Oregon State looks to slide into the tournament.
Photo by Matt Pavelek/The Arizona Republic

The NCAA released its weekly college baseball Ratings Percentage Index and it’s great news for the Arizona Wildcats.

Even after losing two out of three to Stanford, even after dropping five consecutive series and 11 out of 16 overall games, the UA is #21 in the RPI.

You know what they say: Strength of schedule is a slumping team’s best friend.

Here’s how each team in the Pac-10 has looked in the PRI the past three weeks:

Why are so many Pac teams rated so highly? Having the #1 team in your league certainly helps.

It’s interesting that OSU is rated higher than both WSU and Stanford, two teams that appear to be in the tournament. The Beavers are very much alive for an at-large bid and they will be extremely motivated when they face Arizona this weekend.

The numbers still say the Wildcats have the third best overall resume in the Pac-10. The Cats don’t pass the eye test right now, but when you look at the proverbial “body of work” the big strings of March and April wins are making up for the May fade.

The projections continue to have the UA safely in the field of 64. Baseball America has a paragraph on Arizona that says the Cats only need to win one game at Oregon State to stay on the good side of the bubble.

But I would strongly advise against risking it.

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Here are last week’s Pac-10 results:

ASU won two of three vs. OSU. Scores: 10-4, 6-5, 8-9
The Sun Devils are one win away from a share of the Pac-10 championship and two wins away from the outright title.

Oregon won two of three at Washington. Scores: 11-13 (11 inn.), 5-2, 5-2
In the first game the Ducks found a way to score four runs in the 10th inning…and lose.

Stanford won two of three at ARIZONA. Scores: 3-1, 8-9, 8-4
RPI! RPI!

UCLA won all three at Cal. Scores: 8-7, 12-4, 11-2
You’re never going to believe this, but Cal was involved in sweep!

WSU won all three vs. USC. Scores: 20-7, 18-4, 8-2
The Wazzu baseball team could outscore its football team right now.

How things are standing:

Only 15 combined Pac-10 games remain with 80% of the league attempting to make the tournament for the first time ever.

All hail the RPI.

Lots of sweeps in Pac-10 baseball this past weekend. The best team and the worst team both took care of Mountain West schools. One struggling team pulled off a shocking win and another struggling team dropped to a new low.

ASU won both vs. BYU. Scores: 14-0, 7-2
Wildcat fans can only hope the Devils are tired of all these easy wins.

OSU won all three vs. Oregon. Scores: 2-1 (10 inn.), 4-3 (11 inn.), 6-5
The wow of the week. I guess the Beavers found their lug nuts.

UCLA won all three at Washington. Scores: 7-2, 14-6, 7-6
The Bruins responded the best possible way after getting swept last week.

Cal doesn’t believe in diversity.
Photo by Crystal Ochoa/The Arizona Republic

WSU won all three vs. Cal.
Scores: 13-10, 11-9, 9-4
The all-or-nothing Bears continued to do their thing. Cal has played seven Pac-10 series to date, and six of them have ended in a sweep.

ARIZONA lost two of three vs.
Cal State Bakersfield.
Scores: 2-7 (11 innings), 17-6, 5-22
At the time when you want to be peaking, this team is valleying.

Stanford won two of three at
Long Beach State. Scores: 3-2, 4-3 (10 inn.), 5-10
The losses drop the Dirtbags to 7-8 in Pac-10 play this year. LBSU must be auditioning in case the Pac-10 expansion rumors are true.

USC won all three vs. Utah. Scores: 8-1, 6-5, 11-6
That makes wins in six of their last seven for the Trojans, the anti-Arizona.

The updated league standings:

It was a week of big moves as Oregon dropped from 3rd to 7th and UCLA went from 7th to 2nd. Arizona actually moved up after its horrid showing, going from 6th place to a tie for 5th by virtue of losing to someone other than a Pac-10 team.

The rankings, however, were not as kind to the UA:

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com
CBCRDI = College Baseball Cumulative Rankings Directional Indicator

The Wildcats should send a fruit basket to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers for keeping them in the top-25. Can Arizona shockingly turn things around against the high-flying Sun Devils this weekend?

That would be bananas.

As expected, Cal is finding the tougher portion of its schedule to be, well, tough. Stanford is on the move, Oregon State is on the bad kind of move, and the same old team is at the top of the heap.

ASU won two of three vs. Washington. Scores: 10-2, 4-9, 10-4
Arizona State continues to get it done but the Devils only have one home conference series left.

Oregon won two of three at USC. Scores: 12-2, 4-5 (10 inn.), 8-4
The Ducks now have a winning Pac-10 record which is very impressive for the program’s sophomore season.

Stanford scooped up another sweep.
Photo by Andrea Bloom/The Arizona Republic

Stanford won all three vs. Cal.
Scores: 3-2, 15-12, 11-10
It’s the Cardinal’s turn to be the red-hot team…on the weekends. Stanford has won seven straight Pac-10 games but has lost five of its last six midweek games.

UCLA won two of three at ARIZONA. Scores: 6-3 (10 inn.), 6-2, 4-6
The UA’s Friday night error means the Bruins are in 3rd place instead of the Cats.

WSU won two of three vs. OSU. Scores: 5-1, 12-4, 2-3
That’s three straight series losses for the Beavers. Better get them some lug nuts. The wheels are falling off.

Stanford spanking Cal means we have a new team in ASU’s rearview mirror. Ye Pac-Tenne Standyngs:

The polls, however, aren’t as high on Stanford. That’s where those midweek losses come in.

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com
CBCRDI = College Baseball Cumulative Rankings Directional Indicator

Seven Pac-10 teams are represented in the polls but only two are moving in the right direction. ASU went from the unanimous #1 to the unanimous not-#1 after splitting four games on the week. Stanford understandably made the biggest jump with Cal taking the biggest tumble. OSU continues to get votes in the coaches’ poll which proves, even in baseball, the coaches don’t pay again when they vote.

As far as the Wildcats, shouldn’t splitting four games against teams ahead of you in the polls make you move up? If it was a matter of moving Stanford ahead of Arizona that would make sense, but the Cats are still ahead of the Cardinal in four of the five polls.

Ye olde confusying.

The series of the week in the Pac-10 did not disappoint, but it was overshadowed by one startling result.

(UNWARNING: Arizona Wildcat fans will be much less nauseous this week.)

ARIZONA won two of three at Washington. Scores: 7-2, 2-10, 9-1
The Cats were a lot more at home on the road this week, beating the Huskies twice and throwing in a bonus win at Gonzaga.

Cal won all three at USC. Scores: 16-9, 7-1, 4-3
I guess the Bears didn’t take too kindly to getting swept by ASU. Cal hasn’t lost since and has won eight in a row.

Oregon won two of three at Stanford. Scores: 5-2, 9-6, 1-2
This would have been the surprise of the weekend if not for what Wazzu pulled off.

UCLA won two of three at OSU. Scores: 1-4, 3-1 (16 inn.), 8-2
Huge win for the Bruins. Does this make them the new team to beat?

"Wait, I thought you were going to
order the wins!"
Photo by David Kadlubowski
The Arizona Republic

WSU won two of three vs. ASU.
Scores: 6-5, 7-11, 9-5
Say what now? I said the Devils would be able to name their score. I expected them to name more than one win.

So the road team won four of the five series and the only road team to lose was the unanimous #1 team in the country. Go figure.

Only three weeks into the Pac-10 season and we already have a Circular Reference: Arizona beat Washington who beat WSU who beat ASU who beat Cal who beat Arizona.

This is good, and not just in an it’s-always-good-when-ASU-loses kind of way. In the same way the 2009 Pac-10 football season was the most exciting in years, it’s good to have multiple teams with a realistic shot at winning the title.

ASU only lost one Pac-10 series all last year. Does dropping two in Pullman mean the Devils aren’t as good as we thought they were? Or, to continue the football analogy, is it going to be like USC losing an early game to OSU or Washington and then steamrolling everyone else?

The updated standings:

USC has established itself as the worst team, but it looks like every other position will be a dogfight. Can Cal keep pace with the league favorites? The Bears get Washington at home next so they could very well keep their streak going but then the degree of difficulty goes way up (OSU and UCLA at home and road series with Stanford, WSU and Oregon).

CBCRDI time!

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com

We welcome a new team to the rankings as the Wazzu Coogs snuck into one poll. Oregon went rank-free for the second straight week to drop off the list and Stanford is in danger of joining the Ducks in banishment.

Cal sets an all-time CBCRDI record with a 40-point jump, which is impressive, even if the scoring system is only two weeks old.