05-15-2019, 04:00 PM
Baseball America and D1Baseball released their latest projected brackets today in which Stanford received the #9 and #10 seeds, respectively. Both sites have the Card on the outside looking in for a top 8 seed despite both of them ranking Stanford #3 in their top 25 polls. As has been discussed previously, the reason for the discrepancy lies in our RPI. As of this morning, our RPI ranks #14, essentially third in a three-way tie for 12th place with Texas A&M and UC Santa Barbara.
Looking ahead, we have seven games remaining including our final two conference series, home versus OSU and away at ASU, sandwiched around a midweek home game against Ryan Garko's Pacific club. We currently sit at 38-9 overall and in a three-way tie for the PAC-12 lead with UCLA and OSU at 19-5. UCLA holds the tiebreaker over both us and the Beavers having won both series. The Bruins also have the benefit of having the easiest schedule down the stretch, facing the Huskies at home before traveling to Eugene next weekend for a series with the Ducks. Anything can happen, but hard to see UCLA doing any worse than 4-2 in these games. As a result, repeating as outright conference champions may be a task a bit too tall for Stanford, but claiming a share of the title certainly isn't out of the question.
As far as what it will take to claim a top 8 seed, my best guess is that a 6-1 record over the next two weeks should guarantee it while 4-3 or worse probably precludes the possibility. I think 5-2 is where things get interesting, and the finishes of other teams may come into play. For those inclined to scoreboard watch, our closest competitors for the final #8 seed appear to be Texas Tech, East Carolina, Louisville, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State - Oregon State as well but we'll have a say in how the Beavers finish.
Looking ahead, we have seven games remaining including our final two conference series, home versus OSU and away at ASU, sandwiched around a midweek home game against Ryan Garko's Pacific club. We currently sit at 38-9 overall and in a three-way tie for the PAC-12 lead with UCLA and OSU at 19-5. UCLA holds the tiebreaker over both us and the Beavers having won both series. The Bruins also have the benefit of having the easiest schedule down the stretch, facing the Huskies at home before traveling to Eugene next weekend for a series with the Ducks. Anything can happen, but hard to see UCLA doing any worse than 4-2 in these games. As a result, repeating as outright conference champions may be a task a bit too tall for Stanford, but claiming a share of the title certainly isn't out of the question.
As far as what it will take to claim a top 8 seed, my best guess is that a 6-1 record over the next two weeks should guarantee it while 4-3 or worse probably precludes the possibility. I think 5-2 is where things get interesting, and the finishes of other teams may come into play. For those inclined to scoreboard watch, our closest competitors for the final #8 seed appear to be Texas Tech, East Carolina, Louisville, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State - Oregon State as well but we'll have a say in how the Beavers finish.