Can Alabama baseball make the College World Series in Omaha? Projecting Crimson Tide’s postseason run
Alabama is a long shot to make the College World Series in Omaha due to their inconsistent production at both ends of the field during the regular season, leading to setbacks in games they should have won.
The No. 24 Crimson Tide owns a 32-20 record but is fourth in the SEC West (tied for eighth in the overall SEC rankings) with a 12-16 mark.
Their series losses to Georgia (0-3) and SEC rivals Kentucky (0-3), Texas A&M (1-2) and Mississippi State (1-2) derailed their chances of getting a favorable seeding in the coming SEC Tournament at Hoover, Alabama, from May 21-26 and the NCAA Regionals on May 31 to June 3.
Alabama baseball projections heading to final week of NCAA regular season
As things stand, Alabama is tied at No. 24 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll along with Oregon. The Crimson Tide are 4-4 this month, thanks to a 2-1 series win over LSU and wins over Mississippi State and Troy.
Alabama still has two games remaining against Auburn and it needs to sweep both of them and string up a better performance in the SEC Tournament to gain a regional hosting opportunity in the postseason.
Alabama aims to make it through the Super Regionals but it is expected to have tough regional series stints based on projections made by Baseball America, D1 Baseball and On3.com.
All of them predict that Alabama won't host a regional tournament, but they ranked the Crimson Tide as the No. 2 seed.
A look at the regional games across college baseball
Baseball America projects Alabama as it would compete in the Tallahassee Regional hosted by No. 7 seed Florida State. They are joined by No. 3 UCF and No. 4 Florida A&M.
If the Crimson Tide make the Tallahassee Regional, they will face the winner of the Athens, Georgia, Regional where Georgia plays hosts alongside Southern Mississippi, Georgia Tech and Bryant.
D1 Baseball sets up Alabama in the Chapel Hill Regional and plays against North Carolina, UNC Wilmington and Fairfield.
The winner of the Chapel Hill Regional gains a chance to play the winner of the Greenville Regional where East Carolina, Duke, UNC Greensboro and High Point are taking part.
On3.com places the Crimson Tide in the Clemson Regional where they will compete against Clemson, Troy and Florida A&M.
The victor of the regional tournament will be paired against the winner of the Terre Haute Regional which has Indiana State, Oklahoma State, Xavier and Columbia in the group.
Getting past the postseason's regional stages would be tough for Alabama, considering the Field of 64 projected schedules.
But baseball is unpredictable and there are instances where a hot team beats a higher-ranked squad and ends up making the College World Series.
Alabama had its odds of winning the college baseball postseason ranging from +4000 to +6000 and one big postseason run could defy all pundits who believe that the Crimson Tide has no chance.
Will Alabama make the College World Series? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.