A really big thing happened yesterday. So big, it has to be the lead story. So I will present today’s standings incrementally, starting with the team that had the biggest day.
Kaline 1.0 (5.8 -1.4), Pittsburgh Pirates 0.0 ( 4 – 6) . Yes, Albert Pujols hit his 699th career home run last night. In his next at bat, he hit number 700. He now joins The 700 Club, pictured above (although somehow Pat Robertson got left out).
This has been an exciting season for Kaline as Pujols, who began his fantasy career as a Garden City KingBee, ends it as a Drive. No doubt he will be a unanimous first-ballot inner-circle Hall of Famer, proudly wearing his navy blue cap with the distinctive orange Olde English K.
Fittingly, Pujols’ two-homer night lifted the Drive into the top spot in Week 26 results. The Drive dominated with a .944 raw winning percentage, negating the Pirates’ slight rebound toward respectability (.301) after an absurdly abject week last week (.133) and an absurdly dominant week (.775) the week before.
Portland Rosebuds 0.9 (5.1 – 2.7), Pittsburgh Alleghenys 0.1 (6.9 – 14.4). Jon Gray ( 5 scoreless innings) led a trio of effective starting pitchers for Portland, and Rhys Hoskins went 4 for 8 with two doubles and homer, to lead the Rosebuds to a resounding first-game win against the EFL’s own struggling Pittsburgh team. The Alleghenys’ mid-season surge apparently is over. Even with 8 players OPSing 1.000 or over, and a team total of 88 (!) total plate appearances of admirable offense (.250, .315, .525), the Alleghenys got bulldozed because a) Wil Crowe nonuple chulked (1/3 ip, 3 runs); b) Jose Berrios triple chulked (2 ip, 6 er); and c) Allegheny management arranged for Braxton Garrett’s fine 6 ip, 1 er outing to be pitched at AAA Punxsutawney.
(Now, now, you suspicious people who think you smell tanking for draft pick position. Shame on you. The allocation deadline was noon Friday. Braxton Garrett took the mound at 3:42 PM Friday. He was pitching against the Nationals, true, but Allegheny management did not already know Garrett would pitch a gem when he left Garrett off the big league roster.)
Peshastin 0.9 (9.1 – 3.2), Haviland 0.1 (3.4 – 3.9). I imagine when the Chief Dragon watched his team make its last out, half a run short of a raw victory, he consoled himself. “It’s not a huge loss,” he probably said. “We’re only playing the Pears. Maybe it will still be an adjusted win.” After all, Lars Nootbaaar had gone 3 for 5 with a double and a homer, and Jordan Luplow had a perfect day at the plate (2 hits, 2 walks in 4 PA) — so perhaps it didn’t matter that the rest of the lineup was unproductive leaving the team with an unimpressive .222/.340/.356 slash line. And it was probably just as well that Aaron Judge had been limited to a single single, so the headlines could focus on Pujols’ 700th homer and not be distracted by Judge’s 62d. And even though Javier Assad did poorly again (4 ip, 3 er), the resulting 5.40 team ERA wasn’t horrendous…
But the Pears were not the patsies people perceive them to be. Not in game 1 of Week 26! True, Willi Castro and Adam Frazier combined to go 0 for 3, and there were 4 replacement plate appearances, but the other 5 Pear batters went .465, .506, .647, — a Super Edgar Martinez Day! So the Dragons got eaten by the Pears — which would have been the headline, if Albert hadn’t happened.
However, there is a downside: the Pears are now just one game ahead of two MLB teams in the race for the second rookie draft pick. Be careful how much you indulge in Dragon steaks, O Pears!
Flint Hill 0.7 (7.5 – 5.0), Bellingham 0.3 (9.4 – 10.5). This isn’t really the next biggest result in the league, as neither team passed any major milestones, but I was getting tired of cutting and pasting slivers of the standings, so I tossed this matchup in with the Pears/Tornados.
On the other hand, Flint Hill’s Phil Bickford did serve up Pujols’ 700th homer, so he’ll at least have that to be remembered for down the ages. And he also ended up chulking (1.3 ip, 3 er), but whatever effect that would have had on the Tornado’s final standings was erased by Juan Soto’s ongoing recovery from his post-deadline-trade slump (2 for 5 with a double and homer).
Bellingham, on the other hand, made no news whatsoever. It’s still sitting in the 5th draft position out of the 41 MLB/EFL teams, which means the Cascades are probably in line for the 4th overall pick… but there are other teams clustered nearby, so the Cascades could easily move up or down before the season is over. Arozarena going 2 for 4 with a homer is the only highlight that might make the news.
Old Detroit: 0.8 (7.6 – 4.6), Salem 0.2 (3.3 – 3.5). As I write this, WordPress is complaining about supply chain problems (server overload) preventing me from uploading snapshots of our standings. So I refer you to our EFL 2022 Weekly Results google sheet, where you will see the Wolverines are in second place again, this time 0.5 games out of first. They rode Austin Riley’s 5 for 6 with a double and a walk (worth 155.6 rc/g, because of that .875 OBP), and Josiah Gray’s ongoing exile to the Toledo MudFerrets (6 ip, 4 er). The Seraphim, meanwhile, glided along on some not-really-there updrafts, pitching to a nice 3.20 ERA thanks especially to Jameson Taillon’s 6 shutout innings, but creating only 3.3 runs per game .250, .286, .357 hitting.
Canberra: 0.7 (4.0 – 6.1), DC: 0.3 (2.7 – 5.9). It might turn out that what happened to Canberra is the second biggest thing to happen in the EFL Friday: Julio Rodriguez went to the 10-day IL. There are only 11 days left in the season. He could have been put on the IL several days ago, when he first hurt his back. But the Mariners let him recover, stuck him in the lineup, and he immediately hurt the back again, so NOW they put him on the IL.
For the Mariners, this is a big deal: the Orioles are only 3 games behind them for the last wild card spot. There is plenty of time for the M’s to blow their best shot at the playoffs in 21 years. On the other hand, they’re still only 1.5 games out of the top wild card spot. Can they find other ways to win without Julio? They didn’t come close to managing it Friday against the lowly Royals.
For the Kangaroos, the situation is similar. This is the 19th EFL season. The ‘Roos have never won an EFL championship. They took a hit from the Pirates, then recovered against the Seraphim (thank you, Roos!), and now are only 4.3 games out. If the Wolverines can take 3 out of the next 5 from Salem, and the ‘Roos can take 4 out of the next 5 from DC, the standings at the start of Week 27 would look something like this:
Team GB
- OD 0
- SS 0.5
- DC 2.7
- CK 3.3
Then in Week 27, Canberra could win by going at least 4.8 – 1.2 against the Wolverines while DC goes 4.1 – 1.9 against the Seraphim. If the ‘Roos do better, or the teams ahead of them do worse in certain ways anywhere along the way, they can make a little more wiggle room and still win.
It’s not probable. It’s even less probable without Julio. But I am saying there’s still a chance.
From DC’s perspective, the chances of winning are, of course, much better. So the ‘Roos losing Julio might turn out to be a very big event for the Balk, too.