NCAA Top 25 Podcast: Michigan Moves to Number One

Image credit: Ole Miss lefthander Doug Nikhazy (Courtesy of Ole Miss)

On this edition of the Baseball America College Podcast, Teddy Cahill and Joe Healy discuss the 2020 campaign’s first in-season version of the Top 25. 

With previous No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Louisville and No. 3 Arizona State all losing two games over the weekend, there was a vacuum to be filled in the top spot, and with a 3-1 performance in the MLB 4 Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona, Michigan was the team to take advantage. 

Florida, Miami and Texas Tech move up to spots two through four, respectively, after perfect weekends, and Vanderbilt’s slide ends at No. 5 to round out the top five. Louisville’s series loss to Mississippi moves them down to No. 6 and Arizona State’s struggles land them at No. 8. 

The one team to come into the rankings is Ole Miss, all the way up to No. 15 after that home series win over Louisville. With the Rebels entrance, there are now five different SEC West teams clustered between No. 9 and No. 15, continuing to suggest that the division is anyone’s to win. 

To make room in the rankings, previous No. 24 Ohio State falls out. They went 2-1 in a tournament down in Port Charlotte, Florida, but it wasn’t a clean 2-1. They dropped their opener to Saint Joseph’s and they required extra innings to get a win over Indiana State on Sunday. 

The other team falling back in the rankings is Oklahoma State, moving from 16 to 24 after they dropped two of three on the road against Grand Canyon. 

Don’t look now, but next week might spur even more movement at the top of the rankings. Not only does Michigan have a tricky neutral site series against Connecticut coming up, but No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Miami face off in Coral Gables this weekend. With an impressive series win for the Gators or Hurricanes, they could easily leapfrog the Wolverines into the top spot.