MLB lockout a good omen for Tennessee football if baseball Vols reach CWS

There have been five different seasons that lost games due to an MLB lockout or a strike. The most severe example is 1994, when the World Series was canceled and the start of the 1995 season was delayed. Yes, two of the five seasons were based on one strike.

However, while that strike happened, Tennessee football and Tennessee baseball had lots of positives to celebrate. The history of that strike suggests the recent MLB lockout potentially delaying the start of this season, a first since 1995, could be a good omen for the Vols.

That year, in 1995, with Todd Helton playing baseball, Rod Delmonico led the Vols to the first of three College World Series appearances during his 18 years there. They were riding high as a program, as they won their third straight SEC Tournament and second straight SEC Regular Season championship.

Meanwhile, Tennessee football was about to enter its most successful run of the modern era. It all started with the 1994 team, which Helton was ironically on along with Peyton Manning. They went 8-4 after a 1-3 start just as the World Series was canceled.

After the College World Series in 1995 and Major League Baseball resumed, the football team was ready to take over. They began a four-year run in which they went 45-5 with two SEC Championships, a national championship and no seasons finished outside of the top 10 or with fewer than 10 wins.

Things are actually similar right now. The baseball Vols enter this season riding high. Sure, they made the College World Series last year, but there’s no reason to believe Tony Vitello’s team can’t do it again this year given how things have gone early in the year.

If they do it during a strike, Tennessee football is primed for an epic run. Honestly, all the stages are set for that as well. Similar to the 1995 Vols, the 2022 Vols have the stage set after a rebuilding year in 2021, where they went 7-6 under a first-year head coach.

Does this mean Vol fans should root for the MLB lockout? Well, if you pay attention to history, yes. Also, the strike before 1994-95 that caused games to be canceled and unable to be made up came a decade earlier, back in 1985. In August that year, the league canceled 25 games, and while 23 were made up, two were lost.

Anybody remember what happened in 1985? Tennessee football went 9-1-2 and won its first SEC Championship in 16 years. That also began the success of the modern era that reached its pinnacle in the mid to late 1990s.

Taking all that into account, any cancelation of games is going to help the Vols. Sometimes omens mean something, and if you look at the way things have gone for the Vols in the past, baseball canceling games has to mean something for them.

Should Tennessee baseball reach the CWS and the MLB lockout delays the start of the season, watch out. Tennessee football may be destined for a takeover later in the fall, and that’s something all Vol fans would welcome in a heartbeat.