There are six polls in college baseball, so I like to post before each season a reminder that the poll our newspaper and website use is the coaches’ poll, which has yet to be released. It typically comes out in late January or early February.
Does not mean that’s the best one. The guys at DI baseball seem to have great knowledge. Baseball America is pretty good, too. Collegiate Baseball is the one I think is the craziest. A team might play a tough series on the road and lose some games and that team gets dropped 15 spots. What did they think was going to happen?
I don’t worry too much about the baseball polls, especially early in the season. Play well, and you will be rewarded at season’s end. Of course, playing in the SEC is as tough as it gets.
I’ll tell you who pays the closest attention to the preseason polls: TV folks and ticket offices. It helps sell both of their products.
We use the coaches’ poll in lieu of Baseball America or D1Baseball because of the number of voters. The coaches’ poll has a representative from every conference, whereas the BA and D1 polls are comprised of small staffs - less than five.
I don’t think the coaches know about a lot of the teams. They know the teams they play and the teams within their conferences. I think the DI guys know more about the teams and do the best research. Matt has his reasons for liking that poll, but I have never thought the coaches (and that would go for college football and college basketball) have broad knowledge of the entire college baseball scene. That’s not their jobs. Plus, I have heard horror stories about coaches not doing their polls – just turning it over to the SID because they were too busy. They have less knowledge of the teams around the country. There is another reason I don’t care for the coaches polls, because they will invariably try to manipulate things to help themselves. I have heard too many stories to favor any poll done by coaches. No big deal, just my thoughts.