Chasing RPI points

■ Thanks to Kendall at CollegeBaseball.Rivals.com for linking to a great article at SEBaseball.com by Mark Etheridge, Weighing Temptation, about the complications and difficulties of trying to schedule for increased Schedule Strength and higher RPI rankings, as well as the reason why some mid-major schools are tempted to save their ace pitcher for a mid-week game against a higher-ranked school.

"I think we would see how conference goes, and if we are in good shape there you could see him go back to mid-week and chase some RPI points."

Speaking of RPI points, perhaps no one knows more about the RPI and its ramifications than Paul Kislanko, our own statistical expert. Putting the impact those wins may have on human perception aside for a minute, how much effect would success in those high-profile mid-week games have on their resume?

"If a team has a win against opponent B and loss against opponent A, their RPI will be the same as if they beat A and lost to B, because the the winning percentage and SOS are the same in either case," said Kislanko. "But if the W is against a higher-ranked team, there's one more favorable item on the team's resume."