USA Today names biggest winners, losers ahead of 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament

USA Today named the biggest winners and losers ahead of the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament. We’re finally ready for the main postseason of college baseball!

The 64-team field features a lot of dominant teams, some surprises and of course, the regulars. Still, you can’t play these games on paper.

But some made out better than others while some didn’t even make the dance, surprisingly. Let’s dive into who won and lost before the games actually start!

UCLA (Winner)

The Big Ten champions are a big winner ahead of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The No. 1 overall seed went 51-6 this year and won the Big Ten.

There were some lulls, despite so few losses, but this is the team to beat in the tournament and should be in Omaha. The Bruins are led by shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the Big Ten Player of the Year with a line of .329 and 21 home runs.

Arkansas (Loser)

The Razorbacks are firmly in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, but they have reason to be losers, per USA Today. Only because they weren’t selected to host a regional to open up the postseason.

Arkansas reached the SEC Championship Game, had 18 Quad 1 wins and crushed Mississippi State’s total, which happens to be a host. We’ll see how the Razorbacks manage the Lawrence Regional led by Kansas.

North Carolina (Loser)

You might be thinking why is North Carolina a loser ahead of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Tar Heels did draw the No. 5 seed after all. 

However, UNC’s region is rough in Chapel Hill as Tennessee, East Carolina and VCU will make the trek over for the opening rounds of the tournament. It’s regarded as the top region by some, so it might be a gauntlet to just get to the Super Regionals.

SEC (Winner)

It just means more, especially in the NCAA Baseball Tournament right? The conference has seven of the 16 regional hosts to open postseason play, so it was definitely a good selection Monday for the SEC.

Those hosts are as follows: No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Auburn, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Florida, No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 14 Mississippi State. As USA Today pointed out, the SEC took up seven of the Top 14 spots in the final RPI.

Vanderbilt (Loser)

Vanderbilt wasn’t quite an NCAA Baseball Tournament team this year, based on the 33-25 record. The Commodores also went 14-16 in SEC play and were 72nd in RPI.

But as USA Today pointed out, Vandy has made the tournament every year since 2006 and reached the College World Series five times! The champs in 2014 and ‘19, Vanderbilt has been in the postseason regularly, so it’s weird to not see them in the field for the first time in 20 years. 

Southern Miss (Loser)

Southern Miss was named a regional host for the second consecutive year and they’re a loser? Yup! They have a tough grouping in the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

How about Virginia, Jacksonville State and Arkansas-Little Rock being in their grouping? That’s two additional conference champs in that regional! 

Drought-snapping Regional Hosts (Winner)

You have to tip your cap to the regional hosts doing it for the first time in awhile in this year’s NCAA Baseball Tournament. Kansas will host for the first time in program history by the way!

No. 16 West Virginia is hosting for the first time since 2019 and No. 13 Nebraska gets to host for the first time since 2008. It’ll be nice to see some different locations this postseason.

Snubbed Bubble Teams (Loser)

Of course snubbed teams are going to be the biggest losers of the NCAA Baseball Tournament! Mercer, TCU and UTSA have the biggest gripes, per USA Today.

How about Mercer by the way? They went 44-15 in the regular season, but were left out due to being stunned twice by The Citadel in the Southern Tournament. TCU’s downfall was an 11-16 record in Quad 1 games in 2026.