2026 College Baseball Top 25 Rankings, Update: Week 1

We finally made it to the opening weekend of the 2026 College Baseball Season, which means a few things. Not only did we get box score surfing, dual-screen watching to keep up, and of course, late-night games watching Hawaii baseball. 

We also got Top-25 matchups, huge upsets, football scores, and everything else we love that comes with the game, leading into our first week update of the Top 25.

Our preseason top 25 was released three weeks ago, as our team at Just Baseball took our first crack at ranking who the best teams in college baseball will be for the 2026 season.

Those rankings have been adjusted now that we have seen our first taste of action in 2026, and we will continue to update these rankings weekly throughout the season.

The Top 25 Ranking is based on an aggregate of votes from Just Baseball writers & analysts.

A New #1: LSU Grabs the Top Spot

With UCLA taking two-of-three from UC San Diego, suffering their first loss of the season on Sunday to the Tritons, LSU jumps into our #1 spot with a sweep completed over UW Milwaukee.

Not without struggles at times, but the defending National Champions found ways to blow games open late and flashed their newly constructed roster under Jay Johnson.

Biggest Risers

We saw plenty of top teams dominate in their respective series this weekend, playing a wide range of competition, but we certainly had a few standouts in week one.

Texas A&M looks every bit the team we thought we’d see in 2025, sweeping Tennessee Tech, outscoring them 45-16. Led by Caden Sorrell, who crushed three home runs, driving in 10 runs in the series, showing what he’s capable of.

Oklahoma went down to Arlington and showed big-time flashes on both sides of the ball, going 3-0, dominating all three matchups, including notching a top-10 win over TCU on the back of true freshman Cord Rager, who threw a gem for the Sooners, completely shutting down one of the best lineups in the country.

Miami showed its offensive prowess, albeit against lesser competition in Lehigh, but completely dominated wire-to-wire in all three games. The Hurricanes, coming off a Super Regional appearance, look to build through an older group of pitchers and the portal class they brought in, including catcher Alex Sosa, who belted three home runs this weekend.

Biggest Fallers

It’s easy to overreact this early in the year, and it’s important not to, as teams work out their lineups, bullpen roles, and pitchers still ramping up, but a handful of ballclubs struggled through the weekend, dropping game(s) they maybe shouldn’t have.

Louisville took the biggest hit this week after dropping a true-home series to Michigan State.

While they salvaged a game on Sunday, the Spartans finished 12th in the Big 10 a season ago, just one game over .500 and handled business. While the Cardinals are dealing with some injuries, as Zion Rose did not play, they’ll look to bounce back in the Amegy Bank Classic next week against Nebraska, Michigan, and Auburn.

Oregon State drops this week after clawing its way to a 2-1 weekend. We mentioned some questions surrounding the offense with so many departing pieces, and it was a struggle at times, shown in an opening day loss against Michigan with Dax Whitney on the mound.

The Beavers got away with two late-game comebacks against Arizona and a walk-off victory against Stanford, with a rematch with Michigan coming later today. A tough road ahead lies for the Beavers in Round Rock next week against Baylor, Southern Miss, and Purdue.

Florida was upset on opening night at home against UAB who was able to take down the Gators in extra innings. Now they bounced back nicely, taking care of business the rest of the weekend, but will face off with in-state foe Stetson on short rest during the week in a home-and-home mid-week set.

Alabama also suffered an opening night home loss against Washington State, but bounced back nicely to take the series. They’ll look to regain their footing and notch some more wins against Samford, Alabama State, and Rhode Island this week.

Others Receiving Votes

The Michigan Wolverines seem to have put together a carbon copy of their 2025 season opening, winning the Puerto Rico Tournament, taking home the title in Surprise, Arizona, after defeating a top-10 Oregon State team, along with Arizona and Stanford.

Ole Miss and West Virginia, while being on the outside looking in coming into week one, both put together great weekends of baseball and are knocking on the door of the rankings yet again, despite starting their seasons 3-0. Look for both to jump in soon if they continue to roll.

Other Key Storylines

UCSB and Southern Miss won the award for best series of the weekend, with the Golden Eagles taking down the Gauchos 2-1 at Pete Taylor Park. Jackson Flora looked every piece of a top arm in the 2026 draft class, and we had drama and heroics late in games that propelled USM to a series win.

Missouri State traveled down to Louisiana to take on ULL and walked away with a series win, one that included their largest comeback win since 2019. 

TCU true freshman Lucas Franco provided a surge into the Horned Frogs lineup, crushing a home run in his first collegiate at-bat. With the potential to end as freshman of the year, it was great to see him look the part early this season as a complete player.