Florida Baseball: There is no conspiracy; the Gators deserve to be in the tournament

Heading into Monday, the fate for Florida Baseball was unclear. There were plenty of narratives to be made as to why the Gators should be included among the field of 64, but the overall record for Florida that had them just one win north of .500 brought about plenty of naysayers.

Now that the field is set and Florida made it in with room to spare, don't devolve into lazy takes to convince one's self that Florida didn't deserve a seat at the table.

Florida Baseball: Don't Hate From Outside The Club

The Gators are off to Stillwater, OK, and will have Oklahoma State, Nebraska, and Niagara in their regional. As it turned out, Florida wasn't even considered one of the "Last Four In" and made the tournament with some room to spare.

One of the complaints that emerged from the selection process is that teams who had representation on the committee all got the benefit of the doubt, whether it came to overall seeding or just getting into the tournament.

Ben Upton of 11Point7 College Baseball correctly picked 63 of the 64 teams who would make the tournament, but did so with the caveat that having a member on the committee would be vital.

After the bracket was announced and Florida was officially in, Kendall Rodgers of D1Baseball made a similar quip that the Gators benefited from having a member in the selection room.

We are not going to run through all the teams who may or may not have received the benefit of the doubt because at the end of the day we only care about Florida. But to insinuate Florida got in for nefarious reasons is disingenuous to the resume they put together.

Californina, Charleston, Cincinnati, and TCU were the "First Four Out" from the tournament.

Florida made it in because they played the single hardest schedule in college baseball and stayed north of .500. Are there flaws within the Gators? 100%. If they got left out though it sends the message to load up on easy competition and you will get rewarded.

As a reminder, Florida was 13-18 against Quad 1 competition. Cal played seven Quad 1 games and was 6-6 against Quad 3 opponents. Charleston had the 112th-ranked strength of schedule. Cincinnati was 5-12 against Quad 1, and TCU was just 5-8 against Quad 1.

So, honestly ask yourself if any of those teams would have stayed north of .500 had they played 31 Quad 1 opponents. Florida never got a chance to breathe and regroup, unlike all these other teams.

Florida's RPI of 30 didn't need an AD in the room to justify their spot among the field of 64.

Any suggestion otherwise is simply sour grapes.