Mountain West RPIs
Coming down to the home stretch in the baseball season always requires a look at RPIs. Since only 64 teams get a shot at going to the post-season then two things need to happen; well, maybe three; an RPI higher than 65, win the regular season title (not always a guarantee), win the conference tournament (a guarantee for one team). It looks as if the MWC should get two bids with one guaranteed. It looks as if Nevada might be the team to beat in the MWC Tournament with San Diego State looking pretty strong as they are only three games behind leader Nevada. New Mexico and Fresno State can't be discounted either but they have a few bodies to climb over and that's always tough. Now about that RPI thingie. Here they are as I look at them on Sunday.
48 - Nevada
66 - Fresno State
78 - San Diego State
79 - New Mexico
141 - UNLV
174 - Air Force
247 - San Jose State
Nevada, again, appears ready to pack their bags; at least in their minds. Careful with that as there are three more conference series to contend with and things could change dramatically. I'm a little surprised at the mutts being as high as they are but I think that has a lot to do with their OOC games. They usually have a good slate of non-conference games and are competitive in those games. San Diego State has lost some home games which subtract a lot from RPI. Gotta win those home games. Winning on the road is great but home cooking is best. New Mexico is one point behind the Aztecs and if they really start to hit, watch out. UNLV and Air Force are both pretty low and San Jose State is justifiably down in the mines with little hope of ever seeing light.
I think all of you reading this pretty much agree with these numbers especially the top four. The season has been surprising with UNLV having such a tough time of it but Air Force and SJS are about where everyone thought they would be.