Everybody woke up on Tuesday, September 9th to social media posts by Arkansas and Texas. Both accounts indicated that the 2026 SEC Baseball schedule would be released at 2 PM Central. More importantly those two programs knew that they were dealt a pocket pair pre-flop. Regular season conference schedules that would soon become viewable to the public and draw the bulk of attention from college baseball fans across the country.
SEC PERMANENT OPPONENTS AND FAVORABLE SCHEDULES
So, back in November of 2023 the SEC released a pair of permanent opponents for each team in the conference. From the official release from the SEC:
“The permanent SEC baseball opponents were determined based on a number of factors including geography, traditional opponents, and strength of schedule.” For those that don’t remember or need a reminder they are as follows:
For the most part, in my opinion, that looks relatively fair on paper, but I’d most prefer Arkansas’ permanent opponents of Ole Miss and Missouri. And when you’re guaranteed a series against Missouri, you can roll a yahtzee on your other eight opponents. Boy, oh boy did the Hogs get two Yahtzees.
The Razorbacks dodge all of LSU, Texas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. For reference that’s your 2025 National Champion, 2024 National Champion, 2024 CWS runner up, 2025 SEC Regular Season Champion, and 2025 NCAA Tournament No. 1 Overall seed. That’s a glorious run out for fans that care about winning titles, not necessarily the ones that want to watch the best matchups. Additionally, here is Arkansas’ road series: Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Missouri. That’s about as favorable as it gets in the Southeastern Conference.
2025 SEC Regular Season Champion Texas also misses quite a few 2026 contenders. The Longhorns don’t play LSU, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky.
Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats also caught a nice schedule. Kentucky won’t play Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma in 2026. Furthermore, the Cats will welcome Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt to Kentucky Proud Park. Baton Rouge is the one very tough road trip.
Vanderbilt also dodges Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Ole Miss. Of the remaining scary opponents (LSU, Texas, and Tennessee) all three come to Hawkins Field.
Rounding out my virtual five favorite schedules is LSU. The Tigers will not play Texas, Auburn, and Arkansas but the defending champs will have some tough road series at Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Georgia, and Ole Miss.
WEEKENDS TO BE A SACK OF POTATOES
I want you to circle the weekend of March 27th because it’s rivalry weekend in the SEC. Coach Brian O’Connor and Mississippi State head to Ole Miss, Tennessee plays at Vanderbilt, Alabama hosts Auburn, we have the Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas, plus Florida at Arkansas is sprinkled on top, and if you like a revenge angle Texas A&M visits Missouri.
The weekend of April 10th is another 3-day set where everybody should be lazy couch potatoes and watch college baseball on television. Texas and Coach Jim Schlossnagle return to the scene of the crime to play three games against Texas A&M. Georgia will also host Florida at Foley Field. Then there’s the Mintzy series as LSU plays Ole Miss at Swayze. Dudy Noble will also be rocking because Tennessee comes to Mississippi State. Arkansas at Alabama, Oklahoma at Vanderbilt, and Kentucky at Auburn all are interesting too.
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
If you have the ability to attend college baseball games anywhere in the SEC you should circle these series because you won’t have to worry about missing Appointment Television elsewhere in the conference.
April 3-5: LSU at Tennessee
April 24-26: LSU at Mississippi State
May 1-3: South Carolina at LSU
May 8-10: Texas at Tennessee
May 14-16: Florida at LSU
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR
Of course in a 16-team conference with only 10 weekends of regular season games we won’t see some really good matchups. Here are the weekends that will have extra juice in 2027: LSU vs Arkansas, Arkansas vs Tennessee, Tennessee vs Florida, and Texas vs Arkansas.
Everybody woke up on Tuesday, September 9th to social media posts by Arkansas and Texas. Both accounts indicated that the 2026 SEC Baseball schedule would be released at 2 PM Central. More importantly those two programs knew that they were dealt a pocket pair pre-flop. Regular season conference schedules that would soon become viewable to the public and draw the bulk of attention from college baseball fans across the country.
SEC PERMANENT OPPONENTS AND FAVORABLE SCHEDULES
So, back in November of 2023 the SEC released a pair of permanent opponents for each team in the conference. From the official release from the SEC:
“The permanent SEC baseball opponents were determined based on a number of factors including geography, traditional opponents, and strength of schedule.” For those that don’t remember or need a reminder they are as follows:
For the most part, in my opinion, that looks relatively fair on paper, but I’d most prefer Arkansas’ permanent opponents of Ole Miss and Missouri. And when you’re guaranteed a series against Missouri, you can roll a yahtzee on your other eight opponents. Boy, oh boy did the Hogs get two Yahtzees.
The Razorbacks dodge all of LSU, Texas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. For reference that’s your 2025 National Champion, 2024 National Champion, 2024 CWS runner up, 2025 SEC Regular Season Champion, and 2025 NCAA Tournament No. 1 Overall seed. That’s a glorious run out for fans that care about winning titles, not necessarily the ones that want to watch the best matchups. Additionally, here is Arkansas’ road series: Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Missouri. That’s about as favorable as it gets in the Southeastern Conference.
2025 SEC Regular Season Champion Texas also misses quite a few 2026 contenders. The Longhorns don’t play LSU, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky.
Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats also caught a nice schedule. Kentucky won’t play Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma in 2026. Furthermore, the Cats will welcome Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt to Kentucky Proud Park. Baton Rouge is the one very tough road trip.
Vanderbilt also dodges Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, and Ole Miss. Of the remaining scary opponents (LSU, Texas, and Tennessee) all three come to Hawkins Field.
Rounding out my virtual five favorite schedules is LSU. The Tigers will not play Texas, Auburn, and Arkansas but the defending champs will have some tough road series at Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Georgia, and Ole Miss.
WEEKENDS TO BE A SACK OF POTATOES
I want you to circle the weekend of March 27th because it’s rivalry weekend in the SEC. Coach Brian O’Connor and Mississippi State head to Ole Miss, Tennessee plays at Vanderbilt, Alabama hosts Auburn, we have the Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas, plus Florida at Arkansas is sprinkled on top, and if you like a revenge angle Texas A&M visits Missouri.
The weekend of April 10th is another 3-day set where everybody should be lazy couch potatoes and watch college baseball on television. Texas and Coach Jim Schlossnagle return to the scene of the crime to play three games against Texas A&M. Georgia will also host Florida at Foley Field. Then there’s the Mintzy series as LSU plays Ole Miss at Swayze. Dudy Noble will also be rocking because Tennessee comes to Mississippi State. Arkansas at Alabama, Oklahoma at Vanderbilt, and Kentucky at Auburn all are interesting too.
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
If you have the ability to attend college baseball games anywhere in the SEC you should circle these series because you won’t have to worry about missing Appointment Television elsewhere in the conference.
April 3-5: LSU at Tennessee
April 24-26: LSU at Mississippi State
May 1-3: South Carolina at LSU
May 8-10: Texas at Tennessee
May 14-16: Florida at LSU
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR
Of course in a 16-team conference with only 10 weekends of regular season games we won’t see some really good matchups. Here are the weekends that will have extra juice in 2027: LSU vs Arkansas, Arkansas vs Tennessee, Tennessee vs Florida, and Texas vs Arkansas.
