Say it with me now: Let's Go Rutger!
It's simple: we need Rutgers baseball to beat Indiana today to win the Big Ten.
Michigan split with Nebraska yesterday and Indiana beat Rutgers so we are tied with IU atop the conference. Rutgers is 10/13 in the conference with a 9-13 record.
So a little quid pro quo would be really nice today since we let you play against a Brady Hoke football team, Rutger.
Oof. What was our magic number? 4.5? And we went 2-4 to end the season. That hurts
Now you're making us pull for Rutger? Gawd, I hate you sometimes... LOL!!
Go Rutger.
It hurts so much...
I stayed up late too watch. Nice comeback win for the wolves. They fought back from a rough series.
Nebraska fans with kids running around late was pretty cool. Their Fans were great.
Go Rutgers
Wolves? Too much effort to add "rine" to that?
This doesn't make sense. If we're tied with IU and they win, then they're up by a half game, meaning they play one more conference game than Michigan. Doesn't each team play the same number of conference games? I saw standings that have both teams at 16-7, and Indiana has one game left. Does Michigan play again?
no, not all games that get rained out can be rescheduled
Have to factor in rainouts. I’m assuming every team has the same number of conference games scheduled, but if games are cancelled due to weather, it’s very difficult to get them reschedule during the limited season. NCAA Baseball should move to summer
Oh, i didn't know that. Thanks for the explanation.
I feel like the "Rutger" thing is a little played out.
Yeah, it's pretty dumb. These are the sorts of petty little epithets that people on low IQ RCMB-type places come up with and think are really cute and clever. "DickRod". "scUM". "TSUN". "Purdon't". "Pedo State". Hurr hurr.
The day I cheer for Rutger is...
Today!
Woe the day we need to count on Rutger for anything!
Not that I'm extremely tuned into college baseball, but I feel like it is odd that we don't play the same amount of conference games as Indiana.
Or even remotely tuned in to this thread you chose to comment on for that matter.
Michigan’s baseball team might need more than help from Rutgers today in order to be selected for the NCAA Tournament. While a regular-season, Big Ten Conference championship would be nice to have for Michigan, it might be the equivalent of the Patriot League’s regular season basketball champion not winning that conference’s post-season tournament and being left with nothing but an automatic bid to the NIT. The difference here is that there is no NCAA Division One Baseball NIT, unless you count the fictional one from 2015 ("The Road to Quahog").
Despite the rain-delayed, second-game, 10-8 win last night at Nebraska, with an RPI of 49, a strength of schedule of 151, only five wins against teams that currently have winning records and a record of 25-2 against teams in the bottom quarter of the RPI rankings, Michigan still might need to win the Big Ten Tournament in order to be selected for the NCAA Tournament, even if they manage to win the Big Ten regular-season championship if Rutgers beats Indiana today.
Illinois (35-17; RPI 24), Indiana (35-19; RPI 29) and Nebraska (28-20; RPI 35) all have better RPI's than Michigan. Illinois is 11-5 against teams in the top quarter of the RPI rankings. Indiana is 5-9 against teams in the top quarter of the RPI rankings. Nebraska is 9-11 against teams in the top quarter of the RPI rankings, while Michigan is 4-10 against teams in the top quarter of the RPI rankings, and Nebraska just won two of three against Michigan.
Of the top 100 teams according to RPI, only 78th-ranked Samford (SOS 185), 82nd-ranked Wright State (SOS 236), 92nd-ranked Morehead State (SOS 212), 95th ranked Bryant (SOS 222), 96th-ranked Central Michigan (SOS 283) and 99th-ranked New Mexico State (SOS 235) have weaker schedules.
The only team in the RPI top 50 with a losing record is 48th-ranked Kentucky (26-28; 7-22 in the SEC), but their strength of schedule is 6 and they beat Michigan 7-4 at home this past Tuesday. LINK
I agree with your logic here and am skeptical myself. However every publication had us in the tournament as a 2 seed, as of two weeks ago (before our 2-5 stretch), typically a top 50 RPI and a top 3 finish is good enough to get in, I think as long as we avoid an early exit in the tourney we should be ok. Keep in mind we did take 2 of 3 from Illinois and won on the road (technically neutral site) against #1 UCLA. But what do I know...
either way, this team does not have the bats or pitching depth to get out of a regional. We’ve got 3 solid starters, but that’s it, the bullpen leaves much to be desired. To win a regional you need 4 good-to-great pitchers or a dynamic offense. besides Nwogu and Brewer this team is not consistent at the plate. I hope I’m wrong...
Go Blue!
While it’s true that the publications had Michigan projected as one of the low two seeds in the NCAA tournament before the Nebraska series, I don’t know where Michigan would land if the NCAA Tournament field were projected today because the RPI and strength of schedule still aren’t very good.
It's also true that an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament would hurt Michigan’s NCAA Tournament chances. Besides Rutgers, Michigan could use help today from the other late arrival to the Big Ten, Maryland.
Michigan did NOT play Illinois this season. Michigan’s wins against teams with winning records this season: UCLA, Indiana State, Ohio State, Indiana and Nebraska. If Maryland beats Iowa today for a three-game sweep at home, then that will add three more wins against teams with winning records.
Hmmmmm... you are correct my memory failed me, for some reason I thought we had played illinois early in the year. The committee certainly could hold the SOS against them. The midweek games vs MAC schools hurt them immensely, I’m hoping the humans realize this and the fact they did go out and play TTUx3, OK St, Indiana st x2 and weigh that into their decisions... although we got smoked by TTU.
Good insight, always nice to have knowledgeable baseball fans chime in on the board. Lets hope for a couple wins this week and a bid.
yes.....squid pro row....
LETS GO RUTGERS!!! (you get the s today, don't blow it)
Doesn't matter that we lost one of the games to weather. We had a piss poor effort last weekend against Indiana that continued into this week.
How do you get 2 hits and lose 7-0 in a game that's for a championship? And then win the nightcap that now means nothing because first place is gone.
Complete debacle and my patience is running out with Bakich. This is the 3rd recent late season meltdown that has cost us either a B1G Championship, an NCAA Tournament bid or both. That great recruiting class we signed last year will all be juniors next year meaning that's the last year for guys like Nwogu and Franklin.
Incredibly frustrating and disappointing. At least we aren't losing 30+ games like we were in the late Maloney years, though so I guess I'll take it?