The baseball postseason is like no other high school sport.

If a team depends on its top player too much it can be hampered in the next game. If the coach decides to save the top pitcher for the next game with a lead and goes to the bullpen there is an unknown variable of how the new pitcher is throwing that day.

A lead can evaporate in a matter of a handful of batters.

It would be similar to limiting the best basketball player to only so many shots per game or the running back can only have so many carries before having to miss time the next game.

The pitch count rule, in place to prevent arm injuries, was adopted by the AIA in 2016. It is a balancing act that all coaches have to deal with but there are different strategies and ideas of how to manage the pitching staff in postseason setting.

Just like anything else some coaches are better than others. Some go by gut feeling and others go by a hard-lined pitch count prescribed for certain games.

And then it might all go out the window in an elimination game.

“The biggest hurdle, or piece to the puzzle, is that first game,” Casteel coach Matt Denny said. “What’s a big enough lead where you are comfortable taking him out? There’s a risk to taking him out of the game, but what’s that number?

“Knock on wood but we’ve never been buried by that. There was one year when we pulled (our guy), and it got tight. I was like I’m gonna throw up right now.”

It’s not an enjoyable feeling at all, but coaches understand it is part of the process as they navigate the postseason.

It is something to monitor over the next few weeks as the 6A and 5A double-elimination state championship tournaments play out, leading to the state title games on May 19 at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

The 6A field is full of great arms and contending teams including No. 1 Queen Creek and No. 2 Casteel.

The two teams have split games this season with both teams having quite the resume.

The top-seeded Bulldogs, who enter on a 14-game winning streak, are looking to return to the title game after winning it in 2024 and finishing as runner-up in 2023.

“We will get back to the grind and do what we need to do to get ready for the playoff run,” Queen Creek senior center fielder Diego Armenta said after the regular season finale. “We’re going to practice hard and make sure we are ready for whoever we play.”

No. 2 Casteel knocked off the nation’s top ranked team at the National High School Invitational in North Carolina in early April, but have been uneven since returning to AZ, going 3-4 in the last seven games. The Colts, however, know how to win in May as they finished as the 6A runner-up last season after winning back-to-back 5A titles in 2024 and 2023.

And every baseball postseason includes Hamilton, seeded third, as a threat until proven otherwise. The Huskies have won nine state titles and coach Mike Woods will have them ready.

Casteel's Baylor Denny celebrates with teammates after a home run against Perry in the regular season. (Jason P. Skoda, AzPreps365)

No. 7 Mesa Mountain View is one of the hottest teams in the state, coming in a seven-game winning streak, No. 4 Corona del Sol, the defending state champion, and No. 5 Brophy will be hard to handle after a difficult regular season schedule has them prepped for the postseason.

The 5A tournament, which doesn’t start its double elimination until the quarterfinal round, has a Southern Arizona feel to it.

Three of the top contenders are No. 1 Canyon del Oro, which has 10 state titles, as the Dons have won seven of eight, and No. 2 Catalina Foothills, which has won 14 of 16. The two squads split regular season games, while No. 7 Nogales has a strong record, going 9-1 in region play, and 5-3 in freedom games.

AZ College Prep won six of eight to grab the fourth seed, while No. 5 Canyon View and No. 3 Notre Dame have looked like contenders at times.

Both tournaments will be filled with tight games, extra innings, drama, tension and of course pitch count decisions.

There might be impressive records, history, and favorites, but it comes down gut instincts and performing in the big moments.

“There’s a lot of good teams and it is high school baseball,” Queen Creek coach Mikel Moreno said. “I wish we could say we’re locked in and ready to go. We could look really good one day, but they are 16-, 17-year-old kids and they could come out and look like crap.

“I know it is cliché, but we just go pitch by pitch, day by day and focus on the things we can influence.”