Powerhouses, Snubs, and Sub-.500 Cinderellas: Welcome to College Baseball’s Postseason

It’s been a doozy of a college baseball season, and I’m a bit bummed that it’s over. But the end of the regular season means one thing: the postseason! I’m looking forward to tucking into hours of college baseball this weekend when the Regionals kick off.

I can’t go without mentioning my Georgia Bulldogs. It was fun and rewarding to see the Diamond Dawgs win both the regular-season Southeastern Conference (SEC) conference title and the SEC Tournament. I’ve been saying all year that this is a special team, and they’ve proven me right.

2026 SEC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

🐶 @BaseballUGA #SECBSB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/KXTlzi9aTL

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 24, 2026

Here are some storylines that lead up to the postseason in college baseball. I’m looking forward to some interesting matchups, maybe some upsets, and loads of great baseball all the way around.

The powerhouse teams will be fun to watch

Certain teams have ruled the season. UCLA has gone an impressive 51-6 in the regular season and is an obvious favorite to run roughshod through the Regional and Super Regional. Georgia Tech (NERDS!) went 48-9 and should have an easy path to Omaha (as much as I loathe the Yellow Jackets, props to them for the season they’ve had). Georgia went 46-12, and barring anything unfortunate, the Dawgs ought to make it to the College World Series easily.

Beyond the top three, it’ll be fun to watch teams like North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, and Southern Mississippi. Will these teams have it easy? Not necessarily, but they’ve rolled through their seasons effectively and paved the way for postseason success.

Related: College Baseball Pollsters Keep Choosin’ Texas, but the SEC Standings Are Choosing Georgia

‘It Just Means More’ Regional hosts

The SEC dominated much of the season, with teams like Georgia, Texas, and Auburn near the top of the polls from start to finish. And when the NCAA revealed the host sites for the Regionals, the SEC held the #3 (Georgia), #4 (Auburn), #6 (Texas), #7 (Alabama), and #8 (Florida) spots. Texas A&M and Mississippi State will also host regionals. Twelve of the SEC schools placed teams in the field of 64.

As we say here in SEC country, “It just means more.”

Related: America’s Most Underrated Sport Is Back (and It’s Beautiful)

The big snubs

As fun as it is to celebrate the teams that made it into the field of 64, looking at who isn’t playing in the tournament is almost as interesting. A handful of marquee names like Vanderbilt, who broke a two-decade-long streak by not making it into the field, Dallas Baptist, and Louisiana State, who won the College World Series two out of the last three years, failed to make the cut.

The #VandyBoys officially did not make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. It was the longest active streak in the country and the longest in the history of the SEC.

Two other teams with 10+ year streaks, Dallas Baptist and LSU, also did not make it

— Aria Gerson (@aria_gerson) May 25, 2026

But the most controversial snub in the eyes of many college baseball fans was Mercer University, whom plenty of sports media figured was a lock to make the postseason. Despite Mercer’s 44-15 record, the selection committee decided that the Bears’ strength of schedule was too low, particularly when it came to non-conference opponents. Additionally, Mercer went 1-4 against Power 5 teams, although props to them for beating the Nerds Yellow Jackets late in the season.

Interestingly enough, three teams with losing records have landed in the field of 64 simply because they won when it counted — in their conference tournaments. Milwaukee (25-31) will play in the Auburn Regional, Holy Cross (25-28) will play in the Austin Regional, and South Dakota State (24-31) will play in the Lincoln Regional. Tournament teams Virginia Tech (30-24) or NC State (32-22) have winning records despite some sub-.500 conference marks.

Grok handily summarized what may have factored into the committee’s decision to leave Mercer out:

• Historic Metrics Ignored: Mercer posted one of the highest RPIs ever for a team left out (top 30, often a near-lock historically). They had 44 wins (including a dominant 29-2 home record), ranked highly in other analytics, and looked like a tournament-caliber team by most standards. Many call it the highest-rated RPI team ever to miss an at-large bid. 
• Inconsistent Standards for Mid-Majors: Critics argue the committee sends mixed messages. Mid-majors are told to "win a lot and schedule tough," but Mercer won a ton yet was punished for SOS—while teams like Troy got in despite a modest record above .500 because they scheduled extremely aggressively. This feels like moving goalposts and discourages strong mid-major programs. 
• Perceived Bias Toward Power Conferences: Spots went to teams from bigger conferences (e.g., Kentucky, NC State, Texas State) with weaker cases in some eyes. Fans and outlets like Baseball America called it "bad for baseball," exposing how mid-major success often gets undervalued compared to Power 5/SEC/ACC brands with bigger fanbases, TV draw, and NIL resources. 
• Broader Implications: It fuels debates about the selection process favoring "eye test," geography, and revenue potential over pure metrics like RPI. Social media erupted with "robbed" posts, and analysts highlighted how this hurts the sport's growth for non-power programs.

Maybe we should sub out Mercer for Holy Cross, just based on the stupid dance some Crusaders players did on the selection show:

Somewhat excited 🧃⚡️😂#GoCrossGo | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/ht7adTxojB

— Holy Cross Baseball (@HCrossBaseball) May 25, 2026

ESPN 2 is running a preview special at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday:

Don't miss @Djackson2100 on ESPN's Game On, highlighting the journey to the NCAA Championship, airing at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow night 📺#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/1LDMgk7I4v

— Georgia Baseball (@BaseballUGA) May 27, 2026

All the action starts on Friday, and the ESPN family of networks will cover the games. I can’t wait to watch — Go Dawgs!