Which SEC Baseball Team Has Easiest Final Stretch? SEC Daily, May 6, 2025

With two weeks left before the conference tournament, the standings have only grown murkier, but some teams have an easier final stretch than others.

Mississippi State Bulldogs' Ace Reese (3) celebrates his home run as Auburn Tigers baseball takes on Mississippi State Bulldogs at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala., on Friday, April 25, 2025. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We’re two short weeks away from the conclusion of the college baseball regular season and there is still plenty left to figure out in the SEC standings.

However, considering how each week just brings different teams closer to one another instead of separating them, it’s likely these two weeks will end with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey flipping or coin, or even conducting a draw to determine the conference tournament seeding.

But what coaches across the SEC are telling their players is that the best thing they can do is simple: just win. So, who in the SEC has the easiest final schedule?

Or to put it another way, who would you want to be considering current status and rankings and who the final two opponents are. Here’s a nifty, color-coded chart I created to help myself answer this very question. (Note: Colors are based on SEC tournament seeding. Orange is the top four seeds, green is the next four and blue are the final eight.)

Current SEC standings with RPI rankings and final two conference opponents. / Taylor Hodges

So, the easy answers are Missouri’s final two opponents: Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The Aggies, though, play No. 6 Georgia in the final week. The Bulldogs face No. 24 Ole Miss this weekend before ending against the SEC-winless Tigers. Mississippi State is a great choice, but considering the school sent its head coach packing last week, it’s not as attractive.

Texas has some favorable matchups and, for some inexplicable reason, held onto the No. 1 ranking in D1Baseball’s Top 25 Rankings. Auburn gets South Carolina and Ole Miss in the final weeks, and Vanderbilt faces reeling Tennessee team and Kentucky (who will likely need some wins for a spot in the NCAA tournament).

In reality, every team has a series in the final two weeks that it could lose and we wouldn’t be surprised (well, except for Missouri). So, even with the coaching drama, maybe Mississippi State has the easiest final two weeks. If 13 SEC wins is the magic number to get into the NCAA Tournament and of the three SEC teams needing just three wins to reach that number, the Bulldogs have the best chance to not only reach it but surpass it.

SEC Teams and RPI Rankings

All but one SEC team finds itself ranked inside the top 64 teams in Rating Percentage Index (RPI). The RPI rankings are a big factor who makes the NCAA Tournament’s field of 64 teams. But just because a team has a ranking in the top 64 doesn’t mean it’ll get an invite to the tournament. A little bit less than half of the tournament field is automatic bids for conference champions (29). That’s why South Carolina is on the outside-looking in and Kentucky is a bubble team.

However, it is important to note how many SEC teams have RPI rankings in the top 20 (10) and the overall strength will play a role in the selection committee’s determinations.

SEC Teams Ranked By RPI

(National RPI rank in parenthesis)

1. Georgia (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Vanderbilt (3)
4. Auburn (4)
5. Arkansas (5)
6. LSU (9)
7. Alabama (13)
8. Tennessee (14)
9. Florida (16)
10. Ole Miss (17)
11. Oklahoma (23)
12. Mississippi State (31)
13. Texas A&M (37)
14. Kentucky (41)
15. South Carolina (62)
16. Missouri (155)

Did You Notice?

2025 SEC Softball Tournament kicks off today at noon on SEC Network with host school Georgia facing Kentucky in the tournament’s first game. Here’s the entire schedule for today’s first round games (all games will air on SEC Network):

• Game 1: No. 13 Kentucky vs. No. 12 Georgia, Noon
• Game 2: No. 14 Missouri vs. No. 11 Ole Miss, 3 p.m.
• Game 3: No. 15 Auburn vs. No. 10 Alabama, 6 p.m.

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