Eight Observations From Omaha
Baseball is finally back in Omaha
Any examination of 2021 College World Series storylines has to begin with a brief pause to reflect upon the fact that championship baseball has returned. Games will be played. A champion will be crowed. College baseball has closed out its season with a two week celebration in Omaha every year since 1950, with only one exception. Last season’s hiatus served simply to remind everyone just how special this environment and these games are. The best news of all, college baseball action is “back home in Omaha” with the familiar format and a long-awaited championship moment on the horizon. Here’s to the return of the “greatest show on dirt.”
It’s So Tough To Get Here
This always seems the main sentiment echoed by coaches and players as they step off the team bus onto this hallowed ground. Considering that neither the pre-season number one team in the country nor the tournament’s top seed were able to navigate the difficult waters of the first two post-season rounds, their assessment appears on the mark once more. It’s worth noting, the top seed in the tournament has been turned away without winning the title for over two solid decades. It’s tough enough to get here, just as difficult to come out on top. Time will tell, but Omaha could very well be crowning a different champion again- for the ninth straight season.
Can They Go Back To Back
Vanderbilt is a young squad, but has a number of the key pieces from its 2019 championship team back. The most outstanding player from that most recent edition of the tournament, Kumar Rocker, remains the headliner on the VandyBoys staff. The Commodores added SEC newcomer of the year Jack Leiter, completing one of the best one-two punches at the top of the rotation college baseball has send in a while, if ever. Many expect them to also go back to back as the first two college pitchers to hear a their names called in the upcoming MLB draft. They will almost certainly both be first round selections. The question, can they remain focused and finish the task at hand? It’s that “back to back” that Vanderbilt fans are most concerned with. Completing such a run would make the crew out of Nashville college baseball’s first repeat champions since South Carolina closed down Rosenblatt and opened up TD Ameritade with back to back crowns a decade ago. The ‘Dores place in college baseball history would certainly be solidified, since the feat would have been accomplished across three calendar years.
Powerful Field
All eight programs arrived in Omaha by way of “Power” conferences. The Southeastern Conference leads the way as usual, with three clubs headed west. At one point in the Super Regional round it seemed the SEC may send as many as five members. The ACC and PAC 12 each provided a pair. The Atlantic Coast Conference accomplished this without sending either its regular season or tournament champion, represented instead by a couple of battle tested clubs very much used to playing with their backs against the wall. West coast baseball will have its say after besting both an SEC and a Big XII club in this year’s supers. While the Big XII has just a single representative, Texas boasts the highest remaining seed in the tournament. Add it all up, six of the top nine national seeds in the tournament found a way to survive and advance. Only #1 Arkansas, #6 TCU and #8 Texas Tech were dispatched along the way. Those who remain line up seeding-wise as follows: #2 Texas, #3 Tennessee, #4 Vanderbilt, #5 Arizona, #7 Mississippi State, #9 Stanford. The path for the two ACC schools: NC State emerged from the Ruston Regional as a two seed before taking down Arkansas in Fayetteville. Virginia made Columbia, SC its temporary home as a three seed in the regional hosted by Carolina and headlined by #11 Old Dominion. The Hoos then dispatched the Patriots of Dallas Baptist to make the latest 1,186 mile journey to Omaha a reality. A strong, powerful field to say the least. Every school possessing “Power Five” designation. Keep in mind, the College World Series has been won by a “Power Five” program ten of out of the past eleven seasons. We now know that number will climb to eleven of the past twelve.
Power vs Power
Speaking of Power…more than ever, baseball has become about the home run ball versus the strikeout. Consider that 381 home runs have been hit across the 123 games played during regional and super regional rounds. This was easily the highest total since the 2005 tournament. 13 of these were grand slams. Many were timely. Take Tennessee for example, the Vols hit six long balls in their Omaha clincher against LSU. This came one weekend after riding the momentum of a walk-off grand slam—of the three-run deficit erasing variety by the way—all the way to the regional title. A major question will be how much this style of offense translates. Since the CWS moved downtown in 2011, the timely home run ball has been harder to come by. TD Ameritrade Park has never proven incredibly friendly for sluggers. After ten home runs were hit between Tennessee and LSU in that Super Regional finale at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, college baseball’s latest departing legend, outgoing winningest active head coach Paul Manieri, reminded fans that they may not see ten total home runs hit during the entire CWS tournament in Omaha. Couple the ballpark dimensions with the front line arms each of these lineups will face the rest of the way, it could be tough sledding at the plate. The staff aces among this year’s College World Series participants have been consistently overpowering. There will be eight pitchers in Omaha with 113 or more strikeouts on the season. Only time will tell, but if history is any indication, scoring opportunities could be relatively few. Runs may very well need to be manufactured in other ways. It just might become a story of launch angle versus little things. How often have fans seen little things translate into championships.
Hope You Like Orange
You might have noticed that one side of the bracket seems somewhat color coded. All except for the bell-ringing Bulldogs of Mississippi State, of course. College baseball fans will have no trouble distinguishing the different shades. They are all familiar athletic powers. The question may be whether the burnt orange of Texas, the bright orange of Tennessee or the deep orange of Virginia will emerge from this side of the bracket in order to play for a national championship. All three schools are more than capable. Texas enters play as the highest remaining seed in the tournament and owns more national titles than anyone else in the field. Tennessee edged out the defending champs to win the the Eastern Division of the SEC and continues to ride a wave of emotion as strong as anyone in the country. Virginia has been playing for its baseball life for months now, including six straight elimination contests which have seen the Hoos emerge victorious. In sports rivalries some shade of red is seemingly always there to offset those clad in orange. Enter Mississippi State. Don’t expect the environment or baseball’s edition of an “orange crush” bracket to be too much for the crew out of Starkville to handle. 2021 marks a third straight trip for a team that has been right on the verge of a title for decades.
Notes On The Field
The eight teams having punched their tickets to Omaha this season feature these additional elements of interest: A trio of clubs are unbeaten in tournament action thus far. Defending national champion Vanderbilt, their in-sate SEC rival, Tennessee, and top remaining seed Texas stand as the three as yet unblemished. The Vols, Longhorns and Commodores posted 5-0 marks through the first two rounds of action. Despite the fact that all eight schools have made multiple CWS appearances and half the field has been in Omaha at least a dozen times, three of the eight participating programs are still in search of their first baseball national titles. Mississippi State, Tennessee and NC State are looking to join the 29 schools all-time who have won the College World Series. Among those who have claimed titles, Vanderbilt is not the only school having won one within the last decade, or having won in its most recent trip for that matter. As you may remember, Virginia ended the ACC’s decades long drought by claiming its lone title in 2015. The Cavaliers came out on top in a second of two consecutive national championship series showdowns against none other than the Vanderbilt Commodores. Arizona played for the title as recently as 2016 (Coastal Carolina), just a handful of seasons after ending South Carolina’s reign with the their most recent triumph in 2012. With another CWS crown in ‘21, the Pac 12 regular season champion Wildcats would match in-state rival ASU and place their own name further among the sport’s elites with a 5th crown. Texas (6) and Arizona (4) have combined for 10 of the 15 national championships this year’s entire field possesses. If you were wondering about the lofty appearance numbers referenced above, here is how they breakdown for each of the eight participating schools: Texas (37th), Arizona (18th), Stanford (17th), Mississippi State (12th), Tennessee (5th), Vanderbilt (5th), Virginia (5th), NC State (3rd).
All About Doing What You’ve Done
Two weekends ago these eight baseball teams survived a four team double-elimination tournament known as NCAA Regionals in order to reach supers. They then won those best of three series to arrive here in Omaha. If you’re playing in the College World Series, you’ve already done exactly what will be needed in order to claim the national title. All that separates these eight remaining schools from championship glory is a four team double-elimination bracket followed by a successful three game series. That is this tournament in its simplest form. One must remember, however, that every other team here, every opponent in the other dugout from here on out has also already accomplished this exact same feat. The time frame is now a little more condensed. The moment is now a little more intense. The level of competition is even tougher than before. The margin for error is much smaller. The stakes are now a great deal higher. The spotlight is noticeably brighter. Yet baseball is baseball. On more than one occasion teams have seemly broken away from the strategies and philosophies which landed them here, more often than not this has been to their own detriment. Even in a season marked by pauses and shutdowns, each of these eight teams have found a way to win at least 35 ballgames. Five of them have tasted victory well over 40 times, with Tennessee reaching the half-century mark in wins. They’ve already shown they have what it takes to be remembered as a champion. Now it comes down to who can close the deal. Which of these eight teams will stay true to their own unique identity? Who will maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses across the next couple of decisive weeks? Which club will envision the proper game plan and find a way to execute it? Answering that question always provides baseball fans a great deal of joy across these final two weeks of June. Enjoy the baseball!
Photo courtesy: Leah Carmen / Patterson Communications
