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The SEC West race will come down to the final day of the regular season, as Arkansas and Texas A&M remain tied atop the standings.
Both teams are 18-11 after winning their first game of the weekend, only to follow it up with a loss Friday night. The Razorbacks fell 8-6 against Alabama, while the Aggies dropped a 14-6 decision at Ole Miss.
If the teams remain tied after Saturday’s games, meaning they both win or both lose, they’ll be recognized as co-division champions by the SEC, even though Texas A&M holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
It would be similar to Arkansas’ division titles in 2018 and 2019, when it shared the honor with Ole Miss and Mississippi State, respectively. The Razorbacks lost their series against the Rebels in 2018, but beat the Bulldogs in 2019.
The only place the tiebreaker matters is at the SEC Tournament. At that event, the Aggies would get the 2 seed because they took two of three against Arkansas in College Station last month.
The only way for the Razorbacks to be the 2 seed is to win the SEC West outright, which would require beating Alabama and Texas A&M losing to Ole Miss on Saturday. Otherwise, they will end up as the 3 seed.
Having already wrapped up a first-round bye to automatically move into the double-elimination portion of the SEC Tournament, the only difference between the 2 and 3 seeds is when they play and who they’d face.
The 3 seed gets the first game of the day Wednesday, with a scheduled first pitch at 9:30 a.m. CT, while the 2 seed plays the game right after that, likely around 1 p.m.
The Razorbacks’ opponent will play a single-elimination game Tuesday. They’ll either face the winner of the 6-11 matchup as the 3 seed or the winner of the 7-10 matchup as the 2 seed.
Only one game currently separates four teams that will end up with the 6, 7, 8 and 9 seeds in Hoover. Florida is sitting at 15-14 and one game ahead of Georgia, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, each of which are 14-15.
The tiebreakers are too numerous to work out, but two of those teams will end up as the 6 and 7 seeds that could potentially face Arkansas on Wednesday.
There’s a little bit more clarity for the 10 and 11 seeds. South Carolina would clinch the 10 seed with a win over Florida or an Alabama loss to Arkansas. The Gamecocks could slip to the 11 seed if neither of those things happen, but if they do, Alabama or Kentucky will end up in that slot.
The only things set in stone for next week’s SEC Tournament are the top and bottom of the standings. Tennessee won the regular-season conference title and clinched the 1 seed last weekend and Mississippi State became the first team eliminated from Hoover when it lost Friday night.
Between those two schools, there could still be a lot of movement. Auburn and LSU are fighting for the 4 seed and final first-round bye, Kentucky and Missouri are fighting for the 12th and final spot in the SEC Tournament and the others are jostling for position.
Most of Saturday’s games — including the Arkansas-Alabama rubber match on SEC Network-Plus — are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. CT, but the Texas A&M-Ole Miss rubber match has a 1:30 p.m. first pitch and Tennessee-Mississippi State starts at 2 p.m.
