What Michigan baseball needs to happen this weekend for it to win the Big Ten

While it isn’t very likely, there still is a chance the Michigan Wolverines baseball team wins the Big Ten regular season championship. Winning the regular season doesn't guarantee the team a bid into the NCAA Tournament, but it would be an impressive feat in head coach Tracy Smith’s first season.

With one three-game series remaining for each team, there are six schools that could still win at least a share of the conference title: Indiana (15-6 B1G), Maryland (15-6), Iowa (13-7), Rutgers (13-8), Nebraska (13-8) and Michigan (13-8). Interestingly enough, none of these teams play against each other during the final weekend.

Because of that, there’s good news and bad news for Michigan. The good news: if any of these teams ahead of the Wolverines were playing each other, it would guarantee wins for a team Michigan is competing with. The bad news: all these teams are playing the bottom teams in the conference, so the Wolverines need some upsets.

First things first, Michigan pretty much needs a sweep to have a fighting chance. The Wolverines travel to Columbus this weekend to play rival Ohio State, and the Buckeyes are in second-to-last place in the conference with a 6-15 record. Michigan is the better team and needs to show it in all three games.

Michigan will also need some help. Indiana plays Michigan State (10-11 B1G) in East Lansing, Maryland plays Penn State (6-14) in Happy Valley, Iowa plays Northwestern (3-18) in Evanston, Rutgers plays Minnesota (8-13) in Minneapolis and Nebraska plays Purdue (10-11) in West Lafayette.

To be honest, it’s shocking how well this plays out for Michigan. It’s unlikely for the Wolverines to get to a point where they earn at least a share of the title, but for none of the teams ahead of them to be playing each other and for all of them to be on the road gives Michigan a fighting chance.

To have any chance, though, the Wolverines need to win at least two of three against Ohio State. Here are a couple scenarios regarding what would need to happen to the teams above Michigan in the case of the Wolverines beating the Buckeyes at least twice.

Scenario one: Michigan sweeps Ohio State

Best case scenario is Michigan taking care of business and sweeping a subpar Ohio State team. In this case, it wouldn’t matter what happens to Nebraska and Rutgers.

The Wolverines would need Iowa to lose at least one game to Northwestern, and would need Michigan State and Penn State to win their series. A tall task? Yes. But is it possible? Yes.

Scenario two: Michigan wins two of three against Ohio State

In this case, Michigan would need help from everyone. First off, the Wolverines would need Nebraska and Rutgers to each lose at least once. Secondly, the Iowa situation complicates thing. The Hawkeyes have played one less game than everyone else, so while Michigan and Iowa have the same amount of wins, the Wolverines essentially have to play like Iowa has a one-game lead. So in this scenario, the Hawkeyes would have to lose the series against last place Northwestern.

The Wolverines would also need Indiana and Maryland to get swept. The first scenario certainly sounds a lot better.

There’s a lot that needs to happen, but Michigan still has a fighting chance at a Big Ten title.