[CTcard]

Who likes our chances of winning it all?

I don't really - but I am a pessimist about such things.

Texas has to be a favorite at this point. Their half of the bracket looks to me like a two-team race with Tennessee, and I'd give Texas a clear advantage on pitching. They have the best ERA in the country. At 2.89 they are the only team in the country with an ERA under 3.

Vandy looks to me like the best team left. They have the 6th best team ERA in the country (2nd among CWS participants) along with the two top pitching prospects in the nation in Rocker and Leiter. They also led the SEC in both batting average and slugging. That's a tough combination.

Arizona is the best offensive team left - BA #4 (NCAA)/#1(teams in CWS) and SLG #7/#1. They put a 20-2 beating on Stanford at Sunken Diamond earlier in the year - though we won the series.

Stanford's concerns remain the same. Pitching depth first and foremost. They still have to get through a 4-team double elimination tournament followed by a best of three for the championship. It's a little easier on arms at first as the schedule is more spread out - with a day between rounds in the double elimination part. But there is also less of a break after the double elimination part before the final series (either 1 or 2 days rest depending upon how things play out). A second concern is that Stanford relies heavily on the HR, which is great but more susceptible to hot/cold spells. And I still don't like Stanford teams playing before noon pacific time.

On the other hand, the team is hot, they don't seem to care about any of these peripheral issues (heat/noon start times), they have two hot pitchers and a roaring offense, and it's baseball where the outcome is more random than most other sports. Why not Stanford?

[CTcard]

Who likes our chances of winning it all?

I don't really - but I am a pessimist about such things.

Texas has to be a favorite at this point. Their half of the bracket looks to me like a two-team race with Tennessee, and I'd give Texas a clear advantage on pitching. They have the best ERA in the country. At 2.89 they are the only team in the country with an ERA under 3.

Vandy looks to me like the best team left. They have the 6th best team ERA in the country (2nd among CWS participants) along with the two top pitching prospects in the nation in Rocker and Leiter. They also led the SEC in both batting average and slugging. That's a tough combination.

Arizona is the best offensive team left - BA #4 (NCAA)/#1(teams in CWS) and SLG #7/#1. They put a 20-2 beating on Stanford at Sunken Diamond earlier in the year - though we won the series.

Stanford's concerns remain the same. Pitching depth first and foremost. They still have to get through a 4-team double elimination tournament followed by a best of three for the championship. It's a little easier on arms at first as the schedule is more spread out - with a day between rounds in the double elimination part. But there is also less of a break after the double elimination part before the final series (either 1 or 2 days rest depending upon how things play out). A second concern is that Stanford relies heavily on the HR, which is great but more susceptible to hot/cold spells. And I still don't like Stanford teams playing before noon pacific time.

On the other hand, the team is hot, they don't seem to care about any of these peripheral issues (heat/noon start times), they have two hot pitchers and a roaring offense, and it's baseball where the outcome is more random than most other sports. Why not Stanford?