There is disappointment across the Sunshine State as Florida State, Florida and Miami were eliminated from the postseason in regional play. None of the state’s Big Three teams will be playing in a Super Regional for the first time since 2022.

While there’s excitement about the upcoming Super Regionals, there is also frustration across college baseball as a number of national powers have either missed the field or been knocked out. Parity in the sport is perhaps at an all-time high, whether that’s a result of veterans with experience on rosters, the transfer portal or thinning of rosters via the prior MLB Draft.

Of the eight teams in the 2024 College World Series, including Florida State, none of those eight advanced to Omaha in 2025. But the sport is also looking at a new group of eight for the CWS in 2026.

North Carolina and West Virginia are in the Super Regionals for a third straight year while Auburn has made it in back-to-back seasons. The Tar Heels have been to the CWS in 2024, missed out on a return trip last season and are the only ACC team alive (out of nine participants) as the postseason shifts to the Super Regionals this weekend. UNC will host Southern Cal in a best-of-three series that begins on Friday.

The Super Regionals this weekend feature prominent names, including eight from the SEC: Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma. But only Auburn has made it two straight years. Tennessee enjoyed four straight trips to the Supers but did not make it with a new coach this spring (the San Francisco Giants, and FSU alum Buster Posey, hired Tony Vitello in the offseason).

FSU leads the nation in Super Regional appearances (19), having advanced to that round in 2024 and ’25. (The Seminoles also played in the CWS in 2024.) Link Jarrett has also been to the Super Regionals in 2021-22 with Notre Dame as well as his two trips with FSU.

For a variety of reasons, we’re seeing a few programs able to maintain a level of consistency in advancing to the Supers but not the CWS. Why?

We’ll unpack FSU’s season and look ahead to the future in subsequent days. But FSU’s team was going to take on a different shape in 2026 given that there were a program-best and national-leading 11 MLB Draft picks last July, including Jamie Arnold, Alex Lodise, Drew Faurot, Max Williams and Gage Harrelson. 

Myles Bailey’ injury this spring also had a considerable impact on the lineup, which produced runs (at times) but also hit poorly with runners in scoring position (often). Bailey ended up playing in 26 of FSU’s 59 games, and the lineup was a challenge before the injury but a daily source of frustration for Jarrett in April and May. FSU earned the right to host a regional but squandered the advantage by losing the opening game.

Across the nation, we’re seeing other trends, too. Rosters often feature older position players and pitchers. Players have transferred up from a Group of 6 school to a Power 4 conference. Other players have opted for more playing time and transferred to another program.

A number of Sun Belt Conference schools, including Troy and Coastal Carolina, have made significant investments in college baseball. Troy’s baseball stadium is small at roughly 2,500 but the athletics department poured $12 million into the park in 2024. Coastal Carolina, the CWS runner-up in 2025, spent 8.5 percent of its $47 million athletics budget in the 2023-24 fiscal year on baseball (LSU spent 4.6 percent of its $219 million budget on baseball).

Troy is on the rise this year but also understands the heartache. The Trojans were among the last four out in the 2025 tournament, even with 39 wins and a top 50 RPI, but now they are hosting a Super Regional.

“We’ve had our hearts ripped out in our program many of times,” Troy coach Skyler Meade said. “And you know what? They reward you in life for being tough. And our program is built on that.”

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