Big Ten Baseball Scores, Standings & Tournament Bracket (5/27)

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Conference Tournament as of now...

1. Michigan vs 8. Ohio State 5pm
4. Iowa vs 5. Maryland 9pm

3. Nebraska vs 6. Illinois 9am
2. Indiana vs 7. Minnesota 1pm

Maryland has head to head over Illinois
Illinois has head to head over Minnesota

Ohio State head to head over Rutgers

Maryland/Minnesota still play

 

[BeepBeepInMyJeep]

Given the schedule of the teams ahead of us and ours, we're in really good position to get up to 2 or 3. I think that's huge because if there's any weather or extra innings, that 4/5 game gets bumped. Of course that didn't stop us in 2017, but our bats haven't really shown the ability to get on a weekend long heater as of yet.

 

[BigOHawk]

Given the schedule of the teams ahead of us and ours, we're in really good position to get up to 2 or 3. I think that's huge because if there's any weather or extra innings, that 4/5 game gets bumped. Of course that didn't stop us in 2017, but our bats haven't really shown the ability to get on a weekend long heater as of yet.

Agreed, would love to get to the #2 line and that 1 p.m. game, better crowd, those 9 a.m. games along with 9 p.m. games are tough!

 

[BigOHawk]

So the jNW game this week is "non conf" game? Interesting...Iowa RPI at 61 right now, and thought I read the most Quad 1 wins in all of the Big 10, wonder what it will take to push toward an "at large" berth? Win series vs. UC Irvine and win series vs. MSU and Maryland might just do it?

 

[BeepBeepInMyJeep]

So the jNW game this week is "non conf" game? Interesting...Iowa RPI at 61 right now, and thought I read the most Quad 1 wins in all of the Big 10, wonder what it will take to push toward an "at large" berth? Win series vs. UC Irvine and win series vs. MSU and Maryland might just do it?

Yep, it's pretty common. Indiana/Purdue, and Michigan State/Michigan usually do this every year. I'd say we have to sweep MSU at home. It would be really damaging to lose to WIU or NW. We're really best off seeing the home game tomorrow get rained out.

We've scheduled some last minute RPI boosters before (I think we did Mizzou last year). Both Iowa and Illinois State don't have anything scheduled for next week, so I wouldn't be surprised if they might be trying to work one out as we speak.

We want to be in the 40's and we're currently at about 60.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Agreed, would love to get to the #2 line and that 1 p.m. game, better crowd, those 9 a.m. games along with 9 p.m. games are tough!

Won't get bumped at TD Ameritrade unless weather does it...did at Indiana that year cause they had a curfew there. OSU/Michigan played til 145am in 2016 in Omaha.

 

[BigOHawk]

Do you think we can catch Neb/Indiana/Mich and move up a notch or two?

Looks like Mich still has Maryland, Nebraska and Indiana to play
Nebraska has Mich & NW
Indiana has Mich, Illinois and Rutgers
Iowa has Sparty and Maryland

Currently, Iowa trails Mich by 2, Indiana by 1.5 and Neb by 1.
I wonder if Iowa can go 4-2 if we could catch at least Neb and Indiana has some tough games left, thoughts?

 

[Couppee]

RPI and standings

 

[StormHawk42]

Michigan is on a tear lately. Hopefully we can get to a 3 seed and avoid them in the BTT.

Nebraska better be careful. They have two tough series left. If their slump continues, they might not make regionals.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Michigan is on a tear lately. Hopefully we can get to a 3 seed and avoid them in the BTT.

Nebraska better be careful. They have two tough series left. If their slump continues, they might not make regionals.

3 seed means another 9am game in the btt yay

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Iowa needs a Nebraska win today. It will bump us to 55 in the RPI. A loss and we fall to 59. We are at 57 currently.

 

[AuroraHawk]

Iowa needs a Nebraska win today. It will bump us to 55 in the RPI. A loss and we fall to 59. We are at 57 currently.

Pepperdine is one RPI point ahead of Iowa. It is impacted by the Gonzaga/Washington State game and the BYU/SD State game.

Gonzaga is also ahead of Iowa by 1 RPI a point. It will not be ahead of Iowa at the end of the day - no matter the results of the games (unless there is a rain out). Even if Gonzaga beats Washington State, it loses 15 RPI points. If it loses to Washington State, it loses 75 RPI points. It is also impacted by the BYU/SD State game.

UCF has no games impacting its RPI today.

EDIT: Those are the teams that are sitting just above Iowa in the RPI rankings.

As for those teams chasing Iowa:
Boston College trails Iowa by one point. The Golden Eagles play Virginia Tech today. They beat VT on Saturday but lost to VT yesterday. A win for BC would be worth about 26 RPI points while a loss would cost them about 18 RPI points. Bottom line? If BC wins today, they pass Iowa.

Virginia is three points behind Iowa. They have no games being played today that would result in a gain/loss of RPI points. However, a Nebraska loss would drop Iowa behind Virginia in the RPI rankings.

Texas trails Iowa by seven points. They also have no games being played today that would result in a gain/loss of RPI points. Even if Nebraska loses, Iowa would stay ahead of Texas.

Virginia Commonwealth trails Iowa by ten points. Same story as Texas.

 

[AuroraHawk]

For sh-ts and giggles (B1G games left for those with a B1G record above .500):

1. Michigan - 14-3 (3 at home against Indiana/3 on road against Nebbie)
2. Indiana - 12-6 (3 on road against Michigan/3 at home against Rutgers)
3. Iowa - 11-7 (3 at home against MSU/3 on road against Maryland)
4. Minnesota - 11-7 (3 at home against Maryland/3 on road against NW)
5. Nebraska - 12-8 (3 at home against Michigan)
6. Illinois - 10-8 (3 at home against Purdue/3 on road against MSU)

I can see Iowa finishing anywhere from 2nd to 6th place given these teams schedules.

 

[Couppee]

For sh-ts and giggles (B1G games left for those with a B1G record above .500):

1. Michigan - 14-3 (3 at home against Indiana/3 on road against Nebbie)
2. Indiana - 12-6 (3 on road against Michigan/3 at home against Rutgers)
3. Iowa - 11-7 (3 at home against MSU/3 on road against Maryland)
4. Minnesota - 11-7 (3 at home against Maryland/3 on road against NW)
5. Nebraska - 12-8 (3 at home against Michigan)
6. Illinois - 10-8 (3 at home against Purdue/3 on road against MSU)

I can see Iowa finishing anywhere from 2nd to 6th place given these teams schedules.

If Iowa goes 5-1 down the stretch, final standings could look like this:

1. MN 17-7 (6-0 in remaining games)
2. Ind 16-8 (4-2)
3. Iowa 16-8 (5-1)
4. ILL 16-8 (6-0)
5. Mich 16-7 (2-4)
6. Neb 14-9 (2-1)

But if Iowa losses just 2 games in this scenario, they drop all they way to #6. So @AuroraHawk your point is spot on.

Michigan likely will not lose 4 but one never knows.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

BC and Texas are nonfactors besides taking up an RPI spot.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

If Iowa goes 5-1 down the stretch, final standings could look like this:

1. MN 17-7 (6-0 in remaining games)
2. Ind 16-8 (4-2)
3. Iowa 16-8 (5-1)
4. ILL 16-8 (6-0)
5. Mich 16-7 (2-4)
6. Neb 14-9 (2-1)

But if Iowa losses just 2 games in this scenario, they drop all they way to #6. So @AuroraHawk your point is spot on.

Michigan likely will not lose 4 but one never knows.

If those are the standings then Iowa/Neb at 9am could be a regional play in game

 

[AuroraHawk]

If Iowa goes 5-1 down the stretch, final standings could look like this:

1. MN 17-7 (6-0 in remaining games)
2. Ind 16-8 (4-2)
3. Iowa 16-8 (5-1)
4. ILL 16-8 (6-0)
5. Mich 16-7 (2-4)
6. Neb 14-9 (2-1)

But if Iowa losses just 2 games in this scenario, they drop all they way to #6. So @AuroraHawk your point is spot on.

Michigan likely will not lose 4 but one never knows.

Under your scenario, Michigan would finish in second place - 1/2 game ahead of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. One of their games against MSU was cancelled due to cold and they will play one less overall game. EDIT: My mistake . . . they have scheduled a make-up game. I thought that I recall hearing on a B1G podcast that the game was cancelled. So, in reality, Michigan has 7 games left (3 Nebbie/3 Indiana/1 MSU).

The 4/5 and 3/6 games in the B1G tournament could be barn burners.

 

[Couppee]

Since the Mich MSU game will be made up tomorrow the scenario would look like this:

1. Mich 17-7 (3-4 in remaining games; Mich was 2-1 vs MN)
2. MN 17-7 (6-0)
3. Ind 16-8 (4-2)
4. Iowa 16-8 (5-1)
5. ILL 16-8 (6-0)
6. Neb 14-9 (2-1)

Crazy what one easy game vs MSU would/will do for Mich., changing their place from 5th to 1st (in this scenario)

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

MSU has really come around the last two weeks unfortunately. This will not be an easy series for Iowa.

 

[Couppee]

7-3 in their last 10. Timing is everything.

 

[non-poster]

Michigan is on a tear lately. Hopefully we can get to a 3 seed and avoid them in the BTT.

Nebraska better be careful. They have two tough series left. If their slump continues, they might not make regionals.

That is not the way the Iowa staff is looking at potentially facing Michigan. Or any of the top teams.

If/When you keep advancing through the winner's bracket, you are eventually going to face a Michigan, Indiana or an Illinois. The question is --how deep is your frontline rotation. Coach Backich could literally throw any of his weekend starters and get a quality outing. Iowa has a couple guys who would give them a much better chance. Due to injury, after that the coaching staff would really need to piecemeal the rest of the tournament together.

 

[BigOHawk]

Iowa needs a Nebraska win today. It will bump us to 55 in the RPI. A loss and we fall to 59. We are at 57 currently.

Nebraska wins, RPI up to 55.

 

[AuroraHawk]

Updated after 5/8 games

Ok . . . help me here. Why didn't Michigan's win over MSU on Tuesday count in the B1G standings? I get that B1G teams can schedule a conference opponent for a non-conference game (i.e. Iowa's earlier scheduled game against Northwestern to be played at a neutral site in Chicago) but I was under the impression that Tuesday's MSU/Michigan game was put on the schedule to replace a weekend conference game that was postponed from earlier in the year.

 

[Alum-Ni]

Ok . . . help me here. Why didn't Michigan's win over MSU on Tuesday count in the B1G standings? I get that B1G teams can schedule a conference opponent for a non-conference game (i.e. Iowa's earlier scheduled game against Northwestern to be played at a neutral site in Chicago) but I was under the impression that Tuesday's MSU/Michigan game was put on the schedule to replace a weekend conference game that was postponed from earlier in the year.

They should have played it to replace the canceled league game the two had.....but I've checked both UM and MSU media and both are calling it a non-conference game. The canceled game was in East Lansing and the recently played game this week was in Ann Arbor, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[Couppee]

Central Michigan 10, Michigan State 2
Son of a B.

Iowa could be tied for 2nd if they had gotten their 1st sweep of the year.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

@Alum-Ni appreciate you doing this all year

 

[Alum-Ni]

Updated after first round of B1G Tournament. All four lower seeds won their opening round games.

 

[Alum-Ni]

updated after BTT and with first round NCAA pairings