Gopher Baseball is on the verge of the Big Ten Tournament

The Gopher baseball team has been in a rut since 2018 when they won the Big Ten, advanced to the Super Regional and nearly knocked off Oregon State to get back to the College World Series. Since then they have seen their conference standing drop year after year.

2019 – 5th
2020 – n/a
2021 – 13th (out of 13)
2022 – 13th (out of 13)
2023 – 10th (out of 13)
2024 – 10th (out of 13)
2025 – 16th (out of 17)

And while this year is not exactly a surge to the top of the Big Ten standings, the 2026 Gophers are much improved. They currently sit 13th in the conference standings after their first sweep at home over a conference opponent since 2019 and are just a 1/2 game out of qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament. And while the record doesn’t scream “improvement,” they have had quite a few close losses. This team is better and they are right on the edge of having a record that would make them competitive in the conference.

This past week they won all four of their games including a 3-game sweep over last place Northwestern. Weber Neels earned himself Big Ten Player of the Week honors after racking up nine hits, nine RBIs and three home runs.

In the Big Ten, the top 12 teams make the Big Ten Tournament and there is a group of seven teams within two games of each other, six of whom will make it to the conference post season.

The Big Ten standings

1 – UCLA (21-0)
2 – NEBRASKA (17-4)
3 – OREGON (15-6)
4 – USC (16-8)
5 – PURDUE (15-9)
6 – MICHIGAN (12-9)
7 – IOWA (10-11)
8 – OHIO STATE (10-11)

9 – ILLINOIS (9-12)

• @ Iowa (10-11)
• Northwestern (5-16)
• @ Indiana (6-15)

10 – RUTGERS (9-12)

• @ USC
• Maryland
• @ Northwestern

11 – WASHINGTON (9-12)

• Oregon (15-6)
• Penn State (5-16)
• UCLA (21-0)

12 – MICHIGAN STATE (10-14)

• UCLA (21-0)
• Ohio State (10-11)

——————————————