By Nick Gerhardt
Early season wins and losses did little to persuade our Class A pollsters as they felt more compelled to point to the teams poised to make deep postseason runs.
Mighty, mighty Miesville remained the unanimous choice for the No. 1 ranking and Mac’s Industrial Warriors earned all three second-place votes to remain entrenched in that spot.
The first shake up we saw came at the No. 3 spot with Chaska and Champlin Park flip-flopping spots from the preseason poll.
Newcomer St. Paul Mudhens claimed the No. 4 spot with the LoGators after a hot start. Air Freight Unlimited finally got its season started and dropped just one spot to No. 6. Baseball 365 and its revamped roster rose to No. 7 in its first appearance in the top 10.
St. Patrick moved up to No. 8 after landing in a tie for the last spot in the first poll of the season. The Minnetonka Monarchs fell one spot to No. 9 and Stockmen’s Irish remained in the top 10 in the final spot.
Jeff Amann — Sartell Stone Poneys
1. Miesville Mudhens — Still the standard. Until someone proves otherwise, the Mudhens stay perched at the top.
2. Mac’s Industrial Warriors — The Warriors are surging. This is absolutely the team to watch as the summer heats up.
3. Chaska Cubs — I’ll admit it: I bleed a little Cubbie Blue. And with big games coming, the Cubs might keep climbing.
4. St. Patrick Irish — Still spotless in the loss column, but it’s early. The Irish look steady and dangerous.
5. Champlin Park LoGators — Finally getting the full roster back from college ball. Time to see what a complete LoGator lineup can do.
6. St. Paul Mudhens — Snubbed from the original top 10, but not anymore. They rocket up to No. 6 after a strong start.
7. Moorhead Brewers — The Brewers look legit. Big early wins and a Brennan Field Classic title say plenty.
8. Stockmen’s Irish — Out for blood in 2026. Don’t expect them to stay this low for long.
9. St. Anthony Hogs — A slight dip, but June’s schedule will tell us everything. Expect clarity, and maybe a bounce.
10. Baseball 365 — Rounding out a brutally tough top 10. This spot could’ve gone a dozen different ways.
Jordan Wiggins — St. Anthony Hogs
1. Miesville Mudhens: 5-2 overall and pounded Rochester and Northfield in league play. Tough loss to Cannon Falls (who appears to be good?) but I’ve learned to not bake regular season performance into my opinion of the Mudchickens. Keeping at the top until I’m substantially proven wrong.
2. Mac’s Industrial Warriors: 8-1 overall. Good wins over Forest Lake, Elko, Shakopee and Highland. These guys always seem to be able to win games in a multitude of ways and this season appears no different. Good start for the black and yellow!
3. St. Paul Mudhens: Two Mudhens in the top three, take that bird flu! The young bucks from St. Paul are off to a 4-0 start and routed Stockmen’s a few weeks back. These kids can always play and have tons of talent. How many will be missing at the end of August is always the question.
4. Chaska Cubs: 8-1 overall. Only loss to a good Baseball 365 team. I assume the River Valley North will be led by the Cubs in 2026 and they’ll look to build off a good 2025.
5. Burnsville Bobcats: Easily took care of two good teams in Waconia and Champlin Park. When we saw these guys in May, they had a plethora of good, hard-throwing arms and their bats seemed well above average. They will be a tough beat all season.
6. Air Freight Unlimited: I think they finally played a game! Until Tommy Kolar starts booking more games and giving us more to go off of than “Graham Laubscher is good”, I’m bumping these guys down. Probably can beat anyone on any day but one game a week isn’t cutting it for me as we approach mid-June.
7. Baseball 365: Good wins against Shakopee, Chaska and Dundas leading to an 8-3 start. Lots of high-scoring games, which reminds me of the late 2010s St. Louis Park team, which they have basically harvested the guts of to make up their existing roster. If they continue to score, they’ll be able to hang with anyone.
8. Stockmen’s Irish: A quiet May for Stockmen’s, which is different. I assume the Irish will hit the ground running in June and remind Class A how good they are.
9. Champlin Park LoGators: Marek told me they’d be down this year … whatever that means because it’s hard not to be as good as they were last year through Labor Day weekend. They appear to be 3-1 with some missing scores and only one loss to Burnsville. This No. 9 ranking is probably a slap in the face.
10. St. Paul Hops: These guys can play ball. Beat the crap out of us a few weeks ago and also have a win over Miesville. Watch for them to throw a wrench into the St. Paul League standings, which has been dominated by the Mudhens and Air Freight as of recent. Roll Hops.
Matt Marek — Champlin Park LoGators
1. Miesville Mudhens (5-2) — A peculiar loss to Cannon Falls notwithstanding, the Hens have picked up where they left off by averaging more than eight runs per game to start the season. Ryan Parker and Will Mitchell have the potential to fortify a staff that was questionable at times last season.
2. Macs Industrial Warriors (7-1) — I think Mac’s will clean up in a down Section 4/Park National League. I really like the Wyatt Ulrich signing, as the Warriors have largely taken care of business in the early going.
3. Chaska Cubs (8-2) — The schedule will pick up for the Cubs here, but again, I like the signings with several D-I players added to the roster and they’ve won the games they should’ve won so far this season. I’m still not telling you who my starting pitcher is, Bob.
4. Minnetonka Monarchs (6-1) — Monarchs back? I guess they never left, but they’re winning close games and scoring a lot of runs … a good recipe for success.
5. Air Freight Unlimited (1-0) — Who the hell really knows, but I assume Laubscher is back, and that’s good enough for me.
6. Champlin Park LoGators (6-4) — The Gators are getting into the swing of the things with a nice wins over Dundas and River Falls. With the Puder wedding in the books and annual fishing trips about to be over, the Gators are hoping to get on a roll sooner rather than later.
7. Baseball 365 (8-3) — They might score 15 runs a game, but they might give back 10 in the field. In my opinion probably the best 1-9 in the state, but the defense has a tendency to to come back and haunt.
8. Coon Rapids Redbirds (6-1) — Kind of the polar opposite of 365 in my opinion. Really good pitching, and they’ll catch the ball, it’s going to come down to the offense and if they can scrap out enough runs on a daily basis. They’ve found a way to do just enough thus far.
9. Waconia Lakers (6-3) — Some really good Class B wins and a dub over Chaska puts the Lakers in the top 10 this week.
10. St. Patrick Irish (5-0) – A pretty soft schedule to start, but this team is still talented, and with the move out of Section 1, I see them making a real push to return to the state tournament this year.
Honorable Mention: Rochester Royals, Elko Express, Moorhead Brewers, Moorhead Mudcats and Dundas Dukes.
Class A rankings (As of June 10)(Pts)(Previous)
1. Miesville Mudhens (30)(1)
2. Mac’s Industrial Warriors (27)(2)
3. Chaska Cubs (23)(3)
4. Champlin Park LoGators (13)(3)
4. St. Paul Mudhens (13)(NR)
6. Air Freight Unlimited (11)(5)
7. Baseball 365 (9)(NR)
8. St. Patrick Irish (8)(9)
9. Minnetonka Monarchs (7)(8)
10. Stockmen’s Irish (6)(9)
Also receiving votes: Moorhead Brewers, St. Anthony Hogs, Coon Rapids Redbirds, Waconia Lakers, Rochester Royals, Elko Express, Moorhead Mudcats and Dundas Dukes.
