We apparently need a league-wide integrity workshop. Six out of 11 teams posted “W” or “L” results meaning they were credited with an outcome they did not earn. This moral rot begins right at the top, with the first place team. Also the Commissioner.
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EFL Standings for 2018
EFL | ||||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 80 | 47 | .630 | — | 615.9 | 464.4 |
Portland Rosebuds | 78 | 48 | .621 | 1.3 | 661.1 | 508.5 |
Brookland Outs | 72 | 52 | .583 | 6.3 | 658.6 | 559.6 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 67 | 58 | .535 | 12.2 | 571.1 | 536.1 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 67 | 58 | .533 | 12.4 | 653.8 | 617.3 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 66 | 61 | .519 | 14.2 | 575.4 | 551.8 |
Cottage Cheese | 63 | 61 | .507 | 15.6 | 614.8 | 605.0 |
Kaline Drive | 63 | 63 | .496 | 17 | 558.8 | 560.5 |
Haviland Dragons | 62 | 64 | .493 | 17.5 | 575.2 | 580.4 |
Peshastin Pears | 57 | 69 | .454 | 22.4 | 525.9 | 579.1 |
D.C. Balk | 54 | 71 | .429 | 25.5 | 533.5 | 616.7 |
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Old Detroit: “W”, 2 – 3. (Real score: 2.2 – 2.8.) (54 PA, .240, .296, .360; 2.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Twelve Wolverine batters started yesterday. Ten of them reached base safely at least once. Three pinch hitters combined to go 1 for 3. Unfortunately, these episodes of on-baseness were spread too thinly to make a real win.
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Portland: “L”, 5 – 3. (Real score: 4.5 – 2.7.) (51 PA, .250, .333, .341; 13.7 ip, 4 er, 2.63 ERA). I guess Portland Rosebuds are of the creeping rose variety. The W’s have been stumbling the last few days, but the Rosebuds haven’t leapt on the opportunity to eject the W’s from the top spot. On the other hand, this slow, steady creeping approach is more dramatic and excruciating, like taking a band-aid off a millimeter at a time.
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Brookland: W, 8 – 3. (Real score: 7.0 – 2.7) (40 PA, .351, .400, .703 !!; 2.7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA) Khris Davis, Manny Machado, and Jonathan Schoop all homered, Schoop as a pinch hitter. Bill James rates Khris Davis as the hottest hitter in baseball right now, at 104 degrees. Other EFLers:
#5 Brandon Nimmo, HD, 100o
#7 Michael Brantley, PA, 94o
#9 Paul Goldschmidt, PR, 91o
#12 Xander Bogaerts, CC, 90o
#13 Manny Machado, BO, 89o
70o is average.
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So the EFL has 6 of the 15 hottest hitters, for 40%. Brookland has two of the hottest hitters, and the Wolverines have none.
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But, on the other hand, here is Bill James’ list of the top pitchers at the moment:
#1 Max Scherzer OD
#2 Chris Sale PR
#3 Corey Kluber CK
#9 Carlos Carrasco DC
#10 Stephen Strasburg PA
#15 Jake Arrieta BO
#16 Luis Severino CC
#18 Blake Snell CK
Out of the top 50, here is how our teams fare:
OD: # 1, 22, 37, 45, 51 (yeah, ok, I cheated to get my 5th starter on here — Alex Wood. If you don’t like it, write your own post.)
PR: # 2, 32, 33, 42, 44, 48 — aw, come on, Mark. Six? You can’t even use 6 starters’ innings. Leave some for someone else.
BO: #15, 23, 46
CK: # 3, 18, 24
PA: #10, 40, 49
FH: #34
CC: #16, 47
KD: —
HD: —
PP: —
DC: # 9, 39
We are 36.7% of MLB and we have 48% of the best 50 pitchers. Yay us!
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Canberra: “W”, 1 – 1. (Real score: 0.7 – 0.9) (33 PA, .200, .242, .300; 12 ip, 3 er, 12 ip, 3 er 2.25 ERA). Speaking of Blake Snell: he had another great start: 6 ip, 1 er, 11 K, 1 BB. Steven Matz did ok, too: 5 ip, 2 er. He has risen from being ranked #87 to #18 in this season alone.
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Pittsburgh: W: 8 – 4. (Real score: 8.5 – 4.5) (38 PA. .343, .395, .600; 9.7 ip, 5 er, 4.66 ERA). Dansby Swanson homered twice in four plate appearance, pacing the Allegheny attack. The Alleghenys and the Kangaroos have a nice little race going. I hope it lasts all the way to Sept. 30, and doesn’t involve them catching the Wolverines.
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Flint Hill: “W”, (-1) – (-1). (Real score: (-0.9) – (-0.7)). (24 PA, .174, .167, .217; 12.3 ip, 1 er, 0.73 ERA). Two notes about this:
1) The entire Tornado offense was three singles and a double, minus a SF, 4 strike outs, and two double plays. Yes — a sacrifice fly is a negative result in the runs created per game formula. So is a strikeout, although it takes something like 30 strikeouts to subtract a run. All outs are bad, but a strikeout is about .03 runs worse than the average out. The double play almost entirely erases a single. So with all the elements taken into account, the Tornados were trying to score a run with slightly less than a single and a double for the entire game.
2) If the universe is just, the Tornados should have a near 9.00 ERA day to offset its near 0.00 ERA day, just like the Wolverines did last week. The W’s had more than 20 innings for both days, so the Tornados should have about a dozen for both days. If this doesn’t happen, then we’ll know the universe is out to get me.
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Cottage: L, 3 – 5. (Real Score: 2.7 – 5.2.) (45 PA, .225, .279, .325; 1.3 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). Only two of the 10 Cheeses to bat failed to reach base safely. Max Kepler went 0 for 4, which I think is uncharacteristic for him — but then, I haven’t really been paying attention. Greg Bird went 0 for 6. With three strikeouts. Which I believe is the direction he is tending (and may he take the entire Yankee team with him.) I have evidence for this belief, since I read the latest Cheese Lament.
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Kaline: “W”, 3 – 3. (Real score: 3.3 – 3.4.) (41 PA, .243, .317, .297; 6.3 ip, 2 er, 2.84 ERA). That 3.3 – 3.4 score is very close, so if it’s phony wins are an integrity issue, they are an exceptionally minor one for the Wizard. Sort of like when you drop a tiny scrap of paper and pretend not to notice so you don’t have to stop and pick it up. Or maybe like not coming to a really complete stop at a stop sign in quiet residential block where there’s no traffic. Or when your wife asks you how she looks and you say, truthfully, “I really like that blouse” but don’t mention how the scarf looks like it was cut out of a shower curtain.
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Haviland: W, 1 – (-2). (Real score: 0.8 – (-2.4).) (31 PA, .179, .226, .214; 13.7 ip, 2 er, 1.32 ERA). John was all sheepish about drafting Pablo Lopez. Well, Lopez just pitched 6 strong innings, allowing only 1 earned run. So what was with the sheepishness? Was he really sort of embarrassed? Or was he just trying to throw us off the track? It would be nice to know how John handles the situation when Cindy is about to leave the house wearing a shower curtain fragment around her neck. Is he scrupulously honest? Or does he get all strategic when the occasion seems to call for it? Or would he put on an misdirecting act to keep the peace (or get the pitching prospect)?
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Peshastin: “L”, 3 – 2. (Real score: 2.9 – 2.1.) (33 PA, .212, .212, .303; 7 ip, 0 er, 0.00 ERA). The Pears simplified things yesterday. They cut walks, hbp, sb, cs, sf, and sh right out of their diet. (They did treat themselves to one GIDP, even though they know it’s bad for them.) Same thing on the pitching side: they told their pitchers they couldn’t allow more than one hit or one walk, and both of their pitchers stuck to the rules. Brett Anderson went 7 innings with only 1 pitch and one walk. Cam Bedrosian used up his hit allotment on the first batter he saw, and was immediately yanked from the game. The Pears still won, but MLB punished Bedrosian anyway by ascribing to him a loss. Giving someone an “L” when they didn’t really lose: that’s an EFL innovation! So we ARE having an influence on major league baseball, after all!.
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DC: L, 6 – 10. (Real score: 5.8 – 9.8) (44 PA, .300, .341, .500; 6 ip, 8 er, 12.00 ERA.) Dylan Bundy threw a wrench into DC’s secret plan to finish above .500, allowing 7 earned runs in only 4 innings, ruining what would have otherwise been another winning day for the Balk. Some notes:
1.) Doesn’t 9.8 runs sound like a lot more runs than 10 does? It does to me. Maybe people shouldn’t price things at $9.99. Just go ahead and charge $10.00. All those 9’s are just so intimidating.
2.) No, Jamie, you cannot count the Balk’s bad pitching day as the payback owed to the fates for your unnaturally good ERA Tuesday. Justice still awaits you.
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Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2018
AL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Boston Red Sox | 88 | 39 | .693 | — |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 80 | 47 | .630 | 7.9 |
New York Yankees | 79 | 46 | .632 | 8 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 66 | 61 | .519 | 22.1 |
Tampa Bay Rays | 65 | 61 | .516 | 22.5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 57 | 69 | .452 | 30.5 |
Baltimore Orioles | 37 | 89 | .294 | 50.5 |
NL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Atlanta Braves | 70 | 55 | .560 | — |
Philadelphia Phillies | 68 | 57 | .544 | 2 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 67 | 58 | .535 | 3.1 |
Washington Nationals | 63 | 63 | .500 | 7.5 |
New York Mets | 55 | 70 | .440 | 15 |
D.C. Balk | 54 | 71 | .429 | 16.4 |
Miami Marlins | 50 | 77 | .394 | 21 |
AL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Cleveland Indians | 73 | 52 | .584 | — |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 67 | 58 | .533 | 6.4 |
Minnesota Twins | 60 | 65 | .480 | 13 |
Detroit Tigers | 52 | 74 | .413 | 21.5 |
Chicago White Sox | 47 | 78 | .376 | 26 |
Kansas City Royals | 38 | 88 | .302 | 35.5 |
NL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Brookland Outs | 72 | 52 | .583 | — |
Chicago Cubs | 71 | 53 | .573 | 1.3 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 70 | 57 | .551 | 3.8 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 70 | 58 | .547 | 4.3 |
Cottage Cheese | 63 | 61 | .507 | 9.4 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 63 | 64 | .496 | 10.8 |
Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 70 | .444 | 17.3 |
AL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Houston Astros | 76 | 50 | .603 | — |
Oakland A’s | 76 | 50 | .603 | — |
Seattle Mariners | 72 | 55 | .567 | 4.5 |
Los Angeles Angels | 63 | 64 | .496 | 13.5 |
Kaline Drive | 63 | 63 | .496 | 13.5 |
Haviland Dragons | 62 | 64 | .493 | 13.9 |
Texas Rangers | 56 | 72 | .438 | 21 |
NL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Portland Rosebuds | 78 | 48 | .621 | — |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 70 | 56 | .556 | 8.2 |
Colorado Rockies | 68 | 57 | .544 | 9.7 |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 67 | 60 | .528 | 11.7 |
San Francisco Giants | 62 | 65 | .488 | 16.7 |
Peshastin Pears | 57 | 69 | .454 | 21 |
San Diego Padres | 50 | 78 | .391 | 29.2 |
Bill James also ranks closers by how “tired” they are — really, how much they’ve been used lately. He has a formula counting how many batters the closer has faced recently, weighting more recent encounters more heavily. It scores on what is effectively a 100-point scale.
Here is today’s Bill James list of Tired Closers, in its entirety, copyright be darned:
“These are the closers who have been most heavily used in recent days (only
those with a score of 35 or higher):
“Raisel Iglesias, Cin (AND OD) 48”
No one else scored as high as 35. Raisel is, apparently, a very strong man.