1A
(Favorite) Newman Catholic- Lost a lot of seniors from last year's state championship team but always reload well and are probably the favorites to win again
Alburnett- Return a majority of their team that finished 34-7 last year and one game away from state including 6/7 of their top pitchers
Don Bosco- Also return a lot of their lineup from last years state qualifying team and are always a good team
Martensdale St. Mary's- Lose top 2 hitters and top 3 pitchers but have some good young talent and usually find a way to make it to state
(Darkhorse) Calamus Wheatland- Return everyone from a team that went 20-14 and now that Lisbon lost a lot to graduation and North Linn moves up a class, they have a bit of an easier time in conference and in districts
2A
(Favorite) Centerville- Lose some talented seniors from last years state championship team but have talented sophomores and juniors to fill in those spots and make another run for state
Wilton- Return just about everyone from a state semifinal team last year including their top 5 pitchers which is arguably is the best rotation in class 2A, if they can improve their hitting they will be very dangerous come postseason
West Sioux- Return a bulk of their lineup from last year and have quality players that have experience playing in the state tournament
Beckman Catholic- Lost some extremely talented seniors from last year's team in Vaske, Mcdermott and Bennett but they are well coached and playing up a class helps them come postseason time not to mention their rich baseball history
(Darkhorse) Denver- Lose top pitcher Zach Miller who essentially carried them to the state tournament the last 3 years with his clutch pitching but with some good young players coming back that have experience, they can be very scary in the postseason
3A
(Favorite) Assumption- Another team that loses a lot to graduation but return 4/5 of their top pitchers and are looking to add another state championship to their already state leading collection. They do lose their head coach though but I don't think it'll be much of a issue
CR Xavier- Have some really good starters returning and playing in the MVC helps get them ready for postseason, hopefully they separate them from Assumption come district time
Harlan- Return top 2 pitchers in Sears and Bruck and regularly find a way to state, will have some extra motivation to win a championship this year after getting blown out the last 2 years by Assumption
Central DeWitt- Only lose 2 seniors from a team that went 29-12 and one win away from state only losing to the eventual champion, return everyone from their pitching staff as well
(Darkhorse) Sergeant Bluff Luton- Return top 4 hitters(all of which were sophomores) and top 4 pitchers, playing in 4A conference helps too
4A
(Favorite) Epworth- Return almost their entire state semifinal team including maybe the best hitter in the state Calvin Harris and Iowa commit Sam Goodman, the move to the MVC for conference might be an issue but the experience and talent on the team makes them very dangerous
Johnston- Have some good hitting coming back and will try to avenge their disappointing state appearance last year after losing to the 8 seed CR Washington, well coached and always a threat
Urbandale- Lose top 4 hitters and top 3 pitchers but have some quality juniors stepping in after winning the state championship last year
Dav Central- Return the bulk of their hitting and pitching from last years team and have some talented players moving up from the JV team
(Darkhorse) SC East- Have a majority of their pitching and hitting back and are looking to make it back to the state tournament after a couple of years, the biggest issue is they might get paired with Des Moines teams again which would make their road to state very challenging