How Kentucky's SEC Tournament Seeding Can Improve This Weekend
Kentucky baseball is set to enter the final week of the 2023 regular season still with plenty to play for, but without the worry of whether or not it will be dancing in the end of May and beginning of June.
The 35-15 (15-12 SEC) Bat Cats have secured a spot in the SEC Tournament and will be making the Field of 64 for the NCAA Tournament, but how will it enter postseason play?
No. 19 UK will host No. 4 Florida for three games in Lexington this weekend with seeding implications for the following week in Hoover on the line. Here's how the SEC stands through nine weeks of conference play:
- Arkansas (19-8)
- Florida (18-9)
- LSU (17-9)
- Vanderbilt (17-10)
- South Carolina (15-11)
- Kentucky (15-12)
- Auburn (14-13)
- Tennessee (14-13)
- Alabama (13-14)
- Texas A&M (10-15)
- Missouri (10-17)
- Georgia (10-17)
- Mississippi State (8-19)
- Ole Miss (6-21)
Week 10 SEC Schedule
- LSU @ Georgia
- Tennessee @ South Carolina
- Florida @ Kentucky
- Texas A&M @ Mississippi State
- Missouri @ Auburn
- Arkansas @ Vanderbilt
- Ole Miss @ Alabama
There's no clear path even close to being locked in for the Wildcats' seed. Given results this weekend, head coach Nick Mingione's team could be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament, but it could also fall all the way down to No. 9.
Below are SOME of the scenarios for how UK could improve its seeding from where it stands entering this weekend, assuming every series plays all three scheduled games.
Frankly, there's still so many possible outcomes, it would be mind-numbing to put everything in here, because tiebreakers eventually start to get in the mix, and those would be contingent on team's results versus top seeds — which we won't know for sure until after Saturday's games.
(If you want to take a swing at figuring something that isn't mentioned below or look at the tiebreak rules, you can find them here.)
Still, this gives you a general idea as to what needs to happen for UK to move up in seeding, and also just how volatile everything is, even with three games to go in the regular season.
Getting a top-four seed would be ideal, as those teams duck the single elimination round and make it straight to double elimination. Kentucky must sweep Florida to have a chance at nabbing one of those spots, otherwise it will play on Tuesday, May 23.
(Reiterating once more before diving in that this isn't taking rainouts into account. It's probably going to rain enough in Hoover, Mother Nature. Give the south a break this weekend, please.)
*Every bullet point would need to occur for each seeding scenario to become true. OR indicates the start of a new scenario for that particular seed.
No. 2 Seed
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Georgia sweeps LSU
- Arkansas sweeps Vanderbilt
- Tennessee wins at least one game vs. South Carolina
No. 3 Seed
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Arkansas sweeps Vanderbilt
- LSU wins at least one game vs. Georgia
- Tennessee wins at least one game vs. South Carolina
OR
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Georgia sweeps LSU
- Vanderbilt wins at least two games vs. Arkansas
- Tennessee wins at least one game vs. South Carolina
OR
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Georgia sweeps LSU
- Arkansas sweeps Vanderbilt
- South Carolina sweeps Tennessee
No. 4 Seed
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- LSU wins at least one game vs. Georgia
- Vanderbilt wins at least two games vs. Arkansas
- Tennessee wins at least one game vs. South Carolina
OR
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Georgia sweeps LSU
- South Carolina sweeps Tennessee
- Vanderbilt wins at least two games vs. Arkansas
OR
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- Arkansas sweeps Vanderbilt
- South Carolina sweeps Tennessee
- LSU wins at least one game vs. Georgia
No. 5 Seed
- Kentucky sweeps Florida
- South Carolina sweeps Tennessee
- Vanderbilt wins at least two games vs. Arkansas
- LSU wins at least one game vs. Georgia
OR
- Kentucky wins two games vs. Florida
- Tennessee wins two games vs. South Carolina
- Missouri wins at least one game vs. Auburn
See! It'll be as easy as that.
First pitch in game one between the Wildcats and Gators on Thursday, May 18 is set for 6:30 p.m. EST and will air on SEC Network+.
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