Every year the preseason Top 25 drops and people treat it like gospel. Like it’s a final exam. Like anyone who isn’t ranked is bad and anyone who is ranked is automatically a contender.
That’s not how this works.
Preseason rankings aren’t just about being “right.” They’re about assigning pressure. They’re basically college baseball’s version of a public expectation chart — and once a number is next to your name, everything changes. Your weekends change. Your crowd changes. Your media changes. Opponents circle you like it’s their World Series.
And if you want a real takeaway from the 2026 preseason Top 25, it’s this:
Some teams are built for the weight.
Some teams are about to get crushed by it.
Let’s talk storylines.
This is one of the storylines I’m watching closest — because it’s not about talent. It’s about replacing a presence. Full coaching carousel list.
The scary part?
A first-year coach doesn’t get a “transition year” anymore. Not at programs like this. You’re expected to win immediately and look good doing it especially with the rosters these coaches have this year.
And Texas A&M under Michael Earley is the cautionary tale — a program that looked set up to roll and instead slipped into dysfunction and inconsistency. Tennessee and GT don’t need to win Omaha in year one… but they absolutely need to avoid the “this is a disaster” season.
UCLA at #1 is exciting on paper but historically terrifying.
High expectations and West Coast baseball don’t always mix because the margins are thinner. They aren’t playing the week-to-week grind of the SEC or ACC where you get “battle tested” for 10 straight weekends before entering the postseason.
When UCLA is elite, they’re clean, disciplined, and pitching-driven. Not to mention, Roch Cholowsky, the best player in college baseball. But being preseason #1 turns every series into someone else’s Super Bowl.
This is the “fork in the road” storyline.
Mississippi State: #4
Virginia: unranked
And yet… if you zoom out, the bigger story is:
So why is State getting the love and Virginia getting ignored?
Because preseason rankings are often brand-driven and SEC-inflated early. But long term? This is a fascinating comparison:
This is less about who is better in February and more about which rebuild is real by May and beyond.
Texas being #3 might be the biggest “OK… this is serious” signal of the whole poll.
In 2022 Texas was #1 preseason but dropped out of the rankings by week 13. You could feel the question marks even before first pitch. In 2025, Texas was preseason #19 and won the SEC Regular season title.
This year feels like:
Texas hasn’t been a clean national title contender in a minute. This might be the first season in a while where the ranking matches the reality.
ACC truthers: this is your year.
Top 25 teams:
That’s not “a strong league.” That’s a league that will cannibalize itself, coming off a 2025 season where only 1 ACC team (Louisville) made it to Omaha while 4 were elminated in Super Regionals.
The ACC might be the deepest conference this year top to bottom (relax SEC truthers)— but that comes with a price:
Half these teams are going to have ugly conference records because they’re playing each other every weekend.
So don’t do the thing where you punish an ACC team for going 16-14 in league play. That could still be a top-10 caliber team.
Southern Miss and Coastal in the Top 25, again — and we still don’t get consistent scheduling support around them.
The Sun Belt has multiple teams that can hang nationally, yet it continues to avoid the exact matchups that would elevate the league brand and RPI ceiling.
Last year’s title game series was proof:
It wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t cute. It was the best baseball the Sun Belt could offer.
A 3-game weekend series between Coastal and Southern Miss needs to be happening regularly — not “once in a lifetime when the bracket forces it.”
Texas A&M at #25 is basically saying:
“We still believe in the roster, but we don’t trust the direction.”
This is the hot seat story of the preseason.
It’s hard to imagine A&M not improving on last season… but improvement isn’t optional anymore. If there isn’t a postseason, it becomes existential fast.
This is one of those seasons where the entire narrative flips:
No in-between.
Every year the preseason Top 25 drops and people treat it like gospel. Like it’s a final exam. Like anyone who isn’t ranked is bad and anyone who is ranked is automatically a contender.
That’s not how this works.
Preseason rankings aren’t just about being “right.” They’re about assigning pressure. They’re basically college baseball’s version of a public expectation chart — and once a number is next to your name, everything changes. Your weekends change. Your crowd changes. Your media changes. Opponents circle you like it’s their World Series.
And if you want a real takeaway from the 2026 preseason Top 25, it’s this:
Some teams are built for the weight.
Some teams are about to get crushed by it.
Let’s talk storylines.
This is one of the storylines I’m watching closest — because it’s not about talent. It’s about replacing a presence. Full coaching carousel list.
The scary part?
A first-year coach doesn’t get a “transition year” anymore. Not at programs like this. You’re expected to win immediately and look good doing it especially with the rosters these coaches have this year.
And Texas A&M under Michael Earley is the cautionary tale — a program that looked set up to roll and instead slipped into dysfunction and inconsistency. Tennessee and GT don’t need to win Omaha in year one… but they absolutely need to avoid the “this is a disaster” season.
UCLA at #1 is exciting on paper but historically terrifying.
High expectations and West Coast baseball don’t always mix because the margins are thinner. They aren’t playing the week-to-week grind of the SEC or ACC where you get “battle tested” for 10 straight weekends before entering the postseason.
When UCLA is elite, they’re clean, disciplined, and pitching-driven. Not to mention, Roch Cholowsky, the best player in college baseball. But being preseason #1 turns every series into someone else’s Super Bowl.
This is the “fork in the road” storyline.
Mississippi State: #4
Virginia: unranked
And yet… if you zoom out, the bigger story is:
So why is State getting the love and Virginia getting ignored?
Because preseason rankings are often brand-driven and SEC-inflated early. But long term? This is a fascinating comparison:
This is less about who is better in February and more about which rebuild is real by May and beyond.
Texas being #3 might be the biggest “OK… this is serious” signal of the whole poll.
In 2022 Texas was #1 preseason but dropped out of the rankings by week 13. You could feel the question marks even before first pitch. In 2025, Texas was preseason #19 and won the SEC Regular season title.
This year feels like:
Texas hasn’t been a clean national title contender in a minute. This might be the first season in a while where the ranking matches the reality.
ACC truthers: this is your year.
Top 25 teams:
That’s not “a strong league.” That’s a league that will cannibalize itself, coming off a 2025 season where only 1 ACC team (Louisville) made it to Omaha while 4 were elminated in Super Regionals.
The ACC might be the deepest conference this year top to bottom (relax SEC truthers)— but that comes with a price:
Half these teams are going to have ugly conference records because they’re playing each other every weekend.
So don’t do the thing where you punish an ACC team for going 16-14 in league play. That could still be a top-10 caliber team.
Southern Miss and Coastal in the Top 25, again — and we still don’t get consistent scheduling support around them.
The Sun Belt has multiple teams that can hang nationally, yet it continues to avoid the exact matchups that would elevate the league brand and RPI ceiling.
Last year’s title game series was proof:
It wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t cute. It was the best baseball the Sun Belt could offer.
A 3-game weekend series between Coastal and Southern Miss needs to be happening regularly — not “once in a lifetime when the bracket forces it.”
Texas A&M at #25 is basically saying:
“We still believe in the roster, but we don’t trust the direction.”
This is the hot seat story of the preseason.
It’s hard to imagine A&M not improving on last season… but improvement isn’t optional anymore. If there isn’t a postseason, it becomes existential fast.
This is one of those seasons where the entire narrative flips:
No in-between.
