The Drive and Cascades have been running 1-2 in our standings for 29 days in a row, ever since June 12. In that time Salem, DC, and Peshastin took turns in third place. All of them maintained a respectful distance from our leaders, who also almost always maintained a steady distance from each other — most often 2 or 3 games apart.
Very tidy, very gentlemanly. We can all be proud of our leaders’ civility and comportment.
Flint Hill took over third place just four days ago. Every day since then they’ve barged brazenly closer to our dear leaders: 4.7 games out of first on the 7th, 3.7 on the 8th, 3.1 on the ninth, and then set off all the klaxons yesterday by storming right up close: 2.7 games out of first, and only 0.7 away from the Glaciers!
I hope this unruly behavior is just a byproduct of inattention from distracted management as it moves its front offices to extreme Southern California. Surely Point Loma University didn’t intend to align itself with an unregulated agent of terror and destruction. Right?!?
MLB 0.6, Kaline 0.4. MLB leads the series, 3.2 – 1.8.
I am an admirer of civility and good comportment. But I have to admit: we also expect our leaders to lead. Which the Drive still do, of course, but I have to say, it would help us all if their leadership included leading us to victory over the MLB. Let’s have more like Ryan Weathers, who only surrendered 1 earned run in his 5 2/3 innings. Or Jonathan Loaisiga, whose one inning was a shutout. And less like Tim Mayza, who spoiled the Drive pitching stats in his one inning of work by giving up 4 earned runs, leaving the daily ERA in 6.16 tatters. This badly marred what the Drive offense had achieved: 16 batters (!!) making 62 PA (2 games worth!) with very nice .288, .371, .558 results. Tristan Peters, Ben Rice and Jac Caglianone all drove fair balls out of the park.
Cascadia 0.6, MLB 0.4. MLB leads the series, 3.5 – 1.5.
The Glaciers at least managed to edge out MLB on the day Friday, even though they sent no pitchers to the mound. Eleven Glacial batters mimicked the Drive’s stats. Not the PA, of course; the Glaciers only sent 11 batters out there, collecting 46 plate appearances. But the rest of the numbers were almost identical: .275, .370 .550. With 2 home runs (Elly De La Cruz) and Wilyer Abreu).
Flint Hill 0.8, MLB 0.2. Flint hill leads the series, 4.5 – 0.5.
Jack Flaherty twirled 6 solid innings (2 er allowed), which two relievers managed to not spoil things (2 ip, 1 er), for a 3.38 daily ER. Ten Tornados took 44 turns at the plate, producing a .333, .364, .571 batting line, just a little better than Kaline and Cascadia. The Tornados’ three home runs came from Jazz Chisholm, James Wood, and Chase DeLauter. Three T’s got three hits each: James Woods in the form of a single, a double, and a home run. Kyle Karros’ and Slencer Steer’s six hits were all singles.
Peshastin 0.7, MLB 0.3. MLB leads the series, 3.6 – 1.4
Before the Tornados swept past them, the Pears were settling into position as a third member of our tidy leadership team having spent 10 straight days in third place, most of it between 4 and 5 games out. They are still just 4.3 games out, keeping pace with the Drive — but not the Tornados. Peshastin pitched superbly Friday, Parker Messick delivering 6 strong innings (1 er) and two relievers cooperating to complete 3 more innings scorelessly, to make the total 9 innings, 1 earned run. But Pear hitters were on a different, more replacement-level-ish wavelength: 42 PA, .194, .286, .306.
I don’t want to seem tiresome, but I have been warning that our leaders need to be out front against MLB. But the three teams that were atop our league before the Tornados arrived have gone a combined 4.7 – 10.3 against the MLB this week. The Pears clobbered MLB last week, 4.5 – 1.5, so why are they settling for 1.4 – 3.6 now? (Kaline and Cascadia are doing about the same this week as they did last week when they combined to go 4.5 – 7.5.)
D.C. 0.9, MLB 0.1. D.C. leads the series, 3.6 -1.4.
With one exception, every team from DC (5th place) to Haviland (10th place) are beating the MLB handily this week, and our 11th-place team is playing MLB even. Perhaps we’ve all imbibed a little of the Tornado impatient, untamed wildness? The Balk didn’t balk at disdaining conventional wisdom yesterday. They sent no one to the mound and only seven to the plate, making only 26 plate appearances. But those seven did amazing things. And I don’t just mean having a lower OBP (.308) than their batting average (.320). I also mean having as many home runs (3) as the Drive did, but doing it with half as many batters and less than half as many plate appearances, Which is how the Balk put together than .800 SLG and 1.108 OPS. (The three homer hitters were Samuel Basallo, Miguel Vargas, and Tyler Soderstrom.)
Pittsburgh 0.9, MLB 0.1. Pittsburgh leads the series 2.9 – 2.1.
The Allegheny offense stumbled Friday, only eight appearing for 29 PAs, and batting only .154, .241, .385. Homers by Kazuma Okamoto and Jake Burger accounted for 50% of the team’s hits and 80% of the team’s total bases. But the As won big anyway because starter Nolan MacLean (6 ip) and Daniel Lynch (1 ip) barred all earned runs from scoring (although they treated two unearned runs more generously). That was good enough to enable the A’s to slip back in front of the Seraphim for that coveted, pivotal seat in 6th pace.
MLB 1.4, Salem (-0.4). MLB leads the series, 4.3 – 0.7.
The Seraphim had the worst day of any EFL team yesterday. They had no pitchers. Their 12 hitters, taking 47 plate appearances, only got 4 hits and 5 total bases, plus 5 walks for a dismal .098, .191, .122 slash line. Jacob Wilson had a good day ( 2 for 3). Kyle Tucker hit the double. They lost three of their nine baserunners to double plays. Apparently they still managed to score one run because Travis Bazzana was credited with a sacrifice fly.
Canberra 1.6 (!!!), MLB (-0.6). Canberra leads the series, 3.7 – 1.3.
For quite a while the bottom of the league has comprised four teams, 8th through 11th place, clustered closer to each other than the 8th place team has been to the 7th place team. Canberra has been in 8th place since June 24, when the ‘Roos leapt from 10th to 8th in a single day. On the 24th, they were 14.8 games from first, 3.0 games behind 7th-place Pittsburgh, and 2.1 games in front of last place Portland, with Haviland and Old Detroit sandwiched in between. That arrangement persisted every day for 26 days – except July 5 when Pittsburgh and Portland both strayed too far back, leaving the K’s 3.7 games behind Pittsburgh and 3.9 games ahead of Portland. The next day that was fixed and the status quo restored: Canberra in 8th, Portland in 11th, and Old Detroit and Haviland dos-i-dos-ing in 9th and 10th.
Today the pattern has been broken again, and with a bang! Canberra manhandled the MLB. Having saved up their pitchers, they sent three starters and two relievers to the mound. They covered 20.0 innings, allowing only 5 earned runs to score. A dozen Kangaroos took 46 PAs and banged out a robust .263, .356, .526 slash line, featuring home runs by Kevin McGonigle, Isaac Collins, and Austin Wells. Riley Greene walked 3 times and doubled in his four PAs.
This morning the Kangaroos are only 1.7 games out of 7th place. They are closer to the Seraphim than they are to the 9th place Wolverines (2.3 games back), let alone the now-distant Rosebuds (5.1 games back).
Run free, Kangaroos! See how high you can go!
Old Detroit 1.1, MLB (-0.1). Old Detroit leads the series, 3.3 – 1.7
Not that the Wolverines took the Kangaroo breakaway lying down. They also stole part of win out of the MLB win column. Hunter Brown didn’t fall on his face in his 6 innings, keeping the earned runs down to 3, and two relievers polished that up with a scoreless inning each, leaving the daily ERA at a very nice 3.38. The Wolverine hitters were on the same wavelength for once: ten of them amassed 45 PA (a huge number by Old Detroit lights in 2026), every one of them reaching base safely at least once. They celebrated the return of Munetaka Murakami (who only went 1 for 5 with a double, striking out all four other times he came to the plate) by putting together a .308, .379, .590 slash line featuring home runs by Wyatt Langford, Colt Keith, and noted slugger Richie Palacios.
Something still seems a little shaky about that homer-hitting group, what with fragility (Langford), platooning by the host team (Keith and Palacios), and track record (Palacios) all posing threats to future performances. But two of the big three injured Wolverine hitting stars DID make it back before the break. It will be fun as long as it lasts.
MLB 0.9, Haviland 0.1. Haviland leads the series, 3.5 – 1.5
The Dragons are beating MLB handily this week, but did not yesterday. Their hitting was OK: 33 PA, .281, .303, .438 — a lttle thin, but there was a Jasson Dominguez home run and a Ty France double to go with singles each man also hit. The issue yesterday was pitching. Starter Zebby Matthews gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings. That was rough, but could have been salvaged with good relief pitching. Alas: Didier Fuentes coughed up an earned run in his only inning, and Kyle really did Hurt: 1 2/3 ip, 2 earned runs. This left the Dragons with a 7.24 daily ERA over 8 2/3 innings.
Portland 0.5, MLB 0.5. The series is tied, 2.5 – 2.5.
In actually a very hopeful sign for the EFL as a league, our last place team, which has been in the cellar for 22 straight days now, is playing average MLBers evenly this week. They did it again yesterday. Zack Littell only pitched 4 innings, but they only cost 1 earned run. Ten Rosebuds came to the plate for a total of 33 PA, producing a .226, .273, .484 slash line, featuring home runs by JJ Bleday and Yainer Diaz. None of these numbers represent the best the Rosebuds can do.
EFL 7.2, MLB 3.8 for the day. EFL leads the series, 29.4 – 25.6
Season record for the entire EFL: 517.4 – 527.7, .4951. That’s our best league winning percentage since May 30: Week 10, G 6, when we were at .4956.
