Mississippi State Baseball Expectations

[DawgFromOxford]

cool. We on the same page.

Pleasure doing business with you lol

[Coach34]

Bama has a coach get caught gambling last year. They lose players both to the draft and transfer.
Bring in a really good coach from Maryland.

So far this year he has taken 2 of 3 from Tennessee and Arkansas. They are not making excuses or saying lower expectations. They will finish ahead of us this season, pending any unforeseen issues with Ole Miss, Us, LSU and Auburn.
We have not played and will not play this year most of the top half of the league. But we are currently saying hold on to Lemonis because we are 5th, as currently we have only won 1 series against a team projected into the CWS regionals.

It is frustrating to Alabama make an upgrade hire, and make no excuses for their expectation to win. But here we say "historically though", and we are told not to expect too much compared to the last 10 years.

Andddddd we have a better record than Bama

[Homedawg]

Small correction- Polk won 4. 79, 85, 87, 89

Once Bertman got entrenched at LSU? Polk was bounced back a level

87 was the sec tournament.... got in as the last seed which was 6th in a 10 team league

[Coach34]

We have not played and will not play this year most of the top half of the league. But we are currently saying hold on to Lemonis because we are 5th, as currently we have only won 1 series against a team projected into the CWS regionals.

I love a good narrative change. Before the season started, it was "our SEC schedule is brutal. No way Lemon survives it. We gonna start 1-8 in the SEC"

Now???? We havent played a tough enough SEC schedule.....you can't make this shit up if you tried.

[Santiago]

Andddddd we have a better record than Bama

Bama is about to play all the teams we played in the front half of the season. It is pretty clear they now get their easy part of the schedule.
They took 2 of 3 from teams we are just hoping to get 1 win on the weekend from.
Their RPI is 17

[Santiago]

I love a good narrative change. Before the season started, it was "our SEC schedule is brutal. No way Lemon survives it. We gonna start 1-8 in the SEC"

Now???? We havent played a tough enough SEC schedule.....you can't make this shit up if you tried.

I did not say that, so please post onto someone else's comments about some narrative change.

My thoughts pre-season is he has all the opportunity in the world to get wins this year....then we played Air Force.

[Todd4State]

The expectation every year is to make a Super Regional. We have historically been one of the top programs in the SEC throughout every decade except for maybe the Polk 2 era.

Just because we hit our ceiling between 2011-2021 it doesn't mean that shouldn't be our norm especially when it was our norm for 10 years in a row.

[Coach34]

The expectation every year is to make a Super Regional. We have historically been one of the top programs in the SEC throughout every decade except for maybe the Polk 2 era.

Just because we hit our ceiling between 2011-2021 it doesn't mean that shouldn't be our norm especially when it was our norm for 10 years in a row.

SEC teams that make the Tourney on the reg will make some Supers- usually the Top 8 in the SEC are among the 25 best in the country.

[Todd4State]

SEC teams that make the Tourney on the reg will make some Supers- usually the Top 8 in the SEC are among the 25 best in the country.

Yes that is true.

But all seasons are not created equal. There is a big difference in 2014 and 2022 where we had a losing season.

Neither season met our standard but one was a lot more acceptable than the other.

Seasons are measured based on what the team does in the postseason and championships. Which is why winning the SEC or SEC Tournament and not making a Super Regional still meets our standards.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Yes that is true.

But all seasons are not created equal. There is a big difference in 2014 and 2022 where we had a losing season.

Neither season met our standard but one was a lot more acceptable than the other.

Seasons are measured based on what the team does in the postseason and championships. Which is why winning the SEC or SEC Tournament and not making a Super Regional still meets our standards.

I could care less if we ever win an SEC Championship or a game in the SECT again. Do damage in a tournament that actually matters.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Andddddd we have a better record than Bama

Couple weeks ago you made a whole thread about up being ranked proving the team was good.

But now that we're unranked and Bama is, it's record that matters? Wait what happens the T25 rankings being your metric of choice?

It's almost like you cherry-pick stats that suit your agenda and discard them when they quit being useful

And with respect to record, we DO have a better record than Bama. It's almost like they have the #5 SOS and us #44...

[Coach34]

Couple weeks ago you made a whole thread about up being ranked proving the team was good.

But now that we're unranked and Bama is, it's record that matters? Wait what happens the T25 rankings being your metric of choice?

It's almost like you cherry-pick stats that suit your agenda and discard them when they quit being useful

And with respect to record, we DO have a better record than Bama. It's almost like they have the #5 SOS and us #44...

I'm just enjoying the season and all that it brings. We have a pretty even match-up this weekend and I think we have a chance to steal a series on the road. Then we get your awesome Bama team at home and another series win.

[Todd4State]

I could care less if we ever win an SEC Championship or a game in the SECT again. Do damage in a tournament that actually matters.

While those are not our ultimate final goal they do matter. Winning the SEC means we won 20+ SEC games in all likelihood. Winning the SEC Tournament means you win the nations most prestigious conference tournament.

All of it adds to our resume.'

[BrunswickDawg]

While those are not our ultimate final goal they do matter. Winning the SEC means we won 20+ SEC games in all likelihood. Winning the SEC Tournament means you win the nations most prestigious conference tournament.

All of it adds to our resume.'

Which maybe matters for national seeding, but has little relation to post-season performance.
As we've seen, it's possible for the last seed in the tournament to win a CWS. Coastal Carolina was roughly a #17 seed when they won. Virginia was in the 40s when they won in '15 (a #3 seed in the #16 seeds regional). Winning outside the top 16 seeds is a regular occurrence in baseball. Personally, the ability of ANY team that makes the post season to win the CWS is why I feel strongly about our standard being "make the tourney". Anything over that is gravy.

[Commercecomet24]

Which maybe matters for national seeding, but has little relation to post-season performance.
As we've seen, it's possible for the last seed in the tournament to win a CWS. Coastal Carolina was roughly a #17 seed when they won. Virginia was in the 40s when they won in '15 (a #3 seed in the #16 seeds regional). Winning outside the top 16 seeds is a regular occurrence in baseball. Personally, the ability of ANY team that makes the post season to win the CWS is why I feel strongly about our standard being "make the tourney". Anything over that is gravy.

We must've been separated at birth, we think to much alike. And "just making the tourney" doesn't mean we just settle for that, in baseball, at any level if you make the tournament you have a shot at winning it all(see rangers/diamondbacks in mlb last year). Heck I wished we would go undefeated in baseball every year but that's just not the way it works.

[Todd4State]

Which maybe matters for national seeding, but has little relation to post-season performance.
As we've seen, it's possible for the last seed in the tournament to win a CWS. Coastal Carolina was roughly a #17 seed when they won. Virginia was in the 40s when they won in '15 (a #3 seed in the #16 seeds regional). Winning outside the top 16 seeds is a regular occurrence in baseball. Personally, the ability of ANY team that makes the post season to win the CWS is why I feel strongly about our standard being "make the tourney". Anything over that is gravy.

Winning the SEC and the SEC Tournament are things that we can sell to recruits. It shows that a program is relatively strong despite "that's baseball" happening in the regionals.

Postseason performance matters on some level. You have to get it done in the postseason and the best get it done when the lights are on.

Making it to a regional means you are a good SEC team. Making it to a Super Regional means that you are an elite team. We are an elite program and thus the expectations should match that.

[StarkVegasSteve]

While those are not our ultimate final goal they do matter. Winning the SEC means we won 20+ SEC games in all likelihood. Winning the SEC Tournament means you win the nations most prestigious conference tournament.

All of it adds to our resume.'

I will give you that winning the SEC means winning 20+ conference games, which basically locks you in to be a national seed. But the SECT is getting more and more pointless as the years go by. It's kind of important for bubble teams, but for teams locked into the tournament it could not matter less. For example:

2012: We win it and are still a 2 seed.
2021: We get run ruled 2 straight games and are still a national seed.

If you are already locked in to the tournament, you should treat any game before Saturday like a midweek. I have never seen a team go into that tournament on the outside looking in to host and get to host due to their SECT performance. The hay is basically in the barn by the time Hoover comes around. Hell, Ray Tanner was 2-6 in Hoover from 2010-2012 and won 2 national championships and was runner up for another.

[Todd4State]

I will give you that winning the SEC means winning 20+ conference games, which basically locks you in to be a national seed. But the SECT is getting more and more pointless as the years go by. It's kind of important for bubble teams, but for teams locked into the tournament it could not matter less. For example:

2012: We win it and are still a 2 seed.
2021: We get run ruled 2 straight games and are still a national seed.

If you are already locked in to the tournament, you should treat any game before Saturday like a midweek. I have never seen a team go into that tournament on the outside looking in to host and get to host due to their SECT performance. The hay is basically in the barn by the time Hoover comes around. Hell, Ray Tanner was 2-6 in Hoover from 2010-2012 and won 2 national championships and was runner up for another.

Oh I understand it's a cash grab and it has little to no effect on the postseason.

But it is a point of pride and it is recorded on the outfield wall when you win it. It's something we sell to recruits in terms of how many times we've won it. Winning the SEC Tournament is the most important or ultimate goal but winning it also isn't a bad thing either.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Oh I understand it's a cash grab and it has little to no effect on the postseason.

But it is a point of pride and it is recorded on the outfield wall when you win it. It's something we sell to recruits in terms of how many times we've won it. Winning the SEC Tournament is the most important or ultimate goal but winning it also isn't a bad thing either.

Yea I mean if we happen to win it then great, but we don't need to go all out to do it. I honestly would prefer to have the top 2 teams have a 3 game series that weekend. Top team gets to host. That would draw more than a regional or Super if it was us vs Arky or us vs LSU. Or god forbid, it was us vs OM.

[BrunswickDawg]

Winning the SEC and the SEC Tournament are things that we can sell to recruits. It shows that a program is relatively strong despite "that's baseball" happening in the regionals.

Postseason performance matters on some level. You have to get it done in the postseason and the best get it done when the lights are on.

Making it to a regional means you are a good SEC team. Making it to a Super Regional means that you are an elite team. We are an elite program and thus the expectations should match that.

I'm just going to have to disagree on this completely. Our 2011 team is great example. Good team. Lots of dirtbags. 3 very young future MLB players. Fun as hell to watch. Squeaked into post season with a 14-16 SEC record because of a great May. 2 and Q at the SEC Tournament. Sweep thru Atlanta at the GT Regional and get to within 3 outs of Omaha. Love that team - they were not elite. They are the prime example of a good team getting hot and riding the wave.