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Arizona Baseball Misses First Postseason Under Jay Johnson

By Eric Townsend

Omaha, NE - JUNE 30: Player J.J. Matijevic (R) of the Arizona Wildcats and a teammate look on from the dugout, as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers celebrate on the field after winning the National Championship at the College World Series Championship Series on June 30, 2016 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 30: Player J.J. Matijevic (R) of the Arizona Wildcats and a teammate look on from the dugout, as the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers celebrate on the field after winning the National Championship at the College World Series Championship Series on June 30, 2016 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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The 2018 season is officially over for the Arizona Baseball team, with the Wildcats having to watch the postseason from home this year.

2018 was an interesting year for the Arizona Baseball team. Missing some valuable pieces from the 2017 season the Wildcats were hopeful to make another postseason run in head coach Jay Johnson’s third season in Tucson.

After a tough, 5-6 start to the year, the Wildcats needed to battle in a competitive, Pac-12 Conference.

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The bats started cold for the Wildcats, with most of their sluggers struggling to find some offense. Luckily, things changed quickly, as they would then reel off and win 18 of their next 24 games, two of three coming against and then No. 4 ranked Oregon State team.

Coming into the Stanford series at 23-12 on the year, that’s when things would start to get dicey for Arizona, well, at least away from Hi Corbett Field. Arizona would proceed to win just 11 of their next 21 games. A majority of those losses coming on the road.

Entering their series with ASU, the Wildcats were just 10-games over .500 at 30-20 on the year, with an outside chance of making the postseason. Arizona would win two of three against the Sun Devils, securing victory in the annual head-to-head match-up, as well as the Territorial Series Cup.

The Wildcats would then travel to Eugene, OR, where they would shellack the Ducks in two of their three games, taking the series, and finishing the regular season with a 34-22 (14-16) record.

As selection day approached, here’s how Arizona’s resume fared:

  • Record: 34-22 (14-16)
  • Strength of Schedule: 55th
  • RPI: 46th
  • Marquee Wins: Two of three over then No. 4 ranked OSU, sweep of then No. 7 UCLA, beat New Mexico State (40-20) twice, San Diego State and Sacramento State

However, as selection day came, the Wildcats learned that they will be missing the postseason for the first time since 2015, and the first time in Jay Johnson’s three seasons in Tucson.

How close was it? The Wildcats in the group of the first four out…

Despite the rather strong finish (winning five of their last seven), it just wasn’t enough. Perhaps exposing the sort of bias that exists towards East Coast teams. If you finish with an average season in the West, it’s likely you may miss the postseason, plus for the Pac-12, those teams play more conference games.

As for the Wildcats, this one will hurt, and Johnson is already using this as motivation for next year.

It sucks that the Wildcats won’t be playing for a chance to reach Omaha this year, but you can’t help but just move on. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be in 2018.

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At Zona Zealots, we are proud of the way the Wildcats competed, and only can hope this motivates guys to comeback next year even stronger. It’ll be interesting to see who goes and who returns. Bear Down, Arizona!

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