League Updates

Fantastic at Fantasy

We are past the halfway point of the season, and we have 9 of 11 teams over .500, with the 10th being a one or two wins away from the mark. You know what that means, don’t you? A competitive balance draft this offseason. EFL teams are either first or second in each MLB division, and no MLB team has over 56 wins – a far cry from the EFL leading 62 wins for the Wolverines. Needless to say, the EFL owners are pretty good at their fantasy jobs. Now, if we could just find a way to get paid doing it…

EFL Standings for 2021

EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Old Detroit Wolverines 62 25 .713 511.1 323.2
D.C. Balk 54 27 .661 5.5 459.8 330.9
Flint Hill Tornadoes 56 31 .649 5.6 427.7 315.9
Kaline Drive 55 31 .634 7 455.4 346.7
Peshastin Pears 53 32 .627 7.7 404.2 318.6
Canberra Kangaroos 50 31 .616 9.1 419.6 334.3
Haviland Dragons 51 35 .598 10.1 425.8 359.9
Cottage Cheese 45 41 .522 16.6 482.9 475.0
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 44 41 .513 17.4 426.4 413.3
Bellingham Cascades 42 43 .491 19.3 348.9 356.8
Portland Rosebuds 35 50 .417 25.6 418.9 503.0
 
Old Detroit: L, 1-4; 48PA, 7.7IP
AVG: 0.227 OBP: 0.292 SLG: 0.341 OPS: 0.633
ERA: 1.17 WHIP: 0.909
The Wolverines followed up their excellent day at the plate with one that wasn’t so great. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Adolis Garcia were both great, Hayes going 2 for 4 with two doubles and a walk, Garcia going 3 for 4 with a homerun. But the rest of the team was a combined 5 for 36 with 10 strikeouts and only 2 walks. The pitchers were very good, but half Jameson Taillon’s 7 innings and 1 run performance was wasted in Toledo. Sam Clay perhaps proved his owner right once again, going 2/3 of an inning and giving up 0 runs. The Wolverines should feel good that on a not great day they didn’t lose much ground to their competitors, still over 5 games above them. 
 
DC: W(1), L(-1), 3-(-6); 35PA, 12IP
AVG: 0.333 OBP: 0.429 SLG: 0.467 OPS: 0.895
ERA: 1.50 WHIP: 1.000
The Balk had a great day, jumping into second place and climbing .7 games closer to the Wolverines. The goodness began with solid performances on the mound from Jose Berrios (7IP, 1ER) and Ian Anderson (5IP, 1ER). Those two were able to erase 6 runs allowed from the team’s monthly total. Bryce Harper provided an incredible 5 hits on the day, including a double and a homerun. The others didn’t do much in the way of contributing, though Myles Straw did collect to singles, and Joey Gallo 2 walks.
 
Flint Hill: L, 2-7; 40PA, 12.7IP
AVG: 0.250 OBP: 0.325 SLG: 0.278 OPS: 0.603
ERA: 4.96 WHIP: 1.417
The Tornadoes blew (get it?) a real chance to climb closer to the Wolverines on their down day. It’s mostly due to Nathan Eovaldi’s 5 runs allowed in 5.7 innings. Carlos Rodon was excellent, again, tossing 6 innings and giving up one run. On his performance alone the Tornadoes would have possibly won. The hitting wasn’t great, with Paul Goldschmidt being the only batter with one more than one hit (2 for 4, both singles). The team walked 4 times, which is unusual and most welcome. Mookie Betts has been not great this season, his first as a Tornado (not how you win over a fanbase!), and last night was no exception – 1 for 5 with 3 strikeouts.
 
Kaline: “W,” 4-7; 50PA, 1IP
AVG: 0.200 OBP: 0.280 SLG: 0.356 OPS: 0.636
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 0.000
The Drive continue to be plagued by penalty innings on the mound, still carrying over 10 of them. That has forced the hitters to work extra hard, and while they have done a valiant job of appearing at the plate, last night they did not do so valiantly at scoring runs. Aaron Judge went 2 for 6 with a double and, get this, a stolen base – while Altuve went 2 for 5 with a double. Hunter Renfroe homered to continue his solid season for the Red Sox and Drive. But it wasn’t enough, and the Drive fell to a full 7 games behind the Wolverines.
 
Peshastin: L, 1-13; 33PA, 3.4IP
AVG: 0.182 OBP: 0.182 SLG: 0.303 OPS: 0.485
ERA: 18.53 WHIP: 4.412
Yesterday was a double whammy for the Pears – the hitting struggled again while the pitching joined in on the trauma. The main culprit was Justus Sheffield, who gave up 6 runs in 1.7 innings. They say players don’t read the press reports, so perhaps the timing of Juan Soto’s excellent day was a coincidence, though one day after Ron’s update that called him out, Soto went 2 for 4 with a home run. The Pears lost another .7 games off the leading Wolverines, and now sit 7.7 back.
 
Canberra: DNP, 5-0; 20PA, 5IP
AVG: 0.353 OBP: 0.350 SLG: 1.059 OPS: 1.409
ERA: 1.80 WHIP: 0.400
Canberra technically had the day off, but it didn’t stop their offense from churning out some great numbers. 5 hitters appeared at the plate, and here is how it went: Kyle Tucker and Nate Lowe – both 1 for 4 (Lowe added a walk, too); Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., – 1 for 3 with a home run; Eric Haase – 1 for 2 with a home run; Javier Baez – 2 for 4 with 2 home runs. Dane Dunning spun 5 innings, giving up one run, and the Roos set themselves up for success the next time they play a game. 
 
Haviland: “L,” 6-4; 45PA, 5IP
AVG: 0.300 OBP: 0.378 SLG: 0.425 OPS: 0.803
ERA: 1.80 WHIP: 1.200
The Dragons will take those stats, even though it was a loss in the database. Pablo Lopez threw more than one pitch, going 4 innings and giving up one run, and Michael Kopech added a scoreless inning. Brendan Rodgers went 2 for 4 with two doubles, and JT Realmuto added two walks (though he went 0 for 3). Haviland almost moved to under 10 games back from OD, but couldn’t quite get there.
 
Cottage: DNP, (-2)-0; 32PA, 23.3IP
AVG: 0.167 OBP: 0.219 SLG: 0.333 OPS: 0.552
ERA: 5.41 WHIP: 1.159
The Cheese replaced 15 innings of replacement pitching last night, and though it wasn’t awesome pitching for the team, it was better than replacement innings. The two California dudes were awesome, with Shohei recovering from his last outing to go 7 innings and give up 2 runs, while Tony Gonsolin added another 5.3 scoreless innings. But Ryan Weathers gave up 4 runs in 5.3 innings. Steven Matz also had a bad day, but he did all of his badness while on the bench. Abraham Toro was the only player to collect more than 1 hit, notching 2 singles. Shohei added a double, and Alex Verdugo doubles off of Shohei, but that is about all the offense the Cheese could muster on their day off. 
 
Pittsburgh: L, 1-7; 16PA, 1IP
AVG: 0.077 OBP: 0.250 SLG: 0.077 OPS: 0.327
ERA: 18.00 WHIP: 2.000
The Allegheny pitcher (Bryan Garcia) gave up more earned runs (2) than hits earned by the hitters (1). That is not a recipe for anything good. The hit belonged to Garrett Hampson, and Max Muncy added in two walks. 
 
Bellingham: W, 6-5; 27PA, 1IP
AVG: 0.333 OBP: 0.370 SLG: 0.583 OPS: 0.954
ERA: 0.00 WHIP: 3.000
The Cascades had an excellent day at the plate, led by DJ LeMahieu and Rhys Hoskins, who combined to go 6 for 11 with 2 doubles and one homerun (those extra bases all belonged to Hoskins). If Bellingham can find a way to shed their 4 innings of penalty innings, they could find themselves leading the league in record this month within a day or two. 
 
Portland: W(-1), L(2), 1-9; 36PA, 10IP
AVG: 0.121 OBP: 0.194 SLG: 0.242 OPS: 0.437
ERA: 7.20 WHIP: 1.300
The Rosebuds’ day was like a kid blasting Raffi as loudly as possible – a lot of volume, but it’s bad music. Jon Gray’s start was decent (6IP, 3ER), but two relievers – Daniel Norris and Trent Thornton – gave up 5 runs in one combined inning. Andrew Benintendi returned rather quickly from a broken rib and swatted a homerun, Max Kepler threw away his unlucky necklace and added a double, and Gary Sanchez walked two times. 
 
 
 
 
 
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2021
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Old Detroit Wolverines 62 25 .713
Flint Hill Tornadoes 56 31 .649 5.6
Boston Red Sox 54 33 .621 8
Tampa Bay Rays 49 36 .576 12
Toronto Blue Jays 43 40 .518 17
New York Yankees 43 41 .512 17.5
Baltimore Orioles 28 57 .329 33
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
D.C. Balk 54 27 .661
Canberra Kangaroos 50 31 .616 3.6
New York Mets 44 37 .543 9.5
Philadelphia Phillies 41 42 .494 13.5
Washington Nationals 41 43 .488 14
Atlanta Braves 41 44 .482 14.5
Miami Marlins 37 47 .440 18
 
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago White Sox 50 35 .588
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 44 41 .513 6.4
Cleveland Indians 42 40 .512 6.5
Bellingham Cascades 42 43 .491 8.3
Detroit Tigers 39 47 .453 11.5
Kansas City Royals 36 49 .424 14
Minnesota Twins 35 49 .417 14.5
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Milwaukee Brewers 51 35 .593
Cottage Cheese 45 41 .522 6.1
Cincinnati Reds 44 41 .518 6.5
St. Louis Cardinals 43 44 .494 8.5
Chicago Cubs 42 44 .488 9
Pittsburgh Pirates 32 53 .376 18.5
 
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Kaline Drive 55 31 .634
Houston Astros 53 33 .616 1.6
Haviland Dragons 51 35 .598 3.2
Oakland A’s 49 38 .563 6.1
Seattle Mariners 45 41 .523 9.6
Los Angeles Angels 43 42 .506 11.1
Texas Rangers 34 52 .395 20.6
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Peshastin Pears 53 32 .627
San Francisco Giants 53 32 .624 0.3
Los Angeles Dodgers 53 33 .616 0.8
San Diego Padres 51 37 .580 3.8
Colorado Rockies 37 49 .430 16.8
Portland Rosebuds 35 50 .417 17.9
Arizona Diamondbacks 24 63 .276 30.3
 
 

1 Comment

  • The EFL’s dominance over other MLB teams is even more pronounced than Jamie described it. Consider these standings:

    TEAM W L PCT. GB RS RA
    Old Detroit Wolverines 62 25 .713 — 511.1 323.2
    D.C. Balk 54 27 .661 5.5 459.8 330.9
    Flint Hill Tornadoes 56 31 .649 5.6 427.7 315.9
    Kaline Drive 55 31 .634 7 455.4 346.7
    Peshastin Pears 53 32 .627 7.7 404.2 318.6
    San Francisco Giants 53 32 .624 8
    Boston Red Sox 54 33 .621 8
    Los Angeles Dodgers 53 33 .616 8.5
    Houston Astros 53 33 .616 8.5
    Canberra Kangaroos 50 31 .616 9.1 419.6 334.3
    Haviland Dragons 51 35 .598 10.1 425.8 359.9

    Obviously, we need to do something to help the non-EFL teams compete with us.