This update is through games of Saturday. The Sunday update will await the completion of Sunday’s games.
OK, the Seraphim awoke and restored order in the EFL. We are once again the mice to these flying cats from Salem.
Even though we are back where we were last week, contemplating the early fizzle of our pennant race, I am determined to look on the bright side today.
- Sure, Salem’s Shohei Ohtani pitched brilliantly yesterday: 8 ip, 1 er. But his weekly batting line has the same numbers: 8 AB, 1 hit.
- Sure, Salem’s Robbie Ray pitched 6 scoreless innings. But that secured the Mariners 5th straight win, and their virtual tie for the top-seeded AL wild card. There’s a race that’s pretty scintillating right now.
- There was at least one good thing about the Wolverines’a 13.03 ERA after the first game of a week: when you add the second game to your team’s total played for the week, you get 7 automatic replacement innings at 6.00 ERA, your weekly team ERA drops 3.5 points, your winning percentage goes up, and you gain 0.3 games in the standings.
- On the other hand, the problem with scoring 6.9 runs a game in the first game of the week (as Old Detroit did) while playing the Pirates is you can run a .325 .386, .825 second day, pushing your weekly rc/g up to 8.1, which is only enough to gain 0.008 on your .970 adjusted winning percentage. That’s too small a difference to notice on a w/l record with zero digits right of the decimal point. This is true even though the Pirates lost only 4 – 1, meaning they’ve finally scored a run this week.
- The good thing about owning the Kangaroos and having to play the Alleghenys — a real, live EFL team that can hit you with a daily ERA of 1.42 like the A’s did yesterday — is you get to play the Pirates next week, with a reasonable hope they’ll be as bad for you as they are being for your old man.
- Also the good thing about the old man turning down your pre-season offer to trade Nathanael Lowe is you can look at Lowe’s line this week (.500, .615, .900; 1.515 OPS, 32.6 rc/g) with confidence the old man will see it and experience another pang of regret.
- The good thing about being the Balkan owner today is your pitcher (ex-Wolverine Dylan Cease) had a no-hitter with two out in the ninth inning… and gave up a single on a 1 – 1 pitch. The single was a disappointment to Mr. Cease, but it had no bearing on the good fortune for the Balk.
- I’m guessing the Chiefest of Dragons was pleased to see his just-drafted pitcher (Javier Assad) pitch 5 scoreless innings in the last days of August, his second straight great start. Alas, Saturday, in his first appearance for the Dragons, Assad gave up a run in just one inning. The blooms last so short on the rose.
- The Rosebuds built their lead over the Alleghenys on a foundation of six hitters OPSing 1.000 or more this week so far. Here’s the list, with their OPS and rc/g through Saturday:
- Tyler O’Neil: 1.194 OPS, 16.4 rc/g.
- Luis Urias: 1.333, 24.7
- Kyle Isbel: 1.357, 21.3
- Michael Harris II: 1.545, 24.7
- Tyrone Taylor: 1.857, 30.6
- ….
- Before I give you the sixth Rosebud slugger, with (obviously) the best rate stats of any, guess who it might be. Dylan Carlson? Nolan Gorman? Rhys Hoskins? Make Kepler? Jorge Polanco? Gary Sanchez? Nick Senzel? Spencer Steer?
- … it’s Spencer Steer, who’s gone 2 for 2 with a double, a homer, and two walks: 4.000, infinite runs created per game.
- Pittsburgh can console itself with Christian Pache, who almost matched Steer: 1 for 2 with a triple and two walks. Just compromised between Steer’s homer and double. But that cut his OPS to 2.250 and his rc/g to a mere 71.4.
- Bellingham’s enduring challenge this year has been keeping enough pitchers healthy to cover the innings. (They aren’t the only ones, of course.) So far this week the innings hae been amply (and skillfully) covered by two starters (one of whom only went 4 1/3 innings) and five relievers, compiling a team ERA of 3.12, about 1/3 of the Wolverines. And they only need 3 2/3 innings today cover their Sunday needs.
- The Pears are putting together an impressive week, with a raw winning percentage of .735, built mostly on a robust offense creating 7.2 runs per game. At the heart of that offense are three Pears: Perdomo (1.786 OPS on 4 for 7 and a walk — no extra base hits); Mountcastle (5 for 11 with 3 homers and a walk, 1.773 OPS), and Cal Raleigh (3 for 7 with two homers and a walk, 1.786 OPS). The only problem: the Rosebuds, their opponents this week, have an even better .789 raw winning percentage. These two teams are ruining each other’s hard work, the Rosebuds doing a little more damage.