No. 1 In RPI

The Major League Baseball playoffs will be starting today with four opening games in the best-of-three Wild Card series.

In this round, TigerBlog will be rooting against the Tigers, something he's not used to doing. Of course, he doesn't mean the Princeton Tigers. He means the ones from Detroit, who play Cleveland today at 1 to get it all started. 

Why the Guardians? Loyalty, to Derek Griesdorn, Princeton's Senior Assistant Equipment Manager — and the most dedicated Cleveland sports fan TB knows. 

TB is also rooting for the Reds, in this case because of TV play-by-play man John Sadak, the former voice of Princeton men's and women's basketball. 

Once the next round begins, TB will also be rooting for Tom McCarthy, another former Princeton voice who is now the play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Phillies. This would become more challenging if the Divisional Round matches the Phils and Reds. 

There's also a Red Sox-Yankees series. TB remembers back to 1978, when those two played a one-game playoff to break the AL East tie, when there was still just an East and a West. The Red Sox had been up by as many as 14 games on the Yankees in July, before one of the greatest comebacks sports has ever known.

New York won the playoff game — and ultimately the World Series — after trailing 2-0 into the seventh, when non-power-hitting Bucky Dent (known ever since by Boston fans with a little addition to that name) hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster. 

By comparison, this year's Guardians trailed Detroit by 15.5 games in July, and even by 10.5 in September, which makes it statistically the biggest comeback in baseball history.

You know who isn't in the playoffs? The Mets, who back in July had the best record in baseball. 

You know who is bothered by this? Princeton head men's soccer coach Jim Barlow, one of the biggest Mets' fans TB knows (his colleague Jon Kurian is another one).

On the other hand, perhaps Jim Barlow has been too caught up in the start of his team's season to really feel that badly about his Mets (or his favorite NFL team, the Dolphins).

Princeton men's soccer is off to a 6-1-0 start to the season, with a five-game winning streak that includes a 1-0 win over Harvard in the Ivy opener this past Saturday in Cambridge. If you go back to last season, Princeton has now 13 of its last 16 games, including both to win the Ivy League tournament last November. 

The Tigers are at Army-West Point tonight, with a home Ivy game Saturday against Brown. There are still two other non-league games, at James Madison (Oct. 14) and Bryant at home (Oct. 21).

That Princeton-Bryant game? That will be a matchup of two teams who are currently in the top five in Division I in RPI. That's "top five," as in 1-2-3-4-5. 

Princeton's sizzling start has vaulted the team into the No. 1 spot in the country in RPI. Bryant is currently No. 5.

If you're wondering, teams 2-3-4 right now are Vermont, Indiana and North Carolina State. 

Army-West Point is 64th in the RPI. James Madison is No. 90. As for the rest of the Ivy League, Harvard is 45th and the next-highest league team. Beyond that you have Saturday's opponent at 52, Penn at 88 and Cornell at 99. 

That's a lot of top 100 opponents still to be played. That's also the kind of schedule that keeps your RPI way up there. 

Princeton goalkeeper Andrew Samuels was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week after his shutout of Harvard. That effort included turning aside a penalty kick attempt. 

Samuels and Princeton have allowed only three goals all season. Princeton ranks eighth in save percentage, 10th in goals allowed and 18th in shutout percentage in Division I.

No game is easy. Being No. 1 in RPI as September ends is great. As Barlow would undoubtedly say, "that's nice. Check back in November."

What September has done is put Princeton in position to play huge games in October and November. 

Sadly, Barlow's beloved Mets cannot say the same thing.