League Updates

The EFL Goes to England

I am listening to the Red Sox play the Yankees in London, where the game is almost 3 hours old and they’re only in the 5th inning. Not a good intro to baseball, I would say, for any potential British fans. We probably should have taken the EFL across the pond first, for a better first impression.

EFL Standings for 2019
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Portland Rosebuds 54 30 .640 492.8 368.9
Flint Hill Tornadoes 49 31 .615 2.6 496.1 389.5
Old Detroit Wolverines 46 34 .571 6.1 471.5 404.3
Peshastin Pears 43 41 .511 10.9 443.1 435.3
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 41 40 .508 11.2 389.1 381.5
Kaline Drive 40 43 .487 12.8 364.4 375.2
Canberra Kangaroos 40 43 .476 13.8 445.6 476.3
Cottage Cheese 39 43 .475 13.8 475.2 491.8
Haviland Dragons 39 44 .472 14.1 426.0 447.1
Bellingham Cascades 36 45 .446 16.2 394.3 443.6
Brookland Outs 32 50 .395 20.4 397.2 494.4
D.C. Balk 29 54 .350 24.2 351.5 479.5
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Portland: L, 2 – 5. (40 PA, .237, .275, .447; 12.7 ip, 6 er, 4.26 ERA).
I don’t think even the Rosebuds thought their leading hitters in a pennant race would JD Davis (2.000 OPS daily OPS Friday), Myles Straw (2.000), Eric Sogard (1.750), Eduardo Escobar (1.250), Jeimer Candelario (1.250) and Kevin Newman (1.000).  I was not afraid of any of those names last winter. I didn’t even know Myles Straw existed. Candelario was an underperforming Wolverine.  The Rosebuds may be stalled, but their management knows how to turn pebbles into gems.
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Flint Hill: W (-1), L 1; (-6) – 0. (29 PA, .111, .172. .111; 0.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).
The Tornados could use some of those Rosebud n0-name hitting stars.  Surely Mark will share.
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Old Detroit: DNP, 3 – 2. (53 PA, .208, .283, .417;  5 ip, 1 er, 1.80 ERA).
BP lists our batters alphabetically.  So Nick Ahmed led off for the Wolverines Friday, and Daniel Vogelback batted 13th.  The heart of the order — E. Jimenez, M Muncy, B Reynolds, and A Riley) combined for 9 hits in 15 AB, with a double, three homers and two walks.  That’s a .600, .647, 1.133 batting line. The rest of the order?  1 for 33 with a walk: 0.030, .059, .030.
.                                                                                                                                                                          Peshastin: W, 6 – 7. (36 PA, .273, .333, .515; 7.3 ip, 5 er, 6.14 ERA).
Mike Soroka has had a great season so far, running an ERA of 2.13 for the year.  At 6.3 ip, 2 er, his era Friday was slightly up to 2.84 ERA.  The Pears would have secured a nice win… except Robert Gsellman’s relief was all experienced by the opposing batters, who could finally let loose for 3 runs in a single inning.
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Pittsburgh: W, 0 – (-2). (41 PA, .135, .135, .324; 15 ip, 4 er, 2.40 ERA). 
Pete Alonso, Maikel Franco, an James McCann combined to got 4 for 12 with a double and two homers (.333, .333, .917), while the other 7 Alleghenys managed one hit in 25 AB for a .040, .040, .040 line.    So the Alleghenys, for once, are naught but a pale imitation of the Wolverines.
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Kaline: L, 6 – 6. (21 PA, .316, .381, .579; 1 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).
A couple of weeks ago Tom asked me a question about reallocating pitchers, wanting to be clear how the rules worked.  At that point, to do what he wanted to do, the Drive’s only option was increasing AJ Minter’s playing time.  He had been unreliable, so Tom decided not to do that.  However…. since then, AJ has put together six innings with one earned run. His ERA for June is down to 2.16.  This is so exasperating. If AJ were a decent person, wouldn’t he have let Tom know he was about to get his act together in a dramatic, unprecedented way?
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Canberra: L, 3 – 7. (46 PA, .250, .283, .341; 1.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).
June has seen the Kangaroos slide from a place on the fringes of the pennant race to a place in the middle of a boiling cauldron of teams competing for sixth place. It’s a lower position, but the race is hotter, so a reasonable case can be made that it was a good move. But when your team suddenly has the weakest record in the league for the month of June, consolation is a valuable commodity.
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Cottage: W, 7 – 2. (30 PA, .321, .367, .607; 12.7 ip, 6 er, 4.26 ERA).
More polarized results, bell-curves nowhere in sight:  Castellanos, Thames, Verdugo and Ohtani combined for 8 hits in 14 AB, with two doubles, two homers, and two walks: .571, .625, 1.143.
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Haviland: L, 10 – 10. (41 PA, .294, .415, .588; 4.3 ip, 4 er, 8.31 ERA).
Miguel Sano belted 2 homers and walked in his 4 plate appearances Friday, for a daily OPS of 3.417, lifting his middling June OPS to .757, and his Dragons into a virtual tie on the day.  The lift was necessary because Vince Velasquez , the only Dragon to record any innings, allowed 4 runs in 4.3 ip.
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Bellingham: W 2, L (-1); 7 – (-6). (38 PA, .343, .395, .400; 14.3 ip, 2 er, 1.26 ERA)
Mike Fiers and Wade Miley combined for 12. 7 ip and only 2 earned runs.
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Brookland: L, 2 – (-2). (38 PA, .211, .211, .500; 7.7 ip, 2 er, 2.35 ERA).
Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., blasted 2 home runs in four plate appearances. His brother?/cousin?/non-relative?a Yuli sank the Mariners with a walk-off homer.
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DC:  L, 4 – 14. (31 PA, .214, .290 .429; 3.3 ip, 7 er, 18.90 ERA)
Mike Clevinger, just off the IL, lasted only 1.7 ip, surrendering 7 earned runs for a daily ERA of 37.80 ERA.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2019
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
New York Yankees 52 28 .650
Flint Hill Tornadoes 49 31 .615 2.8
Old Detroit Wolverines 46 34 .571 6.3
Tampa Bay Rays 46 36 .561 7
Boston Red Sox 44 38 .537 9
Toronto Blue Jays 30 52 .366 23
Baltimore Orioles 23 58 .284 29.5
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Atlanta Braves 49 34 .590
Philadelphia Phillies 43 39 .524 5.5
Washington Nationals 41 40 .506 7
Canberra Kangaroos 40 43 .476 9.5
New York Mets 37 46 .446 12
Miami Marlins 31 49 .388 16.5
D.C. Balk 29 54 .350 19.9
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Minnesota Twins 52 29 .642
Cleveland Indians 44 37 .543 8
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 41 40 .508 10.9
Chicago White Sox 38 41 .481 13
Bellingham Cascades 36 45 .446 15.9
Detroit Tigers 26 51 .338 24
Kansas City Royals 28 54 .341 24.5
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago Cubs 44 38 .537
Milwaukee Brewers 43 39 .524 1
St. Louis Cardinals 40 40 .500 3
Pittsburgh Pirates 39 41 .488 4
Cottage Cheese 39 43 .475 5
Cincinnati Reds 37 42 .468 5.5
Brookland Outs 32 50 .395 11.6
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 51 32 .614
Texas Rangers 46 36 .561 4.5
Oakland A’s 44 39 .530 7
Los Angeles Angels 42 41 .506 9
Kaline Drive 40 43 .487 10.5
Haviland Dragons 39 44 .472 11.8
Seattle Mariners 37 49 .430 15.5
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 56 28 .667
Portland Rosebuds 54 30 .640 2.2
Colorado Rockies 43 39 .524 12
Peshastin Pears 43 41 .511 13.1
San Diego Padres 41 40 .506 13.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 42 42 .500 14
San Francisco Giants 35 46 .432 19.5