Welcome to Episode 14 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. Three automatic bids have been clinched, and more conference tournaments are on the way. With the first regional rankings finally being released, we wanted to take an early look at the postseason picture. Here's what we've got:
- New Top 25 quick hits (at 1:42)
- Wooster #1 lol what a world
- UW-Stevens Point OUT; Webster IN
- Adrian and Southern Maine jumping up a bit more
- Franklin still climbing
- North Central and Otterbein: on the edge but still out
- A quick disclaimer (at 3:00) before reviewing the first regional rankings
- Central (at 4:47)
- Parsing why Carthage was ranked over Webster
- Mid-Atlantic (at 7:37)
- How many bids could the NJAC rack up?
- Why Johns Hopkins is the real wild card in this region
- Mideast (at 10:08)
- Why Case Western was ranked over Wooster, and why we assume it will change very quickly
- The OAC is loaded like old times -- could they get 3 teams in the tournament?
- La Roche and W&J really need to win their conference tournaments
- Midwest (at 14:32)
- Concordia-Chicago has the huge edge in SOS -- that's why they are #1
- How the WIAC could shake out with so many cancelled games, and how it will affect the Pool B race
- New England (at 18:02)
- Why we felt best about this ranking
- No big surprises, but a clear top 3
- Why Southern Maine could be sleeping giant
- New York (at 21:35)
- St. John Fisher over Cortland shouldn't actually surprise us all that much
- South (at 23:07)
- Three elite teams and then somewhat of a mess
- The ODAC will probably get at least two bids; we know Randolph-Macon will be one, but who is the favorite for the other one? Could they still get three in?
- Shenandoah...? *thinking emoji*
- No LaGrange even after winning the USA South tournament
- West (at 26:16)
- Discussing why Concordia (TX) was ranked over Texas Lutheran
- Is there a scenario where the SCIAC gets 3 bids?
- Quick shoutouts to the two latest automatic bids (at 29:45)
- Willamette's impressive NWC tournament run
- Connor Bailey: D-III HR leader
- Matt Steindorf is legit
- Rhodes making noise again -- back-to-back SAA titles
- Wooster and WashU update (at 31:00)
- Wooster
- #1 for the first time in over a decade
- Arguably the worst they've played all year but still grinding out some big wins; testament to how good they actually are
- WashU
- SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE
Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!
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