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
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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.