Mark Wasikowski defends playing midweek games: 'The system's broken'

There have been teams known to cancel midweek games in college baseball. That’s done, oftentimes, to help avoid a game that would hurt the team’s RPI rankings. Despite that, Oregon Ducks head coach Mark Wasikowski has no intention of canceling games.

Following Oregon’s pair of midweek wins against Saint Mary’s, Wasikowski defended playing midweek games. That’s because he sees that the system is broken and doesn’t want to take away opportunities to play simply because of that system.

“Well, the system’s broken,” Wasikowski said. “So, I’m not going to complain about the system being broken and start canceling games. I mean, if the geniuses can’t figure out that the system’s broken, the RPI is screwed up, and you shouldn’t be canceling games.”

The Oregon Ducks currently rank 23rd in the RPI, a key metric in deciding postseason seeding. That makes them the second-highest ranked Big Ten team. Right now, nine of the top 10 teams in the RPI rankings come from the SEC or ACC, adding value to their conference games. Still, even with the chance that midweek games could hurt Oregon’s RPI, Wasikowski wants to compete.

“Tonight was a great opportunity for guys to get a chance to play. We got a chance to play in two really good baseball games. We got some guys in — we got a lot of experience out of those two games,” Wasikowski said. “And if we’re canceling games because of some magical RPI formula that is so messed up it’s not even funny, we’re taking opportunities away from student-athletes that they deserve. That’s why they came to the University of Oregon. To play baseball. So, to take the opportunity to play baseball away from them for anything other than weather-related or some sort of act of God or any of those clauses that are in those contracts, I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s repulsive and, for me, the student athletes suffer when that happens.”

Oregon just took two games from Saint Mary’s. That makes the Ducks 6-3 on midweek games this season. Those are games that, regardless of outcome or impact on BPI, Wasikowski wants to maintain.

“I don’t fault the coaches, I fault the fact that the system isn’t right,” Wasikowski said. “And until they get their arms around it and have the courage to make some changes to that, no, we’re not gonna cancel games. We’re gonna play the games that are on our schedule because I really respect the team that we just got done playing. They’re a good team. They’re trying to win a league championship. Then, tonight, all the way down to the last pitch of the game, you have Tanner Bradley in the last inning. You see how good Tanner Bradley is, and without the opportunity to play that game tonight, he doesn’t get a chance to pitch and show how good he really is. So, I’m a big proponent of playing baseball.”

Oregon wraps up the season series against Washington and Iowa. There, the Ducks look to build momentum for the postseason and round out their resume. They have no midweek games remaining.