D1Baseball started ranking the top 100 programs back in 2015 and updated the list every two years. Normally, their most recent ranking would have been in 2021, but with Covid impacting 2020, they pushed it back to this year. They awarded points for making regionals, winning regionals, reaching the CWS, and winning the CWS in the last five years, while awarding a fewer amount of points for five to 10 years ago which is as far as they go back in their evaluation. That gave them a starting point and they then had a panel of national sportswriters make adjustments based on evaluations of coaching staff quality and stability, facilities, scholarship/financial aid situation, conference dynamics, momentum, and recruiting and player development proficiency. Here are the B1G rankings of those programs ranked in the top 100 starting with the lowest ranking. Five B1G programs didn't make the rankings. You can guess where the D1Baseball's top programs are located or what conference they are in, and that will probably be the case for the rest of eternity. The 2019 standings are in parenthesis.
Minnesota - 93rd (49th)
Illinois - 84th (50th)
OSU - 82nd (54th)
Iowa - 73rd (67th)
Nebraska - 43rd (51st)
Indiana - 42nd (32nd)
Maryland - 37th (70th)
Michigan - 28th (31st)
Here are their comments on IU:
The Hoosiers are one of two Big Ten teams to reach the College World Series over the past two decades, and there’s a very high commitment level for college baseball from the administration. It’s a big reason why they were able to segue from Tracy Smith to highly accomplished assistant Chris Lemonis, and now to Jeff Mercer, who did a terrific job during his time at Wright State. IU last reached the NCAA postseason back in 2019 — Mercer’s first season — with a 37-23 overall record. Since that point, though, the Hoosiers went 26-18 and missed the tourney in ’21 before having a losing record last season with a 27-32 mark. There’s no doubt IU needs to flip the script during the upcoming season, but this is still a program with excellent facilities in the Big Ten, a strong coaching staff and a solid recruiting base with access to the South and large metro areas such as Indianapolis and Chicago.
Minnesota - 93rd (49th)
Illinois - 84th (50th)
OSU - 82nd (54th)
Iowa - 73rd (67th)
Nebraska - 43rd (51st)
Indiana - 42nd (32nd)
Maryland - 37th (70th)
Michigan - 28th (31st)
Here are their comments on IU:
The Hoosiers are one of two Big Ten teams to reach the College World Series over the past two decades, and there’s a very high commitment level for college baseball from the administration. It’s a big reason why they were able to segue from Tracy Smith to highly accomplished assistant Chris Lemonis, and now to Jeff Mercer, who did a terrific job during his time at Wright State. IU last reached the NCAA postseason back in 2019 — Mercer’s first season — with a 37-23 overall record. Since that point, though, the Hoosiers went 26-18 and missed the tourney in ’21 before having a losing record last season with a 27-32 mark. There’s no doubt IU needs to flip the script during the upcoming season, but this is still a program with excellent facilities in the Big Ten, a strong coaching staff and a solid recruiting base with access to the South and large metro areas such as Indianapolis and Chicago.
Last edited:
