As baseball fans across the country count down the minutes until the start of the Men’s College World Series, the big question remains: Who will emerge as national champions?
After dramatic exits from two top-three seeds early in the regionals, the tournament has no obvious hierarchy.
Following a regular season largely ruled by the SEC and ACC, this year’s tournament brings a mix of competition, featuring teams from six conferences and one independent. Among them is underdog Murray State, whose unexpected journey to Omaha, Nebraska, has fans on the edge of their seats.
Our experts break down this year’s MCWS, the storylines and players they’re watching and their bold predictions of what to expect in Omaha over the next week and a half.
Jump to:
Storylines | Players | Most to prove
Bold predictions | Who’s winning it all?
1. What storylines are you most excited to see play out?
Ryan McGee: I think it’s beyond poetic that Murray State has crashed this party. This is the 75th anniversary of the MCWS in Omaha, and nearly every year there is at least one unexpected team — from Hawai’i and The Citadel to Stony Brook and, most famously, Fresno State in 2008. So, in honor of that anniversary celebration, it would be even more fitting if the Racers went on a little bit of a run. If they do, the grandstand will follow. The people of Omaha have always fallen in love with the underdogs.
Mike Rooney: The SEC brings a light roster to Omaha this year (by its standards), but LSU and Arkansas are two of the premier fan bases in college baseball. Their Saturday night matchup on opening weekend will be rocking. The left side of the bracket guarantees a non-SEC program will be in the MCWS finals, but the question remains: Can that team stop this juggernaut’s title streak at five in a row?
Chris Burke: We have eight teams from six different conferences (and one independent), and this tournament has been all about parity. Does that mean we will have a surprise winner? The SEC has won five straight titles, and LSU and Arkansas are the favorites in this year’s field, but based on the way things have played out so far … don’t bank on it!
David Dellucci: The 2025 Murray State baseball team was picked in the preseason to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Racers have since defied the odds by setting a school record in wins (44) and are the fourth regional 4-seed to make it to the MCWS. The Racers won winner-take-all games vs. host teams in the Oxford Regional and Durham Super Regional. They’ve demonstrated team chemistry, determination, humility and an unflappable poise, most notably revealed in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 vs. Duke. After a call reversal prematurely ended their celebratory dogpile, play resumed with the Racers ahead by one run and a runner on first. After returning to their positions, pitcher Graham Kelham retired the next batter, prompting a second dogpile. It’s safe to say the Racers’ fan base has increased this season far beyond their undergraduate enrollment of 8,111 students.
Kiley McDaniel: The past three West Coast winners of Omaha are Oregon State (2018), UCLA (2013) and Arizona (2012). Can one of them win another national title and claim the crown as king of West Coast baseball?
2. Which players are you keeping your eyes on?
McGee: Oregon State mashes the ball. The Beavers have the second-most homers of any squad in Omaha — 103 to Arkansas’ 124. But what’s impressive about the Beavers is that so many of those knocks have come in the most important situations. Eleven of their 14 runs scored in the supers final vs. Florida State were via the long ball. And they are also equal opportunity round-trippers — five of their starting nine have double-digit home runs. We all know that shortstop Aiva Arquette is wildly good. He’s expected to be the highest college player taken in next month’s MLB draft, but the guys around him are pretty good too.
Rooney: Murray State center fielder Jonathan Hogart and Oregon State third baseman Trent Caraway head to Charles Schwab Field having hit six home runs apiece in this NCAA tournament. Hogart is a self-made star player in his fifth year of college baseball, hitting his way from Wabash Valley College to Louisiana Tech before coming home to the Racers. He has an incredible 49 extra-base hits this season. Caraway was a high school All-American from a national powerhouse in Southern California (JSerra Catholic HS), but his first two seasons were tamped down by injury, then poor performance. In fact, he was hitting ninth for the Beavers in the middle of May. Caraway is not hitting ninth anymore, and the star sophomore’s talent is in full bloom.
Burke: As usual, the MCWS is packed with Real Dudes! This year’s group boasts players who will be high first-round MLB draft picks: Arquette (OSU), LHP Kade Anderson (LSU) and Golden Spikes finalist SS Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas), among others. We will also get a front-row seat to watch the player who could be next year’s No. 1 pick: SS Roch Cholowsky from UCLA. He was this year’s Big 10 Player of the Year as a sophomore and still has another year on campus. This field is loaded with talent!
Dellucci: Many experts believe Cholowsky is the No. 1 collegiate player in the nation. He can change the game with both his bat (.376 BA, 23 HRs, 73 RBIs) and glove, which have been recognized by Cholowsky being named Big 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
Coastal Carolina’s Caden Bodine is everything you want in a catcher. He’s exceptional behind the plate, committing only one error all season, and he leads the offense with a .335 batting average. Bodine showed impressive power by cranking two home runs in the Game 1 victory of the super regionals against Auburn.
McDaniel: There are lots of players with 2025 draft implications, with Bodine, Arizona OF Brendan Summerhill, Arquette, Louisville RHP Patrick Forbes, Aloy and Anderson all projected for the first round next month. That said, Cholowsky is the best prospect in Omaha and would likely be the top pick in the draft if he were eligible this year.
3. Who or what team has the most to prove in Omaha?
McGee: Coastal Carolina will be a wrecking ball. To those who really know the game, they also know this is not 2016, and this team is not wearing any Cinderella glass slippers. Just ask head coach Kevin Schnall, who made that point very clearly in his news conference after the super regionals. Gary Gilmore is one of my favorite college baseball personalities of all time. To see his former player and heir lead this team back to Omaha has been an amazing storyline. Seeing them win it again and dedicating it to Gilmore (as he continues to battle health issues) would be right out of a movie.
Rooney: Coastal Carolina won a national title in 2016. The Chants have won 53 games (so far) in 2025. Schnall’s club won a super regional on the road against an SEC team that was a top-eight national seed. Yet I’m still not certain we are taking this team seriously enough. The pitching staff that showed up in Auburn looked national-championship good. Do we really believe Coastal Carolina can win five more games in Omaha? Stay tuned.
Burke: The spotlight is squarely on Arkansas. The Razorbacks are the favorite, and they have a fan base and a coaching staff that are desperate to finally win the whole thing. The roster is as complete as any I can remember, loaded with elite pitching, home run power and a defense that is rock-solid. This feels like the Hogs’ year, and there are some fired-up Razorbacks fans who can’t wait to find out!
Dellucci: At first glance of the MCWS bracket, my eyes immediately went to Arkansas, a team that many consider to be the most talented in the field. Not only did the Hogs draw the highest-ranked team in the field of eight for their first game, but it is SEC rival LSU, which won their previous series in mid-May. To top it off, there’s a chance the Hogs could play in a championship series that will feature a rematch against Oregon State. Sure, that series took place six years ago, but every Arkansas fan remembers Game 2, bottom of the ninth with two outs, like it was yesterday.
McDaniel: Murray State has already proved to be much better than expected, and the three West Coast clubs, along with Coastal Carolina, have national titles in the past 13 years. LSU won a title in 2023, and Louisville wasn’t expected to be here. Arkansas has no national titles in program history and is one of the two SEC blue bloods in the field. The Razorbacks need this one.
4. What are your bold predictions for this year’s MCWS?
McGee: UCLA, Arizona and Oregon State all make the semifinals and immediately announce the re-formation of the original Pac-12 as a baseball league because it’s weird and dumb that the conference that once ruled Omaha has torpedoed itself.
Rooney: Maybe not so bold, but I believe a “vintage” Pac-12 school will play for the national title this year. Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA all look the part with highly skilled pitching on the mound and star power on the position-player side. These three programs own eight national championships in baseball. In fact, five of those national titles were acquired in the past 20 seasons. Someday the SEC will surpass the historic Pac-12 as the conference that has won the most national titles in baseball, but today is not that day.
Burke: My bold prediction for this year’s MCWS is that we will have a non-Power 4 team in the championship. The last time that happened was 2016 when Coastal Carolina won it all. It seems like this might be the year we see one of the teams in the Oregon State (independent)-Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt)-Murray State (MVC) group make a run to the finals.
Dellucci: On April 22, after College of Charleston beat Coastal Carolina 4-2, Cougars head coach Chad Holbrook told Kevin Schnall that his Chanticleers would not lose another game for the rest of the year. As we stand, 23 games later, the prediction is still holding. I’d say that was a bold statement at the time, but if that win streak gets to 27 and the Chants win it all, would someone please send me Coach Holbrook’s phone number? I have a question about the upcoming Powerball lottery.
McDaniel: Arizona outfielder Brendan Summerhill and Arkansas RHP Gage Wood are the two 2025 draft prospects who make the most money in Omaha. Summerhill goes by pick 15 and Wood goes by pick 25 when all is said and done. A sleeper name to monitor: 2026 draft prospect RHP Cameron Flukey of the Chanticleers.
5. Who’s your pick to win it all, and why?
McGee: Arkansas is not the greatest college baseball program to never win it all — that’s Florida State. But the Razorbacks are in the conversation and have suffered an Omaha heartbreak that you would never wish on your worst enemy. The Hogs have great history — home to one of college baseball’s crown jewel ballparks, and Dave Van Horn is as widely respected as any coach I’ve ever known. If they hoist the trophy, it will end decades of pain for the program and its coach, and I think DVH might walk right off the podium and into the sunset. (This is the part where I warn “Wooo Pig Sooie” nation that I previously predicted that Vandy and UNC were the teams to beat, so beware the #McGeeCurse. Sorry.)
Rooney: I picked Arkansas to win the national title in the preseason. Putting emotion aside, it seemed like a logical choice. This group is a wonderful blend of uber-talented players and program pedigree. The Hogs pitch at a high level, the position player group is built to win in a multitude of ways, and this program has hardened itself with postseason scar tissue that often morphs into a winning toughness. Finally, skipper Dave Van Horn leads all active head coaches with 10 trips to Omaha. This club is built to go the distance.
Burke: Arkansas and LSU have the deepest rosters and are the betting favorites — those seem like safe picks to me. So my guess is whoever survives Bracket 2 wins the whole thing.
Dellucci: In our season preview, I picked LSU to win the title, so I’m sticking with the Tigers. Their offense scored 28 runs in two games in the super regional against West Virginia, and they have an incredibly strong one-two punch in the starting rotation with Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, who have a combined 21 wins and 305 strikeouts. The Tigers’ roster consists of a handful of contributors from the 2023 national championship team that gives it experience to handle the increased media attention, hectic scheduling and a raucous atmosphere that will undoubtedly be filled with LSU fans who arrive in Omaha with the expectations to win it all — and that includes the Rocco’s Jell-O Shot Challenge.
McDaniel: LSU and Arkansas both have the depth of power arms to make it to the end. Their first-round matchup will give an easier path to whichever dangerous club wins — both teams are in the top three in pro talent in college baseball. I’ll lean to the Tigers.
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