WPIAL baseball bracketology: Don Rebel predicts playoff seeds

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, May 9, 2019 | 11:20 PM

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The WPIAL will unveil the brackets for the 2019 district baseball playoffs Friday afternoon. Watch the official release at 1 p.m. on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Eighty-one teams have punched their ticket for the Way to Washington.

But before the brackets are released, a lot of coaches, players and fans are playing the guessing game. Here is some insight before checking out my two cents.

Seeding is not ranking. The WPIAL steering committee first figures out the top four seeds, then the next four and then they start filling in the blanks. They don’t rank teams, they slot them to avoid sectional matchups.

The committee will have their hands full with Class 2A. Four sections all ended up with co-champs — eight section champions.

My solution is to match the eight up in the same quadrant so that if they survive Round 1, they will battle for a third time in the quarterfinals.

Trib HSSN will have exclusive broadcast coverage of the baseball playoffs, concluding with video streams of all six title games from Wild Things Park in Washington.

Here’s a prediction of how the seeds could shape up:

Class 6A — 12 playoff teams with four first-round byes

1) Pine-Richland Rams

2) Bethel Park Black Hawks

3) Penn-Trafford Warriors

4) North Allegheny Tigers

5) Peters Township Indians

6) Seneca Valley Raiders

7) Norwin Knights

8) Upper St. Clair Panthers

9) Hempfield Spartans

10) Mt. Lebanon Blue Devils

11) Connellsville Falcons

12) Butler Golden Tornado

Class 5A — 12 playoff teams with four first-round byes

1) West Allegheny Indians

2) Franklin Regional Panthers

3) Hampton Talbots

4) Shaler Titans

5) Mars Fightin’ Planets

6) Montour Spartans

7) South Fayette Lions

8) Laurel Highlands Mustangs

9) Gateway Gators

10) Fox Chapel Foxes

11) Trinity Hillers

12) Kiski Area Cavaliers

Class 4A — 15 playoff teams with one first-round bye

1) Blackhawk Cougars

2) Ringgold Rams

3) Thomas Jefferson Jaguars

4) Greensburg Salem Golden Lions

5) Yough Cougars

6) Beaver Bobcats

7) South Park Eagles

8) Knoch Knights

9) Elizabeth Forward Warriors

10) New Castle Red Hurricanes

11) Highlands Golden Rams

12) Quaker Valley Quakers

13) Belle Vernon Leopards

14) Mt. Pleasant Vikings

15) Central Valley Warriors

Class 3A — 12 playoff teams with four first-round byes

1) Hopewell Vikings

2) Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles

3) Freeport Yellowjackets

4) New Brighton Lions

5) Waynesburg Raiders

6) Steel Valley Ironmen

7) Deer Lakes Lancers

8) McGuffey Highlanders

9) Burrell Buccaneers

10) Freedom Bulldogs

11) Beth-Center Bulldogs

12) Ellwood City Wolverines

Class 2A — 17 playoff teams with one preliminary-round game

1) Shenango Wildcats

2) Carmichaels Mighty Mikes

3) Avonworth Antelopes

4) Serra Catholic Eagles

5) Seton LaSalle Rebels

6) Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers

7) Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers

8) Neshannock Lancers

9) Brownsville Falcons

10) Laurel Spartans

11) Mohawk Warriors

12) Carlynton Cougars

13) Riverside Panthers

14) Jeannette Jayhawks

15) Brentwood Spartans

16) Fort Cherry Rangers

17) Summit Academy Knights

Class A — 13 playoff teams with three first-round byes

1) Vincentian Academy Royals

2) California Trojans

3) Union Scotties

4) Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions

5) Quigley Catholic Spartans

6) Monessen Greyhounds

7) Bishop Canevin Crusaders

8) West Greene Pioneers

9) Eden Christian Warriors

10) St. Joseph Spartans

11) Rochester Rams

12) Leechburg Blue Devils

13) Jefferson-Morgan Rockets