NCAA Baseball Predictions (The Road to Omaha)

Interested in any predictions prior to the Memorial Day announcement of the Field of 64?

National Seeds? (1-8 host Regional and, if they win, would host the Super Regional the following weekend as well.)

Regional Hosts? (9-16 host Regional and would travel to the National Seed if both win OR host the Super Regional if they win and the National Seed does not win.)

Field (17-64) Seeds 2, 3 & 4 at each of the 16 Regional Host sites. Just like March Madness, most leagues do their automatic qualifier by who wins the postseason tournament. The PAC12 is an exception and Oregon St. has already qualified because they don't have a tourney. Yale is also in from Ivy.

Kentucky has regional hosts locked up regardless of what happens this weekend. They are still in contention for a national seed.

I think UofL is very close to a lock as a National Seed.

I think UK could get a National Seed by taking 2/3 at Florida this week. I think they have a Regional Host slot locked up even if they get swept at Florida and lose all games in Hoover as well (which I don't expect to happen).

Oregon St. and UNC appear to be locks for National Seeds.

As a general rule, the committee will let your performance in the postseason tournament HELP your case (getting in OR seeding) but typically won't hurt your chances. Also, in baseball the Regions are constructed much more based on geography than basketball. As such, a team in the West or the North may rise to Regional Host status with a marginal case more easily than a team in the Southeast since there are so many strong programs there.

I think UK could get a National Seed by taking 2/3 at Florida this week. I think they have a Regional Host slot locked up even if they get swept at Florida and lose all games in Hoover as well (which I don't expect to happen).

Agreed on the national seed requiring two of three against the Gators. If they lose the series to Florida they could drop into an SEC tournament play-in game (seeds 5-12); a loss there means one and done in the SEC tournament. I think they're fine for hosting a regional, although you don't want to lose several in a row to wrap up.

I'm really hoping Kentucky is a national seed because if they are just a regional host then you can almost guarantee they'd be paired with Louisville and would face each other (in Louisville) in a potential super regional.

UK and Louisville taking 2 from Florida and Florida State, respectively, opens up a whole new can of worms should USF sweep UCF and win the American Conference tournament (I know this won't happen, but one can dream, can't they?). Given that the Bulls beat both the Noles and the Gators, they might actually have an outside shot at a regional here in Tampa.

Don't say those midweek games are meaningless.

UK gets winner of Vandy v. SC in Round 2 in Hoover. That is rough. They are still on the National Seed v. Regional Host bubble, I think. Depends on how they do and what else happens through SUN.

UofL on a 3 game losing streak but still with the #1 seed in ACC tourney. Not sure how they got stuck playing THU & FRI in Pool play, but it may have been based on the tiebreaker rules. Seems if all 3 teams in Pool play end up at 1-1, best seed advances. This allows UofL, UNC, Wake & UVa to see who wins the 1st game in their Pool and line up best pitcher / lineup against that team since the other game doesn't really matter. For example, if FSU beats ND on WED at 1100, UofL game against ND on THU doesn't matter (toward advancement). Best ND could end up is 1-1 and UofL would be 0-1. If UofL beats FSU, they win tiebreaker at 1-1 as better seed. On the other hand, if ND pulls an upset against FSU, the THU game matters and the FRI game doesn't. May seem unfair, but it is a nice reward for being a Top 4 seed.

I'd expect to see McKay pitch whichever game matters based on WED result and a bullpen effort in the game that doesn't matter. Only concern there is that Bennett misses 2 straight starts (rainout on SAT) if they don't get to the ACC Championship game. Maybe Bennett starts in the game that doesn't matter to avoid that and they pull together a bullpen effort in the ACC Championship game if they get there.

Can anyone tell me if the Beechwood kids saw any action this year or were both redshirted?

Stringer was on the UofL roster, but did not play. Assume he will be redshirted (although the year will count toward his draft status making him a SO in 2 yrs. that would be draft eligible).

Not sure about the other Beechwood player(s) you are thinking of.

Stringer was on the UofL roster, but did not play. Assume he will be redshirted (although the year will count toward his draft status making him a SO in 2 yrs. that would be draft eligible).

 

Not sure about the other Beechwood player(s) you are thinking of.

Combs at UK was redshirted because he wasn't going to play over a first round draft choice in Evan White..

If ECU wins the AAC tournament, the conference may get 5 teams in the NCAAs. Houston, UCF, and USF are all ranked in the top 25 and are pretty much locks. UConn has a top 35 RPI.