The Greatest Show on Dirt is Here
Button up the jersey and lace up the spikes, because it's time to start the trek to Omaha.
Remember March Madness? Do you recall the promised exhilaration that usually comes from crazy upsets and improbable buzzer-beaters? Do you also remember how this year’s iteration of March Madness failed to deliver on almost all of those promises? I do.
While it may be an overstatement to say it left us with an emptiness beyond reproach, the tournament undeniably underwhelmed. It was certainly a shame. Fortunately, there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to postseason sports at the collegiate level because the NCAA Division I baseball tournament is officially here.
On Sunday, the remainder of the conference tournaments wrapped up, meaning that it was time for the selection committee to gather together and select the 64-team field. Sixteen of those schools will host regionals, while the remaining teams will travel across the country ready to duke it out with the goal of claiming the ultimate prize in Omaha.
Of all the postseasons in collegiate sports, the baseball tournament every May and June is undoubtedly underrated. Unlike the College Football Playoff and March Madness, the College World Series doesn’t have as much pizzazz or fanfare. But it almost certainly has as much, or maybe even more, heart.
I can’t wait for this year’s tournament, which is slated to start on Friday, May 30. Which school will carefully climb their way through the obstacle course that is the regional and super regional rounds to make it to Omaha, and then which team will be able to conquer the remaining field in order to reach the top of the metaphorical mountain?
As I am prone to say, only time will tell.
Congratulations to every school that earned a berth in this year’s tournament. Making it into college baseball’s best bracket is incredibly hard work. No matter the route taken, the goal was reached, and that is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Let’s take a quick look at the bracket. Teams in italics won their respective conference’s automatic bid:
Nashville Regional
Vanderbilt (No. 1 Overall Seed)
Louisville
East Tennessee State
Wright State
Hattiesburg Regional
Southern Mississippi (No. 16 Overall Seed)
Alabama
Miami (FL)
Columbia
Corvallis Regional
Oregon State (No. 8 Overall Seed)
TCU
USC
Saint Mary’s
Tallahassee Regional
Florida State (No. 9 Overall Seed)
Northeastern
Mississippi State
Bethune-Cookman
Chapel Hill Regional
North Carolina (No. 5 Overall Seed)
Oklahoma
Nebraska
Holy Cross
Eugene Regional
Oregon (No. 12 Overall Seed)
Arizona
Cal Poly
Utah Valley
Auburn Regional
Auburn (No. 4 Overall Seed)
NC State
Stetson
Central Connecticut
Conway Regional
Coastal Carolina (No. 13 Overall Seed)
Florida
East Carolina
Fairfield
Austin Regional
Texas (No. 2 Overall Seed)
UTSA
Kansas State
Houston Christian
Los Angeles Regional
UCLA (No. 15 Overall Seed)
UC Irvine
Arizona State
Fresno State
Athens Regional
Georgia (No. 7 Overall Seed)
Duke
Oklahoma State
Binghamton
Oxford Regional
Ole Miss (No. 10 Overall Seed)
Georgia Tech
Western Kentucky
Murray State
Baton Rouge Regional
LSU (No. 6 Overall Seed)
Dallas Baptist
Rhode Island
Little Rock
Clemson Regional
Clemson (No. 11 Overall Seed)
West Virginia
Kentucky
USC Upstate
Fayetteville Regional
Arkansas (No. 3 Overall Seed)
Kansas
Creighton
North Dakota State
Knoxville Regional
Tennessee (No. 14 Overall Seed)
Wake Forest
Cincinnati
Miami (OH)
So, there’s the bracket. For a more succinct, and probably more palatable, view of the entire field, here’s a handy dandy picture that probably would’ve sufficed. Hey, I just wanted to type it all out because I thought it would be fun (it was).
If you aren’t familiar with how it all works, each regional is a four-team, double-elimination bracket. The winner of each regional advances to the Super Regional round, where teams will face off in a best-of-three series. Whichever team triumphs there moves on to the eight-team College World Series in Omaha, which is a double-elimination bracket that ultimately culminates in a best-of-three final series between the last two teams standing. If that sounds complicated, I promise that it’s not. It’s actually a load of fun.
Every time that a bracket is released, whether it be during March Madness or the College Football Playoff, there’s always intense debate about what we, the people, believe the selection committee should’ve done instead. There’s definitely some of that that could be done here, but not that much. Sure, there are some teams, like TCU, who believe that they should probably be hosting a regional right now. In terms of resumé, they’re probably right. Should UConn have been in over a team like Kentucky? In my opinion, yes. But was it a slam dunk? Absolutely not. All the teams were incredibly close, and overall, this committee did a good job.
I’m still on the bandwagon calling for active school employees, like athletic directors, to not be on these selection committees, but it doesn’t look like that made much of a difference this year. Jay Artigues is the chair of the committee this year and he is also the AD of Southeastern Louisiana. Want to guess which school was the first team out of the tournament? Yep, it was Southeastern Louisiana. Perhaps these committees aren’t rigged after all.
Speaking of the first four and last four out, here are the teams that were on the right and wrong side of the bubble after everything was said and done:
Last Four In
Arizona State
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
USC
First Four Out
Southeastern Louisiana
Troy
UConn
Virginia
If you’d told me before the season started that Virginia, who was ranked No. 2 in the D1 Baseball preseason poll, wouldn’t make the tournament, I’d have been shocked. Then, if you’d added on that Texas A&M, the national runners-up from a year ago and the No. 1 ranked team in the preseason, would also not make it, I’d have been flabbergasted. Well, that’s what happened. Sports are crazy, folks.
Of the 25 teams ranked in the D1 Baseball preseason poll, only four didn’t make the field. Those schools are Texas A&M (No. 1), Virginia (No. 2), UC Santa Barbara (No. 22), and Troy (No. 25).
Final note on the bracket itself: 13 SEC schools made the field, with eight of them hosting. That’s bananas. What’s even more nuts — befuddling is a better word for it, actually — is that eight Big 12 teams are in the bracket, but none of them are hosting a regional. If a conference is good enough to have over half of its members in the bracket, then surely one of them should be good enough to host. Well, I’m not on the committee, so that certainly didn’t happen.
The national championship is the SEC’s to lose, with the ACC running a distant second. If another league can pull off the coup and claim the title this year, then the 2025 iteration of the College World Series is truly set up to be a classic.
There will be plenty of time for real analysis throughout the rest of this week leading up to the start of the tournament. For now, I believe that it’s appropriate to analyze this 64-team field the only way I know how: through pure vibes and pure vibes only.
Here’s what I believe is going to happen, based on a vibes mindset of course:
Nashville Regional: Louisville is going to shock the world, winning the Nashville Regional and sending the No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt Commodores packing. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because Louisville is the literal home to the Louisville Slugger company? Yeah, that’s totally why.
Hattiesburg Regional: Southern Mississippi is a wagon. They’ll roll through the Hattiesburg Regional. Communicate to the masses that they are not to be trifled with and that they aren’t the only team from Mississippi that’s got a shot at a national title.
Tallahassee Regional: Northeastern has won 27 games in a row. That’s good enough for me to pick them to win the Tallahassee Regional. Fight on Huskies!
Corvallis Regional: Go Frogs. Oregon State, I’m sorry that TCU had to be sent to Corvallis angry and ready to show the world what they’re made of. The Horned Frogs move on to the supers.
Chapel Hill Regional: Oh, North Carolina. Carolina Blue is my favorite color, and I’d love to continue to see those beautiful jerseys on my television screen for as long as possible. Go win the Chapel Hill Regional for me!
Eugene Regional: As someone who just witnessed Arizona beat up the rest of the field in the Big 12 Tournament at Globe Life Field last week, I’d be a fool not to say that they at least have a fighting chance to pull off the upset and win the Eugene Regional. You know what? I’ll go ahead and say it. Arizona wins. Oregon, Utah Valley, and Cal Poly are going home.
Conway Regional: Remember in 2016 when Coastal Carolina won the national championship? Wasn’t that insane? While I don’t think we’re heading in that direction this season, the Chanticleers are very good, and as such, they’re my pick to win the Conway Regional.
Auburn Regional: Jacob deGrom just finished a pretty good outing for the Texas Rangers as I’m typing this, and he’s a Stetson alum. That’s a good enough reason for me to pick them to win the Auburn Regional. Other notable baseball players that went to Stetson include Logan Gilbert and Corey Kluber.
Austin Regional: Jim Schlossnagle jumped ship from Texas A&M, heading to Texas last offseason in what was a confusing move. It’s apparently paid off, as A&M is at home right now as Texas will be hosting the Austin Regional against Houston Baptist, UTSA, and Kansas State. The path is pretty clear for the Longhorns, and I think they cruise on through this regional.
Los Angeles Regional: UCLA shouldn’t be hosting in my opinion, and that’s good enough reason for me not to pick them. Instead, I’ll be going with the Anteaters of UC Irvine. First, that mascot is so awesome. Second, it’d be funny.
Oxford Regional: I used to live on a cul-de-sac when I was younger, and my brother and I would play touch football with our neighbors from down the street. We created a team called the Stingers, which was derived from us realizing that Georgia Tech’s mascot, the Yellowjackets, was cooler than all get out. As a grown adult, I still believe that Georgia Tech has an awesome mascot. Thus, the Yellowjackets are moving on!
Athens Regional: Georgia ripped my heart to shreds when they destroyed TCU in the national championship a couple years ago. Ever since that day, I made a pledge that I would never, and I mean never, root or cheer for the Georgia Bulldogs to be successful at anything. It’s uncertain to me whether Duke, Oklahoma State, or Binghamton has the chops to overtake Georgia in Athens this next weekend, but they must do it. They must avenge me.
Baton Rouge Regional: LSU is the clear pick here from a real analytical standpoint. Compared to the competition of Dallas Baptist, Rhode Island, and Little Rock, they stand way above the rest of the field. That won’t stop me from being tempted to go another direction, particularly with DBU. The Patriots have been so close to reaching Omaha over the past decade, and while I don’t think this will be the year, I’m certainly hoping for it.
Clemson Regional: A former work colleague of mine is a Clemson fan so I’ll pick them here. My heart really wants to go with West Virginia, however, so it’s a struggle. It’s still Clemson, though.
Knoxville Regional: Tennessee won a national championship a year ago, and Wake Forest was right there two seasons ago. It’s a heavyweight battle in Knoxville, and I think it’s the Volunteers that come out on top. Mostly because “Rocky Top” is such an electric song. It seriously bops.
Fayetteville Regional: Woo Pig Sooie! Please, and I mean please, Arkansas, don’t fail me now. From being one out away from a national title in 2018, to continually dropping the ball (no pun intended) over and over again ever since, it’s been a barrage of heartbreak for Razorback fans. It’s time to change up the narrative and win the school’s first national championship in baseball.
Once Friday rolls around and all 64 teams are in action, duking it out, we’ll all have a much clearer picture on how everything is going to play out. For now, all we have are the vibes and feelings that have brought us this far.
Not to get all deep or anything, but isn’t that what sports is exactly about? The feelings we have and the vibes that are created after each game are what makes the college baseball season so special. It’s only fitting that all of that reaches its ultimate conclusion throughout the rest of May and into June.
Omaha, of course, is the goal for each and every one of the teams that find themselves in the bracket. Only eight schools get to make that trip every year. Who will it be in 2025? I can’t wait to find out.