… or maybe the Rosebuds are just setting us up for some final-weeks-of-the-season drama.

Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	WPct	GB
Haviland Dragons	90.72	58.28	.609	0.0
Portland Rosebuds	89.35	59.65	.600	1.4
Peshastin Pears	80.00	69.00	.537	10.7
Pittsburgh Alleghenys	78.23	70.77	.525	12.5
Canberra Kangaroos	73.89	75.11	.496	16.8
Salem Seraphim	72.22	76.78	.485	18.5
Flint Hill Tornadoes	72.18	76.82	.484	18.5
D.C. Balk	66.98	82.02	.450	23.7
Cascadia Glaciers	65.02	83.98	.436	25.7
Old Detroit Wolverines	61.51	87.49	.413	29.2
Kaline Drive	56.04	92.96	.376	34.7

Haviland: 0.91 [4.30 – 0.70] v. Peshastin: 0.09 [0.70 – 4.30]

I admit it: I thought the Dragons were done. When they fell out of first place in late July, and just sat there in second place for most of August, they just seemed done. They sagged all the way to third place for four days. Even when they made it back into second , they just didn’t seem to have much dynamism. They hovered about 4 games out, reaching a nadir of 4.9 games behind on Aug 15.

I should not have written them off. They began the season as clear favorites. But that clarity faded in May, when the Dragons twice dipped all the way to 8th place. After a loss on May 4, they were 7.4 games out. They came back from that, taking over the lead just 11 days later, but the inevitability cloak was in tatters.

On May 4 — the day the Dragons sat 7.4 games out in 8th place — the ninth place team (7.5 games out) was the Rosebuds. On June 12 the ‘Buds passed the Dragons and took over first place. Those two teams took turns in first place until July 28, when the ‘Buds assumed the lead and kept it … until Thursday. During those 45 days of Rosebud rule, I forgot all about my pre-season conviction that the Dragons were the clear favorites.

Well… I remember it now.

On Friday, Haviland hitters went .350, .422, .600. Aaron Judge ended his career-longest 16-game homer drought (!!) with his 52nd of the season, part of a 2 for 3 with a walk. Dragon pitchers weren’t particularly good (10 ip, 6 er — plus 3 unearned runs), but it didn’t matter because Pear batters only managed a .188, .229, .344 line. Pear pitchers performed better (6 ip, 1 earned run) but it wasn’t enough to forestall a big Dragon win.

Portland: 0.53 [0.71 – 4.29] v. Canberra: 0.47 [4.29 – 0.71]

Rosebud batters woke up Friday from a long snooze to go .365, .411, .654, Hunter Goodman leading the charge with 2 homers as part of his 3 for 4 day. Zack Littell more than matched that powerful performance, tossing all 6 of the Rosebuds’ shutout innings. In fact, the ‘Buds were so dominant on both sides of the ball it’s hard to imagine how the Kangaroos almost still won the day! They played well — batting .286, .348, .495 — and pitched well, too, albeit in limited innings: 3 2/3 innings, 1 earned run allowed. But here are the reasons:

• Hunter Goodman did all his heroics for the AAA Newberg Camellias, having been allocated 0% for the EFL team.
• Spencer Steer’s 2 for 4 with a double and a homer was 40% diverted to the Camellias.
• Two-thirds of Alec Burleson’s 2 for 5 benefitted the Camellias.

Pittsburgh: 0.70 [3.85 – 1.15] v. Kaline: 0.30 [1.15 – 3.85]

The Alleghenys got 15 solid innings (6 earned runs) from three pitchers, the best of whom was Edward Cabrera ( 6 ip 0 er). The hitting lacked that luster: .241, .290, .345. The Drive came close to matching that offense (.231, .259, .385) and out-performed the A’s at pitching (8.7 ip, 0 er). The A’s got their outsized boost because they had enough innings to replace 8 replacement innings, whereas the D’s only replaced 1.7 replacement innings.

Salem: 0.01 [0.85 – 4.15] v. DC: 0.99 [4.15 – 0.85]

Seraphim batters did well: .289 .325, .553. But Landon Knack only lasted 2 innings while chulking (5 er), leaving Salem somewhat vulnerable… and the Balk pounced. Jose Quintana pithed 7 shutout innings, and got enough backup from his hitting teammates (.250, .333, .458), especially Harrison Bader (2 for 4 with a homer and a double).

Flint Hill: 0.40 [0.53 – 4.47] v. Old Detroit: 0.60 [4.47 – 0.53]

Juuuuliiiiooo!

Julio Rodriguez blasted a two-out, ninth inning home run, completing his 4 for 5 with a homer and a double, to lift the Mariners to a crucial win, and the Tornados to a…well, not a win exactly…. to lift the Tornados off the floor in their week-long series against the Wolverines. It would have been a win, except T-pitchers coughed up 6 earned runs in only 7.3 innings, replacing replacements’ 7.50 ERA innings with permanent 7.40 ERA innings.

The Wolverines left the gate open by hitting poorly: .196, .213, .304 — which would have been even worse except Byron Buxton blasted a homer in his return from his latest sojourn on the IL. But Emerson Hancock stepped into the pitching breach with 5 adequate innings (3 er) and relievers added 4 more scoreless innings, all of them replacing replacements.

Cascadia: 0.72 [1.71 – 3.29] v. MLB

The Glaciers outplayed their MLB competition Friday, hitting OK (..268, .286, .488) and adding a bunch of strong pitching innings — 14.3, to be exact,, with only 5 earned runs. Jose Siri led the offense with a double and a triple in 4 plate appearances, while Freddy Peralta led the pitchers with 5 ip, 1 er.