League Updates

If no one gets a hit for 7 innings…what is it?

Yesterday Madison Bumgarner threw a no-hitter in a 7-inning game. The team ran out of the dugout celebrating, but you could tell from Bumgarner’s face that he wasn’t so sure about the validity of a 7-inning no-hitter. When MLB decided to keep the 7 inning double header rule for the 2021 season, it received a lot of criticism, especially from the purists. 

“A baseball game is at least 9 innings,” they said.

And even though a game can be called official if 5 innings can be played, that rarely occurs until late in the season, because teams can often find a time and day to finish the game.

So what do you think? Is it an official no-hitter?

I saw Jayson Stark tweet yesterday that all of the offensive stats, even if there would have been records set (if someone would have hit 5 home runs in the game, would it have counted in the record books? Of course!), are counted and counted as though they occurred in a nine inning game.

So why shouldn’t the no-hitter count?

On the other hand, how many pitchers have lost no-hitters in the 8th and 9th innings? 

Since 1961, 165 no-hitters have been broken up in the 9th inning alone. 165!! (source: https://milkeespress.com/lostninth.html). A quick search didn’t find data for no-hitters broken up in the 8th inning, but that many broken up in the 9th inning alone (an average of almost 3 per year) makes it difficult to say that Bumgarner’s counts. 

On the other hand (Fiddler on the Roof, anyone?), Bumgarner didn’t make the 7-inning rule, so should he be penalized for playing within the constrictions forced upon him?

What do you think? Does it count? Or should it have an asterisk? 

EFL Standings for 2021
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 17 6 .732 130.7 79.1
Flint Hill Tornadoes 16 7 .680 1.2 91.0 62.3
Haviland Dragons 14 8 .657 1.9 90.6 65.4
D.C. Balk 12 5 .679 2.3 91.2 62.7
Peshastin Pears 14 8 .633 2.4 90.9 69.3
Kaline Drive 12 10 .562 4 101.1 89.3
Bellingham Cascades 11 9 .551 4.3 81.1 73.2
Portland Rosebuds 12 10 .536 4.5 109.4 101.8
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 10 10 .510 5.1 97.6 95.7
Canberra Kangaroos 9 8 .507 5.2 88.7 87.5
Cottage Cheese 9 12 .426 6.9 115.8 134.5
 
Old Detroit: L, 0-8; 37PA, 5IP
AVG: 0.156 OBP: 0.270 SLG: 0.188 OPS: 0.458
ERA: 7.20 WHIP: 1.200
Wolverine management stopped by the Tornado headquarters yesterday to place a sign for his upcoming Newberg School District Board Member election on May 18 (vote Mock!). Tornado management didn’t intend for there to be negative consequences for the Wolverine visit, but it appears Old Detroit was around Flint Hill long enough to come down with whatever malady is currently afflicting Tornado hitters. The Wolverines collected 5 hits (4 singles, 1 double). They collected more walks than hits (5 BBs, 1 HBP), and yet still more Ks than both hits and walks combined (12). Jameson Taillon did nothing to help, giving up 4 runs in 4 innings pitched. 
 
Flint Hill: “W,” (-1)-2; 31PA; .3IP
AVG: 0.103 OBP: 0.161 SLG: 0.103 OPS: 0.265
ERA: 60.00 WHIP: 6.667
The pep talk from the Tornado coach before the game was simple – we knew we had no pitchers who were going to throw (Graterol, how provided the above line, is benched), and so we only needed to score 2-3 runs to actually win. But that must have been too much pressure, for the team went out and erased a run from our monthly totals. Pathetic. We collected 3 singles, 2 walks, and 9 strikeouts. Next. 
 
Haviland: L, 5-6; 46PA, 17.4IP
AVG: 0.150 OBP: 0.261 SLG: 0.375 OPS: 0.636
ERA: 4.66 WHIP: 1.437
I’ll have to apologize to the Dragons today, too. After consulting with Wolverine management about the lack of visibility our yard provided his sign to onlookers, we decided to traipse down the road to the Dragon headquarters. Though Dragon management was enraptured by a youth soccer game playing on his television (his grandson, Micah, playing the star), he did pause long enough to grant permission for a sign to be placed in his flower bed. That short visit was enough to spell disaster for the Dragons, who lost due to poor hitting and poor pitching – though they did manage to climb back over the Balk into third place. The Dragons did manage to score 5 runs on 3 home runs (Laureano, Franco, and Urshela) and Jake Cronenworth contributed to a Dodger defeat with 2 hits and one walk. But the pitching was not great, outside of Michael Kopech who went 5 innings, giving up one 1 run and striking out 10.
 
DC: W(-2), L(-1), (-14)-(-7); 44PA, 11IP
AVG: 0.278 OBP: 0.409 SLG: 0.583 OPS: 0.992
ERA: 5.73 WHIP: 1.727
What was given yesterday has been taken away, due to the Mets popping back up into first place. The rest of this month could be an undulating affair for both the Balk and the Roos, with the Mets only having three more games this month but the second place Phillies having 5 remaining. Who will finish the month in first place in the NL East? The answer will impact where the Balk and Roos end up on May 1, I believe. Yesterday’s Balk offense was not balky, collecting 10 hits (5 singles, 2 doubles, 3 home runs) and 8 walks for a nice-looking OPS. The pitching, however, was a bit balky, giving up 7 runs in 11 innings, with 3 of the 4 pitchers giving up at least runs, and only Southside Sewist (Crochet) giving up no runs (and over 3 innings pitched). 
 
Peshastin: W(2), L(-1), 2-(-5); 38PA, 15.7IP
AVG: 0.156 OBP: 0.289 SLG: 0.250 OPS: 0.539
ERA: 1.15 WHIP: 0.446
An excellent pitching day was enough to create a significant swing for the Pears. Beginning the day 4 games behind the Wolverines, they ended it 2.4 games behind them and .1 games behind the Balk for 4th place. Rookie Luis Patino made his 2021 debut, tossing 2.7 innings without giving up a run. The veterans, relatively speaking, (Dustin May and Jack Flaherty) took it from there combining for 13 innings and 2 earned runs. And that’s all it takes to erase 5 runs from your runs allowed total and shoot up the standings. 
 
Kaline: “L,” 3-1; 41PA, 7.3IP
AVG: 0.189 OBP: 0.268 SLG: 0.378 OPS: 0.647
ERA: 1.23 WHIP: 0.822
Stop me if you’ve heard this before – excellent pitching overcame bad hitting to outscore the Drive’s opponent, even if it meant an EFL loss on the day. The Drive collected 7 hits, including a home run each from Jesse Winker and Yuli Gurriel. But it was the pitching that made a difference, with John Means continuing his excellent start to the season, tossing 6.3 innings and giving up just one run. Mark Melancon provided a high-pressure but scoreless inning to close out the game for the Drive (and also the Padres).
 
Bellingham: L, 0-2; 38PA, 5IP
AVG: 0.143 OBP: 0.211 SLG: 0.171 OPS: 0.382
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.400
Though doing almost the exact same thing as the Drive, the Cascades actually lost the game and also lost their spot in the standings to the Drive, which feels unfair. Once again, just a bit of good hitting was needed in order to score 2 or 3 runs, because Ljay Newsome was awesome (4ip, 0 runs) and Devin Williams was similarly awesome (1ip, 0er). But the hitting feel short, collecting only 5 hits (1 double and 4 singles).
 
Portland: W(2), L(-1), 15-5; 46PA; 16.6IP
AVG: 0.475 OBP: 0.543 SLG: 0.775 OPS: 1.318
ERA: 5.96 WHIP: 1.325
What a great day for the Rosebuds! Look at this: 19 hits (14 singles, 1 double, 1 triple and 3 home runs), 5 walks, and only 6 strikeouts. That’s a great line even if that many singles usually means few runs scored. But when you have 14 of them, it negates the usually docile impact of a single. CJ Cron was 4 for 5 with a HR, and Dylan Carlson was 3 for 4 with a double. The pitching wasn’t too good, but we will ignore it today because the offense was so good. The Rosebuds climbed 1.8 games closer to first and now have their eyes set on overtaking the Cascades and the Drive.
 
Pittsburgh: W, 2-(-1); 27PA, 12.3IP
AVG: 0.056 OBP: 0.370 SLG: 0.056 OPS: 0.426
ERA: 0.73 WHIP: 1.057
Ok, no one has room to complain about offense if Pittsburgh is not going to complain (please let us know if you will be complaining, Mark). That line comes from 1 single in 18PA (off the bat of the self-proclaimed best catcher in the AL, Christian Vazquez), and 8 walks, 5 (!) of them from Max Muncy. But the pitching won the day, for sure. 1 earned run in over 12 innings makes it difficult to lose. Bryse Wilson, Bryan Garcia and Logan Webb (7 innings, 0 runs) were awesome.
 
 Canberra: W(0), L(-3); (-20)-(-27); 41PA, 2IP
AVG: 0.184 OBP: 0.244 SLG: 0.289 OPS: 0.533
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.000
The ride the Roos are on is like one of those never-ending, nausea inducing water slides which you think is ending but just keeps going. It is surprising to me that removing three losses didn’t result in moving up in the standings, but some of that can be blamed on the teams ahead also having good days. The Roos did have their Emmanuel make an appearance, on cue. He threw 1 inning of scoreless baseball, which you would expect from someone who is named after God. The Roos collected 7 hits, including a double from Dubon and a dinger from Dahl.
 
Cottage: L, 3-4; 45PA, 7.7IP
AVG: 0.205 OBP: 0.311 SLG: 0.359 OPS: 0.670
ERA: 3.51 WHIP: 1.169
The Cheese lost, bu managed to climb .5 games closer to the Wolverines. I have to imagine that after this month if they can finish 5 or 6 games back from the leader they will like they are doing OK in spite of a difficult April. JD Davis went 3 for 4 with a HR, and in a whacky stat of the day, 3 players collected a HBP (Nimmo, Turner and Diaz). The pitching from Taijuan Walker was really good (7 innings, 0 runs) but awful from Cody Stashak (.7 innings, 3 runs).  
 
 
 
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Old Detroit Wolverines 17 6 .732
Flint Hill Tornadoes 16 7 .680 1.2
Boston Red Sox 14 9 .609 2.8
Tampa Bay Rays 11 11 .500 5.3
Toronto Blue Jays 10 11 .476 5.8
Baltimore Orioles 9 12 .429 6.8
New York Yankees 9 12 .429 6.8
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
D.C. Balk 12 5 .679
New York Mets 9 8 .529 2.5
Canberra Kangaroos 9 8 .507 2.9
Philadelphia Phillies 10 11 .476 3.5
Miami Marlins 9 12 .429 4.5
Atlanta Braves 9 12 .429 4.5
Washington Nationals 8 11 .421 4.5
 
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Kansas City Royals 13 7 .650
Chicago White Sox 12 9 .571 1.5
Bellingham Cascades 11 9 .551 2
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 10 10 .510 2.8
Cleveland Indians 9 11 .450 4
Minnesota Twins 7 13 .350 6
Detroit Tigers 7 15 .318 7
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 13 8 .619
St. Louis Cardinals 11 10 .524 2
Pittsburgh Pirates 11 11 .500 2.5
Chicago Cubs 10 11 .476 3
Cincinnati Reds 9 12 .429 4
Cottage Cheese 9 12 .426 4.1
 
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Haviland Dragons 14 8 .657
Oakland A’s 14 8 .636 0.5
Seattle Mariners 13 9 .591 1.5
Kaline Drive 12 10 .562 2.1
Los Angeles Angels 10 10 .500 3.5
Houston Astros 10 11 .476 4
Texas Rangers 9 13 .409 5.5
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 15 7 .682
San Francisco Giants 14 8 .636 1
Peshastin Pears 14 8 .633 1.1
San Diego Padres 13 11 .542 3
Portland Rosebuds 12 10 .536 3.2
Arizona Diamondbacks 11 11 .500 4
Colorado Rockies 8 13 .381 6.5
 
 

6 Comments

  • As requested, I can report that I have no plans to complain about my offense yesterday. Being told that no one else can complain if I do not, I can do no other.

    By the way “Bryse Wilson” in my otherwise spotless review is actually Will Crowe.

    • Wow, how did I make that mistake? It’s not even a similar name. That IS something about which you can AND should complain. I’m glad you did.

  • It cannot count. Hitting 5 homers in 7 innings is harder than doing it in 9. As you point out, its many times easier to get through 8 hitless than it is to get through 9. And as many times easier than that to get through 7. So it is NOT the same.

    • Just because it is easier means it shouldn’t count? MadBum didn’t decide after 7 to be done. MLB told him he had to be done…

      • It’s not a level playing field. To be put in the same category with all the 9-inning no-nos when you only had to pitch 7 devalues the no-no. Call it what it is: a mini-no-no. Or a no-no jr.

        If you go to Chapters and order their largest pumpkin chai (because why would anyone order anything else?) and they deliver it to you in a 12 oz cup rather than a 16 oz — almost the same proportion smaller as a 7 inning game — you wouldn’t shrug and say, “yeah, it’s pretty much the same.”

  • Jamie, you missed a once-in-a-thousand-years oddity! It’s not your fault, really: we post our runs scored in tenths of runs on the post. But on the website they are rounded off to whole numbers. Take a peek at them.

    There are two extreme rarities here:

    1. The first 7 teams in the standings have all scored a number of runs ending in 1.
    I think the odds of teams 2 – 7 repeating the same ending digit in runs scored as the league leading team are 1 in 10 to the sixth power, or 1 in 1,000,000. At 162 days in a season, it should happen on average once every 6172 years. In an 11-team league, the odds of the first 7 teams doing it would be one in 11,000,000. And the odds that they would do it with something a visually stunning as a 1 are one in 110,000,000.

    We won’t see it again in our lifetimes, nor even in however long it takes for every EFL team to win a championship, whichever comes first. If we are still playing in heaven it’s possible we might get bored first.

    2. Teams 2 through 5 all have scored 91 runs. I do not know how to calculate the odds on that. I think it requires calculus to compute from a 50-point range in Runs Scored (131 – 81), assuming a standard distribution (which we do NOT have) to figure out what the odds are. But since I never took calc, I’ll do it the rough and ready way I did some of the fundamental work underlying our league mathematical model. First, I’ll ignore the Wolverines who are clearly where they are only because of divine intervention. That leaves a 35-run range in team scores. So the odds of 4 in a row being identical would be 1 in 35 to the third, or 1 in 42,875. Still a little long for us to see it again this far intoa season.