I imagine we'll see a lot of fluctuation early on in The Seattle Times' baseball rankings, if only because baseball can be the most unpredictable sport of them all. It's the one sport where you see losing teams beat division leaders regularly, and where having two great pitchers can make an average hitting team a state contender (and not having that second great pitcher can cost a great team at any point in the postseason).

At this early point in the season, the No. 1s stood out. Richland has four Division I players on a team that won the 4A title in 2007 and took fourth in 2008. The Bombers' top hitter, Brett Jacobs, hit .508 last season with 10 home runs. In 3A, Eastside Catholic has an elite pitcher in Matt Boyd and one of the area's best players in Michael Englund.

But there are plenty of challengers, especially in 4A, where it seems any of about 20 teams could win state. Puyallup, Kentlake and Tahoma have beaten each other up in the SPSL already, and we're only a week or so into the season. The schedules in the KingCo 4A -- which welcomed former 3A juggernauts Newport, Issaquah and Skyline -- and the Big Nine both look like absolute gauntlets this season, and each league could have four or five teams in the rankings at some point.

With the amount of rainouts you see in the baseball season, the most up-to-date records can be difficult to attain. If a team's record is wrong, please e-mail me with the correct record, and make sure you send some kind of documentation, preferably a link where I can find the most accurate and updated record for that team.

Class 4A

1. Richland 6-0
2. Snohomish 5-0
3. Puyallup 5-1
4. Tahoma (Maple Valley) 4-1
5. Kentlake (Kent) 1-1
6. Woodinville 3-0
7. Kennewick 5-1
8. Jackson (Mill Creek) 2-0
9. Redmond 5-1
10. Kelso 1-0

On the radar: Bellarmine Prep, Bothell, Central Kitsap, Central Valley, Edmonds-Woodway, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Mountlake Terrace, Newport, Olympia, Skyline, Southridge, University.

Class 3A

1. Eastside Catholic 5-0
2. Bishop Blanchet 4-0
3. Hanford (Richland) 7-0
4. Mt. Rainier (Des Moines) 5-0
5. Columbia River (Vancouver) 5-0
6. Auburn Mountainview 6-0
7. Liberty (Issaquah) 5-2
8. Timberline (Lacey) 4-0
9. Seattle Prep 3-1
10. Meadowdale (Lynnwood) 2-2

On the radar: Bainbridge, Bellevue, Bonney Lake, Ferndale, Juanita, Lynnwood, North Thurston, O'Dea.