G.O.A.T.?

[Dsdore]

Is this the best college baseball team ever? Play in unquestionably best conference. First SEC team to win conference, tournament and national title. SEC record number of wins. First team to beat every other team in conference in same season. What else could they have done?

[Titans309fan]

Second team to do it in the SEC (LSU also was all 3 in 2009, though you could argue that LSU was just a co-champion that year).

This is definitely the greatest Vandy team of all time. There needs to be more research done to see where they rank among other CWS champions.

[Vandy2019]

This season is definitely in the conversation for greatest of all time. Don't know enough about college baseball history to say for certain though.

[Versus75]

Does GOAT now mean Greatest Of All Time?

Used to be the GOAT was the antithesis of the HERO.

Like Fred Merkle when he failed to touch second base on a potential game winning hit and cost the Giants the 1908 National League Pennant.

Or Bill Buckner, who misplayed a routine grounder in the 1986 World Series as the Red Sox lost to the Mets.

My GOAT of this series: Luke Smith of the Louisville Cardinals who cursed his way into infamy and likely messed up his own head as Louisville allowed Vanderbilt to come from behind on Friday. (Of course, the 'Dores could have won Saturday but that would have changed the course of the finals series.)

Honorable Mention goes to Louisville coach Dan McDonnell who should have pulled Smith immediately and -- failing to do so -- should not have allowed Smith (with over 106 or pitches through 8 innings) start the ninth.

[AuricGoldfinger]

Based upon my (albeit limited) knowledge of SEC baseball history, I think it's legitimately the greatest SEC baseball team of all time.

I don't know enough to say it's the greatest college baseball team of all time in any conference--some of those Arizona State teams back in the 70s, with Bob Horner et al, were just ridiculous, and there are probably some USC and Texas teams that could make similar claims. But it's up there.

I will say this--to me, it's unquestionably the greatest Vanderbilt team in any sport all time, at the very least in the post-WWII era.

[Titans309fan]

I was looking back at that 2009 LSU team. While they just lost one SEC series all season (unlike Vandy which lost 2), they had only one sweep, hence the 20-10 record (Vandy was 23-7). LSU was ranked #1 in the preseason and stayed in the top 4 all year. They also had 14 players drafted that year.

LSU also lost to Vandy in the first game of the SEC tourney, though they beat Vandy in the rematch for the championship.

It's close, but I would give the edge to Vandy to being the greatest SEC team of all time. Most wins and more sweeps, comparable number of draft picks, and losing only twice the whole postseason.

[HopsLikeHolwerda]

Not sure about teams of the 70s and 80s as I didn't really pay attention to college baseball until I was there in the 90s. But this is the best SEC team I have seen. This team was 3 bullpen meltdowns (Austin Peay, Game #2 against A&M, and Game #3 against Arkansas) from being 62-9, which is crazy considering the strength of the SEC. Additionally, if you combine our records against the Omaha 8 (regular season and tournament) we were 12-2. That's pretty spectacular.

And now we turn the page...I'm looking forward to that weekend rotation of Rocker-Hickman-Leiter next year. Offense will need to fill many holes. Leadership may will be our biggest loss, but I think Martin and Rocker will take charge. Should be another fun season!

[VUDU]

I found this article:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/23 ... ms-history

I think we stack up well against all of those teams. While #1 CS Fullerton (57-9) and #2 1975 Texas (56-6) had better winning percentages than us, I doubt that they were playing the caliber of competition we played week in and week out. #3 is 2003 Rice (58-12). I would think we would be considered better than that simply by virtue of having a better overall record.

[SCSA]

The eras are different. LSU had some powerhouses in the 90's and Naughties. I feel like the competitive landscape has expanded significantly though. I remember when SEC baseball was LSU, SC, and sometimes Florida with Bama nipping at their heels.

[VUDU]

From today's Baseball America chat:

Would love to get some historical perspective on this Vanderbilt team. In the conversation for best college baseball team of all time?


Teddy Cahill: That's something I'm tasked with doing over the next week or so, but the surface level indicators are strong. Vanderbilt set an SEC record with 59 wins, which is the most by a national champion since 1989 and back then teams weren't limited to 56-game regular-season schedules. It is the first team since 1996 to be No. 1 in the Preseason Top 25 and the Final Top 25. First SEC team since 2009 to win the regular season, conference tournament and College World Series. Projects to have a top-10 pick (and maybe a top-five pick) in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 drafts. So, yeah, when you start talking about all-time teams, this one deserves to be in the discussion.

[Good2BGold]

I was looking back at that 2009 LSU team. While they just lost one SEC series all season (unlike Vandy which lost 2), they had only one sweep, hence the 20-10 record (Vandy was 23-7). LSU was ranked #1 in the preseason and stayed in the top 4 all year. They also had 14 players drafted that year.

LSU also lost to Vandy in the first game of the SEC tourney, though they beat Vandy in the rematch for the championship.

It's close, but I would give the edge to Vandy to being the greatest SEC team of all time. Most wins and more sweeps, comparable number of draft picks, and losing only twice the whole postseason.

Multiple announcers on ESPN and the SEC Network said we tied the record for most draft picks from an SEC team with 13 draft picks this year.

[Titans309fan]

I think what happened is that 14 players from that LSU team were drafted, but not in the same year.