Welcome to Episode 84 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We are extremely excited to be back for another season and the games are just around the corner. We begin with some general info about how this year will be back to relatively normal, the 60-team postseason field, the return of super regionals, the restructured regions (mostly just NE and Mid-Atlantic) and a few other minor notes (at 2:30). Then we give our usual caveats about how we plan to preview each region before previewing the West. In order:

• ASC (at 5:16)
  • The UT-Dallas Comets could have one of the best offenses in the country
  • The East Texas Baptist Tigers are always near the top of this league; can they finally reach the postseason this year?
  • The Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders might be ready to compete even sooner than we thought
  • Other teams like Concordia (TX) should also be in the mix 
• SCAC (at 17:40)
  • The Trinity (TX) Tigers should rake as always; how will their pitching staff shake out?
  • The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs have graduated a bunch but still have some All-Region talent that should keep them in contention
  • The Centenary (LA) Gents are basically always good, and have one of the best two-way players in the region
  • Look for Southwestern (TX) to also contend 
• SCIAC (at 32:45)
  • The Chapman Panthers had a semi-real season in 2021 and are always great but are losing some key contributors
  • The Cal Lutheran Kingsmen have more starters returning than Chapman but less experience overall
  • The La Verne Leopards broke out in a big way in 2019; can they contend again in 2022?
  • Redlands also played but seem a tick below the top 3; none of the other teams played in 2021 so who knows what they'll be?
• NWC (at 41:20)
  • The Pacific Boxers have a ton of talent returning and are looking to bounce back after a tough exit in last year's regionals
  • The Pacific Lutheran Lutes have two All-American Candidates and some strong depth behind them
  • The Willamette Bearcats HIT DINGERS SO MANY DINGERS but can they do the other things necessary to win baseball games? We think so!

We conclude (at 53:10) with some other notable players to watch, our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. 

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