The Road to Omaha: 2018 College Baseball Thread

That guy played in Microville in March. We nicknamed him "Whammer." He can really hit, though.

 

This argument seems kinda silly

-They’ve been to two CWSs since 2009. That’s good, but last year’s outcome shouldn’t have much outcome on this year’s seeding
-The Big West is not great this year

I suppose you could argue their non-conference SOS was just crazy, but they only went what, 12-17?

As for where you put them, what’re you gonna do? If Fullerton isn’t in Sanford’s regional, it’s in Oregon State’s or it’s headed two time zones over to Minnesota or Texas. Is that better, or something that’ll be taken as a different sort of screw job?

 

Stanford pitcher Kris Bubic throws a tidy 130 pitches in seven innings. I guess Marquess' ways live on even after the coach is gone.

Fuck it though, they don't need him beyond this year.

 

I don't mean to insult the serious college baseball fans here, but it is the equivalent of college hockey. There are hotbeds, but it's not a national sport overall. Asking CS Fullerton to go to Stanford is one way of making sure some of their fans can show up without undue travel hardship, the same way at least one and usually two of the NCAA hockey tournament regional sites are in New England. Speaking of the latter, spare a thought for the region's (along with the Northeast in general) baseball teams. They play like maybe 10 home games a year, then get sent way south or west where their very few diehard fans (how can you be a fan of a team you see three weeks a year) are sure not to go.

 

I think last year we had some kvetching because Fullerton and Long Beach ended up squaring off in a Super Regional. It was the most entertaining weekend of the tournament.

It seems the bracket always leads to a wildly disproportionate amount of bitching.

 

The brackets are weird - if all four Pac-12 teams win their regionals, they'll face a Pac-12 opponent in the Super Regional. And there are a few places where there are no SEC teams in a potential Super.
They could do a straight seeding 1-32, then fill out the bottom two spots to be as regionally feasible as possible. And for all the kvetching out of the West Coast, there is no law that is stopping them from playing ACC and SEC team in the pre-season.

 

Baseball is a sport with a budget. The Northeast teams do play ACC and SEC schools -- always on the road because they can't play at home. Losses are held against them by the selection committee. It was considered a real feat when Northeastern got an at-large berth this year.

 

If I'm reading the schedule correctly, Troy might have to play three times today.

 

Florida State's loss Saturday ... my God.

Drew Parrish goes eight innings and 109 pitches as FSU takes a 2-0 lead. Then a 2 1/2-hour rain delay hits. Then ... Mike Martin sends Parrish back out for the ninth.

Walk, walk, couple of outs, 3-run bomb (on pitch 133), goodbye, season over.

Why do these college coaches remain so willfully stupid?

Column: FSU's Mike Martin made wrong decision to put Drew Parrish back out there

"We wanted him to have the ball because he wanted the ball," Martin said. "His teammates wanted him to have the ball, and if I had to do it over again I would have made the same decision.

 

Yep, but they also, most of the time, have worse teams, as talent flows South and West to more favorable locales. A successful midwestern coach once told me the tried and true line they’re playing a different sport structurally.

 

"And if I had to do it over again, well fuck us all but I would have lost that fuckin' game, too."

 

I don't know how it's even possible that this is still a thing in baseball anywhere. Grady Little and Dusty Baker happened 15 years ago. And these guys keep pushing their much younger pitchers beyond even those limits.