When the top five teams all lose in a week, it’s time for a shakeup of the rankings.
The facts — quality wins as well as who knocked off the state’s best — must be examined closely.
After the dust clears around home plate, the Class 4A state tournament runner-up from a year ago, Mounds View, lands in the No. 1 spot in the Minnesota Star Tribune Top 25 statewide baseball rankings. The Mustangs (5-1) are riding a five-game winning streak after dropping their season opener to Rogers.
No. 2 Farmington (6-1) has been trending on a similar path as Mounds View. The Tigers have won six consecutive games after losing their season opener to Rochester Mayo. They haven’t played as demanding a schedule as the Mustangs.
Cretin-Derham Hall (4-1) remains in the No. 3 spot, its lone loss to Mounds View. The Raiders are averaging over 13 runs per game and put up 23 on Class 4A defending state champion East Ridge.
When a team remains unbeaten, it can’t be ignored. Blaine (6-0) climbs 10 spots, vaulting from No. 14 to No. 4. The Bengals are winning with pitching. They’ve yielded only six runs, only once giving up more than one in a game, and they won that game by 10 runs.
Rogers’ strength of schedule takes the Royals from being unranked to No. 5. Rogers (4-2) owns victories over Mounds View, Class 3A defending state champion and No. 9 Totino-Grace (5-2) and No. 12 Chaska (1-1) and has played five ranked teams.
Another unbeaten team, St. Michael-Albertville (3-0), goes from unranked to No. 6. The Knights do so thanks to a 4-3 victory at No. 7 Minnetonka (3-1).
