Contrary to Popular Opinion: The College World Series is the Most Exciting Event in College Sports

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is the crown jewel of the college sports world. Massive upsets in the early rounds, close games, and the ability to watch games all day (and all night).

The college football playoffs have stoked more interest in the last years. The expansion to twelve teams has made the playoffs even more exciting as it eliminates the controversies of some borderline teams being left out.

However, in 2024-2025, the lower seeds like Indiana (10), SMU (11), Clemson (12), and Tennessee (9) all failed to advance to the second-round questioning if the expansion really worked and the lower seeds can actually compete. But in the second and third rounds every game was an upset. The upsets culminated in the Championship Game with Ohio St. (8) beating Notre Dame (7).

Although there were upsets galore, there were only two close games. Texas beat Arizona St. in double overtime and Notre Dame beat Penn State 27-24. All other games were not very competitive. In the end, fans were wondering where they can get the excitement they are looking for.

In the shadow of football and basketball is College Baseball and the College World Series. You typically won’t be invited to a College World Series party or to participate in a World Series bracket pool. But here is why you probably should be, why the College World Series has all the intrigue and excitement of football and basketball, and why you should tune in right now.

Upsets

It is a fact that you never know who is going to advance to the College World Series during the national tournament. For instance, in the Los Angeles superregional, number four seed Texas did not advance to the World Series, but 13th seed UCLA did.

The story did not end there. In the Chapel Hill Regional, regular season number one (North Carolina) lost to the 21st seed, Arizona. In Durham, neither the 10 seed, Georgia, or the 15th seed, Ole Miss, advanced but unranked Murray State did. In Louisville, number two Vanderbilt did not advance but unranked Louisville did.

Bottom line, of the top five ranked programs, only LSU (3) made it to the College World Series. Of the top 10, only LSU, Arkansas (6), and Oregon State (8) will advance. Rounding out the World Series contenders are Coastal Carolina (11), Louisville (unranked), UCLA (13), and Murray State (unranked).

This result is a far cry from the NCAA Basketball Final Four where every team was the number one seed in their region and top five in the regular season. Boring.

Parity

The old saying was that the NFL’s drive for parity is what made it so exciting. Anybody could potentially win the Super Bowl any year. In the last 10 years, that adage has fallen apart due to the Philadelphia/Kansas City/New England effect, but it could be changing. However, the playoff picture is still vastly different from year to year.

College football has recently seen the same type of monotony of the same teams meeting in the playoffs each year. This is really the Georgia/Alabama/Michigan/Ohio State effect. This year was different as Alabama and Michigan both had down years, but, of course, there was still Ohio State. It is really hard to compare year over year as the 12 team playoff format just started this year.

But College Baseball seems to be the ultimate in the wild west when it comes to who makes the final eight for the College World Series. While we expect to see names like Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and LSU consistently making the grade, that isn’t always the case. Vanderbilt has not been in the series in the last three seasons, Florida and LSU played in Omaha the last two years but neither made the series this year.

In fact, the 2025 slate of World Series teams has no repeat teams from 2024. Cool.

Star Power

Especially if you are not a rabid college sports fan, you are hoping that if you watch the tournament or the playoffs you will see the future of the NBA or NFL. To name only a few, Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, Ja’Marr Chase, Tua Tagovailoa, and DeVonta Smith all played in recent playoff or national championship games.

The NBA is littered with players who competed in the final four. In fact, in the last 25 years, only two players who were voted the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (Walter Clayton and Adama Sanogo), did not play in the NBA. The list includes players like Carmelo Anthony and Anthony Davis.

The College World Series is no different. Most recently, World Series competitors Paul Skenes and Corbin Caroll were voted back-to-back NL Rookie of the Year. On June 13, Skenes pitched to the Cubs Dansby Swanson. This was unique because they both won the Outstanding Player at the College World Series award. Other MLB stars that have won the award include Adley Rutschman and Jackie Bradley, Jr. This year, you have the opportunity to watch surefire first round picks Brendan Sumerhill (Arizona), Roch Cholowsky (UCLA, but not eligible for the draft this year), Jared Jones (LSU), Kade Anderson (LSU), Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas), and Aiva Arquette (Oregon State).

Configuration

Parity, upsets, and star power put the College World Series on par with their football and basketball counterparts. What really sets baseball apart is the configuration of the entire tournament. Let’s explain.

Football and basketball are single elimination sports. Every game is so intense because of the “win or go home” mentality. To win the NCAA tournament, you have to win 6 games in a row without losing, while in football you have to win three or four. For this reason, upsets are called Bracket Busters because you lose all your future picks once your team is out. One off game, one bad game, one untimely injury, one bad call by the ref, one missed free throw, one dropped pass, and your whole season ends.

In contrast, professional baseball and basketball play best of five or seven series to eliminate fluke upsets. The criticism of this approach is that upsets become almost impossible. You would have to beat the Yankees or Dodgers not just once, but three or four times in order to advance. It isn’t that it never happens, because it does, but it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve those results when they have to be repeated. What would it look like if the Eagles had to beat the Chiefs two out of three (or three out of five)?

In this year’s NBA playoffs, the Thunder made the finals, but they were actually the favorite. However, the Pacers were the fourth seed and had to beat the Cavaliers (1 seed) and the Knicks (3) to achieve their birth into the finals.

In the College World Series, they play a double elimination tournament. Realize, that these are not series oriented. For instance, Coastal Carolina and Oregon St. won their initial games. They will move forward to play each other. Meanwhile the losers of those games, Louisville and Arizona will play each other. The loser of Coastal Carolina/Oregon St. will play the winner of Louisville/Arizona.

You don’t have to beat the same team twice in a row, though if the team you beat claws their way back, you might see them again. The final championship match will be a typical series of two out of three.

You can see this how this approach is the best of both worlds. One bad game won’t spike your season, but two bad games will. Great teams with great players won’t exit early because of one mishap. However, upsets will continue to happen. For example, Vanderbilt and North Carolina are out and Louisville and Murray State are in.

Conclusion

If you like the drama and competitiveness of college football and basketball you will get a full dose of that in the College Baseball Tournament and World Series. This year, we have already had the third no hitter in World Series history that featured 19 strikeouts, an absolutely crazy elimination game between Arkansas and LSU that featured five lead changes and a walk off hit by LSU, and a great run by Coastal Carolina.

If you ever have a chance to go to the College World Series, it is a must visit, especially with kids. My kid had a baseball tournament there and it was one of the best times for both adults and kids. They block off the entire Omaha downtown so kids can wander aimlessly and safely (as can adults) and there are various baseball and non-baseball activities.