Omaha isn’t just an audible call from Peyton Manning. It is the home to the College Baseball World Series, and this year it has gotten very interesting. Last year the LSU Tigers beat Coastal Carolina, sweeping them to win their eighth National Championship. This year things seem a little different.
With LSU out of the top 25, and Coastal Carolina ranked at 20th. However, one-time World Series champion UCLA ranks very high with only five losses on the year. Other teams that follow have been lights out as well, and as the season begins to wrap up, it’s time for the fans to begin to wonder which eight will make it.
With key player performances, injuries, final weeks of schedules, and breakout performances at hand, who will come out as the final eight? Who will win it all? But most importantly, who will punch their ticket to Omaha and compete for a national championship.
First off, some teams that may seem to find themselves on the cusp of making the Omaha Flight list are Oregon State, Texas, and Texas A&M. One thing all these teams have in common are their crucial injuries that may or may not cost them one less arm, bat, or glove in the field.
For OSU, it was big time RHP Dax Whitney, who was a potential Golden Spikes Finalist, had a season ending UCL injury. Having an exact 2.00 ERA, 104 Strike outs, and only 14 earned runs, he seemed to be on pace for a record breaking year. Leading the team in numerous categories, he truly was drawing in the ticket sales. However after the loss of him, could it be a huge factor to a fall off of their season? I think not.
Guys like Ethan Kleinschmit, Eric Segura, and Trey Morris in the pitching staff ripping lineups apart. They don’t seem to fall off too much after the loss of their Golden Spikes candidate. A team 3.27 ERA and a .788 win percentage, I think they will be just fine, as long as the bats stay hot consistently.
Texas had a loss in Outfielder Jonah Williams, after shoulder surgery in March. Only playing eight games this year, he still homed a .304 batting average, as well as two doubles off of seven hits. However, his two-sport routine may have been the cause of this injury battle on his shoulder. Should this be a problem? I highly doubt it.
Their team is almost at a team .300 batting average and having multiple guys hitting 50+ RBIs in Casey Borba, Aiden Robbins, and Carson Tinney just shy of it. This team has been a threat since the first game, and will be throughout the remainder of the year.
Miami lost a Third-Basemen in Daniel Cuvet. The standout fielder was batting .305 with 45 RBIs and 12 home runs before sustaining a back injury 41 games into the season. Miami has been a top team in the past, but this year they have missed the top 25. Could it be that Cuvet got hurt that stopped the flow of the season?
Frankly, a 35-15 record doesn’t quite mean your falling off. Alex Sosa and Derek Williams have been knocking in runs all season as well as Packy Bradley-Cooney having just one loss on the year and AJ Ciscar with 69 Strike outs. These guys are still driving for that spot in Omaha, and with a couple more key wins could be there.
Lastly Texas A&M, ranked 10th in the nation, have begun a downward spiral with the loss of pitcher Aiden Sims, they seem to be at a loss of luck, as they now head into their final stretch of the season with Mississippi State and Kentucky to follow. It’ll be tough sledding for the Aggies.
Sims had 73 Strikeouts through 68 innings pitched and a 3.84 ERA. He was having a solid year, but nothing that seems to make or break a season. The bats have stayed hot, with a team .304 average and 5 players with 10 plus home runs.
Regardless of injuries, teams have stayed relevant in the race to heading to Charles Schwab Field, however, there aren’t many teams that seem to be set in stone that they are clinched into the CWS. UCLA and North Carolina are the only two that possibly have their spot reserved, but other than that, the other six are going to be fighting to the very last game.
Georgia Tech (42-8), Georgia (41-11), Auburn (35-15), Texas (37-12), Oregon State (40-11), and Southern Miss. (37-14) make up the top eight including UCLA and N. Carolina. Now, West Virginia, Texas A&M, and Florida St. are right on the cusp of making a difference and shaking up the final teams making their way to Nebraska. It will all come down to two major categories. Strength of Schedule and the teams that make up the Regional Tournaments.
Now one of these we can answer now, the schedule, but these predictions can only be so truthful as we don’t technically know how the Regionals and Super Regionals will quite lineup yet, and that will play a huge factor in who gets in and who doesn’t. There are even a couple teams in the lower seeds that have higher records, but their competition strength has been minimal. Take USC for example, they have 41 wins on the seasons this year, but are only ranked 17th.
However their schedule hasn’t been very strong. Facing only a few formerly and currently ranked teams, then losing the majority of them, and evidently putting them in the lower ranks.
With all of these things in consideration, the final rankings predictions are as follows:
#1 goes to UCLA, with a dominant performance all throughout the season, with a team average of .300, a team ERA 3.37. Multiple guys are considered for numerous awards, but what stands out the most about the Bruins is their capability to play as a team together, and that is what has gotten them so far.
#2 is North Carolina, with guys like Owen Hull batting .368 and Gavin Gallaher leading the team with 60 hits, they have found their stride in the offensive category, and will be hard to stop from scoring runs especially with a team total of 391 RBIs.
#3 has to go to the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech, I mean they have a couple standout guys on the roster, but what really draws them to that three spot is the sheer quality of baseball they play as a team, just like UCLA. With an easy week of games to finish up the season, it seems almost too perfect for Georgia Tech.
#4 Heads to Auburn, as they have hit a little bit of a rough stretch recently, however the early season wins should help veer them in the right direction of a trip to Omaha. With two guys having 80+ strikeouts and six guys batting over .300, meaning they won’t go away easy.
Now #5 spot will go to the Georgia Bulldogs, as they are actually coming off of a series with Auburn, so this rank could easily flip with a series sweep. Now, despite the head to head competition that could persuade a boost in the rankings, Georgia is simply just solid all the way around, so it’s definitely a toss up if they can hit when it’s needed the most.
Lastly, for the #6, #7, and #8 seed, it’ll be a nice battle between these five teams. The Oregon State Beavers, Southern Mississippi, West Virginia, Texas, and Florida State Seminoles. All these programs seemed to have found a rough patch in the middle or early in the season, but when it comes to pure state sheet and win loss records, it’s hard to go against the three currently ranked as six, seven, and eight seeds which are OSU, Texas, and S. Mississippi. However, it could easily flip with the final games with schedule’s finishing against tougher opponents and some not. If anything, the only possibility I could see is a series sweep from FSU against Miami, and a series loss from Texas to Missouri.
Regardless, this is one of the best final stretches we have seen in a long time when it comes to College Baseball, with familiar and new faces covering the board, but in the end one team will stand alone amongst the college baseball world, crowned as the world champ.
