Growing up, one of my favorite somewhat off-the-radar sporting events was the College World Series for two reasons. The first was that it meant school was out for the summer â our year ended quite late up in Michigan. The second was it was always so fun seeing these offensive shootouts and the pings of the metal bets.
The 2026 tournament starts today with a pair of games, and Georgia and North Carolina are co-favorites to win it all. Note that there will be no repeat champion as 2025 winner LSU didn't qualify this year.
DraftKings odds to win College World Series
- Georgia +275
- North Carolia +275
- Texas +300
- West Virginia +750
- Ole Miss +800
- Alabama +1400
- Oklahoma +1600
- Troy +3500
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Rather surprisingly, there are zero returning teams from last year's College World Series. In addition, there are no schools from baseball-rich states California or Florida for the first time since 1976. National No. 1 overall seed UCLA, No. 8 Florida and No. 10 Florida State were all eliminated in regionals they hosted.
The SEC has dominated this event in recent years, winning the past six titles with five different schools doing so: Vanderbilt (2019), Mississippi State (2021), Ole Miss (2022), LSU (2023 & 2025) and Tennessee (2024). The conference has a record five schools in this year. It is guaranteed at least one in the final â Game 1 is June 20 â with Georgia, Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma comprising Bracket 2. So that's basically a mini-SEC Tournament. The lone SEC school in Bracket 1 is Ole Miss.
National No. 3 Georgia, the highest-ranked team in the field, is led by Golden Spikes finalist and catcher/outfielder Daniel Jackson, who is not considered a likely first-round pick in next month's MLB Draft ranked as the No. 39 overall prospect by MLB.com. Jackson was the SEC Player of the Year, SEC Tournament MVP and won the league's Triple Crown.
He's hitting .396 with 31 home runs, 86 RBI and 26 stolen bases, one of only three players in Division I history and the first catcher with at least 30 homers and 25 steals in a season. Jackson led the Bulldogs to their first SEC regular-season title since 2008 and first-ever SEC tournament crown. UGA last reached the CWS final in '08 and last won it in 1990. It opens Saturday vs. Texas. The Longhorns seek their seventh national title and first since 2005, and this is their 39th all-time appearance in the CWS, by far the most in history.
At BetMGM, the book is exposed on UT as it is taking the most tickets (8.4%) to win and has improved from +2000 when the overall NCAAs began to now +300 at that book.
With five SEC teams in, the other three schools are from UNC from the ACC, West Virginia of the Big 12 and Troy of the Sun Belt â the first appearance in the College World Series for the latter two. They happen to meet in today's first game, and the last school to win a title in its first CWS appearance was Coastal Carolina in 2016. That was also the last time a current non-power conference school won it. BetMGM is most exposed on WVU of any team with the Mountaineers shifting from an open of +10000 to +750 there.
Troy, which knocked off the Gators in the regional, is the first 30-loss team (38-30) to get this far and to no surprise is the longshot. In 2008, Fresno State entered the overall NCAA tournament with 29 losses and ended up winning the CWS, finishing with 31 total defeats. Troy is led by catcher and Sun Belt Player of the Year Jimmy Janicki, who is among national leaders in RBI (third with 85), doubles (fifth with 24), total bases (10th with 175) and hits (11th with 92). He is one home run shy of the first 20-HR/20-double season in school history.
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North Carolina looks to become only the third ACC school to win the CWS after Wake Forest in 1995 and Virginia in 2015. While you certainly have to hit to win this event, UNC ranks eight nationally with a 3.86 team ERA. That group is by Golden Spikes semifinalist Jason DeCaro (11-2, 2.28 ERA in 17 starts) and ACC Freshman of the Year Caden Glauber (10-4, 2.20 ERA, four saves in 25 appearances, including four starts). The Heels face Ole Miss this evening. That the CWS final matchup is Georgia vs. North Carolina is a +470 favorite.
FanDuel offers the SEC at -190 vs. the field (+156) and while that's a bit pricy, if we are guaranteed one team it the final that's a no-brainer play in my mind. Who is to say Ole Miss won't come out of the other bracket?
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