Alabama Baseball's Pre-SEC Tournament RPI

The Crimson Tide is still among teams that could host a regional with a strong conference tournament showing.

Alabama baseball players at Condron Ballpark. / Alabama Athletics

Alabama baseball wants to be a regional host for the second time in the 2020s, and its RPI helps those prospects, as does strength of schedule from an SEC slate. However, the Crimson Tide finds itself needing to make a bit of noise in the SEC Tournament to cement those chances.

RPI is one of the most crucial aspects in determining which 16 squads will be national seeds in the NCAA Tournament and, therefore, host regionals. The Crimson Tide received the privilege in 2023 with the same number of SEC wins it has now, ending a drought of more than a decade and a half.

Rob Vaughn's team is now No. 9 in RPI after losing two out of three games at No. 23 Florida this past weekend. That's only a one-spot drop from where the Crimson Tide stood entering the road series, but it is a three-game set Alabama could have won (it lost hold of a 5-0 lead in game one and fell 7-6).

The Crimson Tide had the ability to effectively seal itself as a 2025 NCAA Tournament host by winning the road series against Florida; a sweep would have removed any and all doubt. However, the team now does not have a favorable RPI matchup for its first game in Hoover due to the series loss.

Alabama (40-15, 16-14 SEC) does have a series win over the top RPI team, Georgia, which it acquired at home on Mother's Day weekend. Those two wins were some of the most important of the team's 2025 season, renewing its place as a realistic regional host candidate.

The No. 18-ranked Crimson Tide faces Missouri, which is 144th in RPI, to start its run at the SEC Tournament. That game, a No. 9 vs. No. 16 seed matchup, begins at 9:30 a.m. CT Tuesday morning. The RPI top 16, as of midnight CT on Monday, May 19, is listed below.

If Alabama does lose to Missouri Tuesday (as it nearly did in the regular season series opener; the final in that game was 7-5), any puncher's chance at bringing postseason baseball to Tuscaloosa practically fades out. The Crimson Tide also did not receive a bye in the conference tournament.

1. Georgia
2. Auburn
3. Vanderbilt
4. Texas
5. Arkansas
6. Oregon State
7. North Carolina
8. LSU
9. Alabama
10. Clemson
11. Coastal Carolina
12. Oregon
13. Florida
14. Florida State
15. UCLA
16. Tennessee

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