronald Acuna got 8 years, $100,000,000 — and that was considered an amazing bargain for the Braves. The Dragons paid Albies $12,500,000 last year, By the time the Pears’ deal expires after 2022, they will have paid Albies $16,500,000, while the Braves will have only paid him $10,500,000. Albies’ MLB contract at that point will be a 3 year deal for another $25,000,000, or $8,333,333 per year. There’s a good chance an EFL team will be willing to beat that.
Hurray for the Pears! They treated Ozzie Albies far better than those greedy Braves did.
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Old Detroit: L, 3 – 4. (34 PA, .228, .294, .258; 14 ip, 6 er, 3.86 ERA). Dereck Rodriguez got through 6 innings with only 1 earned run, balancing out Robbie Ray’s 5 earned runs over his 6 innings. Two relievers cleaned up 3 innings with 0 er. There’s nothing to talk about on the hitting side, except maybe Dan Vogelbach’s ticket to the Hall of Fame hasn’t been punched yet after all.
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Brookland: W, 1 – 1. (28 PA, .125, .250, .167; 8.3 IP, 2 ER, 2.16 ERA). Nice pitching unmatched on the hitting side, sort of like the Wolverines, with a better result, barely.
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Bellingham: W 1, L 3; 17 – 32. (26 PA, .273, .385, .455; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Low volumes of playing time continue to undermine some pretty decent performances in Bellingham. Acuna is earning his millions: 2 for 2 with a homer and 2 walks!
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DC: DNP, 2 – 7. (25 PA, .130, .200, .261; 12 ip, 5 er, 3.75 ERA) Joe Musgrove (7 ip, 2 er) well out-pitched teammate Dylan Bundy (5 ip, 3 er). Six of the Balk’s 8 hitters went hitless. Danny Jansen was 1 for 4. Lucas Duda was 2 for 4 — and one of those was a homer, for the only bright spot in the Balkan offense.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 13 | 4 | .765 | — |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 12 | 5 | .725 | 0.7 |
| New York Yankees | 7 | 9 | .438 | 5.5 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 7 | 10 | .432 | 5.7 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 7 | 11 | .389 | 6.5 |
| Boston Red Sox | 7 | 11 | .389 | 6.5 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 6 | 12 | .333 | 7.5 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 11 | 6 | .656 | — |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.5 |
| Atlanta Braves | 9 | 6 | .600 | 1 |
| New York Mets | 10 | 7 | .588 | 1 |
| Washington Nationals | 7 | 7 | .500 | 2.5 |
| D.C. Balk | 5 | 11 | .300 | 5.7 |
| Miami Marlins | 4 | 13 | .235 | 7 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Cleveland Indians | 10 | 7 | .588 | — |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 10 | 7 | .568 | 0.3 |
| Minnesota Twins | 8 | 6 | .571 | 0.5 |
| Detroit Tigers | 8 | 8 | .500 | 1.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 7 | 10 | .412 | 3 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 6 | 11 | .331 | 4.4 |
| Kansas City Royals | 6 | 12 | .333 | 4.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 12 | 6 | .667 | — |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 9 | 6 | .600 | 1.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 9 | 8 | .529 | 2.5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 8 | 10 | .458 | 3.8 |
| Chicago Cubs | 7 | 9 | .438 | 4 |
| Brookland Outs | 7 | 11 | .371 | 5.3 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 5 | 11 | .313 | 6 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 12 | 5 | .706 | — |
| Seattle Mariners | 13 | 7 | .650 | 0.5 |
| Texas Rangers | 9 | 7 | .563 | 2.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 9 | 8 | .553 | 2.6 |
| Oakland A’s | 10 | 10 | .500 | 3.5 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 8 | 9 | .471 | 4 |
| Haviland Dragons | 8 | 9 | .446 | 4.4 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Portland Rosebuds | 12 | 7 | .619 | — |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 11 | 8 | .579 | 0.8 |
| San Diego Padres | 11 | 8 | .579 | 0.8 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 8 | 9 | .471 | 2.8 |
| San Francisco Giants | 8 | 10 | .444 | 3.3 |
| Peshastin Pears | 8 | 11 | .443 | 3.3 |
| Colorado Rockies | 6 | 12 | .333 | 5.3 |