Mississippi State Baseball Expectations

[StarkVegasSteve]

These are reasonable expectations every 10 year stretch:

Make the tournament at least 9 times (should be 10, but sometimes you just get really bad luck in baseball)
Host a regional at least 5 times
Win a regional at least 5 times
Make it to Omaha at least 3 times

We are one of only 4 fanbases who care about winning in baseball, and at worst we care the 2nd most (and you could make an argument that we're ahead of LSU and are #1). These are modest goals with that in mind.


For comparison, in the 10 year stretch from 2011 through 2021 (remembering that 2020 was canceled), we made 9 Regionals, hosted 4 times, won 7 regionals, and made Omaha 4 times, winning it all once. That's hitting 3 of those 4 expectations, exceeding 2 of them and missing the hosting just by 1. That's a very successful decade, and one that we should be replicating in any rolling 10.

That 10 stretch was without a doubt the most successful in program history. I think it also spoiled the fanbase. We are a program that gets to Omaha once every 4-6 years. Making the tournament and hosting every other year should be the standard. Making Omaha 4 times in a 10 year stretch and 3 straight years is not our historical norm.

[Santiago]

That 10 stretch was without a doubt the most successful in program history. I think it also spoiled the fanbase. We are a program that gets to Omaha once every 4-6 years. Making the tournament and hosting every other year should be the standard. Making Omaha 4 times in a 10 year stretch and 3 straight years is not our historical norm.

Saying it spoiled us might be true about some fans but not all. It also ingnited our base to see our full potential when we are trying every year to knock down doors.
We had a legendary coach whose recruiting was "have the kid come to my camp". Whatever he did, and his methods were perfectly fine with our fan base for way too many years, as we saw Ole Miss hire a coach that started taking the kids in MS and surrounding areas that used to be ours.

I think there is truth from both aspects about the past 10 years. Maybe some raised the bar too much, but then others see what our stadium, NIL, and fan support can really do with a coach that is a recruiter and evaluator of talent.
We don't want to go back to the Lazy Boy recliner and lower the bar, and in no way do I want to see MSU baseball go back to that complacency.

So when I hear people say our fan base is spoiled over the past 10 years.....I hear that but also get vibes of the old fan base complacency that you say we historically should accept.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Saying it spoiled us might be true about some fans but not all. It also ingnited our base to see our full potential when we are trying every year to knock down doors.
We had a legendary coach whose recruiting was "have the kid come to my camp". Whatever he did, and his methods were perfectly fine with our fan base for way too many years, as we saw Ole Miss hire a coach that started taking the kids in MS and surrounding areas that used to be ours.

I think there is truth from both aspects about the past 10 years. Maybe some raised the bar too much, but then others see what our stadium, NIL, and fan support can really do with a coach that is a recruiter and evaluator of talent.
We don't want to go back to the Lazy Boy recliner and lower the bar, and in no way do I want to see MSU baseball go back to that complacency.

So when I hear people say our fan base is spoiled over the past 10 years.....I hear that but also get vibes of the old fan base complacency that you say we historically should accept.

Not just our fanbase, but ANY fanbase would have been spoiled with that. In 10 years we had 8 tournament appearances (COVID took away 2020 season), 7 Supers, 4 CWS appearances, and a national championship. In today's college baseball world where more than 10 programs care, that is a ABSURD hit rate for success.

[Santiago]

Not just our fanbase, but ANY fanbase would have been spoiled with that. In 10 years we had 8 tournament appearances (COVID took away 2020 season), 7 Supers, 4 CWS appearances, and a national championship. In today's college baseball world where more than 10 programs care, that is a ABSURD hit rate for success.

You are right. But I think though there is just this concern to not let us fall all the way back to complacency in the Polk years when Bianco was running circles around him. To me, that should not be part of our historical expectations, and when I read it on our boards it is frustrating to hear people say historically we should accept that crap from back then.

[StarkVegasSteve]

You are right. But I think though there is just this concern to not let us fall all the way back to complacency in the Polk years when Bianco was running circles around him. To me, that should not be part of our historical expectations, and when I read it on our boards it is frustrating to hear people say historically we should accept that crap from back then.

Definitely concern there. Recruiting, which was the reason that Bianco was running circles around us, has not fallen off to this point so I still think we will be ok if we continue building on the success of this season.

[Quaoarsking]

That 10 stretch was without a doubt the most successful in program history. I think it also spoiled the fanbase. We are a program that gets to Omaha once every 4-6 years. Making the tournament and hosting every other year should be the standard. Making Omaha 4 times in a 10 year stretch and 3 straight years is not our historical norm.

I'll say it again - 5 hosts, 5 regional wins, 3 Omahas each decade should be our minimum standard. We exceeded that a bit from 2011-21. In the modern world with NIL and the portal, there's no excuse not to hit that standard or at least get close to it for our program.

I don't care that we didn't get there "historically." I'm talking about the future. I wouldn't necessarily fire a coach who fell a little short either but over rolling time, that should be an average decade.