It kind of looks like it, although the Pears have not given up yet.

Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	WPct	GB
Portland Rosebuds	69.45	47.55	.594	0.0
Peshastin Pears	65.67	51.33	.561	3.8
Haviland Dragons	64.93	52.07	.555	4.5
Canberra Kangaroos	61.26	55.74	.524	8.2
Salem Seraphim	59.63	57.37	.510	9.8
Flint Hill Tornadoes	58.09	58.91	.496	11.4
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	57.73	59.27	.493	11.7
D.C. Balk	52.03	64.97	.445	17.4
Cascadia Glaciers	51.78	65.22	.443	17.7
Old Detroit Wolverines	46.37	70.63	.396	23.1
Kaline Drive	42.68	74.32	.365	26.8

Portland: 0.68 [2.24 – 0.76].

Unless something changes, the Rosebuds will march to the 2024 EFL title. They are winning about 75% of every game – a brutal pace most EFL teams can’t match — and their lead keeps increasing. Thursday was another good day at the plate ( .278, .381, .444) more than enough to win the day over the Tornados despite rocky Rosebud pitching (12.7 ip, 8 er). This could be a boring stretch run.

Peshastin: 0.86 [2.64 – 0.36]

The Pears kept pace in the standings, with hitting a little better than Portland’s (.333, .391, .476), but pitching a little worse, on balance: less of it (1 ip) and not as successful (2 er). But can the Pears keep on keeping up? They have to gain more than half a game per week over the final 7 1/2 weeks…

Haviland: 0.12 [0.79 – 2.21]

Haviland did’t have enough again Thursday to keep up the pace. Batting only .259, .286, .296 on a day Aaron Judge went 0 for 4, and pitching only so-soly (8 ip, 4 er)…The last time the Dragons were further than their current 4.5 games out of first was May 6, during the Kangaroo Reign, when the D’s were in 7th place, trailing by 6.1 games. Portland was in 9th pace on that date, 6.3 games out. The very next day Haviland leapt the third place, 4.2 games out, and Portland soared to 5th place. 5.1 games out. Eight days later the Dragons were in first place.. After that the furthest they trailed was 3 games on July 6 — until August 4th, when they fell to 3.6 back. They rebounded to just 3.1 back the next day, but since then all their movement has been downward.

Canberra: 0.35 [0.61 – 2.39]

Canberra hit like a a team still in a pennant race Thursday: .267, .353, .667 — except they only sent 4 batters to the plate and accumulated only 17 PAs. They had no pitching. The K’s could still make a run at the top, but at 8 games out, they are in danger of being pushed beyond the 10-games-out mark.

Salem: 1.09 [2.23 – 0.77]

The Seraphim were out there beyond the 10-games-back mark, until they enjoyed the generosity of the Wolverine Elevator yesterday. The Seraphim, to their credit, hit like they still mean business in 2024: .444, .483, .667. But that was only 6 hitters, and the pitching was not up to Seraphim snuff: 4.7 ip. 4 er.

Flint Hill: 0.32 [0.76 – 2.24]

If the league is going to reign in the Rosebuds, someone has to beat them. It would be natural to hope the elder-brother Tornados could start the process this week while facing the Rosebuds. The Tornados had the hitting slash line to be such a winner (.350, .350, .850) but not in the volume required (only 20 PA by 5 hitters). Nor did they get the pitching necessary: just one pitcher going 2.7 innings for 2 earned runs allowed.

Pittsburgh: 0.65 (2.39 – 0.61]

The Alleghenys have kept pace with the Rosebuds this week. Thursday was more of the same: .278, .381, .444 at the plate, but 12.7 ip, 8 er from the mound. But when your team is 11.7 games out, merely keeping pace is not enough.

DC: 0.14 [0.36 – 2.64]

DC’s contribution to the Exciting Pennant Race Project Thursday was not good pitching. They had no pitching at all. Nore was it good hitting. They had only 20 PA, and slashed only .200/.300/.200. What the DID do was give the Pears a nice boost, almost like they were operating.a Balk Elevator.

Cascadia: 0.88 [2.21 – 0.79]

Cascadian Generosity did not extend beyond pitching Thursday. Glacial hurlers contributed 6 earned runs in 9 innings pitched, but then took it all back and more by hitting .333, .405, .455 against the Saggin’ Dragons.

Old Detroit: (-0.19) [0.77 – 2.23]

Rattled by the competition coming from the upstart Balkan Elevator, Wolverine Elevator operators kicked their machine into overdrive Thursday by only pitching 1 inning when they needed 7, and batting only .219, .265, .344.

Kaline: 0.31 [0.64 – 2.36]

The Drive are distracted this week, dealing with middling MLB opposition. They only got 1.7 innings from their pitcher, at the cost of 1 earned run. They batted pretty well, though: 36 PA, 9 hitters, .267, .389, .467.