I follow Stanford Baseball on Twitter. I agree there's not a lot of excitement about this season, maybe due to the unknowns regarding the team's ability to score runs.
Here's the regular season schedule through early April with preseason Baseball America rankings for each opponent:
vs. Cal State Fullerton x 3 (NR)
@ Santa Clara (NR)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Houston (NR)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Texas Tech (6)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Tennessee (NR)
@ Cal (NR)
vs Grand Canyon x 3 (NR)
vs Michigan (8)
vs Kansas State x 4 (NR)
vs Cal x 3 (NR)
@ Cal Poly SLO (NR)
vs ASU x 3 (3)
vs Sac State (NR)
@ Arizona x 3 (22)
So no true road game versus a top-25 opponent until early April, although playing Texas Tech in the state of Texas will feel like a road game. And some of these opponents, like Cal State Fullerton, are probably just outside the top 25.
If Stanford can generate some positive buzz in the first month of the season, I expect the discussion and comments will follow. We were picked to finish #3 in the Pac-11 (Colorado doesn't have a team), so there's potential, it just needs to be realized.
Here's the regular season schedule through early April with preseason Baseball America rankings for each opponent:
vs. Cal State Fullerton x 3 (NR)
@ Santa Clara (NR)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Houston (NR)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Texas Tech (6)
Round Rock, TX classic vs. Tennessee (NR)
@ Cal (NR)
vs Grand Canyon x 3 (NR)
vs Michigan (8)
vs Kansas State x 4 (NR)
vs Cal x 3 (NR)
@ Cal Poly SLO (NR)
vs ASU x 3 (3)
vs Sac State (NR)
@ Arizona x 3 (22)
So no true road game versus a top-25 opponent until early April, although playing Texas Tech in the state of Texas will feel like a road game. And some of these opponents, like Cal State Fullerton, are probably just outside the top 25.
If Stanford can generate some positive buzz in the first month of the season, I expect the discussion and comments will follow. We were picked to finish #3 in the Pac-11 (Colorado doesn't have a team), so there's potential, it just needs to be realized.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)