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As expected ever since the first couple of polls came out, Mississippi State baseball will enter the 2016 season a consensus top-20 team.
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its poll on Monday and ranked the Bulldogs No. 19 in the country.
NCBWA went beyond the top 25 and ranked the best 35 teams in college baseball. Still, MSU was the only team in the poll that finished last season with a losing record. Ole Miss (30-28) at No. 33 was the next closest team to MSU as far as worst record the previous year.
Florida remained atop the polls at No. 1.
Here are the updated and final preseason rankings for the Bulldogs.
D1Baseball: 15
Collegiate:11
Perfect Game: 17
Baseball America: 20
USA Today Coaches: 17
NCBWA: 19
College baseball rankings can be tricky to follow with so many polls involved, but it's clear that the pundits are high on John Cohen's 2016 club.
It's safe to say there's more optimism outside of Starkville than in it. Fans are cautious after a season that saw MSU finish 24-30 and miss a regional for the first time since 2010.
It doesn't help that one of the toughest non-conference and SEC-road schedules the diamond dogs have faced in years is staring them in the face.