What to Make of the Baseball Team's Red-Hot Start?

Today we look at what to make of the Tigers' best start in four seasons (honestly, there is not a lot after only eight games).

The Clemson Tigers are currently 8-0 for the first time since 2018, and off to a hot start heading into this weekend's rivalry series against the South Carolina Gamecocks. 

Entering the series, the Tigers are averaging an incredible 11.3 runs per game and hitting .329 with a .516 slugging percentage, .466 on-base percentage and two steals. However it is not only the offensive production that has been impressive, as the pitching staff has a 2.59 ERA, .213 opponents’ batting average and 2.97 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Clemson is fielding .990.

Today we look at what to make of the Tigers' best start in four seasons (honestly, there is not a lot after only eight games).

First, let's be clear, the start is exactly what is expected at Clemson--beat up on the lesser teams. I understand that baseball is probably the sport with the most parity of any, with a team only needing a pitcher to get hot on a given night for a lesser team to beat a better team. However, Indiana and Hartford, the Tigers' first series' of the season, have combined for two wins--both by Indiana--over Louisanna Lafeyette and Miami (Ohio).

On the flip-side, these are some of the struggles the Tigers have had in recent memory--losing games they shouldn't. So it is still very encouraging that the Tigers are sitting at 8-0 and not 7-1, or 6-2.

Second, we have seen this story before.

While the Tigers are off to an incredible start--their starts in the seasons since 2018 have not been awful. In 2019, the Tigers started off 7-1 only to finish the season 35-26, 15-15 in the ACC and unranked. The 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, but before it was canceled the Tigers surged to a 14-3 record and a No. 19 ranking. In 2021, the Tigers started off the season with a series sweep of Cincinnati, then dropped two games to South Carolina before being swept by Notre Dame. The Tigers finished the season with a losing record for the first time since 1957 when the Tigers went 6-12, and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

Finally, the Tigers still have work to do.

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney likes to say, "Noone remembers September, they remember November." The same can hold true for the baseball team. No one will remember the baseball team's hot start if they falter in April and May. I do not want to take anything away from what this team has accomplished through the first eight games--they have been spectacular. But I am taking a wait-and-see approach with how good this team can be--selfishly I hope they are as good as they have shown, because there is nothing like regional baseball in Clemson in the summer.

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