Arkansas not baseball program Hogs fans think it is

Based on reactions around Arkansas over the past several weeks, it might come as a shock, but the Razorbacks head into the weekend still in the SEC championship hunt while maintaining an opportunity to take the overall No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.

Additionally, the Hogs are in prime position to finish the season with the most wins overall in the SEC with a one-game lead over the Texas Longhorns with 41 wins. Yet, based on the fans lately, it would seem Arkansas has tumbled down into sixth or seventh place in the conference standings and has so few wins it will be difficult for the Razorbacks to make the tournament.

No need to worry though. Things aren't the dire desperate situation Hogs fans have made them out to be.

If Arkansas gets a series win over Tennessee, the Razorbacks will have closed the season with a minimum 6-3 record over then No. 1 Texas, current No. 1 LSU and current No. 17 Tennessee. That is a brutal schedule for the Hogs to come out on the other side possibly winning at least 67% their games.

Heading into this final weekend, no team in America has more wins than Arkansas. Only Coastal Carolina and Northeastern also have 41 wins, although neither clearly has had to fight through an SEC schedule full of Top 10 teams to get there.

For further perspective as to where the Razorbacks sit in the national picture, No. 2 Florida State has five fewer wins. The Seminoles will have played four currently ranked teams all season after they wrap a series with No. 4 North Carolina this weekend.

Outside of the Tar Heels, Florida State will have tackled No. 15 Clemson, No. 21 Louisville and No. 23 Florida to the tune of 4-5. The three-game series against the Gators was spread out over multiple months as mid-week games where the Seminoles ultimately lost the series, 1-2.

Meanwhile, Arkansas played four teams in the Top 10 alone. Not the Top 25, because there are others on the schedule, but simply the Top 10.

Between No. 1 LSU, former No. 1 and current No. 3 Texas, No. 9 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Georgia, the Razorbacks went 8-4. Those games cover a stretch of late March to last weekend with the Hogs getting sweeps in both March and May just to show this isn't the result of a single hot stretch that piled up wins before an utter collapse.

Of course, all these numbers don't line up with the reality of Razorbacks baseball that certain segments of the fan base have created for themselves. They want to believe Arkansas is a program in shambles that doesn't deserve the national respect it typically gets.

They like to treat the real world with a nice dose of the "well buts." Well, but Arkansas lost that last series with LSU.

Well, but Texas A&M took a series from the Razorbacks. Well, but the pitching just isn't what everyone hoped it would be down the stretch.

These doses of negativity come from a fierce need to see the season pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning, game-by-game and no wider of a perspective than a single series. Arkansas fans are known for their suffering, and in so many cases that mantra is well justified.

However, when it comes to this year's baseball team, this is self-inflicted punishment. All it takes is a moment to widen the scope even a little to see how elite Arkansas has been this season.

No team in baseball has more wins. Certainly no team has had this level of success against such a tough schedule.

Still, fans will find a way to focus on the tiniest microcosm to create their own reality. They have to find a way to self prove their misery.

Sure, just like with any season, things could go sideways once the regionals get started. However, fans need to realize that once that part of the postseason hits, it will be mathematically the easiest stretch of break out your aces weekend level baseball the Hogs will have faced since Missouri nearly a month and a half ago.

That's how brutal the schedule has been the past six weeks. Arkansas is more than prepared after that level of grind.

It won't be a case of whether the Razorbacks baseball team is ready for the postseason. It will be whether their fans can let the negativity go so they can be ready also.

HOGS FEED