By John Cackowski
State Director

Tomorrow on 1-5-17 we will begin our Top 50 preseason ranking countdown. Like any preseason ranking for any sport, last year our list created a lot of fun conversations, debate, and opinions among players, coaches, and families.

What makes our list unique is it combines all classifications (1A through 5A), and leading up to the start of the high school season, we will count down the Top 50 preseason teams every day as part of our comprehensive season coverage.

Factors that are considered when creating the Top 50 List are the following:

- How many current players are returning that are in PBR Colorado rankings
- How many returning college commits that are starters are returning
- How many overall players committed or non-committed are returning
- How many starting pitchers are returning
- Success the previous season
- History of success in the program

Let's take a look back at our 2016 Preseason Rankings and see how close the Prep Baseball Report staff for Colorado did.

To see the 2016 Top 50 Preseason Rankings and write-ups Click Here

What we got right in 2016

- 44 of our Top 50 teams last year made the district playoffs (88%)

- 17 out of the Top 20 teams last year made the playoffs (85%)

- 7 of our Top 14 overall teams hosted a district site (Regis Jesuit, Eaton, Grandview, Pine Creek, Holy Family, Silver Creek, Mountain View)

- 21 of the Top 30 overall teams played in a District Championship Game (Regis Jesuit, Rocky Mountain, Eaton, Cherry Creek, Fruita, Grandview, Pine Creek, Holy Family, Silver Creek, Mountain View, Legend, Cherokee Trail, Air Academy, Lewis Palmer, Erie, Heritage, Pueblo South, Windsor, Pueblo West, Mullen, Ralston Valley)

- 4 of the Top 5 made the Final 8 (Regis Jesuit, Rocky Mountain, Eaton, Cherry Creek)

- 5 of our Top 10 made the Final 8 (Regis Jesuit, Rocky Mountain, Eaton, Cherry Creek, Grandview)

What we got wrong in 2016

- 5A Champion Cherokee Trail started the year ranked outside the Top 10 at 16

- 4A Champion Valor Christian was our 38th ranked team to begin the year

- Arapahoe finished the year 6-13 well outside the Top 50 after beginning the year at 49

- 4A defending state champion Green Mountain started the year at 8 and finished the year 9-10

- 3 of our Top 10 overall teams hosted a District Championship (Regis Jesuit, Eaton, Grandview) 

- 5A, 4A, 3A State Champions all came from outside the Top 15

- Fort Collins was left out of the Top 50 and made it to the District 5A championship game and lost in extra innings to ThunderRidge 4-3

- D'Evelyn (No. 6), Mountain Vista (No. 17), and Brighton (No. 20) did not make the playoffs.