Stance on No. 1 Overall Seed Easy Way to Sort Informed, Bandwagon Hog Baseball Fans

What can history tell us about what to expect based on Razorbacks' seeding in NCAA playoffs?

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 15, 2023 7:09 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Wanna know how to tell if the guy on social media who just posted about Razorback baseball is bandwagoner killing time until football starts or a true deeply passioned diamond stud? He's either complaining that Arkansas isn't ranked No. 1 in the latest poll or rooting for it to happen after this weekend.

Anyone who is a true fan of college baseball knows the only thing more cursed than the Defense Against the Dark Arts position in Harry Potter is first place in college baseball. There hasn't been a single No. 1 overall seed win the College World Series this entire century. The last time it happened was in 1999 when Miami went the distance from the top spot. Remember in 2021 when Arkansas went the entire season without losing a series and also won the SEC Tournament to claim the overall No. 1 seed? They lost in the second round to NC State. Didn't even make the College World Series. Cursed.

Just look at who all has won national championships and the seed at which they came in:
2022 – Ole Miss (No. 43)
2021 – Mississippi St. (No. 7)
2020 – Cancelled
2019 – Vanderbilt (No. 2)
2018 – Oregon St. (No. 3)
2017 – Florida (No. 3)
2016 – Coastal Carolina (No. 24)
2015 – Virginia (No. 33)
2014 – Vanderbilt (No. 13)
2013 – UCLA (No. 12)
2012 – Arizona (No. 11)
2011 – South Carolina (No. 4)
2010 – South Carolina (No. 13)
2009 – LSU (No. 3)
2008 – Fresno St. (No. 51)
2007 – Oregon St. (No. 33)
2006 – Oregon St. (No. 14)
2005 – Texas (No. 12)
2004 – Cal. St. Fullerton (No. 26)
2003 – Rice (No. 5)
2002 – Texas (No. 5)
2001 – Miami (No. 2)
2000 – LSU (No. 2)

Only six times in the past 20 seasons has a national seed managed to win the College World Series. The same amount of teams have won it as the No. 24 seed or worse in that time. The good news for Arkansas is if you extend it out to the entire century, teams slotted either No. 2 or No. 3 have also won it six times.

So how has it panned out for the Razorbacks as a national seed over the years?
2004 – No. 8, lost first two games of CWS.
2007 – No. 7, lost in regional championship game.
2018 – No. 5, CWS runner-up.
2019 – No. 5, lost first two games of CWS.
2021 – No. 1, lost in super regional.

Last season's semifinal run was the second longest the Razorbacks have ever made behind championship game appearances in 1979 and 2018, and the Hogs weren't seeded. While that team found a way to pull of a dramatic regional win at Oklahoma State before coasting in Chapel Hill against North Carolina, the current iteration of the Razorbacks has struggled away from Baum Walker, so getting a national seed is important for the Razorbacks.

Just so long as that seed isn't No. 1. That's something no reasonably informed fan would ever wish on his or her favorite college team.

True Hog fans will wish Wake Forest all the best against Virginia Tech this weekend and in the ACC Tournament while investing remaining hopes and dreams in health and healing above Razorback wins between now and regionals. Meanwhile, leave the need to be an overall No. 1 seed to those outing themselves as climbing onto the bandwagon just in time to catch the bus to the nearest Jello shot competition.