For the past 2 years, I have argued that Region 3 was by far the toughest journey to get to Austin.  Most agreed.  Some disagreed.  It was just an obvious fact that some outside of Region 3 did not want to admit or discuss.

But in 2008, Region 4 may rise up to challenge Region 3 as the toughest journey to Austin.  The number of potentially very good teams in Region 4 has more than doubled the number of very good teams of 2007. 

Yes, there were good teams last year.  Falfurrias was loaded but beaten by a very good Sinton team.  Medina Valley and Devine had good runs.  A very good Mathis team was unfortunate to meet up with Falfurrias in the 2^nd Round.  But in 2008, there are likely to be a lot of tough match ups for all teams in the early rounds of the Region 4 Bracket.

 
A comparison of the two preseason baseball polls demonstrates how much stronger Region 4 will be this year:
 

3ABASEBALL.COM  POLL                                    TEXAS BASEBALL NEWS POLL

Top 10                                                                       Top 10
Reg I – 1 team                                                             Reg I - 2 teams
Reg II – 2 teams                                                           Reg II - 1 team
Reg III – 5 teams                                                          Reg III - 2 teams
Reg IV – 2 teams                                                          Reg IV – 5 teams

Top 20                                                                        Top 25
Reg I – 3                                                                      Reg I - 4
Reg II – 2                                                                     Reg II - 6
Reg III – 8                                                                    Reg III - 5
Reg IV – 7                                                                    Reg IV – 10

Top 40
Reg I – 8                                                         
Reg II – 9
Reg III – 13
Reg IV – 10

 
3ABASEBALL.COM shows a slight edge to Region 3 as far as strength of good teams but the Texas Baseball News overwhelmingly regards Region 4 as the strongest region.  Both polls show a positive shift of strength for Region 4 compared to last year’s dominance by the Region 3 teams in the polls.  What makes this even more impressive for the Region 4 area is that there are a total of 54 teams in Region 3 whereas Region 4 consists of only 39 teams.

While Region 4 has always had its share of good teams, the cup is running over in 2008.  Sinton is just about everybody’s preseason favorite returning 7 starters and all their pitching from their state tournament team of ’07.  Pleasanton is a Top 10 team in both polls.  Medina Valley has some very good players returning from their successful run in the playoffs last year.  Rio Hondo and Gonzales, both playoff teams from ’07,  return 10 starters each and Cuero is looking very strong this year, earning a #4 ranking from Texas Baseball News.

Mathis returns a lot of good pitching after a Top 10 finish last year and it is hard to imagine Falfurrias not in the mix of things.  Ingleside is returning a couple of very impressive players.  Port Isabel returns 7 starters from their playoff team of last year.  Devine could be very good again.  Yoakum lost a lot but still has arguably the best pitcher in 3A in Covey Morrow.  And don’t count out Marion, Llano, Bandera, and La Vernia as teams that could step up and make a strong showing.

So what does all this mean?  Nothing, really.  As many like to say “The polls don’t mean a thing come playoff time.”  But when intellectual geniuses like those behind the 3ABASEBALL.COM and Texas Baseball News polls both see the same thing on the horizon it should be worth taking notice.