Ridley Park Wiffleball

Rocky Mountain Rundown #9

Week 5 Power Rankings: How “OP” is the Penalty

 

What a week of Wiffleball. It started last Wednesday with the best game we’ve had in the new format. A record 9 inning game featuring five lead changes before ending in an 8-7 Jays victory over the Royals.

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Memorial Day featured a circuit between the Diamondbacks, Phillies and Mariners. The Phillies played without JVH and went 2-0 on the day. The Diamondbacks lost two games by a combined 2 runs but saw the breakout of Dylan Ayers who hit 2 home runs in a 3-2 loss. The Mariners finished the day 1-1 but saw Riley get on the board with his first home run of the season. They also saw the debut of rookie Nick Liberio which was short lived after an injury the following day on the basketball court.

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The week wrapped up Wednesday with two lopsided games as the A’s beat the Jays 10-4 and the Royals handled a shorthanded DBacks team 7-2.

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But the biggest storyline of the week wasn’t a result. It was the penalty. What started as a conversation has quickly turned into full blown league discourse, raising a bigger question: how good are these teams actually supposed to be when everyone is available?

 

Rocky Mountain Rankings

1. A’s –

2. Astros  –

3. Mariners –

4. Royals –

5. DBacks –

6. Blue Jays +2

7. White Sox -1

8. Expos -1

9. Phillies +2

10. Angels -1

11. Mets -1

 

• Athletics continue to dominate. They’re a tier above everyone else

• I won’t let a loss to a three man Phillies team missing its weakest bat affect the Mariners 

• DBacks went 0-3 on the week. One loss against a three man Phillies lineup and another missing their 1st round pick. They have shown me more than the teams below them.

• Jays had an impressive win against the Royals but were bent over by the Athletics. They’ll benefit from several teams around them not playing this week 

• The Phillies went 2-0 while playing shorthanded without JVH. They have seen both sides of the penalty winning two with it and losing two because of it.

The penalty has always had some form of discussion, but never like this. In previous years it rarely mattered because games were usually low scoring regardless. This season feels completely different. Teams playing under the penalty are surviving early innings, then overwhelming teams late once the penalty goes away.

Let’s take a look at the overall impact of the penalty and then touch on the teams who have been affected the most.

 

Games Played- 9

Record- 7-2

Runs Scored during penalty (1st two innings)- 6

Runs Scored after penalty (Last two innings)- 20

Games Penalty team was leading after 2- 1

Games Penalty team was tied after 2- 1

Games Penalty team was losing after 2- 7

 

The numbers are hard to ignore. Penalty teams have scored only 6 runs in the first two innings combined but 20 in the final two innings. The automatic out may not be the real punishment. Once teams reach the third inning, their best hitters suddenly receive more plate appearances than they would in a normal four-man lineup.

The one major outlier here is the White Sox who are 1-0 in the penalty but scored all 3 of their runs on a 1st inning homerun by Boas. Without that the Runs scored during the penalty would have looked much worse. The two losses belong to the Mariners who had multiple chances to win their game against the Jays and the Diamondbacks who played the penalty without their 1st round pick. They are the only team to play in the penalty missing anyone drafted before pick 24 (2nd pick of 3rd round)

Both the Phillies and Royals are 2-0 in the penalty. The Royals played both penalty games without Flick Adams, who is 1-for-15 with 13 strikeouts this season. Against the Mets they were down 3-2 after the 2nd inning before scoring 2 in the 4th to win. Against the Phillies they were tied at 0 heading into the 4th before scoring 2 and winning 2-1. They are 1-2 when playing as a four man lineup. As for the Phillies they played without JVH who is 0/10 this season. They beat the Diamondbacks 1-0 and the Mariners 4-3 scoring all 5 of their runs after the second inning.

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The difficult part in evaluating these games is separating what’s real from what’s penalty driven. Is the penalty actually hurting teams, or is it unintentionally creating stronger offensive lineups late in games? Because right now, the numbers suggest surviving the first two innings might be more valuable than avoiding the penalty altogether.