Baseball America replaces LSU with State for their Omaha 8

[DancingRabbit]

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[DancingRabbit]

ETA, here's the meat of it -

Eight for Omaha

Florida, Florida State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, Vanderbilt

It’s a tough weekend for an Eight for Omaha. North Carolina and Texas combined to go 1-6 on the weekend, but I’m not ready to boot either team from the field. The Tar Heels lost a pair of walk-offs at Clemson, one on a newly outlawed balk move, and the Longhorns simply ran into a freight train at Stanford and still managed to win a game. Both of those series feel like blips, especially with the level both teams pitch at. But there’s still a change to the field.

Mississippi State is in and Louisiana State is out. I don’t want to overreact to the last two weekends for LSU, but this is not the pitching staff I signed up for. I still think coach Paul Mainieri will have the Tigers playing their best baseball in May and that these growing pains are to be expected, but, at the same time, it’s hard to be encouraged going into SEC play. Mississippi State, meanwhile, looks like it has perhaps the best 1-2 punch atop its rotation in Ethan Small and JT Ginn and keeps finding ways to win games. We’ll see how it fares this weekend in Gainesville, but it’s been an impressive first month and it’s time to squeeze the Bulldogs into the field.

[Todd4State]

That'll piss em off.

[msbulldog]

That'll piss em off.

Better to be pissed off than pissed on!

[SaintDawg]

That'll piss em off.

My wife and I were talking about it last night. They always seem to get the benefit of the doubt just because they are LSU. Not this year. Not having a lefty to pitch doesn't help either.

[PKADogs55]

Not so sure I would pencil Texas in the Omaha 8, but glad to see B.A. showing the Diamond Dawgs a little love.

[DancingRabbit]

That'll piss em off.

http://i.giphy.com/g92PR2fvnj0OI.gif

[MetEdDawg]

Finding a Top 8 is hard. I don't think there are 8 that look really solid as of right now. There's about 5 that have looked the part early on and about 8-10 others that are possibles. Here's how I would break it down as of right now in no particular order in each group:

Tier 1

MSU
Vandy
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA

These teams early on have shown they have very solid pitching and enough offense to win games multiple ways. Also seem to have enough depth in the bullpen and midweek to be able to sustain a run.

Tier 2
Louisville
FSU
Florida
UNC
Texas Tech

These teams have some areas they are good in but are lacking something. They could get better as the year goes on and make a run but they do have a weakness. Have lost games they shouldn't have midweek that indicate they lack the depth to make a run.

Tier 3/Unknowns

Georgia
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Texas
Michigan

These teams just really haven't played much of anybody (Except Texas who lost 3 of 4 to Stanford and Ole Miss who lost to Louisville). Just not sure what to make of them yet really so it's hard to gauge just how good they are. But they could be players in the end.

So there's my current analysis as we head into the first weekend of SEC conference play.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Don't count LSU out just yet, history has shown us they tend to look like crap early on and even some of their better teams didn't look great in early non conference. However, they'll start peaking around May. Glad we get them early in conference play and at home.

[Jack Lambert]

Better to be pissed off than pissed on!

Unless your on fire.

[Jack Lambert]

Don't count LSU out just yet, history has shown us they tend to look like crap early on and even some of their better teams didn't look great in early non conference. However, they'll start peaking around May. Glad we get them early in conference play and at home.

Usually it is hitting and fielding but not pitching like this season.

[MetEdDawg]

Usually it is hitting and fielding but not pitching like this season.

Them managing all of 1 run against Northwestern State really shocked me. A team like LSU in the past if they lost that game would lose it 9-8. But scoring only 1 run should be very concerning against a team like that.

But their staff is giving up too many runs. 17 their first weekend to Air Force, Army, and UL Monroe. Second weekend they gave up 17 total runs to Bryant. Gave up 2 runs to Texas the next weekend. Looked better giving up only 12 to California but they lost one of those games because they only scored 11 runs that weekend.

[Jack Lambert]

Them managing all of 1 run against Northwestern State really shocked me. A team like LSU in the past if they lost that game would lose it 9-8. But scoring only 1 run should be very concerning against a team like that.

But their staff is giving up too many runs. 17 their first weekend to Air Force, Army, and UL Monroe. Second weekend they gave up 17 total runs to Bryant. Gave up 2 runs to Texas the next weekend. Looked better giving up only 12 to California but they lost one of those games because they only scored 11 runs that weekend.

Pitching is their problem and I don't know if that can be fix like the other stuff during the season. I kind of wonder how they are going to hit Friday and Saturday pitchers in the SEC.

[ScoobaDawg]

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Hang the banner boys...

[CadaverDawg]

http://i.giphy.com/g92PR2fvnj0OI.gif

Never gets old

[Todd4State]

Never gets old

It really doesn't.

[I seen it dawg]

LSU has lineup issues and I've been saying it from first wkd. Along with average pitching at best. They have 4 guys in their lineup that can hit and if 2 of them don't one game they have no one else to pick up the slack. They can be completely shit down like last night. I sent a minion to them game and he said they looked like complete dogshit by a guy that's average at best.

[shoeless joe]

http://i.giphy.com/g92PR2fvnj0OI.gif

Manieri is a bitch

[Dawgcap]

I like the attention but it doesn’t mean a thing. Polls and predictions are just that a guess. If we are underrated it will prove out. If we are overrated it will prove out. Doesn’t matter in any sport till the very end. I’d rather be underrated always. Just a Natty Light thought. You’re not done till you lose your last one.
Unless you werent good enough to play with big boys in basketball and baseball. Screw a poll

[I seen it dawg]

Go 20-10 or better in sec and host a super. That means something.