College baseball is unlike basketball and football in that it has multiple polls that fans and the media take seriously. Basketball has the NET and KEMPOM in addition to the AP and Coaches poll, but they're both based on concrete metrics. Football mainly uses the AP and Coaches polls, but near the end of the season, the College Football Playoff ranking decides which teams will play for the national championship.
Baseball, on the other hand, has the NCBWA, Perfect Game, USA Today Coaches, Baseball America, and D1Baseball polls, along with the Rating Percentage Index (RPI, based on stats). The problem is, with the chaos this season, they have no idea how to rank teams.
Here's where Arkansas currently sits in each of the major rankings and which team sits first overall:
Outlet | Where is Arkansas ranked? | Who's ranked first? |
|---|---|---|
NCBWA | 1 | Arkansas |
Prefect Game | 2 | Georgia |
USAToday Coaches | 3 | Texas |
Baseball America | 3 | Georgia |
D1Baseball | 7 | Texas |
RPI | 5 | Georgia |
Inconsistencies tarnish the credibility of College Baseball's polls
Each outlet looks dead set on keeping the Longhorns in the top 3 after the Razorbacks demolished them in Fayetteville. But how they stay at first in some polls is questionable. Arkansas dropped from No. 1 to No. 11 in the D1Baseball poll after losing three-straight series. And granted, that seems fair. However, Arkansas was never embarrassed in the same fashion as Texas was last weekend.
The Longhorns hadn't played a team in the top half of the SEC outside of Austin until they played Arkansas, and we see how that ended for them. Even then, they beat the fourth-worst team in the SEC (Mississippi State) by a combined six runs, in a series cut short by bad weather. The Bulldogs were within a swing of the bat from winning each game.
Texas beat Missouri on the road, but everyone's beaten Mizzou. The Tigers are 0-24 in SEC play. The only other opponent they've faced on the road was Kentucky, the fifth-worst team in the conference. Texas won the series but lost game two in 15 innings, and nearly lost game three but stopped a Wildcat rally in the ninth.
However, Arkansas has faced Georgia, the No. 1 team in three of the six polls, and Vanderbilt, which is recognized as a consensus top-15 team and the third-best team in the RPI. The Hogs lost to Georgia by a combined two runs but outscored the Bulldogs 25-17, and they swept the Commodores in Nashville by a combined score of 22-8.
Will the real No. 1 please stand up? pic.twitter.com/DWSRegWeMn
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 5, 2025
It's completely understandable why Arkansas fell far in the poll, but why Texas hasn't fallen at all, especially in the D1Baseball poll, is perplexing. Arkansas has shown the ability to beat good teams away from home and Texas hasn't. And to be fair, they've bearly won the away games they've played. If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it's the Razorbacks, not the Horns.
Some other problems include Georgia, FSU, and Clemson. The Bulldogs ranked between No. 1 and No. 6. The Seminoles are anywhere from No. 2 to No. 9, and the Tigers are between No. 6 and No. 12.
There is no consistency between the outlets, and without consistency, it hurts the credibility of all the polls, except for maybe the RPI because it's based on stats.
They have no idea how to tackle this season, and it shows. So, no one should take any poll seriously regarding baseball. Instead, they're more like guidelines. As long as Arkansas does enough to make the tournament, all will be fine. From there, it's a crapshoot anyway.