9 Reasons SEC Baseball is Set to Dominate the Road to Omaha 2016
As we wind down the SEC baseball season, everyone else finally starts to take notice. Honestly, this may be the first time all year you’ve read an article on baseball, and you’re not alone. The casual SEC isn’t as interested in baseball as they are in basketball, and nowhere near as interested as they are in football, but we SEC fans pay attention when it comes down to tournament time, no matter the sport.
So, let me catch you up real quick. The SEC is good, like really good.
The road to Omaha is going to be littered with SEC teams at every spot. Currently, baseballamerica.com has 9 teams in the projected field of 64, and that is the second most teams from any conference, while the ACC leads the way with 10 teams projected in the tournament. However, the SEC has a projected 6 teams to play as host in the tournament, while the ACC only has 5. And currently, the SEC has 7 teams ranked in the top 12, showing the voters believe the SEC has the best talent in the country.
I agree, and I’ve got 9 reasons why the SEC will dominate the Road to Omaha 2016.
9. Already proven against strong competition- 7 of the 9 teams projected to be in the tournament all have an RPI ranking in the top-10. 6 of those 7 teams are projected to host, with projected no. 2 seed Vanderbilt being the outlier.
8. True home field advantage- Florida, Texas A&M, MSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and LSU are all currently projected to serve as regional host sites. Their combined records at home make for a total home win/loss record of 156-36 for an at home winning percentage of 76.9.
7. Greatness travels- Of the projected 9 SEC teams to enter the field of 64, Vanderbilt (9-10) and Kentucky (7-12) are the only 2 teams to have a losing road record.
6. Our SEC teams can hit the ball safely- Texas A&M and Mississippi State both sport team batting averages better than .310. The only team projected to be on the Road to Omaha 2016 that bats below .271 is Alabama.
5. Our SEC teams can hit the ball far, too- Florida, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Ole Miss have all hit at least 40 home runs. The quality of pitching these teams have faced make their home run totals that much more impressive.
4. Lights Out Pitching- Florida, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina are ranked 1, 2, and 3 in K’s per 9. Mississippi State and Texas A&M are both ranked inside the top 15 with a K/9 rate of 9.0 or better. LSU (8.4) and Ole Miss (8.3) both have a K/9 ratio good enough to have them inside the top 35.
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3. If you can’t get on base, you can’t score-
When it comes to fewest hits allowed per game, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Florida all
inside the top 10. Texas A&M is ranked in the top 20. Alabama and Mississippi State are both ranked inside the top 50.
2. No Freebies- Too many times games on the Road to Omaha can be lost by giving teams free base runners. Florida ranks number 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and South Carolina all rank in the top 11 in the country. Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama all rank in the top 40.
1. Florida is in the SEC- There is no doubt that Florida is the best team in the country. In the previous 8 statistical categories Florida is ranked in the top 10 in almost all of them. Texas A&M is the only team projected to be in the field of 64 from the SEC that played Florida and didn’t beat Florida. Now LSU does have a pivotal series this weekend, so that could change. Meanwhile, Kentucky and Mississippi State both won their season series with the Gators. My point? In order to be the best, you have got to beat the best. If you’ve beat the best in the country, you can beat anybody.