Three and a half seasons. Over 7 million pitches. And a clear signal buried in the data. From 2024 to 2026, slugging percentage against the college four-seam fastball dropped from .530 to .503. Barrel rate fell from 21.5% to 19.9%. The rate of well-struck balls in the optimal launch angle window (exit velocity 95+, launch angle 10–30°) declined from 19.1% to 17.5%.

There are certain moments in sports where you can feel something shift in real time. Not in a fake hype way. More like… yeah, this is different now. The 2026 World Baseball Classic felt like that moment. Record attendance, massive viewership spikes, and global parity all point to one thing. Baseball has officially gone global.

With every ranking comes the tough decision of who is 24, who is 25? Who gets left out? Here are our 5 teams that got a write up and report, but just didn't make it for whatever reason we came up with for that specific team. Here are the reports on these teams and we fully expect these teams to make it in the Top 25 at some point this season.

The 2026 Preseason Mid Major Power Rankings has been released with full reports and outlook for each team. 2025 National Runner-Up Coastal Carolina opens up at #1, while the Big West has 2 Top 3 teams. Big expectations in the Conference USA as Dallas Baptist leads the way with 4 total teams. The SWAC gets their first ever representation in our Mid Major Rankings.