Rank the Mideast Region

Started by Spence, March 17, 2013, 06:51:19 PM

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Spence

In this thread, we hopefully discuss what we think about who the best teams in the Mideast region are, and rank. I guess I should be clear that we're not necessarily talking about the official regional rankings here (which one consider regional games), though certainly those regional rankings would be an appropriate topic for discussion.

I guess I'll start with a top 10 just to kick it off. Boy, a lot of teams with really good starts.

1. Marietta -- very close between the top 3 or 4, but close isn't enough to knock down a 2-time defending champ yet, especially one that is undefeated in the region and played a very strong schedule down south
2. Manchester -- 1 win in 3 games that could have gone either way on a freezing weekend in Tiffin, undefeated otherwise
3. Heidelberg -- winning 2 of 3 vs. Manchester at home not enough to overcome a couple of losses to not so great teams
4. Washington & Jefferson -- hard to tell much, but undefeated and coming off a big year
5. Mount Union -- rainout cut them a break on their FL schedule, good record, but not many signature wins
6. Otterbein -- even though they haven't proven much yet, mainly on talent
7. Wooster -- No idea what to do with them, but beating Wheaton at least says something
8. La Roche
9. Baldwin-Wallace
10. DePauw

middhoops

Oops, my mistake.  I saw a board labeled "Rank the Region" and mistook it for "rank the regions".  Looked like an opportunity to jump on the NESCAC (northeast) bandwagon.  As Gilda Radner would have said, "Oh, never mind."

Spence

Quote from: middhoops on March 17, 2013, 07:00:47 PM
Oops, my mistake.  I saw a board labeled "Rank the Region" and mistook it for "rank the regions".  Looked like an opportunity to jump on the NESCAC (northeast) bandwagon.  As Gilda Radner would have said, "Oh, never mind."

Also not the right sport. :)

Bishopleftiesdad

Spence I cannot disagree with your assessment. I had hoped to put OWU in there but after there spring trip I cannot. I think as the season goes on BW may drop off this list. I saw one game of theirs in Florida. They have some impressive players but I do not think they are quite there yet. There short stop is quite good.

They had trouble hitting OWU pitching, they only had 5 hits. As the season goes on they may heat up and it could have been just one game.

In response to a post you made in another thread. It is not just one OWU pitcher that needs to cut down on the walks. After the spring trip I would say all of them have to.

Dr. Acula

Ott could move up just by default this week. Their FL schedule is the weakest I've seen. 5 teams with losing records last yr, two of which won 8 and 11 games, respectively. I'd be shocked if they go anything worse than 1 loss against that slate.  That's the problem with the late spring break I guess.

Spence

Quote from: Dr. Acula on March 18, 2013, 02:13:28 PM
Ott could move up just by default this week. Their FL schedule is the weakest I've seen. 5 teams with losing records last yr, two of which won 8 and 11 games, respectively. I'd be shocked if they go anything worse than 1 loss against that slate.  That's the problem with the late spring break I guess.

They still could be playing teams that they're not down there. Otterbein may get a lot of wins early, but until they beat someone good they're going to have a tough time moving above where they are unless some other teams significantly falter.

Dr. Acula

Quote from: Spence on March 18, 2013, 02:18:40 PM
Quote from: Dr. Acula on March 18, 2013, 02:13:28 PM
Ott could move up just by default this week. Their FL schedule is the weakest I've seen. 5 teams with losing records last yr, two of which won 8 and 11 games, respectively. I'd be shocked if they go anything worse than 1 loss against that slate.  That's the problem with the late spring break I guess.

They still could be playing teams that they're not down there. Otterbein may get a lot of wins early, but until they beat someone good they're going to have a tough time moving above where they are unless some other teams significantly falter.

This is pretty much how I feel about Ott, BW and Mount right now.

Spence

Well, I assume baseball is done for a few days with the weather coming in.

Here's what I've got.
1. Marietta -- a home split is never satisfying, but won 2 of 3 on the weekend against very good opponents
2. Manchester -- scoring tons of runs and pitching well enough to keep winning 

OK those two were easy...the rest...less so.
3. Case Western Reserve -- doubleheader sweep in Tiffin continues trend of solid pitching started in the UAA round robin.
4. Wittenberg -- still have questions, but DH sweep of Mount Union after 2 weeks on the shelf is impressive
5. Adrian -- getting it together after a rough start. Allowed Berg just one run in a staff-pitched game.
6. Heidelberg -- definitely been better weeks for the Berg. 10 runs scored in last 6 games. Quality wins earlier in year keep them from falling further.
7. Otterbein -- 13-1, but still hard to know what they are considering very weak schedule. Will soar if they perform up north.
8. La Roche -- home win over B-W keeps them in conversation
9. B-W -- road loss to La Roche not enough to take them out of conversation! :)
10. I have no idea. Put Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster, John Carroll, Mount Union, Defiance, Washington & Jefferson, Thiel and Thomas More in a hat and pick one.

OshDude

Weird that we agree, Spence. As of today I think the top three are easy. All are in my initial top 25 for this week.

motorman

Season that started with such promise in Florida for Heidelberg has taken a sour turn in the cold north. Not only have the bats been frigid up here as Spence noted with only 10 runs scored in 6 games, but the pitching staff has taken a couple of severe blows. Chris Thomas suffered a broken hand in the first game vs Manchester and is out indefinitely. Ethan Holt has had an arm issue which has him shut down, hopefully only for the short term.

Spence

Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 06:59:24 AM
Season that started with such promise in Florida for Heidelberg has taken a sour turn in the cold north. Not only have the bats been frigid up here as Spence noted with only 10 runs scored in 6 games, but the pitching staff has taken a couple of severe blows. Chris Thomas suffered a broken hand in the first game vs Manchester and is out indefinitely. Ethan Holt has had an arm issue which has him shut down, hopefully only for the short term.

Oh wow. I was just looking at their stats and thinking those two would probably be their weekend starters. Need some other guys to step it up.

How did the broken hand happen? I didn't think he came out of the game early against them.

Spence

Quote from: Ricky Nelson on March 24, 2013, 02:20:23 AM
Weird that we agree, Spence. As of today I think the top three are easy. All are in my initial top 25 for this week.

I don't think it is that weird...we seem to have similar ranking philosophies.

motorman

Quote from: Spence on March 24, 2013, 11:26:42 AM
Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 06:59:24 AM
Season that started with such promise in Florida for Heidelberg has taken a sour turn in the cold north. Not only have the bats been frigid up here as Spence noted with only 10 runs scored in 6 games, but the pitching staff has taken a couple of severe blows. Chris Thomas suffered a broken hand in the first game vs Manchester and is out indefinitely. Ethan Holt has had an arm issue which has him shut down, hopefully only for the short term.

Oh wow. I was just looking at their stats and thinking those two would probably be their weekend starters. Need some other guys to step it up.

How did the broken hand happen? I didn't think he came out of the game early against them.
It happened on the hit with 1 out in the 9th vs Manchester. Hard 1 hopper that was at his right hip, happened to have his pitching hand right there. He came out after that play. They were hoping it was just a bruise but swelling didn't go down much all week.

Spence

Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 01:12:58 PM
Quote from: Spence on March 24, 2013, 11:26:42 AM
Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 06:59:24 AM
Season that started with such promise in Florida for Heidelberg has taken a sour turn in the cold north. Not only have the bats been frigid up here as Spence noted with only 10 runs scored in 6 games, but the pitching staff has taken a couple of severe blows. Chris Thomas suffered a broken hand in the first game vs Manchester and is out indefinitely. Ethan Holt has had an arm issue which has him shut down, hopefully only for the short term.

Oh wow. I was just looking at their stats and thinking those two would probably be their weekend starters. Need some other guys to step it up.

How did the broken hand happen? I didn't think he came out of the game early against them.
It happened on the hit with 1 out in the 9th vs Manchester. Hard 1 hopper that was at his right hip, happened to have his pitching hand right there. He came out after that play. They were hoping it was just a bruise but swelling didn't go down much all week.

:/ not good. So is he done for the year then? That's usually a couple of month injury. Would he quality for a medical waiver?

Apparently I was wrong about the weather wiping everything out. Heidelberg is playing, as I'm sure motorman knows.

motorman

Quote from: Spence on March 24, 2013, 01:23:19 PM
Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 01:12:58 PM
Quote from: Spence on March 24, 2013, 11:26:42 AM
Quote from: motorman on March 24, 2013, 06:59:24 AM
Season that started with such promise in Florida for Heidelberg has taken a sour turn in the cold north. Not only have the bats been frigid up here as Spence noted with only 10 runs scored in 6 games, but the pitching staff has taken a couple of severe blows. Chris Thomas suffered a broken hand in the first game vs Manchester and is out indefinitely. Ethan Holt has had an arm issue which has him shut down, hopefully only for the short term.

Oh wow. I was just looking at their stats and thinking those two would probably be their weekend starters. Need some other guys to step it up.

How did the broken hand happen? I didn't think he came out of the game early against them.
It happened on the hit with 1 out in the 9th vs Manchester. Hard 1 hopper that was at his right hip, happened to have his pitching hand right there. He came out after that play. They were hoping it was just a bruise but swelling didn't go down much all week.

:/ not good. So is he done for the year then? That's usually a couple of month injury. Would he quality for a medical waiver?

Apparently I was wrong about the weather wiping everything out. Heidelberg is playing, as I'm sure motorman knows.

Yes, Berg managed to salvage the last game vs Case with 3 runs in bottom of 9th to win 5-4. Not sure yet about the prognosis for Thomas. He would qualify for the medical waiver, but not sure about the advisability of paying another $25,000 to play another year of baseball.