Starting this Friday, June 13, NCAA College World Series host Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, will once again take center stage for college baseball fans.
Eight teams — including Coastal Carolina, Arizona, Oregon State and Louisville in Bracket 1 and Arkansas, LSU, UCLA and Murrray State in Bracket 2 — have a chance to be crowned national champs after surviving Regional and Super Regional play over the last few weeks.
This year’s edition of the “Greatest Show on Dirt” will run from June 13-23*, with Coastal Carolina vs. Arizona (2 p.m. ET on ESPN) and Oregon State vs. Lousville (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) getting the party started on Friday.
*Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-three CWS Championship Series are scheduled for Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22. If a decisive Game 3 is necessary, that will take place Monday, June 23.
NCAA College World Series Futures Odds
SEC powers Arkansas (the highest remaining seed in the field) and LSU have the shortest odds to win the national championship.
Oddsmakers aren’t exactly sleeping on Coastal Carolina, Oregon State and UCLA, though. Each of those teams boasts CWS winner odds as short as +800.
The longshots entering this year’s College World Series are Arizona, Louisville and Murray State.
Louisville got to Omaha by taking down conference rival Miami, 3-2, in Game 3 of its home Super Regional.
Neither Arizona — which took down North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional — nor Murray State, which upset Duke in the Durham Super Regional, should be written off after both won their super regional matchups as road ‘dogs.
College World Series Picks, Best Bets
Can Arkansas And LSU Maintain SEC’s Recent Dominance?
The SEC sent four teams to Omaha a year ago, including eventual champ Tennessee and runner-up Texas A&M.
The conference’s incredible recent CWS track record is a big reason why Arkansas and LSU are this year’s betting favorites.
In six of the last seven College World Series, the national champ has hailed from the SEC: Tennessee in 2024, LSU in 2023, Ole Miss in 2022, Mississippi State in 2021, Vanderbilt in 2019 and Florida in 2017.
Oregon State, in 2018, was the last non-SEC team to win the Men’s College World Series.
Remarkably, last year marked the fourth all-SEC national title championship series in seven years. The 2023 (LSU over UF), 2021 (Mississippi State over Vanderbilt) and 2017 (Florida over LSU) national titles also were decided by all-SEC affairs in the CWS Championship Series.
2025 College World Series Best Bet: Why LSU Will Win It All
With LSU and Arkansas meeting in Bracket 2, we already know that a maximum of one SEC team will reach this year’s final.
Our money is on LSU, which went 48-15 (19-11 SEC) this year.
The Tigers blew out West Virginia 16-9 and 12-5 in two meetings in the Baton Rouge Super Regional last weekend. In six games across Regional and Super Regional Play, the Tigers scored 61 runs total while plating at least seven in all but one of those contests.
The biggest reason to fade LSU is probably the fact that it will have to get by familiar foe Arkansas in Bracket 2. These teams will go head-to-head to open play in Omaha on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Tigers took two of three from the Razorbacks when these teams met in Baton Rouge in early May, including a 13-3 mercy rule victory in seven innings on May 10.
With that in mind, LSU strikes me as the best bet to make it out of Bracket 2 ahead of not only Arkansas, but also UCLA and Murray State.
Another reason to like the Tigers is the strong pitching they’ve gotten all year from top starters Kade Anderson (11-2, 2.74 ERA) and Anthony Eyanson (10-1, 3.58 ERA).
In a hypothetical final against whoever comes out of Bracket 1 — whether that’s Coastal Carolina, Arizona, Oregon State or Louisville — I like LSU’s bats and the dominant pitching duo of Anderson and Eyanson to carry the program to its second natty in the last three years.
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