One wonders if the Mariner’s recent string of beat-downs has demoralized them. But if so, they may not be the only ones. On day of nearly league-wide discouragements, Friday’s games brought singularly bad news to one EFL team.
EFL Standings for 2019
| EFL | ||||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 25 | 12 | .685 | — | 227.7 | 156.8 |
| Portland Rosebuds | 26 | 15 | .633 | 1.4 | 249.2 | 188.1 |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 22 | 15 | .587 | 3.6 | 218.1 | 185.8 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 18 | 18 | .508 | 6.6 | 166.7 | 162.5 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 17 | 19 | .470 | 7.9 | 182.6 | 197.6 |
| Kaline Drive | 18 | 21 | .470 | 8 | 147.6 | 159.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 17 | 20 | .465 | 8.1 | 194.8 | 206.7 |
| Peshastin Pears | 18 | 23 | .442 | 9.2 | 187.3 | 209.1 |
| Cottage Cheese | 16 | 20 | .433 | 9.3 | 172.9 | 197.7 |
| Haviland Dragons | 17 | 22 | .434 | 9.4 | 174.6 | 199.9 |
| Brookland Outs | 13 | 23 | .357 | 12 | 157.5 | 212.1 |
| D.C. Balk | 13 | 24 | .355 | 12.2 | 160.9 | 217.0 |
(Results are for Friday only.)
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Flint Hill: “L”, 8 – 4. (51 PA .302, .404, .651; 6 ip, 2 er, 3.00 ERA). You’d think being in first place would immunize a team from disgruntlement. Also, this was one of those “losses” where your winning percentage goes up. But still, up in the gold-plated-bathtub portion of the league (I know. I’ve been there.), even a nominal loss is a major annoyance. They can’t be happy about someone casting an aspersion that they may have lost a game.
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Portland: W, 3 – 2. (46 PA, .279, .326, .349; 9.7 ip, 2 er, 1.86 ERA). You’d think a team would be content to win. But when their win costs them 0.1 game in the standings, and the team is defending a championship they’ve already come to think as rightfully theirs in perpetuity, it grates to lose a (tenth of a) game. Especially to the Tornados. So have pity.
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Canberra: “W”, 7 – 7. (49 PA, .262, .367, .500; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). You’d think a team with two hitters having perfect games would be happy. (Michael Conforto went 3 for 3 with a homer, a walk, and a hbp, but even he is peeved because upstart Mitch Garver out-OPSed him by 2.000 points with his 1 for 1 with a homer and three walks.) But the Kangaroos are grumpy because their win wasn’t really a win (they lost by something like 0.3 runs) so their deficit in the standings increased by 0.3 games.
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Pittsburgh: L, 4 – 5. (58 PA, .204, .259, .278; 7 ip, 3 er, 3.86 ERA). Who knows what chaffing the Top Allegheny while he ushers college students around Europe. But here’s a candidate: Michael Chavis went 0 for 5 Friday, running his batting line since the day after the draft to 1 single for 15 with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. He paid $4,000,000 for that. Had he not matched the Wolverines on that last bid, he’d have stuck Old Detroit with another useless player. That’s gotta burn.
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Bellingham!!: W, 8 – 1. (37 PA, .310, .459, .517, Happy Edgar Martinez Day!; 6.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Two days ago the Cascades were in 10th place, 8.6 games out. I think yesterday they had sneaked up to 9th place. But now they suddenly appear in 5th place! How did this happen? Gio Gonzalez, patiently carried all April with his $12,000,000 salary even though he was not on an MLB roster, pitched his second game for the Cascades, a 5.7 inning shutout. But that only sets the stage. Someone had to come out and perform. So Ronald Acuna homered. JP Crawford, playing his first game in a Cascade uniform, went 2 for 4 for a 1.000 daily OPS. Steven Vogt, the lone acquisition Bellingham made at the May 4 draft, went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk. And Bryce Harper got a single and three walks in 4 plate appearances.
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I said Friday was a day of nearly league-wide discouragement. Bellingham was the exception. Which makes everyone else’s discouragement just a little deeper. Maybe more than a little for a couple of us.
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Kaline: “L”, 3 – 1. (39 PA, .182. .308. .333; 12 ip, 5 er, 3.75 ERA). Not all that bad of a day for Kaline. They “lost” but everyone knows better. They jumped back into the upper half of the league. Also not so bad. But what if Jake Arrieta had not sort of bombed (5 ip, 4 er)? The Drive would have vaulted into 5th place to be the leading team in the Puget Sound Division of the league.
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Old Detroit: L, 10 – 12. (37 PA, .314, .351, .543; 8 ip, 8 er, 9.00 ERA). Eric Lauer and Dereck Rodriguez pitched for Old Detroit. One of them is active 0%. One is active 100%. One of them went 3 innings, allowing 8 earned runs. One of them went 5 ip with 0 er. Guess which one is active. Right. Eric Lauer, the generous one, leaving the W’s back in the bottom half of the league.
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Peshastin: L, 0 – 3. (41 PA, .111, .220, .139; 3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). The Pears have to realize they could have moved up, too, had they gotten any hitting. Well, I supposed they did get some hitting, but a .358 OPS is practically nothing.
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Cottage: “W”, 5 – 7. (38 PA, .242, .343, .424; 0 ip, 1 er, infinite ERA). That infinite chulk by Brad Hand isn’t as big as it looks. It was just Hand serving up a homer to DC’s Matt Chapman. But, still, passing the Pears matters, and an extra earned run could be the difference when you are only 0.1 games apart.
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Haviland: W (-1), L 2; 4 – 17. (39 PA, .250, .308, .417; 14.3 ip, 16 er, 10.05 ERA). Which is worse?
1. Tyler Glasnow injuring himself, out for 4 to 6 weeks with a “mild forearm strain” (scary).
2. Pablo Lopez surrendering 10 er in only 3 ip.
3. Getting blasted from 6th to 10th place in one or two days, after a long, slow march covering the same distance in the other direction.
I don’t think your choice matters much. I suppose the first two caused the last one. They’d be enough to make me want to puke.
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Brookland: L, 3 – 11. (36 PA, .273, .316, .273; 4.7 ip, 7 er , 13.50 ERA). The frustrations multiply for Brookland. This time it’s mostly Eric Swanson’s crummy 4.7 ip, 7 er outing, but the problem is compounded by the lagging offense. They aren’t all Manny Machados (3 for 5).
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DC: W, 5 -1. (38 PA, .273, .368, .545; 8.7 ip, 2 er, 2.08 ERA) A win for the Outs! Five hitters over .1.000 OPS for the day, including the returned Addison Russell and the aforementioned Matt Chapman. Trevor Williams decided to pay immediate dividends to his new team: 7 ip, 1 er. Although the joy is tempered by not quiiiite escaping the cellar.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019
| AL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Flint Hill Tornadoes | 25 | 12 | .685 | — |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 23 | 14 | .622 | 2.4 |
| New York Yankees | 23 | 15 | .605 | 2.9 |
| Boston Red Sox | 20 | 19 | .513 | 6.4 |
| Old Detroit Wolverines | 17 | 20 | .465 | 8.1 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 16 | 22 | .421 | 9.9 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 13 | 25 | .342 | 12.9 |
| NL East | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Canberra Kangaroos | 22 | 15 | .587 | — |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 21 | 16 | .568 | 0.7 |
| Atlanta Braves | 19 | 20 | .487 | 3.7 |
| New York Mets | 18 | 20 | .474 | 4.2 |
| Washington Nationals | 15 | 23 | .395 | 7.2 |
| D.C. Balk | 13 | 24 | .355 | 8.6 |
| Miami Marlins | 10 | 28 | .263 | 12.2 |
| AL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Minnesota Twins | 24 | 12 | .667 | — |
| Cleveland Indians | 20 | 17 | .541 | 4.5 |
| Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 18 | 18 | .508 | 5.7 |
| Bellingham Cascades | 17 | 19 | .470 | 7.1 |
| Detroit Tigers | 16 | 19 | .457 | 7.5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 16 | 21 | .432 | 8.5 |
| Kansas City Royals | 14 | 25 | .359 | 11.5 |
| NL Central | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Chicago Cubs | 22 | 14 | .611 | — |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 24 | 16 | .600 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 22 | 17 | .564 | 1.5 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 18 | 17 | .514 | 3.5 |
| Cottage Cheese | 16 | 20 | .433 | 6.4 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 17 | 22 | .436 | 6.5 |
| Brookland Outs | 13 | 23 | .357 | 9.1 |
| AL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Houston Astros | 24 | 15 | .615 | — |
| Seattle Mariners | 20 | 21 | .488 | 5 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 18 | 20 | .474 | 5.5 |
| Texas Rangers | 17 | 19 | .472 | 5.5 |
| Kaline Drive | 18 | 21 | .470 | 5.7 |
| Oakland A’s | 18 | 22 | .450 | 6.5 |
| Haviland Dragons | 17 | 22 | .434 | 7.1 |
| NL West | ||||
| TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 26 | 15 | .634 | — |
| Portland Rosebuds | 26 | 15 | .633 | — |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 22 | 17 | .564 | 3 |
| San Diego Padres | 21 | 18 | .538 | 4 |
| Colorado Rockies | 18 | 20 | .474 | 6.5 |
| Peshastin Pears | 18 | 23 | .442 | 7.9 |
| San Francisco Giants | 16 | 22 | .421 | 8.5 |