Omaha CWS predictions

The College World Series starts this afternoon, and if you are a college baseball fan, you have to hope the actual CWS is as good as the Super Regionals were. The Super Regionals seemed to reflect the wide open nature of college baseball this year. Even though Florida was #1 most of the year (and they are the defending champs), I truly think all 8 teams have a realistic chance of winning the title. That isn't true most years, but this year's Cinderella teams are Miss State and Washington. Both of these clubs have enough pitching to go all the way, and both won thrilling Super Regionals with timely hits. Before I get to my picks, it should be noted that the Super Regionals were more entertaining than ever. It was the first time in Super Regional history that we had 6 of the 8 series go to 3 games (including 4 game threes on Monday). There were three game 3s that went into extra innings, which was a first in Super Regional history. In fact, in the 19 years previous, there had only been three game 3s that went into extras in that entire time span, so to have three in one year is pretty shocking.

As for my picks, I am taking Arkansas to win the bracket that includes Florida, Texas and Texas Tech (the side of the bracket which I have nicknamed the Big 12-SEC challenge). I am taking Oregon State to win the other side, which includes UNC, Miss State, and Washington. For my national champion, I like Oregon State to win the championship series 2 games to 1 over Arkansas. This weekend's picks are as follows: Oregon State over UNC; Miss State over Washington; Arkansas over Texas; and Florida over Texas Tech. It is rare that any postseason tournament has back-to-back thrilling weekends, so expect at least two of the 4 games this weekend to be blowouts (maybe even 3 of 4). All in all, I think this postseason tournament clearly peaked on Monday, so while I couldn't care less about the World Cup, you may be better served watching it until we get down to the last 4 of the CWS.