Baseball

For college baseball teams across the nation, the phrase “The Road to Omaha” is spoken with reverence. Omaha is the home of the College World Series, and playing at TD Ameritrade Park in late June is the ultimate goal in the sport.

But for Northwestern and other teams in the Big Ten, the phrase can take on a second meaning — Omaha is the host of the Big Ten Tournament.

With three conference weekends to go, the Wildcats sit in 11th place in the conference standings. While NU (19-22, 6-9 Big Ten) would be out of the eight-team playoffs if the season ended Thursday, the Cats are still very much in the thick of it all.

The difference between NU and the fifth spot in the standings is only two games. Heading into this weekend, Illinois, Maryland and Minnesota are at 8-7, Ohio State and Rutgers stand at 7-8, Purdue clocks in at 6-8 and the Cats is 6-9.

Of all the teams, NU is obviously in the least advantageous position at the back of the pack, but that does not mean their season is over. The easiest way for the Cats to reach postseason baseball is to win at least six of their final nine conference games to get to 12 wins.

Since the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams for the 2014-15 academic year, 12 wins has almost guaranteed a spot in the tournament. The one exception was 2016, when there were two teams with 12 wins who missed the playoffs. However, the top 10 teams in the conference within 4.5 games of one another that campaign — an extremely uncommon occurrence. In the other three seasons since expansion, the No. 10 team in the standings ended the year, on average, over 10 games behind first place.

The path to get to those 12 wins is not easy for the Cats, but definitely doable.

This weekend’s opponent, Nebraska, is third in the conference table and ranked No. 38 nationally in RPI. However, the Cornhuskers have lost their last two weekend series and may be looking past this weekend. Over the next two weeks, Nebraska faces off against a high-powered Arizona State team and conference-leading Michigan. This has the potential makings of a trap weekend for the Cornhuskers.

After hosting Nebraska, the Cats travel to the Garden State to play Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are above NU in the conference standings by a game, but slot in at No. 152 in RPI. Against top-100 ranked RPI teams, Rutgers is 1-14, and the Cats are currently ranked No. 96.

For the final weekend, NU gets the Golden Gophers at home. Minnesota is one of the most perplexing teams in the conference. Named by Big Ten coaches as the preseason favorite for the conference title, the Golden Gophers had a horrendous start to the season, starting 2-11. They have played .500 baseball since then, but have not won a weekend series since the calendar turned to April.

Without any cancellations, the Cats will have nine games to play their way into the tournament. Six wins is possible for NU, especially if they return to their early April form. But, three straight series losses are also in the cards.

It is do-or-die time for the Cats. There multiple different roads NU can take, but not all of them lead to Omaha.

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Twitter: @thepeterwarren