SEC Powers Will Be Top Contenders to Win College World Series
Texas A&M and Tennessee Among the SEC Teams Leading the 2024 NCAA World Series Odds
Plenty of Draft Prospects Could Star in Race to College World Series
The race for the NCAA Division I college baseball title will heat up next week when the 64-team field is announced. The 2024 NCAA World Series odds are headlined by SEC powers Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
SEC teams have won the last four College World Series titles with Vanderbilt winning it all in 2019, Mississippi State was the last team standing in 2021 after the global pandemic caused the 2020 event to be called off. In 2022, it was Ole Miss winning the College World Series while LSU, led by pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews, was the champion in 2023.
When looking at the college baseball news, four of the top five teams in the latest Division I national poll are from the SEC, led by top-ranked Tennessee, with Oklahoma, which is joining the conference next season, is eighth.
Georgia’s Charlie Condon, Oregon State infielder Travis Bazzana, Florida’s two-way star Jac Caglianone, Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery, and Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz are expected to be among the top picks in the upcoming MLB Draft.
Aggies Turning On the Power
Texas A&M can put together a lineup with the lowest OPS of .834 so that is not good news for the opposing pitching staffs.
Braden Montgomery (.325, 26 home runs, team-high 80 RBIs), Jace LaViolette (.324, 28 home runs, 72 RBIs), Gavin Grahovac (.322, 19 home runs, 59 RBIs) lead the way with Montgomery and LaViolette combining for 98 walks.
Jackson Appel has a .332 average with nine home runs and 11 stolen bases.
Teams would be advised to get to the Aggies early because when Evan Aschenbeck steps on the mound, good luck. He is 5-1 with seven saves.
Ryan Prager (8-1, 2.47 ERA, 104 strikeouts) gives A&M an elite starter, while Brad Rudis, Shane Sdao, and Chris Cortez are a combined 17-3 for a Texas A&M team that is priced at +500 in the 2024 NCAA World Series Odds.
Volunteers To Be A Tough Out
Tennessee is going to end the postseason as the team to beat.
Much of the focus will be on Christian Moore as he leads the Volunteers with a .388 batting average, 27 home runs, and 60 RBIs.
Blake Burke, Billy Amick, Kayares Tears, and Dyland Dreiling are all hitting at least .333 with anywhere from 16-18 home runs.
Don’t look for much in the way of stolen bases from the Volunteers with Dean Curley the team lead with ine steals.
The pitching depth is what separates Tennessee from many of the other contenders with Nate Snead, Drew Ream, and Al Causey a combined 26-5.
Snead is one of six pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched to have ERAs under 3.50.
Tennessee (+750) is behind only Texas A&M and Arkansas (+600) in the 2024 NCAA World Series Odds.
More Than Just SEC Teams In Contention
The SEC has dominated the College World Series but the other conferences have teams capable of crashing the party.
Clemson (+1200) is the top contender out of the ACC with Wake Forest (+1400), Duke (+1500), and Florida State (+1800) are teams to keep an eye on.
North Carolina is the top seed in the ACC tournament.
It is the last hurrah for the Pac-12. One of the teams being left behind is the team to watch as Oregon State is tied for fifth in the title odds. Arizona won the regular-season title in the Pac-12.
Illinois is the top seed in the Big Ten tournament.
Can Oklahoma make a run in its final season in the Big 12 before moving to the SEC.
East Carolina (+2000) is one of the teams out of the American Athletic Conference that can make noise in the NCAA tournament. Among the teams outside the Power-5 conferences, East Carolina is followed by UC Irvine (+5000), Dallas Baptist (+5000), Indiana State (+6600), and UC Santa Barbara (+6600).
A Quick Look Back
Wake Forest was the No. 1 overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Then came the SEC powerhouse with Florida, Arkansas, LSU, and Vanderbilt all being seeded in the top six with Kentucky and Auburn 12th and 13th.
There were 10 teams from the SEC in the tournament with eight ACC squads, six from the Big 12, and five from the Pac-12.
Seven of the eight teams to make the College World Series came from the SEC, ACC, the Big 12, and the Pac-12 with Oral Roberts out of the Summit League completing the field.
The college baseball spreads had Wake Forest with the shortest odds of +210 to win the College World Series once the eight-team field was finalized. Eventual national champion LSU was next at +310 followed by Florida at +380.
Florida won its first three games to reach the championship series.
Wake Forest was the team in control in the other bracket before LSU topped the Demon Deacons 5-2 and 2-0 in 11 innings to set up an all-SEC championship series matchup.
After LSU won the first game in the best-of-three series 4-3 in 11 innings, things got interesting.
Florida rolled to a 24-4 win to set up a winner-take-all game with LSU taking the national title with an 18-4 win.
For betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
