Michigan Baseball ranked #1 in the nation
Baseball America poll—the oldest top-25 in college baseball—has ranked Michigan #1 after an opening weekend that saw #8 Michigan defeat #1 Vanderbilt in the opener, beat Cal Poly in a tight game and immediately get on a bus to face #3 Arizona State in Tempe. Michigan beat them 5-0.
3 games in 2 days and two wins over top-3 teams was enough to get everyone to ignore the 7-1 loss to UConn yesterday that was played on very short rest.
First time in the history of the poll that dates back to the early 1980s.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
Fire Bakich.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
Right - aren’t we on a losing streak?
February 17th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
underrated comment there
February 17th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
This is like MGoblog's version of "break a leg," huh? I wonder if Michigan fans will still be using this in 400 years when Michigan is on the verge of the Intergalactic Series championship.
February 17th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
This dates from last spring during the B1G tournament. You really had to be here.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
I was here.
Break a leg - one theory of it's derivation: "It came from the understudies in Shakespearean times telling the primaries to “break a leg” enough times that it came to be considered bad luck if they didn’t say it."
Thus "Fire Bakich"
February 18th, 2020 at 1:12 AM ^
Pretty erudite (er, recondite) comment coming from somebody from St. Joe... ;-)
February 17th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
Whatever happened to the original coward who inadvertently and unironically started the 'Fire Bakich' meme?
February 17th, 2020 at 5:30 PM ^
Goblue85... he’ll be back in May/June
February 17th, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
Which OP WD called for late last year.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:15 AM ^
Whoa, nice! It's early though, and like you said, first time so we'll see how they deal with a target on their back.
I do have a small quibble...do you need to make the 80s sound so ancient?
February 17th, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
I stormed the beach at Grenada!!!
February 17th, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
I knew it! You're Swede aren't you!?
February 17th, 2020 at 10:54 AM ^
Now we're 1-1-1, eh Gunny?
February 17th, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
I was at Grenada too!!
Or, 'Nada' as I like to call it...
February 17th, 2020 at 10:09 AM ^
Technically...it was back in the 1900's.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:21 AM ^
It certainly appears as though this lineup and the front-line pitchers can play against anyone.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:25 AM ^
Amazing, take note other northern schools...it can be done.
February 17th, 2020 at 1:28 PM ^
Actually, don't.
I want to see Michigan reign over the Big Ten and have an easy path into the Super Regionals for he next 20+ years much like how Clemson dominates the ACC now and has a relatively easy path into the CFB Playoffs.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:41 AM ^
Fire Bakich, Fire Fetter
Fire the 3B coach.
Fire the 1B coach.
Fire the bat boy.
Fire the grounds crew
Fire the assit to the travelling secretary
February 17th, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
What about the usher in section 5?
February 17th, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
Just make sure the Assistant to the Traveling Secretary isn't getting severance pay. Saw something somewhere where that didn't work out very well......
February 17th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
Burn it down.
Unacceotable!
February 17th, 2020 at 8:50 AM ^
Fantastic news. Simply splendid.
February 17th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
It's about time, we're a baseball school, after all!
February 17th, 2020 at 9:06 AM ^
There's no shame in being a baseball school..... it is America's Past time.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:07 AM ^
Baseball/softball school
February 17th, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^
Leave Bakich on the tarmac.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^
Here's to hoping Bakich turns this baseball program into dominating the B1G for years to come just like Hutch did/is doing with softball.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:53 AM ^
The B1G has already been conquered by both. They are now playing on the national stage - tournaments and recruiting !
February 17th, 2020 at 10:28 AM ^
Hutch has only one NC and several blown tournaments.
Let's hope Bakich is better than that.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
Red Berenson only has two NCs and several blown tournaments, right?
John Beilein had zero NCs and several blown tournaments, right?
Bev Plocki has zero NCs and whole long string of blown tournaments, right?
You must have really despised Schembechler. I swear Michigan fans can be the most miserable SOBs in the country.
Christ.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
I was hoping this was sarcasm but I suspect that you're just that much of an idiot.
February 17th, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^
Colossally stupid take
February 17th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
As long as we're talking hypotheticals, in the situation where he does do that, I'm curious how long he'd actually stick around. If an MLB club came calling one day, that's awfully hard for Bakich to turn down, no matter which job it is. From the Yankees on down to the Marlins, that is still considered "the big time."
I don't know how often major league clubs dip down into the collegiate ranks to find their next manager, if it ever happens. And I'm not saying Bakich is definitively good enough to be at that level. But I'm sure part of the reason Hutch has stayed here so long is because this really is the pinnacle for softball. There's no professional softball to ascend to. Or if there is, its not anymore lucrative than a top collegiate position. But there's a whole other world for top baseball coaches to ascend to.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
I'm beginning to think that Bakich's approach to toughening up the players outside in the cold weather north has the players much more prepared at the beginning of the season, than the softer "southern belles".
Hopefully the main weaknesses - back end of the lineup and bullpen - will get fixed, once the infirmary get emptied.
February 17th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
In college baseball you only really need 3 top line pitchers, see last year. And this year we have plenty of pitching depth. Paige who got the L last night will be a bullpen guy all season, although he did pitch great against I believe UCLA in the tourney last season. So I'm not worried about our pitching staff at all.
February 17th, 2020 at 10:39 AM ^
Page pitched extremely well in Game 2 of the title series against Vandy last year for 4 innings, battling surefire first-round P Kumar Rocker to a draw. He was taken out because Bakich was worried that Vandy’s potent lineup would figure him out the second time through the lineup.
February 17th, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
Time for Chris Fetter to get the Warinner treatment and give him a big pay raise and anything he wants, short of the head coach position. He's one of the best pitching coaches in college baseball and it would be be a huge step back to lose him to the pros.
'He's a star': UM pitching coach Chris Fetter a hot commodity, with strong interest from Yankees, others
February 17th, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^
#1 - that’s just crazy cool - way to go boys! Go Blue!!
February 17th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^
We have a nice mix of youth and experience. HAIL!!!
February 17th, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
Hey at least we have baseball and basketball still.
February 17th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
Nice !!! Pretty soon we will have two very important players back from injury too.
Closer Willie Weiss . Great arm.will be a MLB ptcher
OF Jesse Franklin .good power.one of the nations leaders in walks last season,probably the #3 hitter this year.hes been drafted three years in a row.Senior (high school) Fresh-Soph (Michigan)
February 17th, 2020 at 6:31 PM ^
He can’t be drafted three years in a row that’s not how the baseball draft process works, but yes it makes it all that much more impressive that our offense was good without our 2nd best bat (behind Nwogu).
February 17th, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
Have any other B1G teams been this high in the poll ever?
February 17th, 2020 at 10:54 AM ^
Baseball America says that this is the first Big Ten team to be ranked #1 in their rankings, which go back to about 1981.
Most people might consider this a meaningless nitpick, but I think it's an important distinction: this is not a "poll"--they are "rankings" determined by the BA editorial staff, and possibly the point is to generate discussion and drive clicks rather than to actually rank teams. At no point does Baseball America claim this is a poll.
February 17th, 2020 at 1:01 PM ^
Trying like crazy to find an archive of all the rankings going back to 1981 of BA.
Really hindering my progress getting the Baseball SuperGuide off the ground.
February 17th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
Im enjoying all the baseball threads. Lots of interest on the board. Maybe this year we can get some baseball previews on the front page? Doesn’t have to be a ton of analysis but just the pitching matchup, today’s lineup, and some basic stats.
February 17th, 2020 at 12:57 PM ^
Kind of shoots down the old saying that there's no place to go but up...
February 17th, 2020 at 2:38 PM ^
Very impressive start-Go Blue! Stay healthy. First home game is March 12th.