League Updates Uncategorized

This Post has a fine title, and it’s right here

MLB prematurely published a list of May all-stars yesterday.   Here it is:

Catcher

NL: Buster Posey, Giants
AL: Yasmani Grandal, White Sox

First base

NL: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
AL: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays

Second base

NL: Max Muncy, Dodgers
AL: Marcus Semien, Blue Jays

Shortstop

NL: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
AL: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox

Third base

NL: Austin Riley, Braves
AL: Rafael Devers, Red Sox

Outfielders

NL: Nick Castellanos, Reds; Trent Grisham, Padres; Jesse Winker, Reds
AL: Adolis García, Rangers; Trey Mancini, Orioles; Aaron Judge, Yankees

Designated hitter

AL: Shohei Ohtani, Angels

Starting pitchers

NL: Max Scherzer, Nationals; Zack Wheeler, Phillies; Brandon Woodruff, Brewers; Kevin Gausman, Giants
AL: Chris Bassitt, A’s; Corey Kluber, Yankees; Carlos Rodón, White Sox; Rich Hill, Rays

Relief pitchers

NL: Alex Reyes, Cardinals; Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
AL: Liam Hendriks, White Sox; Aroldis Chapman, Yankees

 

Without the EFL,  these all stars would have been distributed as follows:

3:  NYY, CWS

2:  BOS, CIN, SD, SF, STL

1:  ATL, BAL, LAA, LAD, MIL, OAK, PHI, TB, TEX, TOR, WAS

 

BUT there IS an EFL, among which May All-Stars are distributed as follows:

2:  CK, DC, FH, KD, CC, OD

1:  BC,HD, PA,

0:  PP

We have 15 of the 27 all-stars, when we should only have about 10. Nice work!

 

EFL Standings for 2021
EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 39 15 .718 319.8 200.2
Peshastin Pears 37 17 .689 1.6 250.6 168.2
Haviland Dragons 37 18 .675 2.1 260.2 181.6
Kaline Drive 36 19 .653 3.4 276.8 200.7
D.C. Balk 31 14 .679 3.7 232.3 160.0
Flint Hill Tornadoes 33 21 .607 6 244.8 201.1
Canberra Kangaroos 26 19 .568 8.7 242.8 214.5
Cottage Cheese 29 24 .543 9.5 292.3 279.0
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 26 26 .498 11.9 252.2 251.5
Portland Rosebuds 26 28 .473 13.2 264.4 279.2
Bellingham Cascades 25 27 .472 13.2 210.4 223.8
 
 
Old Detroit:  W, 3 – 3. (25 PA, .136, .240, .182;  6.3  ip, 1 er, 1.43 ERA). The W’s have two all-star third basemen. Neither of them played yesterday, due to weather back east, and Riley getting a rest day (I hope).  Nor did Ross Stripling pitch 5 innings, allowing 1 earned run for the Wolverines.  He did that for the Toledo Mudweasels. On the other hand, Josh Bell went 0 or 4 for Toledo, too, which improves Old Detroit’s batting line to .167, .286, .222, raising the daily OPS way up over .500.  
 
 
 
Peshastin:  L, 2 – 3. (27 PA, .217, .296, .261;  0.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  Peshastin’s lack of any May all-stars makes their ascension to the top of the EFL even more impressive.  It also helps explain their empty offense, and their almost literally empty pitching mound.  Yoan Moncada  (2 singles in 4 AB) and Willi Castro (a double and a walk in 4 AB) were almost the entire offense Sunday.  The Pears slid  0.2 games further from first place. 
 
 
 
Haviland:  “L”, 3 – 3.  (46 PA, .263,.370, .263;   7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA)  Haviland’s all-star, reliever Alex Reyes,  did not play yesterday, either. Instead, Tarik Skubal started, going 6 shutout innings… except he’s only 70% active, so it was only 4.2 shutout innings.  Not to worry — Jesus Luzardo relieved with another shutout inning.  Except he’s only 33% active, so it was only 1/3 of an inning, making 5 in all.  Every other Haviland hurler is 100% active… sigh. Almost 3 runs leaked around that shrunken pitching duo.  
 
All the Haviland hitters yesterday were 100% active, including Sunday star Alex Kirilloff  (3 for 4 with a walk).  It was enough to keep up with the Wolverines yesterday. 
 
 
 
Kaline:  L, 6 – 9. (42 PA, .257, .381, .371;  11 ip, 8 er, 6.55 ERA).  Drive May all-star Jesse Winker did not play yesterday, but Aaron Judge broke the string of all-star no-shows at 4.  He was not the daily star;  his 1 double and 1 walk in 5 PA fell slightly behind Omar Narvaez’  1 homer and a walk in four plate appearances, and Yermin Mercedes’ two singles and two walks in five appearances.   
 
Unfortunately, Drive pitching featured no stars, all- or daily.   Byun Hyun Kim and Aaron Civale each surrendered 4 earned runs as they split those 11 eleven innings.  Those two gentlemen cost the Drive 0.5 games in the standings. 
 
 
DC, W 1,  L (-1);  (-2) – (-2).   (26 PA, .095, .240, .238;   6 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA).  DC and Canberra continue to be held hostage by the division-leading Mets, who already have 8 fewer games than the Phillies, and may never play again.  Furthermore, neither of the Balk’s two May all-stars appeared on the field yesterday.   You could tell that by looking at the box score:  just 2 hits in 21 AB!  Fortunately, one of them was a Joey Gallo home run.  And there  were 4 walks — pathetic, like the W’s. 
 
But the Balk still picked up a win (and dropped off a loss) anyway, thank to Joe Musgrove’s 5 scoreless innings and Garrett Crochet stitching together another one.  DC crept 0.1 games closer to first. 
 
 
Flint Hill: L, 4 – 14. (41 PA, .229, .317, .400;  8.4 ip, 11 er,  11.79 ERA) One of the Tornado’s May all-stars played yesterday — Paul Goldschmidt — but he went 0 for 4.  Teoscar Hernandez covered for him, though, going 2 for 7 with a homer.   The Flinties could have used their other all-star, Carlos Rodon.  Instead, Blake Snell chulked (3 ip, 7 er) and Zach Eflin didn’t clean up after him  (4.7 ip, 4 er).   Adam Plutko did get through 2/3 of an inning without a run scored, but he did that at AAA Rock City.  
 
The snake-bitten Tornados (“Snake-bitten Tornados”?  Come on, Ron, at least your imagery should make some kind of sense.)   OK, OK,  the flea-bitten Tornados slumped 1.2 games further out of the pennant race, and now sit 6 games out.  The destruction of the hated two-tier system is  complete.  Flint Hill is now 2.3 games behind the balk, and 2.7 games ahead of the Kangaroos. 
 
 
Canberra: DNP, (-1) – 0.   (28 PA, .136, .286, .409;  1.7 ip, 1 er, 5.29 ERA)  Like everyone else so far, Canberra struggled because at least on of its May all-stars didn’t play.  In the case of the Kangaroos, the missing star was Rich Hill who, despite another superannuated resurgence, cannot seem to stay on the mound every day.   Vlad Guerrero Jr., the other ‘Roo May all star, did play, getting 7 plate appearances.  He expressed his all-starship by walking once and hitting a sacrifice fly, leaving the heavy lifting to young Mauricio Dubon (2 for 3 with a homer and a walk) and Kyle Tucker (a homer if 4 AB).  No, not the heavy lifting.  ALL the lifting.  No one else got a hit. 
 
So even though the ‘Roos are now within 3 games of the remnants of the former Empire of the Elite, they still slid 0.2 games from their real goal of winning the pennant race. 
 
 
Cottage: W, 4 – 4. (31 PA, .269, .387, .346;  6.3 ip, 2 er, 2.86 ERA).   Shohei Ohtani, one of the Cheese’s May All-Stars,  did play, but not like an all-star this time.  His only contribution in 5 plate appearances was an itty-bitty walk.  Fellow all-star Marcus Semien did the real damage, going 4 for 6 with two doubles and 2 walks, which Baseball Reference bizarrely rates as only the 31st – best day at the plate yesterday.  
 
Look, that ranking is silly and unfair. Semien’s line was .667, .750, 1.000.   Joey Gallo’s 1 for 4 with  a homer (.250, .250, 1.000) ranked 10 places higher!  Kyle Tucker’s 1 for 4 with a homer (also, by some amazing coincidence, a .250, .250, 1.000 line) ranked 20 places higher!!!   
 
Ketel Marte’s  2 for 4 with a homer and a walk (.500, .600, 1.250 … higher in OPS, barely, but lower in OBP and thus still arguably not any better — especially since the walk was an intentional walk which did not advance any other baserunners) RANKED 29 PLACES HIGHER!!!  Why? Because Marte scored two runs and drove in 3, while Semien only scored one and drove in one.  To see BR fall for contextual effects created by Marte’s teammates to say his hitting at the plate was better than Semien’s is an outdated, embarrasing mistake, and without excuse, especially in the EFL.
 
(End of rant.)
 
 
 
Pittsburgh:  L, 4 – 7.  (13 PA, .167, .231, .417;  1.7 ip, 2 er, 10.59 ERA)  Max Muncy’s .337, .452, .733, 1.184  batting line, second only to Fernando Tatis,  and his 10 homers, second only to Adolis Garcia, forced the MLB people to choose him for a second-base all-star.  Evern though I am  not sure Muncy played more 2b than Gavin Lux, I endorse that choice. In fact, he’s hereby proclaimed to be the May MVP in the EFL.
 
Muncy acted like an all-star Sunday, hitting that 10th homer to stave off a more devastating loss due to Pittsburgh’s crummy pitching. Bryan Garcia actually triple chulked (0.7 ip, 2 er). The Allegheny slid back under .500, and almost 12 games behind. 
 
 
 
 Portland: “W”, 3 – 5. (26 PA, .217, .269, .348;  no pitching).   Portland was slighted in MLB’s May all-stars list.  Without any pitchers pitching, they needed some good hitting, and didn’t get enough of it. Dylan Carlson did his job (2 for4 with  a homer), but the rest of the team went 3 for 19 with no extra bases and one walk.   The Rosebuds’ 1.3  buffer from the cellar disappeared in a single day, and they slid 0.2 games further from first.
 
 
 
Bellingham:  W 2, L (-1);  6 –  (-6).  (32 PA, .323, .344, .452;  13 ip, 1 er, 0.69 ERA).   The Cascades had BY FAR the best day in the league by:
* actually getting stellar play from their May all-star, Kevin Gausman (6 ip, 0 er),
* supplementing it with an almost as good 5 ip, 0 er from Tyler Mahle, 
* not throwing that stellar performance away, but building on it with a fine day at the plate winning 2 and erasing a loss,
* gaining 1.1 games on Old Detroit, 7.9% of the gap closed in a single day
* gaining 1.3 games on the Rosebuds, 100% of the gap closed in a single day, forcing a virtual tie for the cellar, 
 
 
 
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Old Detroit Wolverines 39 15 .718
Tampa Bay Rays 34 20 .630 4.8
Boston Red Sox 32 20 .615 5.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes 33 21 .607 6
New York Yankees 29 24 .547 9.3
Toronto Blue Jays 27 25 .519 10.8
Baltimore Orioles 17 36 .321 21.3
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
D.C. Balk 31 14 .679
Canberra Kangaroos 26 19 .568 5
New York Mets 25 20 .556 5.5
Atlanta Braves 24 26 .480 9
Philadelphia Phillies 25 28 .472 9.5
Miami Marlins 24 28 .462 10
Washington Nationals 21 28 .429 11.5
 
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago White Sox 32 20 .615
Cleveland Indians 28 23 .549 3.5
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 26 26 .498 6.1
Kansas City Royals 25 26 .490 6.5
Bellingham Cascades 25 27 .472 7.5
Detroit Tigers 22 31 .415 10.5
Minnesota Twins 21 31 .404 11
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
St. Louis Cardinals 30 23 .566
Chicago Cubs 29 23 .558 0.5
Cottage Cheese 29 24 .543 1.2
Milwaukee Brewers 28 25 .528 2
Cincinnati Reds 23 28 .451 6
Pittsburgh Pirates 20 32 .385 9.5
 
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Haviland Dragons 37 18 .675
Kaline Drive 36 19 .653 1.3
Oakland A’s 31 24 .564 6.2
Houston Astros 28 24 .538 7.7
Seattle Mariners 27 27 .500 9.7
Los Angeles Angels 24 29 .453 12.2
Texas Rangers 22 33 .400 15.2
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Peshastin Pears 37 17 .689
San Diego Padres 34 20 .630 3.2
San Francisco Giants 33 20 .623 3.7
Los Angeles Dodgers 31 22 .585 5.7
Portland Rosebuds 26 28 .473 11.7
Colorado Rockies 20 34 .370 17.2
Arizona Diamondbacks 19 35 .352 18.2