First things first, did you get your Vandyboys t-shirt at the game Thursday night? Hope so. I like how they are promoting the VandyBoys tag, having distributed VandyBoys car window decals a few weeks ago.
Vandy throws Kyle Wright at the Tigers today. Kyle, last week's SEC Pitcher of the Week, is working on a 16 consecutive inning streak of shutout baseball (along with 16 K's) against the two best teams in the SEC, on the road no less. Hard to do better than that. If he's got his stuff today it will be extremely difficult for Auburn to score. Auburn counters with TBA. Historically, Vandy has struggled against TBA. IIRC their lifetime record against TBA is something like 2-14. We'll see what happens. Auburn has already used a lot of pitchers in the series and they didn't have much to begin with in the bullpen so it could conceivably be a high-scoring day for the Dores.
Meanwhile, the race to win the SEC regular season championship is a scrum. Going into the final day of the season the standings are:
1. A&M 20-9
2. MSU 20-9
3. SC 19-9
4. FL 18-9
5. LSU 18-10
Any of those teams can win the title depending on today's results. The biggest games are at LSU where they play 2 with Florida. The next biggest games are A&M who goes for the sweep against Ole MIss and then MSU who goes for the sweep against Arkansas. MSU has the easier row to hoe as Arkie is dead last in the SEC. A&M will be throwing our good friend Mr. Siamonds who no-hit us but they struggled last Sunday. SC goes for the sweep at Alabama.
Odds are either A&M or MSU or both win the title. LSU has to thread the needle to share the title with A&M and MSU -- sweep FL and then A&M/MSU/SC all have to lose. The odds of all that happening are close to 1 in a million. I might add, however, those were also the odds that the blood on the gloves in the OJ trial were not his, Nicole's, and Ron's. Anything is possible, I suppose.
For SECT seeding purposes, A&M would get the #1 seed because they swept MSU back in April. Then either SC or FL would take the #2 spot, relegating MSU to #3 despite winning the regular season. Odd how it works out sometimes. The #4 spot would likely go to SC or FL unless LSU can sweep FL (very steep odds against that) which would drop FL to #5.
I will go out on a limb and predict it finishes up as follows:
1. MSU 21-9
2. SC 20-9
3. A&M 20-10
4. FL 19-10
5. LSU 19-11
Vandy is a lock at #6 IF WE WIN. If we lose Ole MIss could take #6 by beating A&M. If we both win/lose then Vandy takes the tie-breaker and is #6.
[Historical note: Vandy was the #6 seed in 2014 and we all know how that season ended up.]
AL and KY will take #8 and #9 and the order really doesn't matter since they'll play each other in round 1 in Hoover regardless of the rank. GA has the #10 spot locked down.
The battle for the 2 final spots in Hoover are also a scrum being fought over by the league's bottom feeders. Arkansas looks to be on the outside looking in as they are 1 game behind both UT and AUB and they have to play MSU. They likely lose. Mizzou looks to be in the best spot with a 1 game lead over UT and AUB and they play KY. If they win, they're in.
[UPDATE: Missouri has the #11 seed locked down due to winning all possible tie-breakers. That leaves only 1 spot left.]
The major battle is between UT and AUB. UT can't afford to tie AUB because they lost the season series and would lose a tie-breaker. The only way they get in is if they win and AUB loses. AUB is likely to lose so it all comes down to UT beating GA in Athens. They play at 11am today so it's likely the game will be over by the time Vandy-Auburn play. IF UT wins then AUB will be fighting for their lives and that could potentially pose a problem for Vandy. Vandy, however, is fighting for the regional host/National Seed so they will also be very motivated to win.
If Vandy takes the #6 spot then we'll play Tuesday at 9:30 am in Hoover against the #11 seed (probably Missouri.) Win that and we'll face the #3 seed on Wednesday which I think will be either A&M or MSU. I'd like to get another shot at both teams as we lost series to them both when MSU beat us 2-1 (13 innings) and A&M beat us 1-0, with 2 of the 3 runs against us in those 2 games being unearned runs. If we play MSU it'll be Sheffield vs. Dakota Hudson, two of the best pitchers in the league and who battled to a 1-1 tie back in March.
Vandy throws Kyle Wright at the Tigers today. Kyle, last week's SEC Pitcher of the Week, is working on a 16 consecutive inning streak of shutout baseball (along with 16 K's) against the two best teams in the SEC, on the road no less. Hard to do better than that. If he's got his stuff today it will be extremely difficult for Auburn to score. Auburn counters with TBA. Historically, Vandy has struggled against TBA. IIRC their lifetime record against TBA is something like 2-14. We'll see what happens. Auburn has already used a lot of pitchers in the series and they didn't have much to begin with in the bullpen so it could conceivably be a high-scoring day for the Dores.
Meanwhile, the race to win the SEC regular season championship is a scrum. Going into the final day of the season the standings are:
1. A&M 20-9
2. MSU 20-9
3. SC 19-9
4. FL 18-9
5. LSU 18-10
Any of those teams can win the title depending on today's results. The biggest games are at LSU where they play 2 with Florida. The next biggest games are A&M who goes for the sweep against Ole MIss and then MSU who goes for the sweep against Arkansas. MSU has the easier row to hoe as Arkie is dead last in the SEC. A&M will be throwing our good friend Mr. Siamonds who no-hit us but they struggled last Sunday. SC goes for the sweep at Alabama.
Odds are either A&M or MSU or both win the title. LSU has to thread the needle to share the title with A&M and MSU -- sweep FL and then A&M/MSU/SC all have to lose. The odds of all that happening are close to 1 in a million. I might add, however, those were also the odds that the blood on the gloves in the OJ trial were not his, Nicole's, and Ron's. Anything is possible, I suppose.
For SECT seeding purposes, A&M would get the #1 seed because they swept MSU back in April. Then either SC or FL would take the #2 spot, relegating MSU to #3 despite winning the regular season. Odd how it works out sometimes. The #4 spot would likely go to SC or FL unless LSU can sweep FL (very steep odds against that) which would drop FL to #5.
I will go out on a limb and predict it finishes up as follows:
1. MSU 21-9
2. SC 20-9
3. A&M 20-10
4. FL 19-10
5. LSU 19-11
Vandy is a lock at #6 IF WE WIN. If we lose Ole MIss could take #6 by beating A&M. If we both win/lose then Vandy takes the tie-breaker and is #6.
[Historical note: Vandy was the #6 seed in 2014 and we all know how that season ended up.]
AL and KY will take #8 and #9 and the order really doesn't matter since they'll play each other in round 1 in Hoover regardless of the rank. GA has the #10 spot locked down.
The battle for the 2 final spots in Hoover are also a scrum being fought over by the league's bottom feeders. Arkansas looks to be on the outside looking in as they are 1 game behind both UT and AUB and they have to play MSU. They likely lose. Mizzou looks to be in the best spot with a 1 game lead over UT and AUB and they play KY. If they win, they're in.
[UPDATE: Missouri has the #11 seed locked down due to winning all possible tie-breakers. That leaves only 1 spot left.]
The major battle is between UT and AUB. UT can't afford to tie AUB because they lost the season series and would lose a tie-breaker. The only way they get in is if they win and AUB loses. AUB is likely to lose so it all comes down to UT beating GA in Athens. They play at 11am today so it's likely the game will be over by the time Vandy-Auburn play. IF UT wins then AUB will be fighting for their lives and that could potentially pose a problem for Vandy. Vandy, however, is fighting for the regional host/National Seed so they will also be very motivated to win.
If Vandy takes the #6 spot then we'll play Tuesday at 9:30 am in Hoover against the #11 seed (probably Missouri.) Win that and we'll face the #3 seed on Wednesday which I think will be either A&M or MSU. I'd like to get another shot at both teams as we lost series to them both when MSU beat us 2-1 (13 innings) and A&M beat us 1-0, with 2 of the 3 runs against us in those 2 games being unearned runs. If we play MSU it'll be Sheffield vs. Dakota Hudson, two of the best pitchers in the league and who battled to a 1-1 tie back in March.
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