National Opening Weekend: The Season Starts Now
118 games. 300+ programs. The college baseball season opens with 14 ranked teams in action and storylines that will define the road to Omaha.
Every pitch thrown this weekend is the first sentence of a story that won’t end until June in Omaha. Some of those stories will be predictable — Texas A&M defending a title, LSU being LSU, Wake Forest reloading after a CWS finals run. Others will surprise. A freshman arm nobody saw coming. A transfer who transforms a lineup. A mid-major that announces itself against a ranked opponent.
That’s what makes opening weekend the best weekend on the calendar. Everything is possible. Nothing is decided. And for the first time since last June, the sport is live.
The Must-Watch Series
Schlossnagle debuts a portal-loaded roster. Robbins (Notre Dame), Becerra (Stanford), Tinney. Riojas gets the Friday start in front of 7,600 at Disch-Falk.
The defending national champions. Schlottman anchors the rotation. Blue Bell Park opens with a program that knows what Omaha feels like.
Friday night in the Box. Johnson on the mound. 10,000+ expected. This is what college baseball sounds like at its loudest.
One game from a title. Hartle is a projected top-10 pick. The Deacs reload and open as the ACC favorite.
Sullivan and Caglianone. The two-way star is back and the pitching staff is elite. Gainesville is dreaming big.
ACC debut. Montgomery and Dowd carry the offense. The cross-country conference experiment begins.
Conference by Conference
The preseason polls are noise. The portal grades are projections. The rotation depth charts are guesses. Opening weekend is where all of it meets reality — and reality has a way of rewriting every narrative in the sport.
Watch the Friday starters. Watch the nine-hole hitters. Watch the bullpens. The teams that win opening weekend with all three clicking are the ones that will still be playing in June. And the ones that don’t? The season is 56 games long. There’s time. But the clock starts now.