College Baseball: A Hidden Gem

By Kelvin Read

It’s college baseball season again. While perhaps not the most beloved sport in the world, college baseball is certainly entertaining and exciting. No other sport has an annual tournament hosted in the same beautiful ballpark year after year.  

AP Photo/ John Griffin

More than one hundred teams begin their season hoping to make it to Omaha, Nebraska, the college baseball capitol. There are the usual suspects whose seasons are Omaha or bust—Arkansas, Texas, LSU, UCLA, UNC and Virginia —and then there are the teams that hope to shock the baseball world and crash the party.

That’s the beauty of college baseball. Just about anyone can make it to the College World Series and win. Computers don’t decide which teams are the best. It isn’t single elimination, where one unlucky play can end a team’s tournament life.  It’s possible for a 16-seed to beat a 1-seed in college baseball, to put it in March Madness terms. Just last year the Stony Brook Seawolves made it all the way to Omaha as a 4-seed, the equivalent to a 13-seed in college basketball, something that has never occurred in March Madness history.    

It’s the best team that wins, not the team with the best players. College baseball gives unheralded players, like South Carolina’s Michael Roth, the opportunity to win games for their teams, even if they aren’t superstars.

Stanford has had the most players drafted since 2000, but has yet to cash in on a championship despite all of their talent. One pitcher or position player can be relied upon to carry a team. While a good quarterback, goalie, or sharpshooter might have enough skill to overshadow their teammates’ shortcomings, in college baseball every fielder and pitcher has to be responsible for doing their job on every single play.

While March Madness and the BCS might get all of the ESPN highlights, you are missing out on one of the most special sporting events if you overlook the College World Series and college baseball altogether. Tune in this season. Watch from start to that final winning dog pile of jubilant college players and tell me you weren’t entertained.