The Michigan baseball team has spent its season chasing greatness.
“I think we’re going to be right up there with the top teams in the Big Ten. I think we’re going to make a regional push this year,” Wolverines right-hander Kurt Barr said Feb. 7. “I think we have the talent to do it. I think we have the coaching to do it. I think we have the leadership to do it.”
It’s the kind of optimism that’s expected from a veteran starter at the beginning of the season. But Barr wasn’t alone in his confidence. The belief that Michigan could compete for an NCAA College World Series Tournament bid was echoed across the roster — and months later, that ambition still hasn’t gone out.
The Wolverines have had their moments, no doubt. They opened their season taking down then-No. 2 Virginia, and have found compelling, if not inconsistent, ways to victory since. The combination of graduate shortstop Benny Casillas and junior second baseman Mitch Voit anchoring its batting lineup as two of the Big Ten’s statistical best hitters, along with the pitching staff’s six shutouts and three complete games, has allowed Michigan to string together moments that hint at its higher ceiling.
These achievements have allowed the Wolverines to consider that it is on the precipice of something great. But brilliance in bursts alone can’t forge a contender, and the moments outside of those flashes have been far dimmer.
At this point, Michigan doesn’t need to chase greatness. It needs to prove that it can be consistently good.
The Wolverines’ biggest issue isn’t talent — it’s consistency, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Fielding miscues, a failure to command the zone on the mound and a revolving door of pitchers have all combined to make the team’s performances quite unpredictable.
They have had setbacks at every level of competition, from what should’ve been simple midweek matchups to their weekend battles against Big Ten giants. Despite the vastly different scorelines, Michigan dropped two of its midweek games against Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan in similar fashions: Free bases, blunders behind the dish and an overextended pitching staff that struggled to contain damage.
“You can’t continue to ask your offense to bail you out time and time again,” Wolverines coach Tracy Smith said after the loss to the Eagles March 25. “At some point, we need to pitch the baseball well enough, throw the strikes, play the defense behind him and actually win a game from the mound.”
Even in recent wins, like their extra-innings escape against Oakland, Michigan’s depth issues have surfaced. While their bullpen options have improved in recent weeks, the Wolverines are still letting games slip in ways that can’t happen for a team vying to play at the next level. At this point in the season, those growing pains can no longer be the excuse.
While Michigan has found success against teams at the middle of the Big Ten table, the struggles in its simpler matchups render good results on a big stage impossible. In the past month it has taken on two of the Big Ten’s leaders, No. 13 Oregon and Iowa, and the results have highlighted the gap between where it is and where it wants to be.
Against the Ducks, the Wolverines pitching staff unraveled inning by inning, conceding 39 runs across their three games — a brutal number that underscored both a lack of consistency and an absence of resolve on the mound. They cycled through pitchers as solid starts quickly gave way to collapse, with even the generally reliable junior right-hander David Lally Jr. being pushed into a tough spot. The bullpen was pushed into high-leverage moments it wasn’t prepared to handle, and while Sunday’s win may have salvaged the series, it may have only masked the bigger issues.
With their most recent series against the Hawkeyes, it was Michigan’s defense that struggled to hold the line. In a callback to those earlier midweek performances, the Wolverines’ defense was, to put it simply, a mess. From redshirt-freshman catcher Noah Miller’s missed tag and a lagging outfield in game one to a dropped ball by graduate first baseman Jeter Ybarra in game two, singular moments made would-be wins become losses.
“You try to win every baseball game and there’s been two really, really good baseball games,” Smith said after the team’s second loss to Iowa April 19. “Baseball is a funny sport, man. It can rip your heart out. So you gotta regroup, reframe, refocus and put this one behind you and go out and get it again.”
Unfortunately for Michigan it didn’t, instead losing its third game against the Hawkeyes. These contests have made it clear that the Wolverines simply aren’t ready to beat the best, at least not yet. But if it can place those performances in the rearview, Michigan has a chance at building the defensive consistency that has evaded it in its losses.
For its final four weekend series, the Wolverines take on Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska and Indiana. For the remainder of their 12 conference games, they need to show they can play elite baseball on a consistent basis. Until then, their dreams of grandeur remain just that — dreams.
While the ambitions conveyed earlier in the season are a bit more distant than before, Michigan still has a shot. A shot to deliver on preseason goals and a shot to play to their potential. These next four series are still a chance for the Wolverines to show themselves as a reliable team, one who can match and overcome competition at their level. They have the talent and they have the drive, but what they need is to not have their capabilities overshadowed by their missteps.
It has to show that it can be consistent — not just for a game or a series, but week in and week out — and build momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament. These final four weekend series aren’t just about salvaging a record or chasing a longshot bid; they’re about proving that Michigan belongs.
Right now, greatness isn’t the bar — playing to their talent is.
