It's always about pitching

The reason for the Wild Things' improved play over the last three weeks can be best summed up in two words: starting pitching.

Baseball always comes back to the starting pitching, right?

This can be seen in the quality starts (at least six innings pitched and no more than three earned runs allowed) and ERA of the starting pitchers in the first 17 games compared to the last 17:

First 17 games:
Team's record 7-10
Quality starts: 1
Starting pitchers' ERA: 7.06

Last 17 games:
Team's record: 11-6
Quality starts: 11
Starting pitchers' ERA: 2.42

That Washington was able to have a 7-10 record with only one quality start through the first 17 games is amazing. The record should have been much worse.

Quality starts for Frontier League teams through June 26:

Traverse City - 21
Florence - 14
Gateway - 14
Kalamazoo - 14
Rockford - 13
River City - 12
Washington - 12
Windy City - 12
Southern Illinois - 11
Midwest - 10
Chillicothe - 9
Evansville - 7